Mencom offers a full line of industrial network connectors that provide real-time data from the control center to the manufacturing floor. Our network connectors are UL listed, rated IP67 and are designed to work in harsh environments of temperature extremes, humidity, vibration, and electrical noise.

Our rugged connector design ensures network integrity and performance.

Network Protocols:

Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. It is often recognized for connecting office computers and printers. Due to its versatility, it can now be found in industrial control applications and is used for connecting controllers, PLC's, computers and other components. Industrial Ethernet technology [has been] embraced by multiple organizations and vendors, including the Industrial Ethernet Association (IEA), the Open DeviceNet Vendor Association (ODVA), Modbus.org, Fieldbus Foundation, and Profinet and Profibus International (PI).

The seamless integration with existing enterprise networking, including support from MIS, enables the transfer of status information to management easy and that information can even be served up via a web browser.

Mencom offers a full line of ethernet products including RJ45 panel interface connectors, like our combined duplex receptacle and RJ45 product and our cordsets, receptacles and field wireables. We also have a selection of Conduit Adapters.

Etherlink V3 -- Available only from Mencom, our tool-less field wireable is quick and easy to assemble (see video here).

Our E45UM series switches include 5/6-port Ethernet switches that provide two solutions, one with 6 RJ-45 ports and the other with 4 RJ-45 ports and one optic ST/SC port for your industrial applications.  These switches have been designed for industrial environments, such as in hazardous locations that comply with FCC, TUV, UL, and CE standards.

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DeviceNet is a network system used in the automation industry to interconnect control devices for data exchange. It uses Controller Area Network as the backbone technology and defines an application layer to cover a range of device profiles at a maximum of 8 bytes per message. Typical applications include information exchange, safety devices, sensors, actuators, and large I/O control networks.

DeviceNet uses CSMA/BA (bus arbitration) which is set up so that the highest priority message is always transmitted. The DeviceNet protocol supports 64 nodes addressed from 0 to 63 and uses a tree topology.

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Foundation Fieldbus is an all-digital, serial two-way communication system for process automation, specifically for heavy process applications such as refining, petrochemicals, power generation and even food and beverage and pharmaceuticals. It is an open, non-proprietary architecture developed and administered by the Fieldbus Foundation.

In this system, each device has its own “intelligence” and communicates via an all-digital, serial, two-way communications system. A foundation fieldbus device is addressable and can store values and share data.

Mencom offers a full line of Fieldbus cordsets and receptacles as well as field wireables and accessories such as “T” connectors and dummy plugs.

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Profibus-DP (Decentral Periphery) is an open network that is established in IEC 61158/IEC 61784. Its main function to to facilitate communication between PLCs (master) and between 4 and 30 I/O devices (slaves) such as sensors and actuators. Profibus Cable Profibus-DP uses an industrial physical layer based on RS-485. It is a two-wire differential system that is extremely resistant to electrical interference. Communication rates range from 9.6 kbps – 12 Mbps.

The main cable is a 22awg shielded twisted pair covered by an outer braided shield.

For your application, we offer cordsets (including right angle), receptacles (including PCB mount), “T” connectors and conduit adapters and field wireables. See all of our Profibus-DP products.

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Profibus-PA (Process Automation) uses the same protocol as DP, and can be linked to a DP network using a coupler device. It has a data transmission rate of 31.25 kbit/s. The much faster DP acts as a backbone network for transmitting process signals to the controller. This means that DP and PA can work tightly together, especially in hybrid applications where process and factory automation networks operate side by side.

Profibus was defined in 1991/1993 in DIN 19245, was then included in EN 50170 in 1996 and, since 1999, established in IEC 61158/IEC 61784, meeting the ‘Intrinsically Safe’ (IS) and bus-powered requirements therein.

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Profinet is the standard and the most advanced industrial networking solution for automation applications, including but not limited to sensors, actuators, sub-systems, production units, equipment and enterprise IT systems. Profinet is capable of operating in the harsh manufacturing environment and delivering the stable speed and precision required by production factories. It also provides additional benefits such as safety, Energy Management, and IT Integration.

Mencom Profibus connectors offer the real-time performance, speed, and precision required by industrial automation and manufacturing plants.

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In the past two decades, Ethernet-based networks were adopted as the backbone of industrial automation. The latest trend in industrial automation is ‘Industry 4.0’ which originated by the German government to create the ‘Smart Factory’ based on the concept of computerized manufacturing. The smart factory requires the use of more than a billion connected devices which raise a lot of concern about the reliability and the security of network communications for all kinds of applications in the industry. Unreliable networks almost always lead to delays in production. This is no longer acceptable in the Industry 4.0 era where competition in business is very intense.

In order to minimize such unexpected downtimes and provide reliable connections, Mencom now offers a wide range of industrial networking solutions such as Managed Switches, Unmanaged Switches, Gigabit Switches, Harsh Environment Switches, EN50155 Certified Switches, Secure Routers, Media Converters, Serial Device Servers, Modbus Gateways, Protocol Gateways, and Power supplies.

Mencom networking solutions provide prolonged Mean-Time-Between-Failure (MTBF) so that in an event of a link or device failure, Smart-Redundancy features will detect the failure, relay the cause of the failure back to the control center, and automatically recover from such failure to provide continuous operation.

They are also designed with embedded isolation to withstand the harshest industrial-grade electromagnetic interference and susceptibility without suffering fatal damage or generating noise. In addition, Ethernet Ring Protection Switching (ERPS), Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP), or Media Redundancy Protocol (MRP) ring settings can resume the operation and network connectivity immediately if a network switch fails or a communication link is broken.

For security and encryption, Mencom’s networking devices provide seamless and cost-effective encrypted links for local area networks (LANs) through MACsec (IEEE Medium Access Control Security Standard, IEEE 802.1AE) and for wide area networks (WANs) or Internet through IPsec (Internet Protocol Security) or OpenVPN. Browse Catalog>>

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References: Cisco.com, Wikipedia.com, Profibus.com, FieldbusFoundation.org, us.profinet.com