Foxboro Automation Systems has introduced two new high-performance, optionally redundant/fault-tolerant controllers for Invensys' flagship automation platform - the I/A Series system. The new I/A Series ZCP270 controller is designed to fit in existing I/A Series mounting structures in rack rooms and can support up to 120 remote-mounted fieldbus (I/O) modules. The rugged FCP270 field-mounted controller is designed to fit in dedicated slots on field-mounted baseplates adjacent to the fieldbus (I/O) modules.
These baseplates can be located in sealed enclosures close to the process. Each FCP270 controller can support up to 32 fieldbus modules. Both controllers connect to the high-availability/high-performance (1 Gbps between switches) I/A Series process control network via standard fibre-optic 100 Mbps Ethernet. Both controllers utilise Foxboro's well-proven integrated (regulatory, logic, sequential) control package.
The new controllers and related system offer GPS time stamping, with 1 ms accuracy, availability for alarm messages, historian values, and new sequence of events (SOE) and transient data analysis (TDA) features. Discrete SOE data are time-stamped and sent to the workstation on a change basis. Analog TDA points are time stamped and sent to the workstation every 10 ms.
Additional features include, on-line software upgrades in both simplex and high-availability, redundant/fault-tolerant configurations, twice the application performance of previous I/A Series controllers to support even more sophisticated unit or plantwide control strategies, and enhanced support for PLCs and other third-party Ethernet- and serial-connected devices that communicate via Modbus, ControlLogix, OPC, or other protocols.
The new ZCP270 rack room controller supports relatively centralised control strategies in a highly secure manner, while the new field-mounted FCP270 controller supports highly distributed field-based control.
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