Category Archives: Process

Process Infrastructure – Ethernet HART Multiplexer

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Process infrastructure is one of the most critical parts of a refinery plant or offshore platform. The topology of modern process infrastructure includes FOUNDATION Fieldbus, Profibus PA, WirelessHart and HART Multiplexer etc.

HART (Highway Addressable Remote Transducer) is the most broadly supported protocol in the world for process industry as there are 40 Million HART devices being installed worldwide. But according to records, only 10% of these HART devices are connect to HART compatible control systems. End user should expand the use of HART devices in order to perform specialized operations like:

  • Asset Management
  • Predictive Maintenance
  • Data Logging
  • Partial-stroke Testing

Benefits of HART

Problems of Conventional Serial HART Multiplexers:

  • Slow scanning time due to large quantities of I/Os in the network
  • Limitation of RS485’s transmission speed
  • Work based on “Master and Slave” principle

Above are some of the challenges faced when using a conventional RS485 Hart Multiplexer and they will become worse if there are more than 1000 devices. Ethernet Multiplexer can solve this problem as featured below.

Fig 1: Ethernet Hart Multiplexer

Fig 1: Ethernet Hart Multiplexer

Ethernet Multiplexer Features and Benefits:

  • Works with existing standard IP infrastructure
  • Supports higher communication speed up to 1GB/s
  • Easy integration into Ethernet based Host system without additional conversion
  • Provides faster start up and device configuration
  • Flexibility in network design like redundant Ethernet
Fig 2: Hart IP Network Overview

Fig 2: Hart IP Network Overview

If you need any technical advice on your current project, feel free to contact us. I believe we can be your trusted partner to provide suitable solutions to fit your applications!

System Cabling Solution for Process Industry

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One of the challenges which panel builders in the process industry face would be space saving on control cabinets. Many Process retrofitting jobs require panel builders to ensure the quantity of cabinets remain even though additional I/O’s are added. System cabling is one of the best solutions to save space in control cabinets.  One of our panel builders solved their problems by replacing terminal blocks with our VARIOFACE Interface Module for the project.

Problems:

  • Additional 150 I/O’s on current system
  • Additional Controller Module
  • Cabinet Quantities need to be remained

After going through the product technical information, panel builder engineers decided to replace most of the signals with our VIP Interface Module due to space constraints. There are a total of 115 units of VIP-3/SC/D37SUB/F installed in this project. Photos of the panel are shown below.

Control Cabinet

Fig 1: Control Cabinet

VIP Interface Board

Fig 2: VIP Interface Board

Features of Interface Module:

  • Compact design of control cabinet space
  • I/O marking for field wiring clearly identified
  • Flexible marking of modules
  • Metal mounting foot allows for easy installation and removal on din-rail
  • Allows flexible module mounting positions

In addition to the space saving advantage, the site engineer shared that it is also time saving and fault free during the wiring termination. When the panels are delivered, the end user saves valuable time when installing and troubleshooting

If you need any technical advice on your current project, feel free to contact us. I believe we can be your trusted partner to provide suitable solution to fit your application!

Importance of choosing the right PCB enclosure

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What is considered important when it comes to choosing the right PCB enclosure. Let us guide you through the process.

Price? Style? Service & support? Reputation of the supplier?

In the matter of fact, all of above are essential. The engineers should select the enclosure at first and then choice the mechanical & electronic components to suit the enclosure.
We need to consider

Material
The 3 common plastic enclosures are ABS, Polycarbonate, Polyester which are high functionality, light weight, flexible in design.

The Ingress Protection
The ingress protection classification DIN EN 60529 determines and rates protection against solid particle (e.g. dust) as well as liquid incursion.

The letters IP (ingress protection) is followed by a two-digit number; the first digit indicates the level of Solid particle protection and the second digit indicate Liquid ingress protection. IP Code

Environmental Considerations
How the enclosure will last over many years of operation depends on how well you evaluate the environmental impact of elements such as UV rays, temperature, airborne debris, etc.
Different materials offer varying degrees of impact resistance.

Dimensions
The internal and external dimensions of a PCB enclosure is extremely important. Sadly, in many cases, the PCB is chosen first and this makes it difficult for the engineer to source the best fit enclosure solution.

Modification of Standard Enclosures
The enclosure supplier may need to support modifications with value-added services that include drilling, milling, printing, color, etc. Some suppliers can even provide advance services like fitting membrane keypads, displays on the enclosure, etc as a complete solution.

Ease of Assembly
A complex PCB design may make it difficult to assemble electronic and mechanical components in the enclosure, which make is an important point to consider when selecting an enclosure.

Range of PCB Enclosure

Check out Phoenix Contact’s range of enclosures here

We, at Phoenix Contact, understand your problems and offer a wide range of options for shape, color, and function when it comes to choosing the right enclosure. Whether on a wall or on a DIN rail, from light gray to sky blue, narrow or wide, many many to choose from. With the two new enclosures, Universal case system (UCS)  and Environment case system (ECS) added into the selection, it is much easier to choose your enclosure.

Please view the Enclosure brochure.

Want to find out more? Feel free to contact us at marketing@phoenixcontact.com.sg!

Refineries of The Future – IIOT for Oil and Gas

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The Industrial Internet of Things, or IIOT, is revolutionising the way industries do businesses. Firms have to embrace automation and new technologies in order to keep up with a dynamic globalised environment.

By adopting IIOT at an early stage, it prevents a firm from lagging behind its competitors. Late adopters may see a rise in installation costs to implement these new technologies.

Current Practices are Outdated

From an industrial standpoint, many oil & gas refineries are still utilising traditional data analytics such as spreadsheets to analyse processes, as well as relying on past data to make operational decisions.

Refineries store millions of databases and thus it becomes a challenge for engineers to extract information from a cesspool of data. Additionally, for the sake of organising data, the organization may make use of foreign information systems that are not user-friendly.

As a result, refineries are considered to be data-rich but in hindsight, information-poor.

Process Plant

Using traditional data analytics, engineers often find themselves stranded with missing data. Typically, one would rely on past experiences to solve their engineering woes and make “informed decisions.” Just ask any engineer working in a refinery and they might just confess to using this prehistoric technique!

Refineries of The Future need to change how they organise data.

IIOT can help engineers analyse and compare their data in real-time. Vital parameters such as the temperature of a heat exchanger, flow rate of a valve or pressure of a pump can be monitored on the spot.

Advanced data analytics can perform audits and identify data correlation among statistics. If a deviation of results were to occur, the engineers will be notified immediately, in real-time. For instance, it is common for an instrument’s pressure reading to fluctuate. This could also be due to ordinary circumstances such as a spike in production. However, emergency situations such as pipe leakages could also cause abnormally low pressure readings. 

Engineers are able to justify these values with predictive analytics and thus determine the root cause.

Easier Said than Done

Adopting new technology is not without its challenges. In order for all the varying hardware to get connected, it has to comply with a single universal format that allows data to be unified. This might be expensive if you intend to hook up existing hardware to new technologies that may not be compatible.

PICS for Oil & Gas

How can PICS help?

With Phoenix Contact’s revolutionary IIOT Connectivity Solution (PICS), we eliminate the hassle of consolidating hardware with new technology. Furthermore, get everything assembled within seconds!

PICS combines new technology to drive your controllers and sensors and affixes them with your legacy equipment. This enables compatibility with our software, so that you can read your data the way you want it.

Who says IIOT technology needs to be expensive and complicated?

With PICS, you’ll have the ability to convert your backward refineries into Smart Refineries of tomorrow.

Don’t believe us? Request a free trial of PICS by leaving us an email at marketing@phoenixcontact.com.sg and experience what IIOT can do for your company today!

Electrical Safety Starts from the Connector

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High Voltage WarningDo you know one common challenge for devices used in areas such as filter and inductor construction, energy distribution and power supply production is Electrical Safety i.e. how to lead the high power through the panel wall safety.

Finding the right wall feed-through terminal block to address electrical safety is a challenge as there are not many suitable solutions for high current and large wire cross-section. It is also unlikely that the manufacturers  will choose the feed-through terminal blocks as early as the design stage. This often leads to manufacturers designing their customized solutions out of sheer necessity; thus resulting in problems such as maintaining touch protection or insulating the current bar from the device housing.

The device manufacturers may also face problem obtaining the necessary certification for their devices. If the device is to be used worldwide, IEC 61800-5-1 and UL 1059 certifications are required. Many solutions in the market are unfortunately not adequately certified.

High Current Feed-through Terminal Blocks

Phoenix Contact offers an extensive range of high-current feed-through terminal blocks for various applications. You can find both pluggable feed-through terminal blocks and feed-through terminal blocks for permanent connections. The pluggable feed-through terminal blocks permit quick replacement and are thus service-friendly. In addition, the conductors can be preassembled. However, feed-through terminal blocks for permanent connections are more economical.

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Do you know Phoenix Contact has been providing these feed-through terminal blocks for almost three decades?

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Device manufacturers can choose the connection option to fit the application: fast push-in connectors, T-lox, conventional screw connectors, or simple bolt connectors. The connection areas range from 4 to 150 mm2 and the current-carrying capacity is up to 309 A.

These connectors come in standard and moulded designs, either with horizontal or vertical connection directions. The moulded version ensures high leakage resistance, even when a small amount of moulding compound is used. The product range provides various connection options for space-saving connections in all installation locations. This means that device manufacturers can flexibly select the connection type, direction, and cross section.

Interested to find out more? Get in touch with us at marketing@phoenixcontact.com.sg!

Safety is by Choice, Not by Chance.

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Phoenix Contact's Safety RelaysAre you selecting a safety relay just to meet the SIL3 requirements?

Who will be responsible for conducting the Proof Test to ensure it is still safety relays are still safe to use?

Which is critical? Safety relays without diagnostics or the Safety relays with diagnostics?

Safety is a Choice, Not by Chance

The graphics below explains the functional principle of the force guided /positive driven contacts in the event of a welded contacts and that’s where the normally closed contacts come into action to provide feedback to inform the system of the failure in relay contacts.

In this case when the relay is de-energized, the normally closed contact cannot close properly having a gap of 0.5mm.

Animation of how Force-guided relays work

Click the image to see the animation of how Force-guided relays work

Safety relays for ESD-Emergency Shut-Down Systems should have:

1) Force guided relay enables a feedback path just in case of welded contacts and eliminates the need for simplifies Proof Testing. (ESD-Emergency Shut Down and F&G-Fire & Gas systems)

Emergency Shut Down System Circuit

Emergency Shut Down System Circuit

Safety relays for F&G-Fire & Gas Systems should have:

The diagram below shows connection details for a safety relay used by Fire & Gas Systems. The Fire & Gas System is always on standby mode and it becomes more important to have multiple diagnostics to make sure the Fire and Gas System Safety Relay is still functional and all wirings are connected.

Fire & Gas System

Fire & Gas System

  1. Diagnostics for lost power input to field devices: Beacons, Solenoid Valves, Fire Alarm Bell.
  2. Field devices disconnection diagnostics.
  3. Short circuit field device diagnostics.
  4. Diagnostics for any welded contacts.
  5. Proof Test points (TP1, TP2, TP3) without the use of external power.
  6. All diagnostics via the same cable (A1,A2) by the use of test pulse filtering.
  7. Option for redundant connection (A1’, A2’).

If you have sales enquires to know more about this product, please feel free to send us an enquiry at marketing@phoenixcontact.com.sg and a sales visit can be arranged to discuss in more detail.

Cost Savings Through Optimising Space Usage

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Trying to save cost by using less cabinets or smaller junction boxes in order to better optimize your plant in terms of space as well as maximized the energy and cabling installation cost for signal conditioning?

Phoenix Contact MACX Phoenix Contact Mini Analog Pro

Phoenix Contact’s MACX / MINI Analog is your solution.

Phoenix Contact has an Innovative way to maximized space, wiring installation and energy cost for better return of your plant investments.

First and foremost, Phoenix Contact has…

Slimmest worldwide with width of 12.5 mm
User Benefit: Space saving in the cabinet up to 30% space

MACX Space saving

Lower power consumption using Low loss Technology (Patented)

User Benefit: Longer operational lifetime of the devices and less ventilation of the cabinet required resulting in savings in energy cost.

Mini Analog Pro Heat Signature

Mini Analog Pro Heat Signature

Power bridging from “bottom”

User Benefit: Reduced wiring for power distribution, fast installation, hot-swap replacement, expansion-options by bridging and saves time and money!

Conventional Daisy Chain Power Distribution

Conventional Daisy Chain

Conventional Daisy Chain

Power Bridging using T-BUS connector and Supply Module

T-BUS on DIN RAIL        MACX T-BUS

MACX Supply and Error Message

From highly compact 12.5 mm signal conditioners and functionally safe signal conditioners to signal isolators for intrinsically safe circuits in hazardous areas, Phoenix Contact signal conditioner range offers a solution for all applications in Analog signal conditioning.

User Advantages:

  • Space savings in the cabinet up to 30% space.
  • Longer operational lifetime of the devices and less ventilation of the cabinet required resulting in savings in energy cost.
  • Reduced wiring for power distribution, fast installation, hot-swap replacement, expansion-options by bridging and saves time and money!

 If you would like to know more about this product, please feel free to send us an enquiry at marketing@phoenixcontact.com.sg and a road show can be arranged to discuss in more detail with your team.