The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 17, 2020
Filed:
Sep. 19, 2019
Fisher-rosemount Systems, Inc., Round Rock, TX (US);
William Scott Ross, Cedar Park, TX (US);
James Aaron Crews, Cedar Park, TX (US);
FISHER-ROSEMOUNT SYSTEMS, INC., Round Rock, TX (US);
Abstract
A method for upgrading a portion of a process control system from a legacy programmable logic controller (PLC) to a non-PLC process controller is disclosed. A mounting rack sized to fit into a space occupied by legacy hardware is assembled and populated with replacement hardware that includes an I/O card, an I/O terminal block, and a custom interface module. The custom interface module is coupled to the I/O card via the I/O terminal block and to a plurality of process control field devices via a legacy wiring mechanism coupled to legacy wiring of the process control system, without requiring modification or re-termination of the legacy wiring. The legacy wiring mechanism is disconnected from the legacy hardware, the rack containing the legacy hardware is removed and replaced with the mounting rack, and the legacy wiring mechanism is coupled to the custom interface module.