Invensys Announces Evolution of Foxboro I/A Series DCS

 “The new I/A Series system allows users to begin their journey towards real-time business optimization by taking full advantage of their existing automation systems, while preserving their existing investments and lowering their total cost of ownership,” said Rick Morse, vice president, control and safety, Invensys Operations Management.

“These latest offerings-- Intelligent Marshalling, which significantly improves the approach to system implementation and design, and Foxboro Control Software 3.0, which allows users to integrate their plant systems, databases and software applications -- address major phases of system modernization and allow our customers to upgrade at their own pace with minimal disruption. Together they link business processes with production processes, enabling real-time business optimization and creating a fully empowered workforce.”

 

With traditional control systems, field wiring must be sorted out in a marshalling cabinet before it is connected to the main I/O module terminal strips of the DCS panel. It's an inflexible approach that often leads to expensive indirect costs. But because the I/A Series Intelligent Marshalling solution features the Universal Fieldbus Module, says Invensys, a per-channel, configurable I/O module that supports a variety of analog and digital signal types, it eliminates the need for marshalling entirely.

 

“Additional marshalling equipment, field and control side wiring, engineering, documentation and inventory can account for as much as 20 percent of the total project cost,” said Thad Frost, director of fieldbus product management, Invensys Operations Management. “Unlike other control offerings on the market today, with Intelligent Marshalling, each channel is software configurable on a per-point basis, with no extra hardware required. All configurations can be done at the workstation, meaning you can securely configure a point from anywhere in the world. It is a simple, elegant solution that eliminates traditional marshalling panels as we know it.”

 

Designed to simplify engineering efforts and improve the user experience, Foxboro Control Software 3.0 embeds the company's ArchestrA System Platform and Wonderware InTouch HMI within the Foxboro I/A Series system, applying common object technology from process control up to the business system level and out to any third-party system. This allows users to integrate all of their plant devices, systems, databases and software applications. 

 

And the new Foxboro Control Software Simulation 3.0 offering simulates Foxboro Control Software 3.0 applications for rapid, high-quality systems checkout without the need for control hardware. Simulation capabilities include dynamic control of time, alarms and trends using the same configuration files that are used in a live I/A Series DCS. The software also provides an instant interface to the company's SimSci-Esscor DYNSIM, Foxboro FSIM and Triconex TRISIM dynamic simulation engines, which are used to simulate plant operations, behavior and responses in conjunction with the DCS or simulated DCS.