Systems for Controlling high value products and dangerous processes are always designed as high Availability solutions, that is to say they will continue to provide control even after a failure. Such systems are expensive because they require significant duplication of equipment. Controlstar systems have developed the Watchdog module as a low cost practical solution for enhancing the availability of the control facility for applications, which are important but not super critical. Often the primary justification for using Watchdog modules is the reduction in the coverage that the support organization needs to provide.

Controlstar Systems Watchdog technology means that either a basic or an existing control device can be integrated as an automatic backup. The Controlstar® monitors the operation of the backup and itself, and on the unlikely situation of a Controlstar® failure, the Watchdog automatically switches control to the backup. The Watchdog technology allows the creation of High Availability (HA) solutions, were the flexibility and power of the Controlstars® can optimize process efficiency, reduce OPEX and respond to changing requirements at minimum cost. Watchdogs allow the engineering of very cost effective asset management solutions that combine sophisticated control with high availability.

The Watchdog module is a fail-safe design, which means that the fallback method of control would be automatically selected on the very unlikely event of the Watchdog module itself failing. The Watchdog tests the integrity of the fallback control path. This testing process can be initiated remotely. The validation and full diagnostics of the Controlstar® and the fallback control is available through the SCADA, providing complete confidence in the systems integrity

3-way Isolation

All components that are connected to the input, output, or the supply are protected from each other against interference. All three directions (input, output and supply) are correspondingly electrically isolated from one another

The Energy monitoring circuit features:

High Accuracy, supports IEC 61036 and IEC61268, On-Chip Digital Integrator enables direct interface with Current sensors with di/dt output The watchdog supplies Active, Reactive and Apparent Energy, Sampled Waveform, Current and Voltage RMS can achieve Less than 0.1% error over a dynamic range of 1000 to 1. Positive only energy accumulation is provided.

The watchdog is user Programmable with thresholds for line Voltage surge and SAG. Digital Power, Phase & Input Offset Calibration is provided via the Controlstar® diagnostic programs. The watchdog only monitors one phase, but the Controlstar® multiples the energy to produce a reasonable record of the total power used by each starter section.