From field device diagnostics to plant and process monitoring

Abstract

Field measurement devices are increasingly equipped with diagnostic functions in order to achieve a high degree of reliability through a wide test coverage. However, these diagnostic functions not only detect faults in the field device itself, but can also generate information about the environment of the field device, . In doing so, the operating principles and technologies of the respective measurement technology are used for this type of monitoring. This paper describes how field devices e.g. for level and for flow measurement are enabled with this new capability and how extended diagnostic functionality can be used for device verification with enhanced test coverage, e.g. to reduce the need for calibration of the field devices.