Unified communications module (UCM)

Abstract

A fault tolerant control system delivers an embedded functional safety core and a distributed control engine with an onboard communication link in an industrial process control environment. The fault tolerant control system includes a process control workstation connected to a first network and a fault tolerant safety controller connected to a second network, wherein a process controller module, a safety controller module and a field device system integration module are co-located on a power interface board.

Description

Technical field [0001] In process control systems, such as distributed control systems (DCS), fault tolerance enables continued operation in the event of component failure within the system or in the event that the system suffers from transient errors from various sources. One aspect common to fault-tolerant systems involves the concept of redundancy, which can be simply defined as backup components that become operable when a failure occurs, thereby allowing the system to continue operating as expected. Safety instrumented systems (SIS) are known in the art, which are used to continuously operate in a "safe state" by using a fault-tolerant controller to avoid adverse safety and health consequences. Such fault-tolerant controllers are generally used in hazard protection systems (ie, systems that regulate the operation of nuclear power plants, turbines, fire and gas sensing systems, etc.). Background technique [0002] The control components of known fault-tolerant controllers us...

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Problems solved by technology

Various improvements related to minimizing the number of hardware components required to implement a fault-tolerant controller a

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