Introduced this week at Schneider Electric CONNECT 2016 in New Orleans, the Foxboro Evo FBM248 Universal I/O module brings the reliability of redundancy to Intelligent Marshalling. The standard 200 form factor is available now, with the Compact FBM248 coming at the end of the year.
Being universal, Universal I/O modules are designed for limited current capacities, and do not have features required for some applications, such as fuses, power relays, knife disconnects, safety relays, intrinsic safety barriers, etc. To provide this flexibility, the Universal I/O modules work with a range of third-party interfaces that easily and flexibly add any of these capabilities to an I/O point via modules on a compact terminal assembly. Schneider Electric is working with MTL, Phoenix Contact and Pepperl+Fuchs to offer a wide variety of functionalities.
Soon, Universal I/O will be available fully configured, installed and factory tested in a ready-to-go Intelligent Enclosure. “You’ll be able to order by quantity of Universal I/O, redundancy, intrinsic safety, safety and size, and end up with a standard part number,” Frost said. “This further decouples system design from I/O installation. You can ship and install now, and configure later.”
“Upgrading our award-winning Intelligent Marshalling solution to include redundancy and safety capabilities demonstrates our commitment to providing the connected solutions our customers need to improve the safety, reliability and efficiency of their plants and business operations,” said Chris Lyden, senior vice president of strategy, Process Automation, Schneider Electric.
“Configuring control and safety systems I/O can be costly, labor-intensive and subject to change,” Lyden said. “With their additional flexibility, the Foxboro FBM248 and Tricon CX 3902X I/O offerings allow our customers to adjust to unforeseen module changes and errors with little impact to installation time. That can drive huge savings when it comes to project execution and operations.”