IO-Link: Did You Know?

  • Post category:TECH TIPS
  • Reading time:2 mins read

Did you know that IO-Link wiring needs only 3 wires of a parallel cable instead of 19?

The simple motto 3 instead of 19 wires vividly describes the saving potential of IO-Link compared to conventional wiring. The user benefits are made clear using the example of a passive distributor with 8 M12 connections. For comparison purposes, an IO-Link input module that can be connected to any IO-Link master is used.

For 8 sockets with 2 digital inputs each, a total of 19 wires are needed for conventional wiring. This is reduced to only 3 wires for IO-Link. This results in significant copper savings, and the weight is reduced by two-thirds. Taking into account the costs for manual wiring to terminals and the reduced volume of parallel wiring, there are thus 3 additional good reasons to use IO-Link.

Slim 3-wire cables can be routed in a space-saving manner, have smaller bending radii, and are also available in a trailing cable-compatible variant. For system planners, this yields leaner, standardized wiring diagrams that can be quickly and easily duplicated with Copy and Paste.

Installers complete their task faster. Each terminal point signifies a potential error source. The effort to find such errors entails time, money, and stress. Fewer terminal points and an active IO-Link communication results purposefully in reliable wiring.

For smart sensors with integrated IO-Link, the savings are on the PLC side. Here, the transmission of multiple analog values to the previously-required input cards can be omitted. Instead, IO-Link provides up to 16 analog measured values via the 3-wire connection.

IO-Link