Emerson Enhances Fisher^® Digital Valve Controller for Smart Safety Instrumented Systems

SIS reliability is increased by enhancements to FIELDVUE® digital valve controller certified for use in SIL 3 certified safety loops

MARSHALLTOWN, IOWA (March 14, 2008) – Emerson Process Management has announced enhancements to its SIL 3 certified Fisher^® FIELDVUE^® DVC6000 digital valve controller for Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS). The enhancements help improve reliability, flexibility, and availability of Emergency Shutdown (ESD) valve solutions.  The ESD final control system components are integrated with safety-certified sensors and SIL3 rated systems in Emerson’s digital smart SIS solutions.

"Safety is a major concern with our process industry customers. Emerson is able to address these safety needs with smart Safety Instrumented Function (SIF) loops that use its DVC6000 SIS digital valve controller,” said Alfred Lee, director of FIELDVUE and positioning instruments for the Fisher division of Emerson Process Management. “The DVC6000 SIS instrument incorporates on-line diagnostics and partial stroking that diagnose the SIS valve to ensure it's availability upon demand and also provide protections against spurious trips.”

The DVC6000 SIS instrument enhancements include manual reset, a stored safety demand event log, pass / fail status after a partial stroke test, and third party certification to SIL3, SIF loop.

A safety demand event can be stored in the non-volatile memory of the microprocessor and retrieved at any time. This event log is critical for plant personnel, reliability engineers, and auditing authority to properly understand the final element status before and after the trip or demand event.

After the completion of a partial stroke test, the DVC6000 SIS instrument will provide a pass or fail status along with a signature curve. It will also provide additional diagnostics on stick slip, shaft integrity, and maximum and minimum torque.

The DVC6000 SIS digital valve controller can operate by an input signal of 0-24VDC, 0-20 mA, or 4-20 mA. The instrument is certified by a third party for its compliance to IEC61508 requirements enabling the device to be suitable for use in SIL3, SIF loop. The instrument is also available in stainless steel constructions for harsh offshore environments and severe service constructions providing remote mount capability and extreme temperature functionality.

Emerson's smart SIS safety management solution is an extension of its PlantWeb® digital plant architecture, providing an integrated approach to complete safety loops — from sensor to logic solver to final control element. The Emerson SIS solution enables customers to implement safer facilities, improve availability, lower life-cycle costs, and ease regulatory compliance. The smart SIS system components include Rosemount and Micro Motion certified and proven-in-use devices, the DeltaV™ SIS system, SIL-PAC final control solution with FIELDVUE DVC6000 SIS controller, and the AMS® Suite: Intelligent Device Manager.

To learn more about Emerson's smart SIS, go to http://www.emersonprocess.com/SIS.

About Emerson Process Management

Emerson Process Management (www.emersonprocess.com)), an Emerson business, is a leader in helping businesses automate their production, processing, and distribution in the chemical, oil and gas, refining, pulp and paper, power, water and wastewater treatment, mining and metals, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, and other industries. Fisher® control valves (www.emersonprocess.com/fisher) play a key role in Emerson’s combining of superior products and technology with industry-specific engineering, consulting, project management and maintenance services. Emerson brands include PlantWeb^®, Fisher^®, Micro Motion^®, Rosemount^®, Mobrey^®, Bristol®, Daniel^®, Mobrey^®, Bristol^®, DeltaV™, Ovation^®, and AMS^® Suite.

About Emerson

Emerson, based in St. Louis, is a global leader in bringing technology and engineering together to provide innovative solutions to customers through its network power, process management, industrial automation, climate technologies, and appliance and tools businesses. Sales in fiscal 2007 were $22.6 billion. For more information, visit www.Emerson.com.