The rise of digitalisation, especially in the areas of plant diagnostics and monitoring, is currently one of the major topics in the process industry. Processing plants are generally very widespread and have particular requirements that are met by the specially developed standard Ethernet-APL, which offers a transmission rate of 10 Mbit/s and a cable length of up to 1000 metres. When it comes to connecting corresponding field devices, Beckhoff’s ELX6233 EtherCAT Terminal now offers a modular approach, along with a whole host of associated advantages:
• Compact installation space and high channel density.
• Easy expandability and an adaptable number of channels to suit each application.
• Simplified integration even in existing plants.
• Improved cycle times compared to field switch solutions.
• Compatibility with all EtherCAT Terminals and couplers.
The ELX6233 supplies the sensors according to the SPAA (TS10186) port profile, and integrates them into the system via PROFINET. Two APL ports are available for this purpose in the compact 24 mm terminal housing. This allows the data from the connected sensors to be transmitted to the controller and to the higher-level process control system (DCS) via the ultra-fast EtherCAT communication.
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