Intrinsically Safe Profibus Gateway

Turck (Germany) has introduced a new intrinsically safe Profibus-DP gateway for its zone 1 remote I/O system, excom. Essentially, the new excom profibus gateway, GDP-IS, offers more functionality and low dissipation loss.

At the core of the GDP-IS is a new microcontroller that enhances the performance remarkably and enables an even better availability of the complete system. Due to their 100 percent downward compatibility, already existing gateway variants can be replaced by the new solution. In spite of the new functionality, the GDP-IS has a lower dissipation loss; because the power consumption is 1W at its maximum.

The GDP-IS offers additional status information and special excom error code; for power supply, projection and HART communication errors. These are in addition to the usual diagnostic tools, including the channel related diagnosis. The gateway to gateway communication that is needed for redundancy operation takes place over a separate interface. For communication with the modules, the gateway provides two fully-fledged controllers.

Excom is a remote I/O system for use in hazardous areas. It offers IP20 rated bus compatible, local in/output modules to connect binary and analog field devices that are intrinsically safe. The explosion protection category of the system allows the use in both zone 1 and 2. The field circuit is approved for zone 0.