Bus Cables
Basics and Use of Fieldbuses
The higher the degree of automation in a system or machine, the more cabling work is necessary for parallel wiring, due to the number of I/O points. This means a considerable increase in costs for project planning, installation, commissioning and maintenance. The parallel field wiring thus becomes a serious time and cost factor. In comparison, serial networking of the components in the field using so-called fieldbus systems is considerably less expensive. The fieldbus replaces the parallel cable bundle with one single bus cable and links all levels from the field level to the control level. Irrespective of the type of device, the transmission medium and the manufacturer, the fieldbus networks all the components.
A fieldbus system requires less cabling compared to parallel wiring and therefore opens up a wide potential for savings: Time is saved during the planning and installation phase, and cables, marshalling distributors and space requirements in the control cabinet are reduced to a minimum. There are also other advantages directly linked to the system, such as a cut in downtime and maintenance time due to automatic diagnostics, an increase in reliability, and better availability due to short signal paths. Open fieldbus systems are responsible for uniform data transmission and device connection from all manufacturers. The user becomes independent of the standard of individual manufacturers.
Extensions and modifications are easy to carry out, guaranteeing flexibility, and in return, a secure investment in the future.
Phoenix Contact carries a full line of products to support the following Networks and Fieldbuses:
- INTERBUS
- PROFIBUS
- CANOpen
- DeviceNet
- Ethernet ( M12 and RJ45)
- USB
- Firewire
