Exclusive: Terminals for Ethernet integration

EL67xx EtherCAT master and slave terminals from Beckhoff Automation are said to offer manufacturers and machine builders a clear and open migration path to next-generation Ethernet implementation.

By Control Engineering Staff January 29, 2007
EL67xx master and slave fieldbus terminals from Beckhoff Automation allow connection of devices with Profibus, DeviceNet, or CANopen interfaces to EtherCAT I/O nodes.

EL67xx EtherCAT master and slave terminals from Beckhoff Automation are said to offer manufacturers and machine builders a clear and open migration path to next-generation Ethernet implementation. I/O terminals provide a direct interface to EtherCAT I/O nodes for all Profibus (EL6731), DeviceNet (EL6752), and CANopen (EL6751) devices. Terminals channel each fieldbus signal type through the EtherCAT protocol with full availability of the respective network’s features and functions. EtherCAT connection eliminates the need for PCI cards in PCs.

EL6731 functions with all Profibus devices. Cycle times of 200en terminal can send or receive CAN messages without CAN frames in application programs. All CANopen PDO communication types are supported, including event-driven, time-driven (using an event timer), synchronous, and polling.

Real-time EtherCAT protocol can process 1,000 distributed I/O in 30devices into high-speed, next-generation EtherCAT devices,” said Skip Hansen, I/O systems product manager at Beckhoff Automation, but “will ensure complete system compatibility for these traditional fieldbus networks.”

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Beckhoff Automation