Industrial Ethernet solutions

Today the trend in automation and process control is a move towards open, transparent system solutions. These rely increasingly on PC control with either Intranet or Internet access. The most important standards are TCI/IP communications protocols and ETHERNET network structures. Many controllers, PLCs and Distributed Controller Systems (DCS) already have an ETHERNET interface. Organizations and companies are currently working on ways to make existing fieldbus protocols comply with TCP/IP protocols and to equip field devices directly with an ETHERNETinterface.

Although the Ethernet standard used in automation technology is the same as that used in offices, the requirements for network products are considerably different. In day-to-day industrial applications, networks are expected to work reliably under extreme conditions, such as electromagnetic interference, high operating temperatures and mechanical loads. Hirschmann's Industrial Line ETHERNET Rail family was specifically designed for use in industrial automation applications taking all these requirements into consideration. In order to meet these challenges, Hirschmann introduced the redundant "ETHERNET Ring" which ensures continual production operation even while the network is being reconfigured.

The Rail Switch Family

The Rail Switch Family provides you with a flexible and cost-effective solution for designing ETHERNET networks in compliance with IEEE 802.3 based on fiber optic and copper technology. It is especially suitable for use in a harsh industrial environment. With the Rail Switches you can configure medium to large sized networks easily and cost-effective. An important feature is the fast media redundancy in an optical ring structure. The failure of a fiber optic cable or a Rail Switch will be recognized promptly (< 300 ms). By switching to the redundant fiber optic link, operation will continue without any loss of data. The integrated fast media redundancy guarantees you a fault-tolerant network.

Rail Switch Redundancy Managers

The control of the redundant ring is handled by the Redundancy Manager. It supervises the ring and is responsible for recognition and elimination of faults in the ring within less than 300 ms. The Redundancy Manager RM1 provides eight twisted pair ports based on 10BASE-T to connect terminals, PLCs or other twisted pair segments as well as two free slots for 100 Mbit/s modules.

. The Rail Switches can be easily fixed on a standard DIN Rail without any further configurations. The 24 V DC operating voltage is supplied over the terminal block and can also be configured for redundancy. Integrated into the terminal block is a signaling contact which sends fault and warning messages of the Rail Hub as High/Low signal, e.g. to an I/O block of a PLC or any other control device. This is activated as soon as any event occurs in the Rail Hub, i.e., voltage supply malfunction or at least one fiber optic or twisted pair port reports a faulty link status.

ASi Solutions

For OEMs and system builders, we can supply components or systems using the Hirschmann range of Asi connectors and components.