Product News: High Performance HART Communicator, Also a Calibrator

(GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies: Groby, England) -- The hand-held DPI 620 advanced multifunction calibrator from GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies now incorporates full HART capability, making it the only combined HART communicator and calibrator currently on the market. The rugged and compact instrument, which is weather-proofed to IP 65, incorporates the latest application software and contains a complete library of registered HART device descriptions to support more than 1,000 sensors. Upgrades may be downloaded at no cost from the GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies web site. Offering so many functions and features within one portable instrument, the DPI 620 has application in the oil and gas, power generation, utilities, and process industries, as well as in the laboratory and plant.

“Unlike competitive HART communicators which can only be used for configuration, commissioning, and maintenance, the new DPI 620 is also recognized as one of the most accurate and versatile calibration systems available. Consequently, plant engineers and technicians can now considerably reduce the inventory of equipment they have to carry to perform maintenance and calibration tasks, as for the first time they can use a communicator which is also a calibrator,” explains Mike Shelton, product manager at GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies.

Lighter and smaller than competitive communicators, the new communicator/calibrator, with its full color, high-resolution touch interface, has a large internal memory, allowing it to store additional features such as procedure and datalog files. These can be transferred using USB, WiFi, memory stick, or the instrument’s memory card, which can be up to 4 GB, with its integral card reader. Features new to HART communicators include an integral 24 V loop power supply to energize HART devices and loops and a menu-selectable 250 Ohm loop resistor, rather than a separate physical resistor, for use when a device is not connected or the loop is switched off.

The incorporation of a calibrator within the communicator means that there is no need to carry ancillary equipment such as multimeters to measure mA when trimming sensors and there is no need for secondary calibration equipment during sensor trim and device calibration, as the DPI 620 simultaneously sources and measures the primary variable, whether mA, pressure, V, mV ohms, frequency, or temperature from RTDs or thermocouples.

The DPI 620 also has the capability to automate calibration procedures and document “as found” and “as left” results and can analyze device trends to support preventive maintenance programs. It is available in a Windows CE version with standard Windows applications and file management and the computing power to view pdf files and jpg images such as loop diagrams, data sheets, safety procedures, spreadsheets,and to create text documents.

Naturally, the new communicator retains the world-class pressure generation and measurement capability of the existing DPI 620 calibrator. This means on-board pressure generation from vacuum to 100 bar pneumatic or zero to 1,000 bar hydraulic, at an accuracy of 0.005 percent of full-scale.

For more information please visit www.gesensinginspection.com.  

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GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies is part of GE Measurement & Control Solutions, a division of GE Energy, and an innovator in sensor-based measurement, inspection, asset condition monitoring, controls, and radiation measurement solutions for customers in oil and gas, power generation, aerospace, transportation, and health care industries. GE Energy, supplies power-generation and energy-delivery technologies, and provides integrated product and service solutions in all areas of the energy industry. GE serves the energy sector by developing and deploying technology that helps make efficient use of natural resources.