BC9120 | Ethernet TCP/IP Economy plus Bus Terminal Controller

The BC9120 Bus Terminal Controller is a Bus Coupler with integrated PLC functionality and has a bus interface for Ethernet. It is an intelligent slave and can be used as decentralized intelligence in the Ethernet system. In conjunction with the K-bus extension, the Economy plus controller enables connection of up to 255 Bus Terminals to a controller.

In terms of performance, the BC9120 Bus Terminal Controller lies between the BC9050 and the BX9000. The BX series Bus Terminal Controllers have a larger memory and additional interfaces for the integration of further peripheral devices.

The BC9120 has an additional RJ45 port. Both Ethernet ports operate as 2-channel switches. The I/O stations can thus be configured with a line topology, instead of the classic star topology. In many applications, this significantly reduces the wiring effort and the cabling costs. The maximum distance between two couplers/controllers is 100 m. Up to 20 BC9120 Bus Controllers are cascadable, resulting in a maximum line length of 2 km.

The Bus Terminal Controller is programmed using the TwinCAT 2 programming system according to IEC 61131-3. The configuration/programming interface on the BC9120 is used to load the PLC program. If the software PLC TwinCAT is in use, the PLC program can also be loaded via Ethernet.

The inputs and outputs of the connected Bus Terminals are allocated to the mini PLC in the default settings. Each Bus Terminal can be configured in such a way that it exchanges data directly through the fieldbus with the higher-level automation device.

Controller for distributed signal processing

The BC9020 and BC9120 Bus Terminal Controllers support the operation of all Bus Terminal types. As far as the user is concerned, the inputs and outputs are not handled any differently from the way they are by other coupler series. The information is made available for use as a byte array in the process image of the automation device.

The analog and multi-functional Bus Terminals can be adapted to each specific application using the KS2000 configuration set. Depending on the type, the analog Bus Terminals' registers contain temperature ranges, gain values and linearization characteristics. With the KS2000, the required parameters can be set on a PC. The Bus Terminals store settings permanently and in a fail-safe manner.

Having the controller (PLC, IPC) carry out the configuration of the Bus Terminals is a further option. The PLC or IPC uses function blocks (FB) to take care of the configuration of all the peripherals during the start-up phase. The controller can, if required, upload the non-centrally generated configuration data in order to manage and store them centrally. This means that it is not necessary to carry out the setting procedure again if a Bus Terminal is exchanged. The controller carries out the desired setting automatically after switching on.