With the Axioline P product family from Phoenix Contact, standard and intrinsically safe (Ex i) input/output signals can be recorded via redundant Modbus/TCP bus couplers. Installed in Ex zone 2, the signals of the input/output modules can be connected directly from Ex zones 0, 1 or 2.
The innovative Modbus redundancy in the remote I/O station expands the robust Axioline P platform with an additional function in terms of high availability. The system can be configured with two bus couplers, each with its own IP address for client/server communication using a redundancy management function block. The bus couplers carry out the redundancy switching internally in the firmware and therefore do not require any additional software. When the bus coupler is switched over, there is neither a loss of data nor an interruption in communication with the controller.
The I/O station is easily configured via an integrated web server. All connected Axioline P input/output modules can be configured without external software. In addition to the function described above, the high availability of the system is achieved through a redundant backplane and the option of hot-swapping I/O modules. In this case, the replacement modules that are replaced during operation do not need to be configured.