Introduction
EK1501-0100 - EtherCAT Coupler, media converter (multi-mode fiber optic, RJ45 OUT) with ID switch
The EK1501-0100 EtherCAT Coupler is the link between the EtherCAT protocol at fieldbus level and the EtherCAT Terminals. The coupler converts the passing telegrams from Ethernet 100BASE-FX to E-bus signal representation. A station consists of a coupler and any number of EtherCAT Terminals, which are automatically detected and displayed individually in the process image.
The EK1501-0100 serves as a media converter from fiber optic to copper physics and has an SC duplex socket, an RJ45 socket and three hexadecimal ID switches.
The upper Ethernet connection is used to connect the coupler to the network, while the lower RJ45 socket is used to optionally connect additional EtherCAT devices in the same line.
The multi-mode fiber optic connection allows distances of up to 2 km to be achieved between two couplers. A group of EtherCAT components can be assigned to a unique ID via the hexadecimal ID switches. This group can then be located at any position within the EtherCAT network. Variable topologies are therefore easily implementable. In addition, an EtherCAT junction or an EtherCAT extension can be used for the extension or for setting up a line or star topology.
The system and field supply, each 24 VDC, is provided directly at the coupler. The attached EtherCAT Terminals are supplied with the current required for communication from the supplied system voltage. The coupler can supply a maximum of 5 V and 2 A. Power supply terminals e.g. EL9410 must be integrated if more current is required. The field supply is forwarded to the individual I/O components via the power contacts with up to 10 A.
The coupler supports the HotConnect technique; see the basic EtherCAT documentation regarding this. The characteristics of the coupler in relation to this are:
- the ID can be set on the device via three rotary selection switches within the range 0..4095 (hexadecimal)
- the ID is readable online by the EtherCAT master via the process data
- if the EtherCAT master supports HotConnect, then an I/O group can be adopted dynamically into the EtherCAT communication. This group can then be located at any position within the EtherCAT network. Variable topologies are therefore easily implementable.