Sierra Instruments announces its new programmable control module, the Compod™.

Sierra Instruments, a world leading manufacturer of mass flow meters and controllers, announces its new programmable control module, the Compod™.

With its advanced capabilities, the Compod™, coupled with Sierra’s Smart-Trak® mass flow meters (MFM’s) and controllers (MFC’s) greatly simplifies basic flow control installations and permits networking of multiple instruments using open-source MODBUS RTU protocol. By adding the Compod™ module to a new or existing Smart-Trak® MFM or MFC, end users can take complete control. Two digital outputs and one analog input can be configured by the end user for a wide variety of process controls including:

• Gas mixing and blending
• Gas ratio control
• Simple batch processes
• Triggering alarms
• Starting or stopping gas flows automatically under user-defined conditions
• Gas flow totalization
• And many more…

Compod™ also monitors the functionality of the mass flow meter or controller and includes diagnostics, notifying users of faults or system updates.

The Compod™ mounts to any Sierra Smart-Trak® 100 Series converting the instruments’ internal RS-232 communications into multi-drop RS-485/MODBUS RTU. With MODBUS, multiple instruments can be daisy-chained over a single network. When used with a PLC or master computer, each instrument equipped with Compod™ becomes a node on the MODBUS network, capable of sending and receiving data, and commands. Even complex process control systems can be automated with the power of Compod™ and Sierra’s Smart-Trak® 100 Series.

Users can utilize Sierra’s provided software or write proprietary software using open-source MODBUS protocol to configure standard functions for the Smart-Trak® 100 Series. Compod’s two digital input/output channels and the analog input channel and a configurable pulse output channel can automate gas processes without the need for an external PLC or computer.