IC693PWR321

IC693PWR321 PLCs on slide rail mounting and encapsulation systems in process plants are creating control and automation problems. Slide rail mounting and encapsulation systems are factory-built units that provide specific functions required by the plant. The control and automation on the slide rail becomes as much a part of the plant as the control and automation installed in the field. The conundrum is that many slide rail suppliers typically standardize on one make and model of PLC controller while the plant uses another supplier. Ideally, plant process control systems have efficient and cost-effective multi-protocol interfaces for all PLC protocols. These interface subsystems typically require more field engineering to configure and maintain than other plant controls

The IC693PWR321 has highly sophisticated and integrated Foundation Fieldbus and HART interfaces as well as sufficient interfaces to other industrial automation networks PLC systems often have less sophisticated interfaces to Foundation Fieldbus and HART. In many cases, they rely on third-party hardware and software and are more labor-intensive to configure. Oddly enough, discrete network interfaces can be a problem for PLC systems because there are many standards, and larger vendors optimize interfaces and software configurations for their flagship protocols, while interfacing with competing protocols is weaker. These other protocol interfaces are often implemented through third-party interfaces that are more cumbersome to configure in software.