Eurotherm have introduced an advanced new communications feature to its Series 5000 Data Acquisition Products. This will allow process data from multiple linked plant instruments, including temperature controllers, programmable controllers and other devices, to be displayed and recorded at a central location. Using standard Ethernet modbus/TCP and serial modbus/RTU connections, any Series 5000 recorder with the Master Communications feature will be able to read/write, log and display data from up to 16 slave instruments.

Eurotherm say that this is the first time that the company's data acquisition products have had this type of master data communications feature, and it will open up many new application areas for the highly successful Series 5000 family. Master Comms will, for instance, allow full control system integration in heat treatment systems based on interconnected PID temperature controllers, new control functionality to be added to existing 'legacy' systems without extensive modification, or more generally, increased system I/O without heavy investment or downtime. In addition, the 5000 Series are designed for compliance with 21 CFR Part 11 and the unit can be used as a Master device to assist in the FDA validation of plant legacy equipment.

The 5000 Series also provide 'Talk Through' communication. This will allow serially connected instruments to be configured over the Ethernet link, using the Master Series 5000 recorder (including both blind and display versions) as the gateway. As the system uses Modbus, data may be received from or sent to any third party Modbus serial or Modbus TCP device. Coupled with custom visualisation, control and data recording, such networks may also act as small SCADA solutions.

The Master Comms package incorporates a number of powerful operational features, which give it exceptional functionality and ease of use. It will, for instance auto detect individual slave devices on a selected network, and allow each to be individually configured remotely. Pre-defined profiles, along with a 3rd party profile, are supplied for support of a wide selection of instrumentation, as are device-specific diagnostics tools. These include the ability to reset to default values on loss of data or communications error flags.

With Master Comms, the Series 5000 instrument will still retain full data recording functionality, including trending and remote batch control. It will also, through its standard Auditor feature, be capable of displaying, transferring and managing secure, tamperproof data. This will in many cases allow FDA 21CFR Part 11 compliance; including electronic signing and authorising, time-stamped audit trails and other security related features.

While the Master Comms feature is able to communicate with almost any 3rd party slave device capable of using Modbus protocols, it does have an 'in-built' data base covering a wide range of proprietary Eurotherm instruments. These include all other data acquisition instruments within the Series 5000 family, 4000 Series recorders (paper and graphical) and 2000 Series temperature and process control products such as the models 2216/08, 2404/08/16, 2500 and 26/2704.