Expanded Safety Line

By placing the I/O closer to the application, users have shorter wiring runs, which reduce the total cost of a machine, improve reliability and ease troubleshooting, the vendor says. The GuardPLC 1600 controller offers 20 digital inputs and eight digital outputs, while the GuardPLC 1800 offers 24 digital inputs and eight digital outputs, plus eight analog outputs and two high-speed counters. Both models feature integrated four-port Ethernet switches, and communicate to their distributed I/O blocks on the 100Mbit safety-rated GuardPLC Ethernet network. The GuardPLC IB16 distributed I/O block features 16 digital inputs, an integrated two-port Ethernet switch and four pulse test sources that detect channel-to-channel shorts, channel-to-24V dc shorts, channel-to-ground shorts and open wires. The GuardPLC OB16 offers 16 digital outputs, up to 2A per point, and an integrated two-port Ethernet switch. The GuardPLC IB20XOBB has 20 digital inputs and eight digital outputs and a two-port Ethernet switch. RSLogix Guard Plus!, the next generation of programming software for GuardPLC, features offline simulation that allows programmers to write and test their programs before downloading them to the controller and connecting the controller to the devices. All GuardPLC products are certified to SIL 3 and Category 4 applications.