21
November 2015
I
ndustrial
C
ontrol
& C
ommunications
a step-function improvement in space and
energy efficiency. To be successful designers
will need to systematically look for opportuni-
ties to streamline analog circuitry and reduce
power dissipation. Fortunately, new solutions
are being developed by companies, such as
Maxim Integrated, who are looking to capi-
talize on their integration capabilities as the
industrial market evolves. Combining mul-
tiple discrete analog functions in a single IC
can provide system designers with significant
advantages in size, power consumption, and
cost. Maxim Micro-PLC Technology Demon-
stration Platform shows how analog integra-
tion can enable a 10x smaller PLC footprint,
50% cooler operation, and 70x faster through-
put for digital I/O. These achievements are
realized using the Maxim Smart Integration
approach to product development and its pro-
prietary process technology.
I/Os are the essential link between PLCs and
the countless sensors and actuators required
by Industry 4.0. As manufacturers add more
sensors across factory floors, equipment
designers must push channel density ever
higher, even as available space in the PLC
continues to shrink. The I/O isolation archi-
tecture offers an opportunity for significant
space savings. The traditional approach is to
use one optocoupler per channel, and connect
each optocoupler output to a digital input on
Figure 2. In this typical Micro PLC, analog and discrete components take up more than 80% of
the board space.
Figure 3. The MAX31911 greatly reduces the number of optocouplers for digital-input designs.
