EKxxxx - System overview
The Bus Couplers from the EKxxxx series allow EtherCAT Terminals to be operated on conventional fieldbus systems. The ultra-fast, high-performance EtherCAT Terminals with their large range of signal types are thus also available for other fieldbus and Industrial Ethernet systems.
The EKxxxx Bus Couplers are fieldbus slaves and contain an EtherCAT master for the EtherCAT terminals. They convert the telegrams from the higher-level fieldbus systems into the E-bus signal representation. A station consists of an EKxxxx and a number of EtherCAT Terminals.
The EKxxxx is integrated in exactly the same way as the Bus Couplers from the BKxxxx series via the corresponding fieldbus system configuration tools and the associated configuration files, such as GSD, ESD or GSDML.
EtherCAT makes a very flexible topology configuration possible. Thanks to the Ethernet physics, long distances can also be bridged without the bus speed being affected. When changing to the field level – without a control cabinet – the EtherCAT Box modules (EPxxxx) in protection class IP65 can also be connected to the EK9xxx.
Bus Couplers for various fieldbus systems
The variants from the EKxxxx series differ from one another by the interface for the higher-level fieldbus system.
An overview of the various Beckhoff Bus Couplers covering the most important fieldbus systems can be found on the Beckhoff Website.
Embedded PCs with fieldbus interface and decentralized control
The TwinCAT-programmable variant is the CX80xx Embedded PC series.
The variants from the CX80xx series differ from one another by the interface for the higher-level fieldbus system and the possibility to program it.
An overview of the various Beckhoff Embedded PCs covering the most important fieldbus systems can be found on the Beckhoff Website.