Electricity and Control April 2024

SAFETY OF PLANT, EQUIPMENT + PEOPLE : PRODUCTS + SERVICES

Safe access to field instruments

Towards the close of 2023, Pepperl+Fuchs won recog nition from the South African Flameproof Association when it was presented with a Technical Innovation Award for its Ethernet-APL Rail Field Switch. The South African Flameproof Association is a non-profit organisation and an association of companies involved in explosion pre vention and protection techniques for equipment used in hazardous atmospheres in mining and industry broadly. It has a membership of close to 200 companies which include end users and manufacturers, as well as relevant government bodies and equipment testing houses. The Technical Innovation Award is presented for an innovative product or system designed for use in hazardous areas. Ethernet-APL Ethernet-APL is the ruggedised, two-wire, loop-powered Ethernet physical layer that uses 10BASE-T1L plus ex tensions for installation in the demanding operating con ditions and hazardous areas of process plants. It enables a direct connection of field devices to Ethernet-based systems in a way that process industries can benefit from a convergence of their OT and IT systems. Using a switched architecture eliminates any unwanted interfer ence between devices connected to the same network. Ethernet-APL adopts technologies and options al ready established in the field of process automation. This includes the proven trunk-and-spur topology, enabling it to power up to 50 field devices with up to 500 mW each. Widely used and established cable infrastructures are specified to support the migration in brownfield installa tions to Ethernet-APL. Ethernet-APL Rail Field Switch – first of its kind The Ethernet-APL rail field switch is the first switch combining current communications technologies with Ethernet-APL – enabling IIoT applications in real time

The Ethernet-APL rail field switch, combining communications technologies with Ethernet-APL, enables IIoT access to field instrumentation in hazardous areas. in hazardous areas. It allows users in process plants to deploy Ethernet beyond the control room throughout the plant for the first time. The field switch provides seamless, transparent and simultaneous access to field instrumentation. It enables entirely new applications and therefore new work processes for users and how they work with instrumentation and other devices installed in the field of process plants. This brings digital communication via two-wire Ether net into the field of process plants and allows for easy implementation of IIoT in process automation applica tions. All parties involved, from the planner to the user to the maintenance personnel, are thus able to reduce risks and increase safety, quality and yield. The Ethernet-APL rail field switch is well suited to com pact plant layouts. In addition to the performance features for IIot applications, it provides all the features typical for FieldConnex and the simple mounting of fieldbus instal lations, including: robustness, a wide temperature range, suitability for use in hazardous areas and explosion pro tection with intrinsic safety / Ex ic IIC or Ex ia IIC. For Pepperl+Fuchs, this award from the South African Flameproof Association endorses its commitment to rev olutionising data transmission in hazardous areas. always be the common denominator. “Research has shown us that it is not humanly possible to stare at a screen for 12 hours and still pick up anomalies. These are better identified by intelligence that doesn’t tire, where there’s no fatigue. That is where AI comes in. It pro vides the intelligence that empowers staff to work effective ly. We are taking well-educated, capable and competent people and enabling them to work smarter,” he says. As an example, Steyn says, a security guard, a few years ago, would have walked around the perimeter of an industrial site randomly looking for potential breaches. Today, technology can flag a potential threat, identify the threat level, and thus inform the guard to respond accord ingly, without putting anyone’s life in danger. Furthermore, data is not limited to security and the in stallation of CCTV cameras. Control rooms today can be the interface for a range of different technologies that Continued on page 25 For more information visit: www.pepperl-fuchs.co.za

New age control centres

In the age of the fourth industrial revolution, control rooms will be the nerve centres that ensure safety, protect critical infrastructure and assets and ensure efficiency and quality. However, while they will rely on technologies like the inter

The interior of a control room recently installed by IntelliSEC.

net of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI), it is important to design environments that look after people, says Denzil Steyn, Managing Director of IntelliSEC. IntelliSEC is an installer and integrator of intelligent site management and security systems, but Steyn emphasis es that although technology is a valuable enabler, people will

24 Electricity + Control APRIL 2024