P+F: Redefining intrinsic safety

The chance to hear about some of the latest connectivity solutions for process automation attracted a 150 plus crowd to Pepperl+Fuchs one-day seminar in Singapore on May 15. As well as a series of presentations from Thomas Klatt, Business Development Manager, Fieldbus Systems, who flew in from P+F headquarters in Mannheim, Germany, to be at the event, a number of demonstration booths allowed delegates to get a closer look at the workings of P+F products.

In addition to discussing basic intrinsic safety concepts and some of the latest innovations, Thomas Klatt took at look back at some of the highlights in the company’s fieldbus product evolution, including the first intrinsically safe power supply, FISCO fieldbus system structure, High Power Trunk, and Advanced Diagnostic Module.

And one of these innovations goes by the name of DART (Dynamic Arc Recognition and Termination), which allows for a “dramatic” increase in available power in the explosion hazardous area while maintaining intrinsically safe energy levels. Following development of what Klatt called a “new philosophy” of intrinsic safety, the first products are expected in some 18 months time.

DART Power and DART Fieldbus are the two versions of DART currently under development. DART Power is designed for point-to-point connections and a maximum energy of 50 W on 100 m cable; DART Fieldbus is optimized for maximum cable length and enables up to 20 fieldbus instruments to be connected per segment.

And with much attention in the process industry on new wireless development, the audience was keen to hear Klatt’s segment on WirelessHART, which is the first developed network standard for wireless devices.

The key elements of WirelessHART, said Klatt, are the mesh network, the central network manager, frequency hopping, and synchronization through time division multiple access (TDMA). Pepperl+Fuchs plans to launch its first WirelessHART products – gateways and adapters – in 2009.