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andproduce is applying that ease-of-use expectation across an entire industrial facility, the article said. But, while universal I/O may open more doors into data, there may still be some use cases where traditional I/O serves as more effective.
How universal I/O stacks up Input/output devices handle the communication of information between a processing or automation system and other devices within a machine. There are two types of I/O, analog, which is an electrical signal representing things like temperature level or rate of flow, and digital, which uses signals that represent two states, such as on and off
The EK9500 Bus Coupler connects EtherNet/IP networks to the EtherCAT Terminals (ELxxxx), as well as EtherCAT Box modules (EPxxxx) and converts the telegrams from EtherNet/ IP to the E-bus signal representation. In EtherCAT, the EtherNet/ IP coupler has at its disposal a lower-level, powerful, and fast I/O system with a large selection of terminals. According to Sree Swarna Gutta, North American I/O product manager at Beckhoff Automation, users with older systems and machinery can implement an IoT application that collects data for machine learning and send it over to the cloud without having to write detailed programming by using Beckhoff ’s Couplers.
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or start and stop. Common PLC I/O can be analog and/or digital. With a traditional, analog I/O system, there is a lot of upfront work that goes into specifying the right field I/O module, electrical panels, installation, power, distribution, and networking. Because the I/O system is typically associated with a PLC or some kind of central controller, users and builders have to iron out all of the programming that’s involved in getting those systems to communicate. These traditional I/O systems require specialized skills and other hardware infrastructure, which means they could also be more expensive to configure. As the industry moves toward digital transformation and scalable Internet of Things (IOT) systems, network technology providers are trying to simplify the programming process as much as possible. Since computer programs use digital signals, and digital signals can be transmitted without interference by electrical noise—which can affect analog signals—and because digital processing is much cheaper and more versatile than analog, there’s a shift in this direction. Enter intelligent or “edge” I/O, which allows builders to drop an I/O module in place—offering many different I/O options—and then plug it into a network cable to power it, as opposed to all the steps needed with a traditional I/O system. It also simplifies the machine design and building process by virtually eliminating any rework associated with I/O, and it provides data processing and network connectivity options, in addition to the flexible I/O capabilities. “The advantage there is all of the complexity that typically goes into the frontend engineering and design of I/O could be a lot simpler than it is to the point where you can actually bypass having a PLC,” says Josh Eastburn, director of technical marketing at Opto 22, an industrial automation software and hardware manufacturer. “If your control systems, process, or manufacturing engineers are still developing the equipment, they may not know how many of a particular type of signal is needed. They have to do a bunch of change orders on the backend, revising the I/O design to meet the different signal needs that they have after the design is complete. Or they can drop in flexible or universal I/O, which will allow them to reconfigure it in the field without changing the electrical design, panel, or enclosure. It simplifies a lot of the design process and reduces the project budget. Down the line, universal I/O also translates into easier maintenance.”
Demand for data pushes flexible I/O adoption
The demand for more flexible I/O has been growing rapidly, according to Sree Swarna Gutta, North American I/O product manager at Beckhoff Automation. Behind the demand is a push for more data and the need to be able to predict machine failure and other critical timelines that point to maintenance.
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