Method and arrangement for monitoring a transmission medium
AssigneeSiemens Aktiengesellschaft
InventorKurt Polzer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Field devices are commonly used in unprotected environments, which means that these field devices and the conductor pairs connecting the field devices to the input modules/output modules of an automation installation are exposed to significant climatic and environmental factors. These factors have a detrimental effect on the transmission quality of the signals to be transferred between field devices and modules, which may result in erroneous measurements and dangerous operating states during control of a technical process. Measures to simplify monitoring of the transmission medium are proposed.
Claims11
A method for monitoring a transmission medium, via which a first device can be connected to a second device, comprising:
- transferring an analog current measurement signal representing a measured value over the transmission medium, the value transferred from the first device to the second device;
- transferring a digital communications signal representing the measured value over the transmission medium, the value transferred from the first device to the second device;
- and
- comparing the values of the analog and the digital signals,
- wherein the digital communications signal is superimposed on the current measurement signal.
An transmission medium monitoring system, comprising:
- a first device;
- a second device connected to the first device via the transmission medium;
- and
- an analog current measurement signal and a digital communications signal superimposed on the current measurement signal transferred via the transmission medium,
- wherein in order to monitor the transmission medium the first device transfers to the second device a value via the current measurement signal and the value via the digital communications signal,
- wherein the second device determines the values from the current measurement signal and the communications signal, and
- wherein the values of the analog and digital signals are compared.
A first device for monitoring a transmission medium, the first device connected to second device via the transmission medium, the first device comprising:
- an analog current measurement signal and a digital communications signal superimposed on the current measurement signal transferred to the first device via the transmission medium;
- a value transferred via the current measurement signal and the value transferred via the digital communications signal;
- and
- a comparator that compares the values of the analog and digital signals.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.