The Fieldbus Foundation has registered its first H1 fieldbus cable, which will be the first in the new cable registration process providing wiring assurance to automation end users.
The cable comes from Belden, Northwire, Phoenix Contact and Rockbestos-Surprenant Cable Corporation (RSCC).
In November 2007 the Fieldbus Foundation released its H1 Cable Test Specification (Document FF-844) for use by manufacturers developing cables for Foundation fieldbus H1 (31.25 kbit/s) installations.
The specification test cases, based upon the IEC 61158-2:2003 standard for Type A cable, include (but are not limited to) impedance, capacitive unbalance, connector pin-outs, and attenuation, says a press announcement from the association.
Cable manufacturers submit their test reports to the foundation, which provides official cable registration. Fieldbus Foundation manager-fieldbus products, Stephen Mitschke, said, “With the initiation of H1 cable registration, the Fieldbus Foundation is helping to ensure robust and reliable fieldbus physical layer performance.
“Registration signifies that a cable is suitable for any H1 fieldbus application, including high temperature and corrosive environments. End users can now have even greater confidence in Foundation fieldbus systems thanks to our rigorous suite of cable test cases.”
Belden’s product line manager, Frank Koditek, welcomed the new registration process.
“Belden views cable registration as an important move by the Fieldbus Foundation to bring structure to physical layer requirements supporting Foundation fieldbus networks with verified products,” he said.
Cable registration provides customers with the assurance that cables supplied by registered suppliers will deliver full network performance.”
Visit www.fieldbus.org for a complete list of registered Foundation fieldbus H1 cables.