Field device with high speed communication
AssigneeSchneider Electric USA, Inc.
InventorLarry K. Brown
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system is provided to conduct communication in a facility with equipment in hazardous and safe areas. The system includes at least one field device in a hazardous area of the facility; one or more controllers, located in a safe area of the facility, for managing the at least one field device; and a field barrier, between the safe and hazardous areas, to limit at least electrical energy, which is supplied to the at least one device, at or below an electrical energy threshold in the hazardous area. The system also includes a bus system to supply electrical energy across the field barrier to the at least one field device using electrical wiring and to enable communication between the at least one field device and the one or more controllers across the field barrier using one or more fiber optic cables.
Claims20
A system for conducting communication in a facility with equipment in hazardous and safe areas, comprising:
- at least one field device in a hazardous area of the facility;
- one or more controllers, located in a safe area of the facility, for managing the at least one field device;
- a field barrier, between the safe and hazardous areas, to limit at least electrical energy, which is supplied to the at least one field device, at or below an electrical energy threshold in the hazardous area;
- and
- a bus system to supply electrical energy across the field barrier to the at least one field device using electrical wiring and to enable communication between the at least one field device and the one or more controllers across the field barrier using one or more fiber optic cables, the at least one field device being configured to perform fiber optic communication across the one or more fiber optic cables of the bus system.
A method of conducting communication in a facility with equipment in hazardous and safe areas, comprising:
- providing at least one field device in a hazardous area of the facility;
- managing the at least one field device using one or more controllers located in a safe area of the facility;
- limiting electrical energy, which is supplied to the at least one field device, at or below an electrical energy threshold in the hazardous area using a field barrier, between the safe and hazardous areas;
- and
- supplying electrical energy across the field barrier to the at least one field device using electrical wiring of a bus system and enabling communication between the at least one field device and the one or more controllers across the field barrier using one or more fiber optic cables of the bus system, the at least one field device being configured to perform fiber optic communication across the one or more fiber optic cables of the bus system.
A tangible computer-readable medium storing computer executable code, which when executed by one or more processors, is configured to implement a method of conducting communication in a facility with equipment in hazardous and safe areas in which electrical energy, which is supplied to at least one field device, is limited at or below an electrical energy threshold in the hazardous area using a field barrier, between the safe and hazardous areas, the method comprising:
- managing the at least one field device in the hazardous area of the facility from a safe area of the facility;
- and
- controlling supply of electrical energy across the field barrier to the at least one field device using electrical wiring of a bus system and controlling communication between the at least one field device and the one or more controllers across the field barrier over one or more fiber optic cables of the bus system, the at least one field device being configured to perform fiber optic communication across the one or more fiber optic cables of the bus system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.