Another blown analog card?

37 . That is how many analog cards we replaced in 2019.

Blown analog cards were the most common type of support call the ICI Support Team received over the past year.Analog input cards tend to be fairly delicate devices – some brands more than others, and depending how they are wired some fail high and some fail low. Meaning your failed analog input connected to your reservoir level could say it is full when it is actually not functioning. There are a few ways around this to avoid having this kind of issue. The most important one is to have surge protection installed. Typically there would be one at the field device, and one in the control panel. This can help drastically decrease the chances of the analog input card from being blown. If you are in a situation where you have replaced more than one analog card, this may be worth having an electrician look into.

Some brands of analog input cards including Schneider Electric can detect “stale” signals and improve the detection of if something is wrong with the analog input. This is something that could be ‘alarmed’ to notify operators more quickly and reduce troubleshooting time. Often, systems can be retrofit to utilize modern controllers or remote PLC racks that can integrate this type of functionality into an existing plant.

Sometimes a card failing is inevitable. Depending on the frequency of this occurring, or the risk involved if one did fail, it could be beneficial to have spares in your inventory. This will allow you to bypass shipping, and get your plant back online significantly faster.

Can you be certain your systems would alert you when an analog signal from a transmitter stops working? What could the consequences be in your facility be if this were to happen and you were unaware? Contact ICI today!