The intrinsically safe fieldbus has arrived

Figure 1. FISCO allows fieldbus to enter intrinsically-safe environments.

Improvement, indeed, yet FISCO makes this incremental gain at the expense of operational limitations. These power supplies are complex pieces of electronics, with switches, line conditioners and filters. This complex circuitry creates more heat and reduces unit reliability (complexity = more components = lower mean time between failure (MTBF)). Furthermore, a primary requirement of FISCO design is that the maximum allowable trunk and spur lengths fall to 1,000 m from 1,900 m, and to 30 m from 120 m, respectively. In addition, all devices and cable must be FISCO-compatible, further limiting choices in installing fieldbus networks. For some time then, many instrumentation and control (I&C) engineers have been searching for a new solution that would allow them to increase the capacity and operational ease of intrinsically-safe segments to the same level currently enjoyed by non-hazardous implementations.

The split architecture solution

At last, technology has come through once again with a solution. The capacity barrier of FISCO has now been significantly surpassed by a novel split architecture design that has already proven itself in the field. Engineers at MooreHawke division of Moore Industries-International, North Hills, Calif. developed this new technology by re-examining traditional approaches to pushing the capacity limits of intrinsically safe segments.

It quickly became evident that the primary cause of low segment power in fieldbus applications was the placement of the main current-limiting resistor at the point of highest current: the IS interface between the safe area and the hazardous area. In response, MooreHawke developed a split architecture approach using a field-mounted device coupler and an associated power supply with a safe-area interface. Here, the total resistance requirement is obtained via a split resistance; a small resistor is used in the IS interface and a larger resistor is placed in the field device coupler. The small (trunk) resistor”sees’ a large current (sum of all devices), but only generates a small voltage drop. The larger (spur) resistor ”sees” a small current (single device) and so only generates a small voltage drop.

Subsequently, MooreHawke’s split architectural design has been certified by organization including Factory Mutual (U.S.), Scientific Instrument Research Association (SIRA-U.K.), Atmospheres Explosibles (ATEX - France). This fieldbus design allows segments to support up to 350mA — enough to power 16 devices at 500 m — while still being intrinsically safe for hydrogen at the individual spur connection. Now, fieldbus is as cost-effective in hazardous locations as it has been in non-hazardous applications.

In terms of reliability, the split-architecture power supply steps around the complexity associated with FISCO circuits by the use of a conventional wire-wound resistor, which in IS terms, is deemed to be infallible. To further augment the overall systems reliability, the MooreHawke design also incorporates full AC/DC power conversion, simple linear power supply, and full galvanic isolation, with built in redundant supplies. Here again, fewer components translate into greater reliability — the MTBF should rise.

Entity parameters

One of the advantages claimed for FISCO systems is that if the design uses a FISCO power supply, FISCO-approved devices, and FISCO-marked cable within the FISCO length limitations, then the segment meets the FISCO requirements and no entity parameter calculations need be done — a previously laborious process employed to confirm that the inherent energy storage in any device, plus its connecting cable, were within the allowable parameters in that particular hazardous environment. FISCO removes that issue to save hundreds of man-hours, especially since no-recalculation need be performed should additional devices be added to a segment; a common event in most facilities.

At first glance, the split-architecture system, being an entity design, seems to fall back into requiring new calculations per segment whenever additions are made. However, the unique MooreHawke design has intrinsically safe current limiting resistors per spur, making each spur an independent IS loop.

In addition, the design takes full advantage of the inherent properties of the fieldbus. IS fieldbus devices all have the same minimum entity parameters as a requirement of their Foundation Fieldbus approval. This means that while entity calculations are indeed required, they only have to be done once. This is normally documented for the longest (worst case) spur length, 120 meters. After that, no device or spur can be any more “worse,” so no more calculations are required. Nor does any additional device present any problem.

Considering all of the above, I&C engineers get to have the best of all worlds:

1. Digital efficiencies of fieldbus;
2. Long cable lengths, reduced documentation, and unrestricted device (non proprietary) benefits of the Entity Concept; and
3. Vastly increased power (350 mA) that goes beyond FISCO to drive the maximum number of devices.

Increased flexibility during installation

Having access to the full 1,900 meters/120 meters per spur (limited only by Ohm’s law) allows systems designers to apply the operational advantages of fieldbus to all hazardous areas of a plant, inside or out, almost as if they were looking at a non-hazardous plant. This simplifies installation when facility engineers wire their distributed control system (DCS) system, whether retrofitting an older plant or building one in a “greenfield” site.

While a collective experience is growing in fieldbus implementation, many installation contractors are still learning the process. One of the issues that frequently causes problems during installation is the fieldbus requirement to have a ”terminator” at each end of the segment. Operationally, these terminators prevent reflection of the high frequency communications signal and subsequent interference. However, correctly determining the right amount of terminators, and where to place them, can prove challenging, leading to a common situation of having too many or too few.

Once again, technology came up with a solution. To reduce any resultant communication errors during segment commissioning, an auto-terminator feature was incorporated into the MooreHawke device couplers. This design allows significant time and labor savings during installation because it helps eliminate wiring errors.

Reducing downtime and easing maintenance

The new circuits that help propel fieldbus to increased functionality also work to improve the reliability of hazardous plant operations. As it is, MooreHawke's Route-Master system has 99.99993% availability because of the use of passive components, simple design and built-in DC power redundancy. “To get the most bang for the buck during our last expansion we utilized the Route Master system of power supplies and device couplers within our DeltaV DCS,” says John Hutto, instrument and controls engineer for Boehringer Ingelheim Fine Chemicals in Petersburg, Virginia (Figure 2).

Figure 2. A split-architectural approach allows more instruments.

Further advances also have been made in the field device coupler itself, specifically in the area of spur short-circuit protection — an important consideration since a single spur fault can bring down the entire segment.

Installing a series fuse per spur is a well-proven technique and many such installations exist today. When a fuse “blows,” the fault is isolated quickly, no segment-loading effects can occur, and adjacent devices are completely unaffected. Simple fuses have enormous MTBF and are generally inexpensive. On the other hand, blown fuses must be physically replaced and though this can be done with the segment online, it can still be a maintenance nuisance.

In keeping with a theme of making fieldbus systems work for the benefit of the plant, technology managed to come up with a simple solution for spur protection when accessing a fuse proves difficult. MooreHawke, for one, offers a feature that provides spur protection via a fold-back technique which locks in a small 2 mA load — just enough to turn on an LED light — and then removes the device from the segment. Once the short is removed, the coupler automatically resets the device on the network.

This approach distinctly differs from earlier current-limiting designs which, as the name implies, simply hold the fault current on the segment at a fixed (and always higher-than-normal) value. A fixed current of 60 mA is common, and this can quickly overload power supplies and crash the segment. On the other hand, the fold-back technique completely eliminates any and all fault loads from the segment and allows the rest of the system to remain up and running.

Modern device couplers also can ease the maintenance of control systems through diagnostic capabilities in excess of what Foundation Fieldbus or Profibus have to offer by themselves. Some couplers contain LED indicators to provide status checks at a glance. Built-in access points for hand-held communicators such as fieldbus trouble-shooting devices also save time.

A promise fulfilled

For plants that process chemicals, pharmaceuticals, petroleum and other products whose production may involve hazardous environments, it appears that recent technological improvements in split architecture systems design have finally delivered what FISCO promised: intrinsically-safe segment capacity virtually indistinguishable from non-hazardous fieldbus implementations. For more information on MooreHawke’s IS fieldbus see www.miinet.com.

Dr. Rizzo is a technical writer at Power PR in Torrance, Calif.; e-mail him [email protected].