I would like to know if there is any way to make old (1999) Rosemount work with a new control system. In 1999 we installed a Delta V with several (about 25) FF transmiiters and positioners. Everything was perfect for 15 years when the plant management decide to change to a Foxboro I/A system. We knew that the transmitters' DD Files were valid only for Delta V systems were not valid for our new host system. So we proceeded to contact the transmitters manufacturer (Rosemount) and the DCS manufacturer (Invensys) to get the files we needed. That was about a year ago and we have not received a concrete answer about if is or not possible. We have submitted all the info (Instrument and DD File Revisions, serial numbers, etc.). They only tell us to buy new instrumentation, but this will throw our budget out the window.
In reply to Mike Link:
If the Foxboro A/I system follow the Foundation Fieldbus Host specification, the DD should work on their system. Here is the Foundation Ff to download the DD. Search for the device Manufacturer, type and Rev.
www.fieldbus.org/index.php.
If you still can't find the DD, you maybe able to extract the DD from your DeltaV system and use it. This is only the last resort.
In reply to Tinh Phan:
The company doing the installation (Invensys) and the Emerson local offices tells us that none of those solutions work. They have tried them. Maybe they don't know what they're doing or just simply want to obligate us to buy new instruments (that are working fine, by the way).
In reply to Anonymous:
The problem seems to be the age of the instruments (DD Files and revisions from 1999). It looks like the DD File structure has changed since.
That is what I was thinking. Ff technology has evolved since 1999 with the chipset and the standard from the Foundation Fieldbus.
The 1999 vintage instruments were built to ITK (Interoperability Tool Kit?) 3 or 4, at best. Since these devices are no longer sold in this version (even the 3051 C is registered as ITK 6, the latest version) you will have trouble finding the DD on the fieldbus website. I know (and so do you) that DeltaV is backwards compatible with these devices because they still work with our systems (ours is running 11.3.1 currently, with "M" series 2 H1 cards). So I would be posing this problem to Group Schneider i.e. Invensys - I think it's a good bet that the DD's for the old devices are "already" in their system, just like they would be in a DeltaV system that shipped today.
In reply to John Rezabek:
I agree with John that systems are shipped with DD files for all old devices loaded so there is no need to get more DD files. Getting new DD files is only for new devices that were not yet released when the system was shipped.
Rosemount devices have been tested by Invensys in their interoperability lab and many plants have Invensys systems with Emerson devices
Could they tell us more specifically what the problem is? What is it that they can and cannot do? They can send some screen captures to me: jonas.berge@emerson.com
Could it be they are looking for DTM drivers? I know the Foxboro device management software uses FDT/DTM. DTM programs are typically not installed when the system ships. Anyway, Rosemount provides DTMs.
Side note: DD files for DeltaV are not special, they are standard. What happened in the past is that some systems did not support the "methods" and "conditional" (wizards) features of DD files even though they are part of the standard - and they didn't handle it gracefully... Therefore device vendors provided "scaled down" DD files without wizards and conditionals for such systems. These days thanks to much more rigorous interoperability testing of hosts (host profile registration) systems support DD much better so this problem doesn't happen.
www.fieldbus.org/index.php
Learn more about DD support in old systems in appendix 4 of the lifecycle guide found here:
www.eddl.org/.../DeviceRevisionManagement.aspx
You can access DD for old devices from the FF website. Under “Previous Registrations” see “Previous Revisions” and “Click to view Previous Versions”
Chipsets have changed many times over the years and manufacturers use different chipsets. This doesn’t matter. It doesn’t affect the protocol so they are still compatible.
In reply to Jonas Berge: