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Field Bus Instrumentation Technology Development At Houston, Texas Area Universities And Colleges.

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Conference

2003 Annual Conference

Location

Nashville, Tennessee

Publication Date

June 22, 2003

Start Date

June 22, 2003

End Date

June 25, 2003

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Innovative Teaching/Learning Strategies

Page Count

7

Page Numbers

8.571.1 - 8.571.7

DOI

10.18260/1-2--11480

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/11480

Download Count

387

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Paper Authors

author page

Harry Franz

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Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

FIELD BUS INSTRUMENTATION TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT AT HOUSTON, TEXAS AREA UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES.

Prof. Harry Franz, P.E. 1 University of Houston-Downtown Member ASEE, IEEE, ISA, NSPE

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the Fieldbus foundation grant and development at Lee College, Baytown, Texas and the dissemination of this Fieldbus bus instrumentation technology to the University of Houston-Downtown, Brazosport College, San Jacinto College and other instrumentation technology programs.

Lee College in Baytown Texas has received a National Science Foundation grant to study Fieldbus instrumentation technology and develop courses in Fieldbus instrumentation technology. Lee College, a two-year college, is working with four-year schools in particular, with the University of Houston-Downtown to develop Fieldbus technology at all levels of higher education.

A Fieldbus technology workshop for educators from two-year and four-year colleges, and universities was held at Lee College during August 2001 and July 2002. Both technical and educational aspects were covered in each workshop.

Fieldbus technology networks all devices of an instrumentation system to each other and is truly an advanced distributed control system (DCS). Previous systems were called DCS but were not truly 100% distributed. The single twisted pair bus of the fieldbus system provides both power and information to each device. Because each device has the “smarts” provided by an implanted chip to perform both control and communication, it is possible to use software to choose the location and function of control and process blocks.

The Fieldbus technology system is entirely distributed. For example, PID control could be done at various device locations. Note that the process logic controller (PLC), personal computer (PC), and system software are also linked to the Fieldbus. Hardware devices are added to the Fieldbus using power conditioners and bus terminators.

The setup of each device and tagging is done through software in the PC. Each Fieldbus device has a unique serial number assigned by the manufacturer and a device type number that is assigned through standards, for example those of the fieldbus foundation.

A Fieldbus technology course has been proposed for the University of Houston - Downtown Control and Instrumentation Electronics Design program. The integrating of Fieldbus technology into existing courses has begun and is helping recruit students. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Associate Professor of Control and Instrumentation Electronics Design, Department of Engineering Technology, UH-Downtown, Houston, Texas 77002

Franz, H. (2003, June), Field Bus Instrumentation Technology Development At Houston, Texas Area Universities And Colleges. Paper presented at 2003 Annual Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. 10.18260/1-2--11480

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