Design
( MAX14821), a tiny low-dropout linear regulator( MAX8532), an efficient high-voltage step-down converter( MAX17552), a Renesas ultra-low-power 16-bit microcontroller( RL78) utilizing TMG TE ' s IO-Link device stack, and a Maxim Integrated proximity sensor( MAX44000).
Figure 6: Maxrefdes79 # First IO-Link master reference design for interfacing with up to 4 io-link sensors
The reference design has four robust female M12 connectors, the most common connector used for IO-Link, and ships with two black IO-Link cables to quickly connect to IO-Link compatible sensors and actuators. An AC-to-DC( 24VDC / 1A) power-supply cube is capable of providing greater than 200mA simultaneously
to each port and greater than four times that amount if the other Figure 4: Maxrefdes27 # IO-Link Optical Proximity Sensor reference design ports are unused. A Micro-USB connector underneath the
enclosure allows for quick connectivity to a Windows ® PC. This reference design highlights an ability to develop ultra-small IO-Link reference designs such as the ones described above help IO-Link sensors that are versatile and powerful enough to be speed up the design and development of IO-Link based sensors integrated within an actual assembly line. within customers that are still beginning to embrace this fast
Enabling IO-Link Design growing technology.
There are various types of IO-Link sensors that are coming Conclusion available in the market which range from temperature to distance Industrial IoT is at an inflection point – we see some factories that and even light curtains with multiple light beams. To enable the are getting hyper connected and many others which are still in interface of these sensors with legacy programmable logic the evaluation mode. As factories become digital, smart and controllers( PLCs) we see a host of gateways that can translate relevant sensor data will be the basis upon which manufacturing
multiple IO-Link inputs to a single fieldbus. Some of the newer and even enterprise level software will run optimization and PLC designs are incorporating IO-Link master functionality built-in, other algorithms. so that they can communicate directly with the IO-Link sensors.
As sensors measure even more parameters and have to This is enabled by the availability of integrated IO-Link transceiver communicate with the controller / PLC, the need for a low-cost, devices in small, power efficient form-factors. robust, and open communication standard will be important. IO- For example, the MAX14824 is an IO-Link master interface that Link checks all of these boxes and has the potential to become
integrates an IO-Link physical layer transceiver with an auxiliary the dominant factory automation standard for the pervasive, digital input and two linear regulators in a small 4mm x 4mm, 24- smart sensor world that is emerging. pin TQFN package. The device supports all the IO-Link data rates and is compliant with IO-Link v. 1.0 and v. 1.1 Physical Layer. Figure shows the typical operating circuit for IO-Link Master functionality with such a device
Figure 5: IO-Link Optical Proximity sensor reference design Using this transceiver, Maxim has also built the first public and fully IO-Link-compliant, 4-port IO-Link master reference design.
ELE Times | 32 | March, 2017