The new TS Series Trunksafe system from MooreHawke provides a method for maintaining continuous communication between a control system and instruments on a Foundation Fieldbus H1 segment. In the event of a failure on a fieldbus segment, Trunksafe makes it possible for the control system to switch immediately and automatically to a redundant path. A Trunksafe segment consists of two TPS200 advanced power conditioners, a fieldbus cable from each power conditioner, and a TS200 fault tolerant device coupler, currently available for a maximum of either 6 or 10 field devices. The power conditioners each feed the parallel, redundant “legs” of fieldbus cable, which meet at the device coupler. When a cable failure in either leg occurs, the system shuts off power to the failed leg, letting the redundant power conditioner keep power to the remaining healthy leg. The control system detects loss of power at the H1 card on the failed leg and automatically switches to its backup H1 card. The Trunksafe system also provides a hard-wired alarm to alert plant operators to the cable fault and LEDs indicate exactly which cable and what type of fault has occurred.
