Electronics News
Archive : 26 November 2008 год
Thanks to the redundant Rapid Ring connection Weidmüller’s new generation of managed switches in the WaveLine housing (protection class IP20) are suitable for structuring decentralized, automated networks. Compact (108 mm x 45 mm x 129 mm L/W/H) and designed to snap onto TS35 mounting rails WaveLine Managed Switches offer a full management switch solution. As well as the standard characteristics fulfilling specifications according to IEEE 802.3x/802.3 the managed switches support a variety of redundancy mechanisms – these range from simple parallel redundancy (Port Based Trunking) through to the fast Rapid Ring ring network solution.
Managed Switches are available as pure 8-port RJ45 versions or the version with 6 RJ45 ports and 2 fibre-optic ports. The optional fibre-optic ports with SC, ST, LC or SCRJ connectors in the multimode version offer interference-free transmissions across distances up to two kilometres. Distances up to 120 kilometres are possible with the single-mode variants. All WaveLine Managed Switches support topology recognition through the vendor-neutral Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP, IEEE 802.1AB). Profinet RT, Ethernet/IP, Modbus TCP and TCP/IP protocols are supported for automated network solutions. Optionally available with two digital signalling inputs and two digital signalling outputs WaveLine switches ensure high-levels of transparency in industrial networks.
Once the I/Os have been configured network parameters can be monitored directly via the managed switch – without additional PLC intervention. If, for example, an Uninterruptible Power Supply (USP) is coupled to the I/Os the USP switches to battery backup should the supply voltage fail. The signalling output wired to the WaveLine managed switch issues an SNMP message (trap) – for instance to the higher-level SCADA system on the network server. At the same time it is possible to activate an alarm warning lamp outside the electrical cabinet via the outputs to provide an additional visual warning of the power failure. Managed switches from the WaveLine product range are equipped with numerous features: autonegotiation, redundant power supply, programmable error relays for PLC support (max. 24 V/0.5 A), SNMP V1, Rapid Ring, RSTP 802.3w, IGMP snooping, querier, port mirroring, port filtering, port setup functionality, VLAN, QoS, TOS, Diffserv, MAC based trunking, auto cross-over, autopolarity as well as a filtering and forwarding table. Physical configuration is possible via a USB console or Ethernet network.
Alternatively, it is possible to undertake configuration settings per software via a console, web browser, SNMP or via Weidmüller's 'Device Configurator'. To guarantee high-levels of user-friendly convenience Weidmüller offers its Device Configurator as a general basis for managing and configuring its active Industrial Ethernet WaveLine products. WaveLine managed switches can be operated in temperatures ranging from -40 °C to +70 °C without any restrictions. To facilitate rapid diagnostics the modules are equipped with operation indicators for data transmission rate, power, temperature monitoring and connection/activity. Buffer (256 Kbyte) and address memory (4 K MAC) are suitably sized. WaveLine managed switches carry the CE mark of approval. cULus and GL approvals are being prepared.