The EtherCAT I/O system from Beckhoff is being expanded with new fiber optic-compatible hardware. Using the EK1501 EtherCAT Coupler and the EK1521 junction terminal, more flexible topologies are now possible with glass fiber technology. The distance between two fiberoptic stations can be all the way up to 2 km (1.24 miles).

Besides its high performance and low system costs, EtherCAT also stands out due to its flexible topological characteristics. The EtherCAT Terminal system from Beckhoff supports all topology variants: line, ring, tree and star. This flexibility is continued in the wiring and the selection of different cables. The maximum distance between two stations is 100 m (328 feet) using a standard Ethernet cable (100BASE-TX). With the new fiber-optic modules, greatly extended networking up to 2 km (1.24 miles) is possible (100BASE-FX).

The EK1501 fiber-optic coupler connects EtherCAT to an arbitrary number of EtherCAT Terminals. Connection is made via SC duplex sockets. A further fiber-optic module can be optionally connected via a second port; an additional switch is not required.

The EK1501 EtherCAT Terminal with fiber-optic interface enables conversion to multimode glass fiber technology within a terminal line. The combination of line and branches or stubs is particularly useful for system wiring. Applications for the fiber-optic module will primarily be in widely distributed systems, such as wind farms or high tension systems. Even cableredundant systems with fiber optic can be realized using the EtherCAT branch.

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