Key points
Weidmüller has developed a power supply, electronic circuit breakers and a communication interface that can be adapted to any application, based on its PROtop series of power supplies.
PROtop power supplies for digitisation
PROtop power supplies provide power, energy efficiency and communication capabilities in equal measure. Higher efficiency levels of up to 95.3% – depending on the version – enable around 50 kWh per day to be saved in a medium-sized production plant using approximately 100 960W PROtop power supplies in a three-shift operation.
This amounts to over 15,000 kWh a year. With MTBF values of over one million hours, they also offer a high level of operational reliability. They also take up 30% less space and so provide higher functional density in the control cabinet.
Click here for more information on PROtop
DCL technology ensuring peak load reserves
An efficient power supply needs to have high pulse energy reserves to enable powerful motor starts, for example. With their cutting-edge DCL (Dynamic Current Limiting) technology, PROtop power supplies are able to guarantee this.
This is important in materials handling applications, which often employ 24 V DC motors. The power supply provides the reserves needed to start a motor under load.
The high dynamic range of PROtop devices also ensures the reliable triggering of circuit breakers. Conventional switched-mode power supplies inherently limit the output current which means that protective elements may not necessarily react in the event of a short circuit.
A fault can thus remain undetected and possibly result in damage. With power reserves of 600% for 15 ms, PROtop power supplies are able to safely trigger each circuit breaker.
Easy to implement redundant solution
Especially critical applications often have a redundant power supply. But short circuits can also occur in the power supply itself. Conventional redundancy concepts provide redundancy or diode modules, which decouple the power supply units in the event of a fault.
These separate components, however, result in additional installation and space requirements. PROtop power supplies have an integrated decoupling module based on an ORing MOSFET.
This allows the power supplies to work in parallel without additional protective measures. System costs are thus reduced, and more than 30% space can be saved in the control cabinet.
Communication: key technology for Industry 4.0
In industrial IoT, all the components of a production environment are interconnected via a digital infrastructure and must therefore be capable of communicating with each other – the power supplies included.
Weidmüller's PROtop devices feature the topGUARD load monitoring system and a plug-in communication interface. topGUARD is a modular electronic load output system comprising a feed-in module and several connected output modules.
The output modules are available with both fixed and freely adjustable fuse ratings up to 12 A per module. In the event of an overload or a short circuit, topGUARD will shut down the affected channel.
The highlight of the system is the communication module, which can be used to retrofit both the PROtop power supply as well as the topGUARD load monitoring system.
The standardised IO-Link technology (IEC 61131-9) allows users to transmit data while also ensuring data transparency and providing remote-controlled operation of the topGUARD load monitoring.
The communication module, for example, allows each module to be monitored for voltage and current output, as well as switching the individual channels on and off and resetting them in the event of a fault.
Click here for more information on topGUARD
Transparency in the power supply
The intelligent networking between machine, control cabinet and IT system opens up completely new control, monitoring and analysis solutions. With its communication-enabled load monitoring system topGUARD, Weidmüller is giving machine and system operators the ability to develop new services for diagnosing and optimising their processes for the first time.
The power supply or load monitoring system can be controlled remotely and integrated into the condition monitoring system, thereby reducing power consumption and the planning of maintenance work.
This significantly increases the functional reliability and profitability of a wide range of systems – such as food and packaging systems in 24/7 operation as well as hard-to-reach offshore wind farms.
From the power supply to the smart grid
The infrastructure of the modern equipment field is made up of intelligent networks for data, power and sometimes materials. To provide reliable protection against dirt or moisture in the field, components such as PROtop or topGUARD can simply be integrated into a robust IP65 housing.
This makes it possible to implement supply systems in line, ring or even grid structures, including fused load output circuits, and to monitor them via fieldbus connections.
Weidmüller also offers more cost-effective power supplies, which do not have the communication capabilities, but otherwise fully meet the typical requirements for industrial use.
With many other components available, such as uninterruptible power supplies or capacity modules, exactly the right DC supply can be implemented for each application.
Weidmüller UK
- +44 1162 823470
- http://www.weidmueller.com
- Klippon House, Centurion Court Office Park, Meridian East, Meridian Business Park Leicester, Leicestershire LE19 1TP GB
About us
Be it automobile manufacturing, electricity production or water management - hardly any of today’s industries can do without electronics and electrical connectivity. In this internationalised, technologically changing world, the complexity of requirements is rapidly increasing due to the emergence of new markets. New, more varied challenges have to be overcome, and the solutions to them will not be found in high-tech products alone. Connectivity is the key, whether it involves power, signals and data, demands and solutions or theory and practice. Industrial Connectivity needs connections. And that’s precisely what we stand for.
Our Industries
Our industrial environment is full of connections that need to be connected, controlled and optimised. We are absolutely committed to always providing the best connection possible. This is not only demonstrated in our products but also in the human connections we maintain: We develop solutions in close cooperation with our customers which meet the full measure of all requirements of their particular industrial environment.
Industry 4.0 and Digitalisation
In the light of Industry 4.0, customised, highly flexible and self-controlling production units often still seem to be a vision of the future. As a progressive thinker and trailblazer, Weidmüller already offers concrete solutions that allow producing companies to prepare themselves for the “Industrial Internet of Things” and for safe production control from the Cloud - without the need to modernise their entire range of machinery.
Where we supply to
UK Ireland
Industries we supply to
Chemicals, Energy and Power, Pharmaceutical Cosmetics Toiletries, Water and Wastewater
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