IO-Link field cabling

We suc­cessful­ly com­mis­sio­ned a pro­cess con­trol system with IO-Link sensors/actuators. As part of the peri­phe­ral system, IO-Link masters were moun­ted direct­ly in the field and inte­gra­ted into the Pro­finet infras­truc­tu­re. IO-Link tech­no­lo­gy makes it pos­si­ble to inte­gra­te the field level into auto­ma­ti­on and sup­ports the requi­re­ments of digi­ta­lizati­on and Indu­stry 4.0 through this net­wor­king. Based on our expe­ri­ence, we see the fol­lo­wing decisi­ve advantages:

Mounting/Cabling

• Use of stan­dard 3‑core uns­hiel­ded cable for all types of sensors/actuators
• Con­nec­tion cable can be used rea­dy assembled
• Short con­nec­tion cables from sensor/actuator to the master

Service/Maintenance

• Exten­si­ve dia­gno­stics through bidi­rec­tion­al communication
• Fast access to sensor/actuator para­me­ter data
• Sen­sor exch­an­ge via Plug & Play for an iden­ti­cal one

The addi­tio­nal design effort is justi­fi­ed by the advan­ta­ges of rea­dy-made M12 cable con­nec­tions. Howe­ver, pre­cise design of the loca­ti­ons of all masters in the field is neces­sa­ry in order to deter­mi­ne the appro­pria­te cable lengths. Coor­di­na­ting with the instal­la­ti­on com­pa­ny in advan­ce makes the design much easier.

By using IO-Link, the cus­to­mer obta­ins increa­sed system avai­la­bi­li­ty during ope­ra­ti­on, due to trans­pa­ren­cy down to the sensor/actuator level. IO-Link devices can pro­vi­de infor­ma­ti­on about the device sta­tus and thus lead to enorm­ous added value in terms of system sta­bi­li­ty and reliability.

The rapid deve­lo­p­ment of IO-Link tech­no­lo­gy is also reflec­ted in the con­stant­ly incre­a­sing use of the­se com­pon­ents, as the abo­ve gra­phic shows: