New surge protection for APL applications

The new surge protection for SPE and APL applications in the Termitrab complete product family from Phoenix Contact meets international standards and provides comprehensive protection for potentially explosive areas in process automation.

Phoenix Contact now offers two new surge protective devices for the requirements for two-wire Ethernet and Advanced Physical Layer (APL) systems in process technology. The new devices meet the jointly created specifications of the Profibus user organisation, the ODVA, the FieldCom Group, and the OPC Foundation. They support a data rate of 10 Mbps and have comprehensive international approvals, including ATEX and IECEx. This enables safe use in explosion-protected system parts. A particular highlight is that one of the items is also approved as a 2-WISE device, allowing easy integration into intrinsically safe APL circuits. The products also offer the option of accommodating the cable shielding on a third existing terminal block level. The pluggable surge protection can be replaced easily in the event of an overload without having to dismantle the entire installation. With an overall width of just 6 mm, the products are space-saving and ideal for use in outdoor distributor boxes.

An integrated status display on the protective device enables direct monitoring of the device status on site. If desired, the status is transmitted to the control room via optionally available remote signaling modules, which means that users have full control over the protection of the signal applications at all times.

Both items already meet the future requirements of the new IEC 61643-21 international standard.