At the 2025 Ovation Users’ Group Conference, Emerson’s Tom Mullins and Andy Le presented Smart Field Device Connectivity – Electric Actuation. Their focus was on encouraging the greater use of smart field device diagnostics in electric valve actuators to drive improved performance and reliability. Here is their presentation abstract.
Smart field devices with HART are commonly used in process plants. The “Smart” descriptor refers to predictive maintenance warnings and alarms that provide information about the health of the device or additional process information. The optimal setup and configuration of the device as well as the setup in the DCS and maintenance servers are often bypassed during a greenfield project leaving this step to plant operations post startup. In this session, we will discuss the current state of smart field device integration, smart electric actuators, new standards such as Namur 107, and Emerson solutions such as a Field Device Technical File which prioritizes and maps the key variables in the smart actuator to the DCS and maintenance servers.
Andy kicked off the presentation by discussing the intelligence built into electric actuators. These include actuators for quarter- and multi-turn valves, spring-return valves, and small quarter-turn valves.
Bettis electric actuators used in power generation applications include the Bettis EIM M2CP, Bettis RTS Control, and Bettis XTE. The RTS actuator powers compact linear, compact quarter-turn, compact multi-turn, fail-safe quarter-turn, and fail-safe linear.
Here’s a look at how a spring-return motor-operated valve (MOV) operates:
There are three primary methods to achieve a fail-safe stroke in the event of main power loss to an electric actuator: supercapacitor, battery backup, and mechanical spring return. Based on the advantages and disadvantages of each method, Emerson’s Bettis team favors the mechanical spring return as the best and most reliable method for fail-safe operation on an electric actuator.
From a smart field device integration perspective, industry standards such as NAMUR 107 categorize device alerts and provide users with tips for using diagnostics in these devices. The standard describes status signals, their meaning, and their representation in symbols. It prioritizes status signals and lists malfunctions for diagnostics in the devices.
For an Ovation DCS, here’s an ideal layout for smart field devices.
To simplify the information and make the diagnostic information more accessible. The goal for greenfield projects is to deliver smart field devices with standardized templates in the Ovation DCS and the maintenance server (AMS), displaying company-prioritized device information that leads to defined actions by operations and maintenance to increase the reliability of the plant.
To accomplish this goal, the field device connectivity technical files will prioritize the device information by selecting and templatizing the smart variables needed in the Ovation system and maintenance server (AMS), as well as instructing all parties on how to set up the field device.
Advantages of using the technical files in project execution include:
- HART tagging of field devices speeds commissioning
- HART AO wiring saves wiring time and cost
- Standardized actuation despite multiple valves
- Technical clarity between the valve supplier, end user, EPC, and OEM
From an operational execution perspective, advantages include:
- The plant is configured optimally to utilize and store diagnostics that are important to the owner
- Field device configuration standardized by the company
- New plant and standardized new maintenance procedures
- Operations gain more insight into process and instrument health
The technical file and templates are being developed in collaboration with end users to provide specifications for key variables that will be delivered to the control systems. By specifying these up front, it simplifies the commissioning and ongoing use by the operations and maintenance teams.
Visit the links above for more information on these components to drive more reliable and efficient operations.
