Process Variable Transmitter Having a Non-Interacting Operating Range Adjustment

The present invention is directed to process variable transmitters. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a process variable transmitter having a selectively adjustable operating range.

2. Description Of The Prior Art

Process variable transmitters, such as pressure transmitters, are factory calibrated during their manufacture to produce a "zero" output of a preselected current value, e.g., 4 ma., at a zero fluid pressure input and a full scale output of a second preselected current value, e.g., 20 ma., at a fluid pressure input other than zero called the upper range limit or URL. It is often desired to change the range of the transmitter to satisfy the measurement and requirements of specific applications by the customer in which the transmitter is to be used. Such an adjustment enables the transmitter to measure an applied input, e.g., a fluid pressure input, that is within its lower range value (LRV) and upper range value (URV) and to produce an output, e.g., between 4 ma. and 20 ma., which is a transmitter output signal proportional to its process variable input between the LRV and URV. The upper and lower range values are adjusted to change the range of the transmitter such that the LRV occurs at some pressure other than a zero fluid input pressure and the URV output occurs at some pressure other than the upper range limit (URL). In conventional devices, the range is changed by manually adjusting circuit potentiometers which set an amplifier gain and zero offset. Specifically, a pressure equal to the desired LRV is applied to the transmitter, and the zero adjust potentiometer is manipulated until the output of the transmitter is measured to be at the lower limit, e.g., 4 ma. A pressure equal to the desired URV is then applied to the transmitter, and the span (gain) adjust potentiometer is manipulated until the output is measured to be at the upper limit, e.g., 20 ma. In this adjustment procedure, the zero and span adjustments interact, i.e., changing one affects the other. For this reason, the aforesaid procedure must be repeated until the amount of adjustment required at either point is insignificant, i.e., does not significantly affect the calibration of the other point. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a process variable transmitter which has a selectively variable operating range that is set by a single adjustment operation.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved process variable transmitter having a non-interacting operating range adjustment.

In accomplishing this and other objects, there has been provided, in accordance with the present invention a process variable transmitter having a digital computer arranged to produce the transmitter output signals and to calculate the Span or difference between the lower and upper range values (LRV and URV) of the transmitter output signals in response to selectively applied process variable signals representing the desired lower and upper range values of the transmitter input signals. A first computer control means is used to control the computer to set the LRV while a second computer control means is used to control the computer to calculate the Span and to set the URV.

A better understanding of the present invention may be had when the following detailed description is read in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which, the single FIGURE drawing is a block diagram of a process variable transmitter embodying an example of the present invention .

Referring to the single FIGURE drawing in more detail, there is shown a process variable transmitter using a specific embodiment of a pressure transmitter 2 which is arranged to measure the fluid pressure from a pressure source 3. The pressure transmitter 2 includes a pressure sensor 4 to which the output fluid pressure from the pressure source 3 is initially applied. The output signal of the pressure sensor 4 is applied to an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter 6. The digital output from the analog-to-digital converter 6 is applied to an input of a microprocessor 8. The microprocessor 8 may be any suitable digital computer for performing an operation on input data using a stored program to produce a representative output signal, such devices being well-known in the art. The output signal of the microprocessor 8 is applied to the input of a digital-to-analog (D/A) converter 10. The output of the digital-to-analog converter 10 is applied to an output terminal 12 for transmission to associated equipment (not shown) as a current signal having a predetermined range, e.g., 4 ma. to 20 ma., representing corresponding values of the fluid pressure from the pressure source 3. The microprocessor 8 includes a read only memory (ROM) 14, a random access memory (RAM) 16 and a nonvolatile read/write memory (NVM) 18. A manually operable Set-LRV signal source 20 is arranged to selectively supply a first control signal to the microprocessor 8 while a manually operable Set-URV source 22 is arranged to selectively apply a second control signal to the microprocessor 8. Stored in the read only memory (ROM) 14 of the microprocessor 18 is the following equation which describes the input to output relationship of the transmitter:

where:

DACO is the output of the digital-to-analog converter 10 to produce 4 ma.

DACSPAN is the additional input to the DAC which produces an additional output of 16 ma. whereby 4 ma.+16 ma. produces an output of 20 ma.

URL and LRV are the upper range limit and lower range value, respectively, and

Span=URV-LRV, where URV is the upper range value of the transmitter output.

The values of LRV and Span are stored in the NVM 18. Initially, they are set to values where LRV equals zero, URV equals URL and Span equals URL. The range of the transmitter is changed by applying a pressure from the pressure source 3 equal to the desired LRV to the pressure sensor 4. Concurrently, a first digital control input signal from the Set-LRV source 20 is applied to the microprocessor 8. The current value of the pressure input is equal to the desired LRV. This value replaces the old value in the NVM 18, and the output on output terminal 12 is automatically set to 4 ma. by the microprocessor 8. Next, a pressure equal to the desired URV is applied to the pressure sensor 4 from the pressure source 3. A second digital control input signal from the Set URV source 22 is applied to the microprocessor 8. The current value of the input pressure is equal to the desired URV. A new Span is calculated by the microprocessor 8 using the above equation to replace the old value in the NVM 18, and the output automatically is set to 20 ma. by the microprocessor 8. The transmitter is now re-ranged to operate over the new values of URV and LRV. The "Set-LRV" function affects only the LRV and URV, and the "Set-URV" function affects only the URV and Span. The result is a non-interacting zero and Span adjustment which eliminates the need to progressively fine tune the adjustments. It should be noted that the range of adjustment is not limited by the rangeability of an amplifier. For example, a reverse acting instrument may be produced simply by using an LRV pressure greater than the URV pressure.

Accordingly, it may be seen, that there has been provided, in accordance with the present invention, an improved process variable transmitter having a non-interacting operating range adjustment.