Instrumentation • Electronics
Fig. 2. Example block diagram for an IO-Link sensor.
IO-Link also offers a wide range of diagnostics for the sensor or actuator device itself. For example, pollution, abrasion, temperature, pressure and voltage levels can be monitored and remote maintenance can be performed very easily. Previously for common devices, this was only possible with proprietary solutions and it typically required significant additional cabling work. With IO-Link, down times caused by preventive maintenance or sudden breakdown of the equipment can be reduced by 80 per cent and problems can be detected much faster.
Miniaturisation
Within recent years, a trend of smaller yet more powerful sensors and actuators can be seen in process and factory automation. With IO-Link technology, it is easy to miniaturize products based on these new devices using universally standardized and ‘intelligent’ methods. When using common proprietary solutions, especially
those with high requirements for field bus integrity, to design sensors with bi-directional communication and other ‘intelligent’ features, significantly more printed circuit board space is typically required and costs can be considerably higher. The first IO-Link devices were assembled primarily using discreet components. Today highly integrated microchips (cable driver ICs and
microcontrollers) in very small packages of 3x5mm or 4x4mm or in wafer-level chip-scale package solutions (WL-CSP; see Fig. 1), with dimensions as small as 2.5x2.5mm, enable powerful and cost-saving integration of IO-Link into the smallest intelligent sensors and actuators. IC product families with the same pin count and size but different functionality can support effective and easy platform designs for IO-Link applications.
22
www.engineerlive.com
The integration of IO-Link is relative easy, as demonstrated by the example of a block schematic for an IO-Link sensor in Fig. 2. The IO-Link chip manufacturer and software provider very often support the integration as well. The standardised IO-Link interface enables the
first production of intelligent, cost-saving and field-bus- independent sensors and actuators at the lowest field level. It completes the ‘last meter’ between the field bus and sensors/ actuators, enabling direct bi-directional communication between the control station and the sensor or actuator devices
Key summary
Cost effective miniaturization with ZIOL2401 and ZIOL2211 in WL-CSP - an IO-Link standard compliant high voltage line driver IC: ● Space Saving - the small QFN24 4x4 mm and the very small wafer-level chip scale package (WL-CSP) of 2.5x2.5 mm is perfect for the miniaturization of sensors and actuators
● Short Time-To-Market - ZMDI provides excellent application support and evaluation kits
● Flexible - ZMDI’S IO-LINK product family for master and device applications
● Excellent EMC Performance - integrated slew-rate control ● High Driver Capability - up to 820 mA (dual channel) and 410 mA (single channel)
● Specific - IO-Link specific WURQ detection. ● Enter 22 or ✔ at
www.engineerlive.com/ede
Daniel Heining is with Zentrum Mikroelektronik Dresden AG, Dresden Germany.
www.zmdi.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68