FDT in Practice
At present, ABB are installing at BASF's site what is believed to be the biggest Profibus system ever used in the field of process engineering throughout the world. This challenging automation project does not only imply the use of modern Profibus technology, but is also the first practical realisation of the new concept for integral engineering of field instruments. A manufacturer-independent interface is used with this: the field device tool (FDT).
In early September 1998, BASF at Ludwigshafen, engaged EB Hartmann & Braun, meanwhile merged into ABB Automation, for automating a new large-size plant for the production of polymer dispersions. ABB use their Symphony/Melody process control system, to which the peripheral field instruments are exclusively connected via Profibus. A total of 15 000 I/O points are connected to the system.
At the process level, the control system consists of 66 central Melody controllers, realised in parts as redundancy units. The brand-new generation of CMC 60 modules allowing for connection of two redundant Profibus DP lines is used. HART-configurable intelligent field instruments are coupled via remote
I/Os in hazardous Zone I and Zone II areas. Using this fieldbus technology considerably reduces the wiring effort. For example, the number of necessary routing units in cabinets is minimised. Important cost savings result from this, without the plant availability known from conventional technology being affected.
A primary goal of this project is to reduce the plant operating and reconfiguration cost. For this purpose, an effective recipe manager is used, and the Symphony system is coupled to the BASF in-house production planning and materials management system through standard integral elements. Another important aspect was to realise a central, consistent engineering concept for the entire plant. This applies especially to the configuration of all Profibus lines and configuration access to all field instruments from a central engineering unit. In order to meet these requirements, the new field device tool (FDT) technology is used for the first time in this BASF project.
The FDT technique has been developed by a workgroup attended by representatives of the process automation companies ABB, EB Hartmann & Braun and Siemens, members of the ZVEI. They focussed on finding a solution for configuring the field instruments and setting their parameters from the engineering tool of a control system, no matter which communication protocol used. On one hand, the focus was on doing away with the need to provide the engineering tool with all instrument details. On the other hand, they wanted to relieve the instrument manufacturers from the duty to adapt the instruments to the respective process control system used. The result is an FDT specification defining interfaces on the basis of the Microsoft ActiveX/COM technology. With this, instrument applications can be integrated into engineering tools or any other configuration tools.
One of these instrument applications - the Device Type Manager (DTP) holds the entire information of the instrument and can be called up from the engineering tool. The DTM comes along with its own user interface which is adapted to the relevant instrument. Through this user interface you can access all instrument functions, fully configure the instrument and set all parameters. Also, the DTM saves its data in the central database of the process control system and communicates with the instrument in the field using the interfaces defined in the FDT specifications. Thus, the DTM does not need any information about the structure and the communication paths of the process control system. Once created, a DTM can be used in any environment as soon as the FDT infrastructure is available. Thanks to the use of the FDT component architecture it is for the first time possible to open the engineering tools for instruments from different manufacturers.
Upon final release the FDT specification will be published officially. Every manufacturer who is interested in doing so can then produce his applications in accordance with these specifications. The FDT technology is a promising approach for universal integration of instruments into different process automation systems and, thus, brings advantages for both instrument and control system manufacturers. ABB Automation actively supports this concept and will very soon equip their Composer engineering tool for Symphony Melody as well as their SMART Vision TM standalone configuration and parameter setting tool with FDT interfaces.
The FDT concept is for the first time used in practice in the BASF polymer dispersion center at BASF. The entire system topology including the field instruments is planned and managed from the Composer. The configuration of the Profibus instruments and of the HART instruments via remote I/Os is also done from the Composer, using the appropriate Device Type Managers, these were first officially prtesented at Interkama 99.
The commissioning of the BASF large plant in spring 2000 demonstrated that the Profibus and the FDT concept work together for the benefit customer. In the end the customer will be able to take advantage of the cost saving potential provided by Profibus and intelligent field instruments.
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