I/O modules without interaction for IO-Link
Digital and analogue ports for IO-Link
With their IO-Link masters, ifm offers an ideal solution for recording sensor signals directly in the machine without using a control cabinet.
A machine controller, however, must also be able to record digital and analogue signals and control electrical actuators in addition to IO-Link information. The I/O modules for IO-Link offer precisely these functions, making them an ideal extension to the IO-Link masters.
For safety-related applications
A particular challenge is that in certain applications, the voltage of the actuators (UA) must be switched off in a safety-related way.
The modules have been developed so that they can be used in relevant safety-related applications up to PL d (category 3) without interaction.
Switching off without interaction
In classic safety technology, the voltage supply to hazardous actuators (UA) is switched off centrally via a safety relay.
In modern, decentralised fieldbus systems, however, the actuators are controlled via ”non-safe” outputs of I/O modules, while the voltage supply to these I/O modules is increasingly being switched off centrally via an upstream safety relay or a safety controller.
A dilemma here is that a fault could theoretically occur in the non-safe I/O modules, resulting in the output continuing to be supplied by US even though UA has been switched off. For this reason, the modules have been redesigned and built in such a way as to rule out this theoretical error.
Many competitors refer to “passive safety” in this context. However, the term is misleading as it suggests a safety device. This is why we expressly refer to ”non-interaction” and ”fault exclusion”.
