Human machine interface for a remote terminal unit

1. A petrochemical measurement system, comprising:

a remote terminal unit comprising a network data server and configurable using Modbus registers;

a human machine interface (HMI) comprising an autonomous network data client in communication with the remote terminal unit, the HMI including:

a memory having configuration parameter software stored thereon; a user interface configured to receive configuration parameter input using the configuration parameter software;

a processor configured to send configuration parameters received from the user interface of the HMI to the remote terminal unit; and

a monitoring and/or control system that maintains a configuration library for a plurality of flow meters, wherein the monitoring and/or control system is a supervisory control and data acquisition system (SCADA) or a distributed control system (DCS) coupled to the remote terminal unit, and wherein the remote terminal unit is coupled to the plurality of flow meters;

wherein the human machine interface is integrated in a housing with the remote terminal unit and there is at least one other human machine interface located remotely from the housing;

wherein the human machine interface and the at least one other human machine interface comprise a plurality of human machine interfaces that are simultaneously connected to the remote terminal unit;

wherein the plurality of human machine interfaces are coupled in a client-server fashion with the remote terminal unit;

wherein the monitoring and/or control system configures a new flow meter using information stored in the configuration library;

wherein the monitoring and/or control system configures the new flow meter using contents copied from of a specific block of the Modbus registers in a database of the monitoring and/or control system to the new flow meter.

2. The petrochemical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring and/or control system configures the new flow meter by pushing configuration data to the new flow meter from the monitoring and/or control system.

3. The petrochemical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the configuration parameter input comprises a particular type of flow calculation and/or measurement.

4. The petrochemical measurement system of claim 3 , wherein the particular type of flow calculation and/or measurement includes at least one of a flow rate, a temperature and a pressure.

5. The petrochemical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the configuration parameter input comprises a connection method.

6. The petrochemical measurement system of claim 5 , wherein the connection method comprises a current loop.

7. The petrochemical measurement system of claim 5 , wherein the connection method comprises Modbus serial communication.

8. The petrochemical measurement system of claim 5 , wherein the connection method comprises an integrated wireless device manager.

9. The petrochemical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the configuration parameter software includes pre-programmed connection profiles for a plurality of devices.

10. The petrochemical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the remote terminal unit includes a built-in Highway Addressable Remote Transducer over Internet Protocol (HART-IP) interface.

11. The petrochemical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the human machine interface is programmed separately from the remote terminal unit and operates independently of the remote terminal unit.

12. A petrochemical measurement system, comprising:

a remote terminal unit comprising a network data server, the remote terminal unit configurable using Modbus communications;

a monitoring and/or control system that maintains a configuration library for a plurality of flow meters, wherein the monitoring and/or control system is coupled to the remote terminal unit and is adapted to configure a new flow meter using contents copied from a specific block of Modbus registers in a database of the monitoring and/or control system to the new flow meter, and wherein the remote terminal unit is coupled to the plurality of flow meters; and

a human machine interface comprising an autonomous network data client in communication with the remote terminal unit, the human machine interface having:

a memory having configuration parameter software stored thereon;

a user interface configured to receive configuration parameter input using the configuration parameter software; and

a processor configured to send configuration parameters received from the user interface of the HMI to the remote terminal unit.

13. The petrochemical measurement system of claim 12 , wherein the copied contents are pushed to the new flow meter from the monitoring and/or control system.