The Simatic ET 200iSP distributed system closes a gap in the distributed automation of process plants: new fail-safe modules expand the application possibilities of the I/O system to hazardous areas 1 and 21.

Safety and especially intrinsic safety play a major role in the process industry. Especially in industries such as the chemical, petrochemical, and oil and gas industries, there are often areas with an explosion hazard due to possible highly inflammable or explosive conditions. At the same time, however, users also want to integrate these areas – including the safety technology – into the control level through distributed I/O systems.

The Simatic ET 200iSP system supports any combination of safe modules and standard modules as well as configurations with flexible modular redundancy (Photo: Siemens AG)

Closing the safety gaps

Until now, no appropriate intrinsically safe systems were available for this requirement. The Simatic ET 200iSP I/O system closes this gap. It is suitable for installation in explosive environments up to hazardous areas 1 and 21, and actuators and sensors can even be installed in area 0 or 20. Standard modules and safety modules can be combined as needed within an ET 200iSP system.

Independent of the hardware used (standard or fail-safe), the engineering is performed centrally in an engineering station with Step 7. TÜV-certified components are available for the fail-safe modules. The I/O system communicates uniformly via Profibus, and in the intrinsically safe area via Profibus PA. Safe and standard communication take place on one cable. There is no need for the additional Ex barriers that are otherwise usually required. Line diagnosis is also integrated directly into the system, so no additional monitoring inputs are required either. All messages relating to line and module diagnostics can easily be integrated into the alarm management of Simatic PCS 7.

Distributed and inexpensive

With the new fail-safe modules, safety-relevant applications such as ESD (emergency shutdown), boiler protection, and fire&gas systems can be set up in a decentralized manner even in areas with an explosion hazard. The integration of the barriers into the system simplifies not only the setup but also the implementation and verification of the safety functions. All these advantages, together with the distributed and compact structure of the ET 200iSP, simplify and reduce the costs of engineering and wiring the plant, easily and efficiently closing the gap in distributed automation.

Simatic ET 200iSP

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