The Process, Power & Marine division of Intergraph Corporation announced SmartPlant Instrumentation 7.0 at the Apex Summit global conference held in September.

Previously marketed as INtools, the 7.0 version of the renamed software provides significant user interface improvements such as tree view navigation and flexible plant hierarchy, as well as new features including object-based wiring equipment, unified licensing control, connectivity with Fluke multifunction process calibrators and support for Profibus and Hart protocol instruments. The new features combine to provide additional plant downtime reduction potential, productivity gains and greater instrumentation data accuracy and consistency. Architecture improvements enable users to more fully take advantage of data-centric SmartPlant technology and its lifecycle engineering integration capabilities including both plant operation and design. Planned availability of SmartPlant Instrumentation is first quarter 2005.

Consistent with the intuitively-navigable tree view of SmartPlant P&ID; and SmartPlant Electrical, the 7.0 version enables users to quickly navigate to items of interest in the plant or project. The flexible plant hierarchy provides customisable, extended levels to better meet company standards and work practice needs in various industries including power and pharmaceuticals. The hierarchy also addresses physical location, such as cabinet, rack or room defined by tag, plant coordinate or other identifier.

In addition to existing Foundation Fieldbus and analogue systems, SmartPlant Instrumentation now supports the Profibus and Hart field communication protocols to accommodate a wider range of instrumentation configurations for increased flexibility. For example, Hart support includes device parameterisation, calibration, diagnostics, maximum nodes and cable lengths and other protocol-specific hardware and network attributes.

The new Fluke interface in SmartPlant Instrumentation enables the software to communicate with field calibration devices including Fluke multifunction 743B and 744 Documenting Process Calibrators. Maintenance personnel can upload or download calibration data, including as-found, as-left and other key instrument information, to and from SmartPlant Instrumentation. The Fluke interface eliminates time-consuming and error-prone manual transcription to promote accuracy, data completeness and maintenance efficiency. The Fluke connectivity joins the growing list of popular products and systems interfaced with SmartPlant Instrumentation, including Yokogawa Centum CS 3000 R3 and Emerson DeltaV distributed control systems.

For more information contact Pat Thomson, Intergraph Systems SA, 011 313 1222, pthomson@intergraph.co.za