Sensor diagnostic HART overlay 4-20mA

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to provide a better understanding of the HART Communication Protocol; its capabilities to enhance communication with smart field devices and the functionalities that a monitoring and asset management system can draw on through the integration of HART field device's data. To this end, an integration approach to enable access to HART field devices is presented in this study. The approach provides a seamless manner to connect the devices to higher-level communication systems which supply the communication path for accessing the HART devices and data from remote locations. In addition to the HART communication protocol, Profibus DP and Ethernet (TCP/IP) protocols were analysed in order to determine the method of integration and select the appropriate components that would meet nowadays industry standards. In this report, an overview of the aforementioned protocols is given; followed by a description of the integration methods, and a depiction of the hardware and software components which constitute the framework of the experimental trials. The experimental work comprised the use of level, pressure and temperature sensors with HART capabilities. These devices were connected to HART-enabled signal conditioners (I/O modules) for transmission of HART data into a Profibus DP communication gateway; which incorporates the data into Profibus telegrams. An Ethernet-Profibus gateway was then utilised to embed the telegrams in Ethernet (TCP/IP) messages and in that way enable access to the HART sensors data through a simple Ethernet network. Furthermore, this study carries out three integration tests where the software applications PACTware, AMS Suite Intelligent Device Manager and TH OPC Server DP are examined. These applications, based on different standard technologies to handle the HART field device’s data, make use of the presented integration approach and provide access to HART data to operators that wish to monitor and manage HART devices from remote locations.