A complete suite of HART-enabled gas and flame detectors is now available from General Monitors. These safety instruments protect employees, equipment and facilities from the dangers of hydrocarbon gases, toxic gases, oxygen depletion and flames.

HART is a field-proven instrumentation communications protocol that is easy to use and provides uniform and consistent communication without disturbing the integrity of the 4-20 mA analog signal. In addition to the process variable, the HART protocol permits access to device configuration, diagnostics, as well as maintenance and alarm records. As a result, a whole host of additional information related to plant operation is available to the control room through HART. Unlike other digital communication protocols, HART is backwards compatible with the installed base of instrumentation in use today.

Standard HART commands make it simple for systems to configure and adjust the gas and flame detectors to the particular requirements of the plant. A flame detector, for example, can be tagged with a name for greater ease of use (e.g., “Reactor 1 Flame Detector”). Alarm and warning set points can be adjusted, delay times set and alarms acknowledged or reset by simply sending a command. Such real-time, continuous access to device variables improves control.

Because these detectors are equipped with event logging, managers and technicians have access to time-stamped records of all maintenance performed on the device. These records are particularly useful during quality system audits, and since they are generated automatically, make producing documentation on demand more efficient.

The benefits of HART-equipped gas and flame detectors are not limited to better information management and predictive maintenance. Through HART, a user can check the status of the safety instruments and respond to a fault when it is issued. Guesswork is eliminated. Supplied with information about the nature of the fault and its frequency, workers can make accurate diagnostics about the condition of the device before setting foot on the field.

Incorporating HART into gas and flame detectors enhances their usefulness, thereby permitting users to integrate the devices more fully into process automation. Benefits become increasingly evident as more detectors are installed plant-wide. Beyond maintenance, plants stand to gain from greater workforce efficiency, asset performance, and fewer unplanned shutdowns.