cpp – Process technology for the chemical industry 01.2019

Easy access to live data around the clock with the Vega Inventory System
Bluetooth offers a form of communication
that runs via a separate, second data channel,
making it independent of the user
channel. Field devices can thus be analysed
parallel to the existing process control without
interfering with plant security and
availability. In the future, this local Bluetooth
communication will be expandable to
a complete diagnostic network, allowing
diagnostic access from the control room
down to the field level, also for existing
analogue field devices from Vega. Plant operators
will then be able to react to errors
faster and in a more targeted manner, and
detect deviations in the process early by recording
the extensive information which is
available in the field device and taking appropriate
countermeasures.
No more empty bins
Just as flexible in use, although a big step
ahead in terms of digital intelligence, is the
Vega Inventory System. It offers seamless
status monitoring, providing (or potentially
providing) a database for efficient process
supply and automatic re-ordering. The functions
of the Vega Inventory System always
follow the application. Should the supplier
be notified automatically as soon as minimum
stock levels are reached? Is the system
“only” meant to visualise the course of production
cycles reliably across different periods,
locations and media in order to provide
the user with a basis for further action?
Should it “simply” shorten supply chains to
remote bins and allow query data to be utilised
over long distances? Or is it instead
about integrating inventory directly into an
ERP system? The options and possibilities are
many and varied, and they can be added to at
any time. The free choice of network host is
an advantage for security. This task can either
be carried out locally by the users themselves
or transferred to the protected, always up-todate
Vega cloud. “We want to make life easier
for our customers, which is why our
measuring instruments function according
to the principle of simplicity”, Kaspar continues.
The Vega Inventory System stands for
minimum effort and maximum compatibility
– with modularity a top priority.
Future standard
It is anything but easy to network field devices
via digital fieldbuses, such as Profibus
PA or Foundation Fieldbus, and then make
the analysis and evaluation data available to
the control level. Several decades after they
were first introduced, these technologies
have still not succeeded in replacing the
analogue 4 to 20 mA process signal as the
most widely used interface for level and
pressure measurement technology due to
their high complexity and costs. Bluetooth
is a bridging technology that points in the
right direction within this gap. It mediates
between the analogue current interface of a
field device and the Ethernet-based IT networks
that are standard at almost all companies
today. But why have field devices in
the process industry not yet been upgraded
for direct connection to the existing IT infrastructure,
for example with an Ethernet
interface? The existing two-wire technology,
based on the 4 to 20 mA interface, has a
decisive point in its favour here: the
measured value and supply voltage can be
provided simultaneously via just two wires.
In addition, they conform to the “intrinsically
safe” type of protection and are also
explosion-proof for use in hazardous areas.
The new Advanced Physical Layer (APL)
makes a good alternative. Based on industrial
Ethernet technology, this intrinsically
safe, two-wire Ethernet communication
standard will in future be able to handle demanding
applications in process automation.
The idea is to design it for a range
of up to 200 m and a bandwidth of
10 Mbit/s – including the power supply.
Eleven well-known industry partners are
currently involved under the umbrella of
Profibus International, with Vega as well as
the FieldComm and ODVA organisations
among them. Their common goal is to eliminate
the communication bottleneck between
field devices and the control level.
Even if several years elapse before the first
APL devices become available in the market,
if it is possible to radically simplify the setup
and administration of such networks,
this technology has the potential to become
the future standard for process automation.
www.cpp-net.com
Online search: cpp0119vega
AUTHOR:
CLAUDIA HOMBURG
Marketing,
Vega Grieshaber
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