HART 2002 Plant of the Year announced

Austin, TX-The HART Communication Foundation's executive director, Ron Helson, announced Sept. 24 that DuPont Corp.'s (Wilmington, DE) DeLisle titanium dioxide manufacturing facility (Pass Christian, MI) has been selected as HART Plant of the Year 2002.

By Control Engineering Staff October 7, 2002

Austin, TX— HART Communication Foundation ‘s executive director, Ron Helson, announced Sept. 24 that DuPont Corp.’s (Wilmington, DE) DeLisle titanium dioxide manufacturing facility (Pass Christian, MI) has been selected as HART Plant of the Year 2002. The award

DuPont’s DeLisle plant was selected based on its innovative application of HART communication technology in industrial process plant operations. The DeLisle facility produces titanium dioxide, a white pigment that enhances whiteness, brightness and opacity in paint, plastics and other products in which color retention is desired.

HART-enabled instrumentation is used to control and monitor DeLisle’s sophisticated production process. The plant uses HART communication in real-time applications with its existing control system; uses HART full time for daily operations; and is expanding its use of HART information for additional cost-effective solutions. HART technology is a globally accepted standard and re-portedly the most widely used digital communication protocol for industrial process and manufac-turing operations. Well over two-thirds of all smart instruments communicate using HART and more than 12 million HART-capable devices are installed worldwide.

“Virtually all of the DeLisle plant instrumentation is HART-enabled, including instruments used to monitor and control temperature, pressure, level and flow,” says Joe Moffett, DuPont’s project manager. “Using the power of HART Communication in real-time applications has significantly in-creased plant efficiency, lowered our operating costs, and enhanced plant safety.”

Using a HART-based loop monitor and alarm, DuPont integrates vital process, status and diagnos-tic data from its plant’s HART instruments for real-time use with the plant’s safety interlock and control systems. In addition to providing fail-safe inputs to the safety-interlock system, the applica-tion reduces the number and duration of shutdowns by using partial valve-stroke testing to verify safety shutdown valve operation.

Control Engineering Daily News DeskDick Johnson, senior editordjohnson@reedbusiness.com