FOUNDATION Fieldbus with FieldConnex for Eastman Chemical Company in Columbus, SC [Reference]

Customer | Eastman Chemical Company

Project | Fieldbus technology for a second plant

Location | Columbus, South Carolina, USA

Completion | 2009

The Eastman Chemical Company in Columbus, South Carolina, uses FOUNDATION fieldbus technology and Delta V hardware throughout their relatively non-hazardous facility. This system has functioned so well, Eastman decided to install fieldbus technology in a second plant.

The second plant has many Class I/Division 1 and Class I/Division 2 hazardous areas with processes that are not only explosive but extremely corrosive. This second installation needed a FOUNDATION fieldbus system that would function reliably in a harsh and hazardous environment and maximize intrinsically-safe segment capacity. Also, personnel need to be able to work on the instruments in the field.

Eastman Chemical Company had decided to install Pepperl+Fuchs' FieldConnex. FieldConnex allows you to design your fieldbus topology specifically for your application. While the fieldbus transmits the data, FieldConnex provides the infrastructure: power supplies, installation equipment, and accessories. The High-Power Trunk concept (HPT) together with FieldBarriers provide a new approach to creating intrinsically safe fieldbus segments. The entire installation is continuously monitored by the Advanced Diagnostic Module (ADM) integrated in the FieldConnex Power Hub.

The amount of time that was saved with Advanced Diagnostics is dramatic. It actually took longer to walk down the system to set the jumper switches on the boxes than it took to commission the system. The physical walk down and commissioning for the first, four-segment system took a day and a half; on the following eight-segments the physical walk down took about 60 minutes and the commissioning took a mere 20 minutes. The confidence level in the network also increased dramatically. When the ADM certifies that the system was good, it is good.

Read full story in "Improved Fieldbus Operations with Advanced Diagnostics" (PDF, 339 KB).