Ifm electronic sees the onward march of IO-Link as unstoppable and for good reason, with advantages such as much more data and diagnostics for minimal extra cost. The company’s latest range of RFID antennas is suits a wide range of applications due to flexible parameter settings, improved diagnostics, and simple implementation. The range covers nine housing variants including robust designs for harsh industrial environments with ratings up to IP69K and temperature resistance from -20º to +60ºC.
The components are viable for the identification of workpiece carriers in conveyor technologies where only a small amount of data needs to be transmitted. In machine tools the IO Link enabled antennas can be used to confirm correct selection and monitor usage of magazines and component molds as part of a QA and Preventative maintenance process. In automotive production, body components or engines are compared to order numbers via RFID to control processing steps, or to check the final assembly.
Building IO Link into the antenna gives the user access to set-up tools that ensure that any RFID solution can be implemented simply into existing or new machinery. The IO Link enabled Fieldbus module range from ifm electronic supports EtherCAT, Ethernet TCP/IP, EtherNet/IP or ProfiNet interface for communication to the PLC. The RFID antenna can be used with all RFID tags conforming to HF standard ISO 15693.
IO-Link functions include; upload / download of parameters for device replacement, automatic reading of transponder UID’s, specific blocks of TAG data as well as being able to write user data to the transponder. Additional functions include; indication of the tag presence bit, antenna on / off and data hold time can be adjusted. For more details visit Ifm electronic.