Hot Standby Systems

At RFL we supply two types of Hot Standby systems.  If this is what you require, we can advise you which system is most appropriate for your business.

Typical Hot Standby

The use of a “Hot Standby” arrangement of two controllers (PLCs) is commonly used to increase reliability as the failure within the main PLC will instigate a smooth transfer to the standby PLC.  This solution can be used in non-critical environments to provide a resilient system.  This system relies on two PLC’s networked and I/O.

As the complexity of buildings increase or the critical nature of the work being carried out in a building rises, it is essential that a power failure or interruption to service is prevented. 

UPS and generators are critical for supporting your business against power failures but, they are only part of a resilient solution.  If there is a power failure, the UPS units must be re-supplied from the generators within the discharge time of the batteries.  Irrespective of how many generators are installed, the availability of this power hinges on the correct operation of the change-over switch system and one bad connection or blown fuse can cause total loss of supply.  To prevent this, early detection of failure in components used by the control system is vital and the control system must override the fault until it is rectified.

Intelligent Hot Standby + System

RFL have designed an intelligent hot standby system known as iHS+ with no Single Points of Failure (SPOFs).  This means that it can tolerate faults within the control system, the PLCs and a range of faults in the controlled field items or cabling. This high level resilience has been achieved by using information received from a combination of triplicated signals and dual I/O units to identify problems in the system.

If you would like to understand more about what we have to offer in power control click here to contact us.