SLX Data Acquisition Systems

Faulty thousand-dollar data acquisition systems can shut down billion-dollar operations. Our new isoLynx® SLX200 is a fast, intelligent, fully isolated data acquisition system providing superior reliability, accuracy, and isolation for a wide range of rugged industrial applications. It offers maximum flexibility of analog and digital I/O selection at competitive prices for a broad range of factory automation, process control, test and measurement, machine control, and data acquisition applications. The isoLynx® SLX200 implements the industry standard Modbus RTU and TCP protocols, thereby enabling communication with a wide variety of existing third-party software drivers and HMI/SCADA packages. It is fully certified by the Modbus-IDA organization. It is also compatible with OPC.

All I/O is channel-to-channel isolated. The flexible, modular design combines a 6- or 12-channel I/O Controller base system and optional 8- or 16- channel expansion backplanes, which can be either panel or DIN rail mounted (see Figure 1).

One I/O Controller module can operate up to 60 channels of differential analog I/O and 128 channels of digital I/O, using Dataforth's popular SCM5B analog and SCMD digital modules. The Controller contains a powerful high-speed microcontroller, A/D and D/A subsystem, communication interface, associated memory, and status LEDs. The A/D system is built around a 16-bit, successive approximation converter and can convert a maximum 60-channel configuration in 17msec. The D/A converter is also a 16-bit device and can write a maximum 60-channel configuration in 33msec. 

Industry's Widest Signal Conditioning Selection

By selecting from over 650 standard and custom single-channel SCM5B analog I/O modules, the isoLynx® SLX200 can interface to a broad spectrum of analog signals, including millivolt, volt, milliamp, amp, linearized and non-linearized thermocouple, RTD, potentiometer, slidewire, strain gage, AC-to-true-RMS output, frequency, 2-wire transmitter, and transducers requiring DC excitation. Analog output modules are available that provide a wide selection of current or voltage output ranges. Industry standard miniature digital I/O modules are used for digital AC/DC input and output requirements. The user can mix and match most I/O module types(3) on a per-channel basis, thus reducing wasted I/O channels and saving costs.

The isoLynx® SLX200 operation and storage temperature is –40°C to +85°C; the relative humidity range is zero to 95% non-condensing. Power requirement is +5VDC, 2.5W for a base system with no modules installed. The system is CE Compliant, CSA Certified, and FM Approved for use in Class I, Division 2 Hazardous Locations.

Flexible Communications and Configuration 

The isoLynx® SLX200 communicates on RS-232/485 non-isolated serial links up to 115.2kbps and 10Mb/s Ethernet. Standard communication is RS-232/485 and up to 32 systems can be multidropped on the RS-485 serial link. Optional Ethernet communication boards are available; these can be factory installed or field upgradeable.

The communication protocol is Modbus RTU for RS-232/485 or Modbus TCP for Ethernet. Modbus is an open, industry-standard protocol that defines how devices on a network or bus communicate with each other. Full certification of the isoLynx® SLX200 by the Modbus IDA organization ensures the device can be integrated onto existing Modbus networks, and most common Modbus function codes are supported. The system is also compatible with OPC. 

As device configuration is performed using standard Modbus function codes, any third-party software application that supports the Modbus RTU and/or Modbus TCP protocol can be used to configure the device. Configuration parameters are stored in non-volatile memory, so configuration only has to happen one time. A free software configuration utility is provided to make configuration easy and intuitive. 

Powerful Firmware Features 

The isoLynx® SLX200 hosts many powerful firmware features. Two analog scan modes are supported: one for general purpose signal monitoring with running average, maximum, and minimum values available for each analog input; the other with user-configurable scan parameters such as scan list, scan rate, and scan count, used to obtain data with highly accurate time correlation between samples. Configurable default output values ensure output signals get set at safe values when unexpected power outages or brown-outs occur. Power-on self-test results can be obtained visually by glancing at a status LED or programatically by reading the appropriate register on the device. A section of memory is set aside for general purpose user data, some of which is stored in non-volatile memory.

» Ordering Information 

Figure 1: SCM5B30/31 Block Diagram