With the EtherCAT P solution, Beckhoff combines ultra-fast EtherCAT communication and power supply in a standard 4-wire Ethernet cable. This enables direct power supply for both EtherCAT P slaves and the connected sensors and actuators in such a way that separate power lines can be eliminated, considerably simplifying system cabling. This makes EtherCAT P the ideal sensor, actuator and measurement bus, providing advantages both for connecting small remote I/O stations in terminal boxes and for decentralized I/O components located throughout the process.
A full range of EtherCAT P system and I/O components in protection class IP 67 and 4-wire Ethernet cables is currently available for the 24 V I/O level. The power supply from EtherCAT P is rated at 2x 24 V DC/3A. For connecting sensors and actuators with power supply, users can integrate any of the wide range of well-established EP Box modules from Beckhoff in the new EPP versions for EtherCAT P. These include a variety of 4, 8 and 16-channel digital input box modules; 4, 8, 16 and 24-channel digital output modules; numerous 4, 8 and 16-channel IP 67 I/Os with combined digital inputs/outputs; as well as RS232 and RS422/RS485 serial interfaces.
Free and flexible choice of topology, as enabled by EtherCAT, is equally possible with EtherCAT P. The following IP 67 infrastructure components are available to set up the required network architecture in the field:
