Pepperl+Fuchs Blog

The PosiTrack Shield is an accessory upgrade for our PosiTrack absolute position linear encoder. You can use the PosiTrack read head for absolute positioning of conveyor vehicles, vertical lifts, or indoor cranes. By adding the PosiTrack Shield, applications in harsh outdoor environments like offshore installations (ships, ports, harbors) or outdoor cranes are no problem.

The Shield's IP69 rating also serves to shelter the read head in high-pressure washdown areas. With integrated heating, temperatures as low as -40 °C keep the read head operating efficiently. The Shield is also downward compatible with current PosiTrack installations.

Topics: Troubleshooting, Positioning Systems

AS-Interface software for troubleshooting and testing has been around for years, but new licensed versions are now available.  This licensing is primarily due to additional software, which is included and added to the suite, and easily pushes new software fixes directly to the consumer.  All new software licenses come with free lifetime software upgrades.  The old software can still be used and is still supported, but the software revision is frozen.  Any new gateway produced will be supported only with the new software.

Topics: Troubleshooting, AS-Interface, Software

Safety at Work has been a part of AS-Interface for over 10 years now.  It is a very reliable means of networking industrial safety products.  Very demanding applications need extra configuration in the software to prevent nuisance shutdowns.  These shutdowns can be caused by high vibration on the machine opening up mechanical contacts or high noise sources disrupting network communications.  Here are some software settings to reduce or eliminate these nuisance shutdowns.

Topics: Troubleshooting, AS-Interface, Software

NAMUR sensors are used in hazardous locations, and can provide both explosion hazard and personal safety protection. NAMUR sensors and switch isolators are highly reliable and have proven-in-use characteristics, making them a perfect choice for safety-related applications when connected to suitable control circuits.

Most devices are independently rated with Probability of Failure on Demand (PFD) and Safe Failure Fractions (SFF) that enable them to be used in functional safety areas up to SIL2 or SIL3. In this blog, Product Manager Robert Schosker talks about how to connect a NAMUR sensor to switch amplifier KFA5-SR2-Ex2.W, and then tests to ensure proper operation.

Topics: Inductive Sensors, Troubleshooting, Intrinsic Safety Barriers

A UHF RFID system is a bit more more complicated to configure and set up than an inductive short-range RFID system.  The Pepperl+Fuchs IUH-F190-V1-FR2-02 read head is a UHF head that makes many of the tough decisions for you.  You don’t need to know about anti-collision algorithms, sessions, inventory queries, or select flags.  We use simple concepts and a reduced parameter list to make it easy for anyone to set up an RFID system.

Topics: Troubleshooting, RFID, Software

The current consumption of an industrial sensor is a very important consideration. Knowing the current consumption of all your devices on a machine allows you to size wire properly and pick the right power supply for the application.

Topics: Applications, Troubleshooting, AS-Interface, Power Supplies

...with VNC (Virtual Network Computing)

This tutorial is for RealVNC Server. Refer to the guide for UltraVNC Server.

This tutorial assumes that you know how to set up a PC for an IP address, how to use the ping command, and how to make an Ethernet connection between two PCs or a PC and remote monitor.

Connect the PC and RM in the same network domain, e.g., 192.168.100.XXX, or within your internal domain address structure.

Topics: Troubleshooting, Industrial Monitors/ HMI, Software

At a plant or job site, Remote I/O installation processes happen in many phases. At times, certain equipment and bus communication lines may not be available from the early stages that would allow a user to configure and set up some of the controllers or Remote I/O modules.

Topics: Troubleshooting, Software, Remote I/O

In this post, we will discuss the difference between lightning and surge, briefly cover the lightning and surge protection standard, and finally show a couple of Pepperl+Fuchs options for surge protection devices (SPD).

Topics: Troubleshooting, Ask an Expert, Intrinsic Safety

This tutorial explains how to set up a remote monitor (RM) workstation for Shell 3 on a Windows 7 server and a Windows XP client.

To identify the IP address and subnet mask of the RM workstation, perform the following steps.

1. Click the Start tab on the bottom left of the screen.

Topics: Troubleshooting, Industrial Monitors/ HMI, Software