#Product Trends
Solenoid valve island with fieldbus
The CM (Clever Multimach) series of Metal Work solenoid valves have now been upgraded with fieldbus interface. More modern protocols are also available: Profinet IO, EtherCAT, CANopen, EtherNet/IP. Each bus node can handle up to 64 outputs and 32 inputs. System modularity is very interesting in that valve units of different sizes, with ø 4, 6 or 8 pipes, can be assembled and combined as required without the need for extra bases, because the CM series does not require any base. Starting with the first unit, which has a bus interface, you can add as many slave units as desired up to a total of 64 outputs. This results in optimised system performance and cost savings, because each bus node can serve different islands installed on the machine as required. In addition to the classic bus-error function, the highly-advanced system diagnostic unit ensures the detection of any internal communication defects and the identification of the exact point of occurrence, or alerts the user when a solenoid has shorted or failed.
Giorgio Guzzoni, Product Manager at Metal Work S.p.A.
