Honeywell releases field device configurator
March 2011
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Software will save operators time by allowing them to manage HART devices from any manufacturer using Honeywell’s handheld device.
Honeywell has introduced field device configurator (FDC), a software application for the MCToolkit handheld configurator device. This new software allows operators to configure and assess the health of HART 5, 6 and 7 instrumentation more easily.
FDC and the MCToolkit help streamline device management for manufacturers as they transition their plant instrumentation from previous HART versions to the most recent versions. The MCToolkit device simultaneously supports this new FDC software as well as previous Honeywell software for configuring units with DE protocol, making this one tool available for many uses.
“Our customers have the challenging task of managing instruments and devices that come from a variety of manufacturers, which can cause headaches with calibration, configuration and monitoring device status,” said Anand Krishna, director of marketing, Honeywell field solutions. “With the new field device configurator application, technician and engineering activities are made easier, more efficient and more productive.”
Technicians and engineers are frequently tasked with operating and maintaining many field instruments from different suppliers and they must also keep track of device description revisions from various manufacturers, which can sometimes be a complex and time consuming chore. FDC simplifies device management by allowing engineers to choose device descriptors and revisions needed, based on the unique requirements.
The FDC further simplifies device management by letting operators customise their handheld device screen menus to find and execute frequently performed tasks. For example, the screen that reports instrument device health can be quickly accessed from the main menu, which helps technicians and engineers make faster diagnostic assessments and take corrective actions. FDC also supports a unique search feature that uses filters and caching to return the desired item instead of requiring the user to navigate through a menu structure. Users can typically reduce the number of steps needed to reach an item by 40%.
For more information contact Debbie Rae, Honeywell Southern Africa, +27 (0)11 695 8000, [email protected], www.honeywell.co.za
Further reading:
EtherCAT interoperability removes industrial networking barriers
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Selecting the right communication technology is one of the most important decisions engineers make, and interoperability helps with that decision. Key development tools and standards ensure interoperability among many EtherCAT devices and manufacturers.
Read more...
Condition monitoring to go
Turck Banner Southern Africa
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Anyone who wants to efficiently monitor the climate in control cabinets will find a comprehensive range of control cabinet monitors for the DIN rail in Turck Banner’s cabinet condition monitoring family.
Read more...
Affordable building management system product range
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Schneider Electric has unveiled its EasyLogic Building Management System range, designed for basic building architectures, to the local marketplace. This is a complete and cost-effective range of field controllers and sensors that are both easy to install and scalable.
Read more...
Flexible EtherCAT communication interface for DALI-2
Beckhoff Automation
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
The EL6821 EtherCAT Terminal from Beckhoff allows up to 64 DALI/DALI-2 slaves and 64 DALI-2 input devices to be connected. The TwinCAT 3 System Manager makes it easy to configure and parameterise DALI devices flexibly.
Read more...
EtherCAT-based control technology for building automation
Beckhoff Automation
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Modern non-residential buildings place many high demands on building automation. This can be optimally implemented with EtherCAT-based control technology from Beckhoff, which provides an efficient central automation architecture thanks to ultra-fast data communication.
Read more...
PC-based control for university studies
Beckhoff Automation
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
The IDEA box developed at Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences is designed to introduce students to the topic of Industry 4.0 in a simple and practical way. At the core of the corresponding demo case is PC-based control from Beckhoff.
Read more...
A new standard in high-speed Ethernet communication
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
The TXMC897 module from TEWS Technologies supports a range of Ethernet standards and speeds, making it suitable for diverse applications, including the defence, industrial, and IIoT markets.
Read more...
Data-driven battery production
Turck Banner Southern Africa
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
The availability of high-performance batteries at moderate prices is one of the most important factors for the success of electromobility. As a long-standing automation partner to the automotive industry, Turck Banner supports the major battery manufacturers with its know-how.
Read more...
Bring critical temperature data to your condition monitoring system
Turck Banner Southern Africa
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Data conversion just got easier. Turck Banner converters are compact, simple add-ons that seamlessly fit into your factory applications. You can take various types of signals such as discrete, analogue and many others, and convert them to protocols like IO-link, PICK-IQ, PWM/PFM, and Modbus.
Read more...
Case History 190: Measurement problem ruins level control.
Michael Brown Control Engineering
Editor's Choice Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
The widely held belief in many plants that tuning will solve all base layer control problems is completely fallacious. Bad tuning is generally not the main reason for loops to perform badly. It is important when performing optimisation that all elements in a loop are considered, in addition to the control strategy, before even thinking of tuning.
Read more...
printer friendly version