Bus Coupler "Economy plus" BK3520
The new "Economy plus" BK3520 Bus Coupler with fiber optic connections for 12 Mbaud links Profibus to the modular Bus Terminal system. The technology of modular series terminals has been proven in countless applications. With fiber optic technology, new installation methods are possible, thus opening additional application areas to users. In addition, the "Economy plus" version supports the new K-Bus extension technology, allowing one Bus Coupler to operate 255 bus terminals on several nodes. The BK3520 Bus Coupler has two transmitters and two receivers for use in line topologies. The baud rate is automatically recognized. In contrast to the BK3x00 Bus Couplers, the BK3520 can transfer more user data in DP mode. For this type of Bus Coupler, this may comprise 128 input bytes and 128 output bytes. The DP-V1 services permit direct access to the Bus Coupler's registers and the complex Bus Terminals in order, for instance, to modify the parameterization, or to set or to correct the limit values for analog Bus Terminals.

A complete system with Profibus fiber optics
The FC315x fieldbus cards and the IL230x-B350 Fieldbus Box Modules represent further Profibus optical fibre devices under development. The FC315x PC fieldbus cards add a fiber optic version to the family of Profibus master cards. The Profibus PCI cards offer a wide range of features, and support Profibus DP, DP-V1 and DP-V2 (Profibus MC) including PROFIdrive 3.0. The advantages of the FC315x fieldbus cards include their integration into TwinCAT, with which the capacity of the software PLC/NC is fully exploited. This includes the possibility of achieving cycle times as fast as 200 µs. According to the option chosen, it is possible to use two fieldbus channels in parallel on one card (FC3151: 1 channel, FC3152: 2 channels).

The range of Profibus devices with fiber optic interfaces is completed by the IL230x-B350 Coupler Box version for the Fieldbus Box system. All IExxxx extension modules for all common I/Os can be connected as distributed peripherals to the fieldbus system at the Coupler Box, which is also designed for transmission rates of up to 12 Mbaud. With this innovation, Beckhoff are also offering users the advantages of fiber optic technology for new application areas with protection class IP 67. With the BK3520 Bus Coupler, the IL230x-B350 Fieldbus Box Modules, the FC315x PC fieldbus cards and the integration into the TwinCAT software PLC/NC, a complete system of Profibus versions in fiber optic technology will be available.