Application of Foundation ® Fieldbus Communications for Level Measurement

The purpose of this paper is to provide a discussion of the use of Foundation ® Fieldbus data communications for level measurement in a control system for a new chemical facility. A Freelance 2000 ® Distributive Control System (DCS) as manufactured by Asea Brown Boveri Ltd. (ABB) was provided for the control system. The ABB Freelance 2000 ® is a scaleable control system that utilizes open fieldbuses such as Foundation ® Fieldbus. Foundation ® Fieldbus is an open interoperable fieldbus governed by the International Standards Organization´s Open System Interconnect (OSI) model. The OSI model provides standards that define open data communications systems. Design features of Foundation ® Fieldbus that were considered for its use on this project were reduced wiring costs, provisions for future expansion with minimal costs, flexibility of software and hardware use by different suppliers, and increased accuracy of the level measurement.