Beckhoff demonstrates its EtherCAT plug-in modules for wind power at Husum Wind 2021
At this year’s Husum Wind from September 14-17, 2021 Beckhoff will be demonstrating its many years of know-how and its broad product range for the wind power industry. Among the highlights is a control cabinet optimized in terms of space requirements and wiring effort, which is only possible using the EtherCAT plug-in modules from the EJ series.
In the displayed control cabinet, the I/O level is realized with the EtherCAT plug-in modules and a highly compact, application-specific signal distribution board with a wiring level from stock and pre-assembled cables. The EtherCAT plug-in modules are based electronically on the well-known EtherCAT I/O Terminals and offer the same broad variety of signals. Their electromechanical design enables them to be plugged directly into an application-specific signal distribution board which distributes the signals and the power supply to individual application-specific connectors, in order to connect the controller to further system modules. Elaborate manual wiring of single wires is replaced by simply plugging in prefabricated cable harnesses.
Many of the other components that would otherwise be installed separately in the control cabinet are housed as compact plug-in modules on the board, e.g. relays, fuses or surge voltage protection equipment. This means that the space requirement in the control cabinet is significantly reduced, particularly in series production with mid to high quantities, also lowering costs. Another crucial advantage is the minimized risk of incorrect wiring.
With its broad portfolio of PC-based control technology Beckhoff is also appearing at this year’s Husum Wind as a long-standing automation partner of the wind power industry. Our focus will be on the ongoing integration of all plant and system functions: everything from operational management to pitch control; converter, gear unit, and brake control; wind farm networking; and hydrogen technology as a bridging technology to energy storage.
For more details, visit: www.beckhoff.com/ethercat-
