Connectivity, Control and IIoT
Whether it’s connecting with analog sensors or driving actuators, analog ICs play many critical roles in industrial applications. Networked systems add new wrinkles to the industrial analog landscape.
By Jeff Child
While analog ICs are important in a variety of application areas, their place in the industrial market stands out. Industrial applications depend heavily on all kinds of interfacing between real-world analog signals and the digital realm of processing and control. Today’s factory environments are filled with motors to control, sensors to link with and measurements to automate. And as net-connected systems become the norm, analog chip vendors are making advances to serve the new requirements of the Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT) and Smart Factories.
It’s noteworthy, for example, that Analog Devices‘ third quarter fiscal year 2017 report this summer cited the “highly diverse and profitable industrial market” as the lead engine of its broad-based year-over-year growth. Taken together, these factors all make industrial applications a significant market for analog IC vendors, and those vendors are keeping pace by rolling out diverse solutions to meet those needs.
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Figure 1 This diagram from Texas Instruments illustrates the diverse kinds of analog sub-systems that are common in industrial systems—an industrial drive/control system in this case.
While it’s impossible to generalize about industrial systems, Figure 1 illustrates the diverse kinds of analog sub-systems that are common in industrial systems—industrial drive/control in that case. All throughout 2017, manufacturers of analog ICs have released a rich variety of chips and development solutions to meet a wide range of industrial application needs.
SOLUTIONS FOR PLCs
Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) remain a staple in many industrial systems. As communications demands increase and power management gets more difficult, transceiver technologies have evolved to keep up. PLC and IO-Link gateway systems must dissipate large amounts of power depending. That amount of power is often tied to I/O configuration—IO-Link, digital I/O and/or analog I/O. As these PLCs evolve into new Industrial 4.0 smart factories, special attention must be considered to achieve smarter, faster, and lower power solutions. Exemplifying those trends, this summer Maxim Integrated announced the MAX14819, a dual-channel, IO-Link master transceiver.
The architecture of the MAX14819 dissipates 50% less heat compared to other IO-Link Master solutions and is fully compatible in all modes for IO-Link and SIO compliance. It provides robust L+ supply controllers with settable current limiting and reverse voltage/current protection to help ensure robust communications with the lowest power consumption. With just one microcontroller, the integrated framer/UART enables a scalable and cost-effective architecture while enabling very fast cycle times (up to
400 µs) and reducing latency. The MAX14819 is available in a 48-pin (7 mm x 7 mm) TQFN package and operates over a -40°C to +125°C temperature range. …
Read the full article in the November 328 issue of Circuit Cellar
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Circuit Cellar's editorial team comprises professional engineers, technical editors, and digital media specialists. You can reach the Editorial Department at editorial@circuitcellar.com, @circuitcellar, and facebook.com/circuitcellar
