Remote I / O Concept For Maritime And Offshore Applications

U-remote, the new remote I / O concept from Weidmüller has received approval for use in the maritime and offshore sector: The international classification societies DNV / GL (formerly Det Norske Veritas and Germanischer Lloyd), Bureau Veritas (BV), Lloyds Register (LR) and Registro Italiano Navale (RINA) are said to have certified the use of the remote I / O system in this demanding environment. The certificate applies to almost all areas on a ship, including the ship's bridge, for which particularly high requirements apply. The system should therefore be fully operational. According to the company, U-remote is a fully integrated, reliable and efficient automation solution for many applications, now also fully certified for ship applications.

Designed for sensitive and harsh conditions in the ship

On a ship, it is important to control, monitor and manage many parameters at the same time. Fully integrated, yet flexible automation systems should offer considerable advantages here, they cover many tasks: According to the manufacturer, U-remote is a highly integrated I / O concept and is particularly user-friendly. It should combine high performance with the best possible system handling. In addition, there is a robust design that is equally designed for sensitive and harsh environmental conditions in the ship and should be applicable in a temperature range from –20 ° C to 60 ° C. According to Weidmüller, it resists high humidity (up to 100%), strong vibrations (up to 4 g) and high-energy electromagnetic fields, without affecting other devices through excessive radiation.

High fieldbus compatibility and extensive process diagnostics

Intuitively arranged LEDs are used for direct and quick fault diagnosis; the status displays are located on each module for module-dependent status indication as well as on each individual channel for individual sensor / actuator diagnostics. U-remote should also stand for high fieldbus compatibility and comprehensive process diagnostics. Fieldbus couplers are available for Profibus, Profinet, Ethercat, Modbus TCP, Ethernet / IP, Devicenet, Canopen and Powerlink. They are intended to enable individual system adaptation and easy migration of the I / O level to the most common network protocols. According to Weidmüller, all that needs to be done is to change the fieldbus coupler, the system structure with up to 64 I / O modules remains unchanged.

A web server integrated in the fieldbus coupler also allows the system status to be checked or diagnostic messages to be analyzed - on site via the integrated service interface or remotely via network access. The simulation of input states and the forcing of outputs are further features of the web server, with which the commissioning of systems can be accelerated and the risk of installation errors can be reduced to a minimum. U-remote should not need any special software for this, but only a standard browser. In addition to easier commissioning in sections, this should also speed up service in the event of an unplanned downtime or scheduled maintenance work.

Weidmüller sees a great advantage of the U-remote system in the direct connection of the IP20 system with the subbus modules in protection class IP67. Thanks to the new IP20 gateway module, the fieldbus-open IP67 subbus system can be combined with all available U-remote fieldbus couplers. For example, users should only need a single IP67 system and be able to migrate the entire system to another fieldbus by simply changing the coupler. (sh)