I am looking into the possibility of expanding my DeltaV network to two different remote locations (2-3 miles) from my current facility and DeltaV network.
I currently have PLCs controlling the process at the remote sites.
The current communication link between one site PLC and my DeltaV controller is over a serial modem telephone line.
The local phone company has a fiber-optic link available that could replace the serial modem line, for a price, but would it work?
The other uses a serial RTU radio link between the DeltaV controller and the PLC.
I would like to replace the PLCs (they are getting very old) with DeltaV controllers and integrate these remote sites into my DeltaV system to gain the same functionality as I have at my central facility.
I have looked at the new PK controller and like they would at least have the same control functionality as my current DeltaV network, but ideally, I would like to have one large distributed network.
I was curious to see what others had done for similar situations and if it is even feasible to accomplish.
Thanks for your advice.
I have done this installation & yes it will work. You will need a set of primary & secondary switches on both ends. Also as long as the controllers associated I/O are on the same side of the fiber link, in the event you lose both primary & secondary fiber connections, control will maintain. I recommend putting an operator station on the other end as well for monitoring in the event the fiber connection for primary & secondary was compromised. The only issue we found post installation was we took a scheduled maintenance outage on the fiber link (remote site pri/sec disconnected) for testing, we rebooted a workstation & while both links were down, we were unable to authenticate a login to the domain controller. We also could not see any historical data in PHV (on the app station - historian) or event chronicle data (on the proplus) and it did not log because the proplus & the appstation were on "home" end. We enabled history collection on the local operator station for data collection. Hope this helps in your planning. Also depending on the length, make sure you have the proper port types on the switches to match your fiber type.
Maybe it's worth mentioning that in order to get support by Emerson, you'll need to use the components listed here: www.emerson.com/.../deltav-control-network-hardware-en-57648.pdf - "To be supported by Emerson, the DeltaV Control Network must be installed using the network equipment listed in this document."
In reply to Jason.Brumfield: