With the switching terminals of the EL/ELM264x (reed) and

ELM274x (solid-state) series, Beckhoff significantly expands

the application possibilities of the integrated measurement

technology of the ELM3xxx series, as well as normal EL3xxx

/EL4xxx analog inputs and outputs.

This is because several sensors or sources can now be

connected to one analog input channel at the same time

via high-quality, EtherCAT-controlled switches.

For this purpose, the EL2642 is equipped with reed relays as

switching elements that allow fast switching cycles with a long

service life. The electrical isolation and the constant transition

resistance of the reed switch allow the measurement of sensitive

signals up to fast scanning operation. Due to the double input

connections X, the channels can simply be connected to 1 x 8

multiplexers andm more. The multi-channel acquisition of analog

signals as well as the flexible switching of various test states in

production integrated test stations is thus simple to do through

the integration of the switches into the EtherCAT system.