Interface module with power over ethernet function

• US 20070019560A1
• Filed: 07/19/2005
• Published: 01/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rosemount Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Rosemount Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Karschnia, Robert, Lattimer, Donald, Brewer, John, Rotvold, Eric, Orth, Kelly, Ostby, Philip
• Granted Patent: US 7,835,295 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/10 Current supply arrangements

Abstract

An interface module for use in a process monitoring and control system has an Ethernet port, a controller, and at least one segment I/O module. The Ethernet port is adapted to send and receive signals in an Ethernet protocol over a cable comprising a plurality of wires and to receive a voltage potential from at least one pair of the plurality of wires. The controller is coupled to the Ethernet port and powered from the received voltage potential. The at least one segment I/O module is coupled to the controller and is adapted to couple to an associated field device segment with at least one attached field device. The at least one segment I/O module is adapted to interact with the at least one attached field device on the associated field device segment.

Claims

1. An interface module for use in a process monitoring or control system comprising:

an Ethernet port adapted to send and receive signals in an Ethernet protocol over a cable comprising a plurality of wires, the Ethernet port adapted to receive a voltage potential from at least one pair of the plurality of wires;

a controller coupled to the Ethernet port and powered from the received voltage potential; and

at least one segment I/O module coupled to the controller and adapted to couple to an associated field device segment with at least one attached field device, the at least one segment I/O module being adapted to interact with the at least one field device on the associated field device segment.

2. The interface module of claim 1 wherein the interface module sends and receives information to and from a monitoring or control center via the Ethernet port.

3. The interface module of claim 1 and further comprising:

a power regulator coupled to the field device segment via the at least one segment I/O module and adapted generate a power signal from the voltage potential, the power regulator adapted to place the power signal onto the associated field device segments.

4. The interface module of claim 3 wherein the voltage potential provides power to the at least one field device attached to the associated field device segment.

5. The interface module of claim 1 wherein the at least one segment I/O module comprises a plurality of segment I/O modules.

6. The interface module of claim 1 further comprising:

one or more network I/O ports adapted to send and to receive data from one or more networks having different communications protocols, each network I/O port coupled to the controller and adapted to communicate with the one or more field devices through the controller.

7. The interface module of claim 6 wherein the controller is adapted to send information from one or more field devices to a control center over the one or more networks according to a signal protocol appropriate for each of the one or more networks.

8. The interface module of claim 7 wherein the interface module is adapted to communicatively couple the Ethernet port and the one or more network I/O ports for exchanging information between a control center of the process control system and the one or more networks.

9. A system for monitoring and controlling an industrial process comprising:

a plurality of field devices coupled to the industrial process;

a control center for monitoring and controlling the industrial process;

an interface module communicatively coupled to the control center via Ethernet cabling and adapted to draw power from a voltage potential on a pair of wires within the Ethernet cabling, the interface module communicatively coupled to the plurality of field devices and adapted to power the plurality of field devices via a field device segment based on the voltage potential.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the interface module comprises:

a controller adapted to process signals received from the control center and from the plurality of field devices, the controller adapted to selectively route information from the plurality of field devices to the controller and from the controller to a selected field device.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the interface module further comprises:

a plurality of I/O modules for coupling the interface module to process control networks of different communication protocols; and

wherein the controller is adapted to translate data between the different communication protocols.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the plurality of I/O modules comprises:

a first I/O module comprising an Ethernet I/O module adapted to communicate with a process control system via an Ethernet protocol; and

a second I/O module comprising a MODBUS I/O module adapted to communicate with a process control network via a MODBUS protocol.

13. The system of claim 9 further comprising:

a power over Ethernet injector coupled between the control center and the interface module and adapted to place a voltage potential on a pair of wires within the Ethernet cabling.

14. The system of claim 9 wherein the interface module comprises:

an Ethernet port adapted to send and receive Ethernet packets over a cable and to receive a voltage potential from one or more wires within the cable.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein each Ethernet packet received from the cable comprises an unique address corresponding to an address of the interface module.

16. An interface module for coupling process control networks to field devices in a process control system, the interface module comprising:

an Ethernet module adapted to send and receive signals to a control center via Ethernet cabling and adapted to receive a voltage potential from the Ethernet cabling;

a controller coupled to the Ethernet module and adapted to produce a field device power from the voltage potential; and

an I/O module coupled to the controller and to a signal bus, the I/O module adapted to deliver the field device power to the signal bus.

17. The interface module of claim 16 wherein the controller comprises:

a processor adapted to perform diagnostics and to process data received from the control center and from one or more field devices coupled to the signal bus; and

a memory adapted to store field device data and information from the control center.

18. The interface module of claim 16 further comprising:

a MODBUS interface module coupled to the controller and adapted to communicate with a control network via a MODBUS protocol, wherein the controller is adapted to translate information between the MODBUS interface module and the Ethernet interface module.

19. The interface module of claim 16 wherein the controller comprises:

a power regulator coupled to the I/O module and adapted to produce the field device power with predetermined voltage and current limits.

20. The interface module of claim 16 wherein the I/O module comprises a 4-20 mA HART®

network I/O module and wherein the signal bus comprises a HART®

device network.

21. The interface module of claim 16 wherein the I/O module comprises a Foundation™

Fieldbus segment I/O module and wherein the signal bus comprises a Fieldbus segment.