Smart IOs are Gaining Momentum
Published on : Tuesday 05-11-2019
With the advent of Electronic Marshalling it shall be possible to procure the IO cards as per project schedule and commence the assignment of IO channels at a much later stage once the field wiring is complete, says PSP Rao.
Smart IOs are marketed by most of the leading control system vendors as enhanced products, e.g., Charms IO from Emerson, N-IO or Network IO from Yokogawa, Universal IO from Honeywell, and Flex IO from Schneider. These products have different architectures but the core idea is to have a redundant I/O bus connected to base plates or carriers on which hardware configurable IO channel can be installed. The carrier can handle all types of IO signals with built-in signal conditioners. Thus different IO cards per signal type are no more required. The field signal types (Analog or Digital) can be combined in the multi-pair cables and wired on the terminals on the carriers. Each IO being configurable, the need for cross wiring is eliminated and thus eliminating the requirement for conventional marshalling cabinets. The cabinets with such Smart IOs are called Electronic Marshalling.
Electronic marshalling makes design easier
The main issue in the system design is the delay in reliable information for tag assignment to cards and the changes in field wiring. With the advent of Electronic marshalling it shall be possible to procure the IO cards as per project schedule and commence the assignment of IO channels at a much later stage once the field wiring is complete. This activity can be also be extended at site for late project changes. The cabinets can be manufactured with a standard design and high density, minimising the procurement, approval, assembly and testing time.
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The activity of IO assignment and development of control strategy can be carried out independently.
It also allows for optimising the count of spares in terms of Installed spares and inventory.
Smart Junction Boxes – Reduction of Cabling from Field to Rack room
The Smart IOs can also be installed in field Junction Boxes. These Junction boxes shall replace the marshalling cabinets completely. These shall be connected to the Controllers in the rack room via fibre optic cables, thus completely eliminating the multi-core cables, cable trays, tray supports so on, with the addition of power cables to junction boxes. The elimination of marshalling cabinets thus reduces the size of rack rooms which in some cases are blast proof.
The maximum number of signals connected to such Smart JBs is dependent on the each vendor’s architecture and the site ambient conditions. Higher the ambient temperature lower is the number of signals in the Smart Junction Box. Typically Desert conditions limit the maximum number of signals connected to the Junction Box to around 40 else it could be as high as 96 IOs based on the selected vendor design.
Smart Commissioning
Smart IOs also aid in the commissioning activities. Some vendors have new tools that can independently verify the Instrument configuration via HART and compare with the System database helping to resolve commissioning issues by exception.
Thus the use of smart IOs has multiple benefits that could be used at different stages of the project execution.
Virtualisation and Cloud Computing – Finding application in Automation systems
Virtualisation has benefitted project execution in recent times where the complete development and testing of the System can be carried out without the target server hardware benefitting the project with extended freeze dates, reduced facility foot print, remote management and remote FAT.
Smart use of Smart IOs and Virtualisation brings lot of benefits to automation projects.
PSP Rao is Joint Managing Director (Operations), Tecnimont Private Limited, responsible for managing a team of over 1200+ technical staff, and strengthening the engineering tools through to implementing new work methodologies. His responsibilities include engineering, resource scheduling and department budget management, and recommending and implementing improvements and efficiencies; Rao is also coordinating engineering efforts between different engineering centres in Europe, and is responsible for planning for Engineering, Procurement activities and reviewing construction activities, ensuring compliance with quality standards.
