May 4, 2018 –Beckhoff Automation has introduced the EL34x3 series EtherCAT Terminals for power measurement and mains monitoring. Energy management for machine operation and the energy industries creates a range of demands, starting with basic monitoring of the supply network and process control to power monitoring. The EtherCAT I/O terminals from Beckhoff is designed to answer these demands.
Together with the proven EL37x3 power monitoring oversampling terminals (and the associated TwinCAT Power Monitoring software library), the new EL34x3EtherCAT Terminals for energy management provide a product portfolio that can be adapted to the varied measurement tasks found in a range of applications.
Two of the EtherCAT Terminals are suited for power measurement in process control applications:
- As a standard power measurement terminal, the EL3443 3-phase EtherCAT Terminal is suitable for process control tasks.
- The EL3453 3-phase EtherCAT Terminal for measuring voltages up to 690 V AC focuses on more demanding process control tasks.
Compared to the previous model, it offers numerous functions such as mains monitoring functionality, precise determination of zero voltage crossing and harmonics analysis.
In addition, it is also suitable for DC systems.
For this purpose, the terminal updates its process values with every half-wave, which corresponds to an interval of 10 ms at 50 Hz.
Four electrically isolated current measuring channels with freely adjustable measurement ranges for 100 mA, 1 A or 5 A, with a surge current capability of 60 A are available.
Two further EtherCAT Terminal innovations have been designed for energy management in monitoring and maintenance applications:
- The EL3423 3-phase power measurement terminal is intended for cost-sensitive energy management solutions, especially in IoT applications.
- The EL3483 3-phase mains monitoring terminal for voltage, frequency and phase enables monitoring of the power supply to a machine, which is particularly advantageous for systems that are sensitive to voltage variations.
The parameters that can be measured are energy, power and a mains quality factor.
These are recorded with an update interval that is adjustable from 10 s to 1 h.
As a special feature, the measured parameters are available as average, minimum and maximum values.
The functions include threshold value monitoring of the internal measured values, and the setting of warning and error bits in the process image.
Single-phase operation as a voltage, frequency and phase monitor is also possible.
