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Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team May 20, 2004

Overcoming the need to put Ethernet connections into enclosures, the latest Beckhoff fieldbus boxes are rated to IP67 and can be mounted in the open.

Overcoming the need to put Ethernet connections into enclosures, the latest Beckhoff fieldbus boxes are rated to IP67 and can be mounted in the open.

Available exclusively in the UK from Hayes Control Systems, the new boxes save space, time and money.

The IP67 rating means the boxes are resistant to dust and water and they come in three basic types: compact boxes, coupler boxes and PLC boxes.

Compact boxes provide an Ethernet port, plus up to eight I/O channels, depending on the version chosen, and are ideal for use in locations where only a small number of inputs and outputs are to be connected.

Coupler boxes provide the same facilities as the compact boxes, but can also be connected to up 120 extension boxes.

Also IP67 rated, these extension boxes provide up to eight additional I/O channels each, and can be supplied for use with all common I/O types, as well as for more specialised applications, such as connecting incremental encoders, and interfacing SSI signals.

The extension boxes, which are linked to each other, and to the Ethernet fieldbus box, with fibre-optic cables, may be located as much as 15m apart, allowing large fieldbus networks to be implemented conveniently and inexpensively.

PLC boxes in the Beckhoff Ethernet fieldbus box range from Hayes Control Systems are similar in operation to coupler boxes, but have in-built PLC facilities.

This allows them to offer local control, which reduces the processing load on the central control system, and allows key control functions to continue to operate even if the fieldbus network fails.

In addition to the popular Modbus TCP protocol, all Beckhoff Ethernet fieldbus boxes support communication via the ADS (automatic device specification) system.

This means that PLC boxes and other programmable devices can be programmed and debugged online, via the Ethernet network.