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It is even possible to build a control system around a DCS using all digital field
instruments, using a protocol such as Profibus PA to exchange process
variable (PV) and manipulated variable (MV) signals to and from the DCS
controllers at digital speeds far exceeding that of HART:
Now, multivariable field instruments have the ability to quickly exchange their
data with the DCS, along with maintenance-related information (calibration
ranges, error messages, and alarms).
Each “fieldbus” cable is a multi-drop digital network, permitting multiple field
devices per cable and consequently reducing total cable length and
connection count.
In fact, the DCS would not even be necessary if not for the need of operations
personnel to monitor and alter control system status:
Foundation Fieldbus (FF)
That being said, it is possible (and in fact common) for control algorithms to be
placed in the DCS controllers in addition to algorithms executed by FF field
devices.
The locations of the control algorithms – those microprocessor instructions
dictating how the loop will be controlled – in these different systems deserves
further elaboration.
To show this, I will make use of function block notation to show where the
algorithms are executed in each system type, each function block shown as a
yellow box on the diagram.
Now let us examine Profibus PA again. Here, the field instruments are entirely
digital, communicating with each other via digital signals over a network cable
to the DCS.
This means none of the cables carry analog signals anymore, necessitating
the A/D and D/A conversion take place inside the field devices themselves.
It also means we may do away with the old analog I/O cards in the DCS rack,
replacing them with a single network interface card:
Control decisions still take place within the DCS microprocessor, which is why
the PID function blocks are still shown inside the processor card.
The analog-digital signal conversions and scaling operations, however, occur
within the field instruments themselves.
Such is the nature of digital networks that multiple instruments may share the
same communication cable back to the DCS, with each instrument “taking
turns” communicating in time.
In fact, given the right FF system design, the DCS could even be
disconnected from the FF network, and the FF instruments would continue to
control the process as they did before!
This is not to say that all control algorithms must be executed within the field
instruments in a FOUNDATION Fieldbus control system.
FOUNDATION Fieldbus permits but does not mandate that all control tasks
reside “in the field”.
When the FF standard was being designed, two different network levels were
planned: a “low speed” network for the connection of field instruments to each
other to form network segments, and a “high speed” network for use as a
plant-wide “backbone” for conveying large amounts of process data over
longer distances.
The low-speed (field) network was designated H1, while the high-speed
(plant) network was designated H2. Later in the FF standard development
process, it was realized that existing Ethernet technology would address all
the basic requirements of a high-speed “backbone,” and so it was decided to
abandon work on the H2 standard, settling on an extension of 100 Mbps
Ethernet called HSE (“High Speed Ethernet”) as the backbone FF network
instead.