Harting at Drives & Controls 2010

At Drives & Controls 2010 (8/10 June 2010 Birmingham GB), Harting will present the first demonstration in Britain of Fast Track Switching: an innovative new switching technology that allows manufacturing organisations to integrate their office and automation networks into a single Ethernet-based communications platform: the Automation IT concept.

Unlike alternative proprietary Ethernet protocol approaches which use modified versions of the Ethernet standard compatible with automation technology applications, Fast Track Switching is totally based on standard Ethernet, but adds a new switching method to ensure that the specific
requirements that automation technology places on performance and determinism are fully met.

Using Fast Track Switching, a user can port an Ethernet-based system into the automation world with the full use of all of the degrees of freedom that standard Ethernet has to offer. This includes the integration of components and subsystems from outside the traditional automation
environment - such as vision or RFID systems - which may not support automation-specific protocols but which generally have an Ethernet interface.

The key components in Fast Track Switching are Fast Ethernet switches in Harting's Ha-VIS FTS 3000 product family, which can detect and identify automation profiles (PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP and customised profiles), accelerate their data-transmission speeds and prioritise them.

The product family includes the Harting Ha-VIS FTS 3100s-A, which allows the connection of up to ten network devices over shielded twisted-pair cable. It supports Ethernet (10 Mbit/s) and Fast Ethernet (100 Mbit/s).

The detection, acceleration and prioritisation mechanisms guarantee the necessary determinism and performance that automation technology demands. As Fast Track Switching is also protocol-neutral, it can be used with all market relevant Ethernet systems.

They will also feature a broad range of interconnection solutions for industrial drives and controls applications, including The Harting RJ Industrial® 10G: the latest version of the world's first RJ45 connector requiring no tools for connection and featuring a future-proof design compatible with 10-Gigabit Ethernet applications.

The connection is made reliably and quickly using proven insulation displacement terminal technology. The insulation displacement terminals are designed for rigid and flexible conductors with an extremely broad range of wire cross-sections.

Cables with diameters from 4.5 to 9 mm are securely fixed in place in the connector with a newly developed cable gland, allowing users to connect all standard Ethernet cable types with a single RJ45 connector design. Thanks to its compact design, the rugged and industry-standard IP 20 model is also suitable for multiport RJ 45 jacks.

In addition to the IP 20 models, all HARTING's existing IP 65/67 PushPull types up to the Han® 3A version are now available with the new RJ Industrial® 10G insert.

Also new is the har-speed M12 range: the first M12 connectors to meet the demanding requirements for high-speed transmission in Cat.6A cabling systems. The new connectors are designed for applications in machine and plant engineering where the requirements for high-speed, secure data transmission require a higher level of performance than is available from Cat.5 cabling.

The design of the har-speed M12 connectors is based on the recently agreed PAS 61076-2-10x standard, which defines a uniform mating face for 8-pole M12 connectors. The new mating face performs two tasks: shielding in the connector area (using shielded wire pairs) and the coding of the mating face, which ensures fail-safe plugging with other 8-pole M12 connectors.

The new range includes overmoulded variants in different lengths and a crimp connector for on-site assembly.