The Foxboro Automation (www.foxboro.com) unit of Invensys Process Systems, today announced that it has extended its popular family of "plug in" DCS migration modules with a new generation of Honeywell migration products. These new modules enable Honeywell users to upgrade their aging TDC 2000 systems to the latest I/A Series automation technology and modern HART field communications without having to replace existing field wiring, termination assemblies, system enclosures, or power supplies.
The new I/A Series migration modules are an exact physical replacement for the existing TDC 2000 input/output (I/O) modules and plug right into the existing system enclosures with no I/O mapping issues. This migration approach is more cost-effective than a complete system replacement and - with careful upfront planning - reduces associated process downtime from weeks or even months, to a day or less. This can dramatically minimize lost production.
"In addition to providing a well-proven approach for upgrading obsolete control systems to the latest I/A Series process control, HMI, asset management, and real-time information capabilities and our award-winning mesh control network backbone, our new plug-in migration modules for TDC 2000 systems provide additional new functionality through support for both conventional 4 to 20 mA and HART digital field communications. This provides users with the option to selectively upgrade their field instrumentation to the latest HART devices at any time," said Betty Naylor-McDevitt, marketing director of the Foxboro Automation unit of Invensys Process Systems.
According to Rod Wetsch, Project Manager at the Dakota Gasification Great Plains Synfuels Plant located in Beulah, North Dakota, which is well along in a five-year modernization program under which the legacy Honeywell and Bailey control systems are being gradually migrated to advanced I/A Series automation technology, "The Foxboro plug-in migration modules saved us an enormous number of man hours and minimized our downtime. The new HART functionality is important to us because we can now pull all the information from our HART field devices into our plantwide I/A Series control system for diagnostics and maintenance, something that was not possible with our old systems."
Using this well-proven plug in migration approach, Invensys has already helped more than 500 customers around the world upgrade their legacy Honeywell TDC2000 and TDC3000, Bailey NET 90 and INFI 90, Fisher PROVOX S10 and S20, Westinghouse WDPF, Siemens Moore APACS, and Foxboro SPECTRUM and SPEC 200 systems to advanced Foxboro I/A Series technology.
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