Are ground loops or sinking/ sourcing issues causing signal problems?
Signal Conditioners
Signal integrity starts with quality measurement
and good equipment. However, even with the best equipment signals can
be degraded if the equipment is not properly installed. Signal integrity
can be greatly impacted by poor shielding and wiring practices. The biggest
factor is ground loop errors (ground noise). Our signal conditioners protect
your expensive electronic equipment against ground loops with up to 1500
V of isolation.
Isolation is one way to eliminate ground loops and other such problems.
Isolation means using one of many electronic methods to interrupt the
connections between two grounds while passing the correct signal with
little or no loss of accuracy. Without a way for ground currents to flow,
these currents can't induce signal errors.
The following signal conditioners are available:
- FC-11 - 4-20 mA isolated signal
conditioner. Loop-powered signal conditioner and isolator for 4-20 mA
signal. DIN-rail mountable.
- FC-33 - DC selectable signal conditioner.
Signal conditioner and isolator for voltage/ current signals. 24 VDC
input power. Selectable ranges from 0-10 VDC to 0-20 mA. Pushbutton
programmable ranges and LED indicators for power and performance. DIN-rail
mountable.
- FC-R1 - Loop-powered signal conditioner
and isolator for RTD signal. Selectable inputs include Pt100, Pt1000,
and Cu100. DIN-rail mountable.
- FC-T1 - Signal conditioner and
isolator for thermocouple/ mV input signal. 24 VDC input power. Selectable
inputs include Type J, K, E, R, S, T, B, N, C. DIN-rail mountable.
See sections below for further details.
FC-11
4-20 mA isolated signal conditioner
The FC-11 is a DIN rail or side mount, 4-20
mA input/ output signal conditioner with 1500 VDC isolation between input
and output. The FC-11 has a user-selectable factory calibration.
The output is also calibrated with OFFSET (zero) and SPAN (full scale)
adjustments. The OFFSET has an adjustment range of 0 to 25% of full scale
input, and the SPAN has an adjustment of -20% to 2%.
Application
The FC-11 isolated input/ output signal conditioner is useful in eliminating
ground loops or sinking/ sourcing issues when interfacing to PLC analog
input modules. The FC-11 design feature solves many types of configuration
problems. For example, the signal conditioner can solve sinking input
transmitter to sinking input analog modules. It also allows signal translation
from current input to voltage output. This feature would be useful when
you have limited type and number of channels in your system design, i.e.
8 channels of 0 - 10 VDC , 7 which are used and one input transmitter
that is 4 - 20 mA.
FC-33
DC selectable signal conditioner
The FC-33 is a DIN rail mount, selectable
input/ output signal conditioner with 1500 VDC isolation between input
and output and 1500 VDC isolation from 24 volt power and input/ output.
The field configurable input/ output types allow a wide ranging capability
for 0 - 5 V, 0 - 10 V, 0 - 20 mA, 4 - 20 mA.
The FC-33 has user selectable factory-calibration, but also has OFFSET
(zero) and SPAN (full scale) adjustments of the output signal. The OFFSET
(zero) has an adjustment range of 0 to 25% of full scale input, the SPAN
(full scale) has an adjustment of -20% to 2%.
- LEVEL LED
This LED is a powerful tool when setting up the signal conditioner.
During normal operation the LED will blink at a proportional rate to
the selected input signal level. When performing field calibration the
LED is used for indication of the internal calibration process.
- CAL - Pushbutton
This pushbutton along with various switch settings, allows you to calibrate
the signal conditioner for your application or restore factory default
calibration.
Application
The FC-33 field configurable isolated input/ output signal conditioner
is useful in eliminating ground loops and interfacing sensors to our PLC
analog input modules. The FC-33 has 3 way isolation, this feature solves
many types of configuration problems. For example, the signal conditioner
can be configured for sinking input and sourcing output. It also allows
signal translation from current input to voltage output or voltage input
to current output. This feature would be useful when you have limited
type and number of channels in your system design, i.e. 8 channels of
4-20 mA, 7 which are used and one transmitter that is 0 - 10 V.
FC-R1
RTD input loop powered signal conditioner
The FC-R1 is a DIN rail mount, Resistive
Temperature Detector, signal conditioner. FC-R1 is non-isolated, 3-wire
RTD which converts to linearized 4 - 20 mA current loop.
The FC-R1 has user selectable,CU10 (10 Ohm copper), PT100 (100 Ohm platinum),
PT1000 (1000 Ohm platinum) RTD input, but also has OFFSET (zero) and SPAN
(full scale) adjustments of the output signal. The OFFSET (zero) has an
adjustment range of 0 to 25% of full scale output, the SPAN (full scale)
has an adjustment of -20% to 2%.
Application
The FC-R1 field configurable input signal conditioner is useful for interfacing
RTD sensors to our PLC analog current input modules. Use shielded RTD's
whenever possible to minimize noise on the input signal. Ground the shield
wire at one end only. The suggested 3-lead configuration shown provides
one lead to (+) terminal, one lead to the (-) terminal and one lead to
the (COM) terminal. Compensation circuitry nulls out the lead length for
accurate temperature measurements. Some sensors have 4-leads, when making
connections, do not connect the second lead to the (+) terminal, leave
that lead unconnected.
FC-T1
Thermocouple/ mV input isolated signal conditioner
The FC-T1 is a DIN rail or side mount, thermocouple/
mV input signal conditioner with 1500 VAC isolation between input and
output. The field configurable input allows a wide ranging capability
for J,K,E,R,S,T,B,N,C type thermocouple and 0-156.25 mV, ±156.25 mV.
The FC-T1 has built-in self-calibration, but also has OFFSET (zero) and
SPAN (full scale) potentiometers for adjustment of the output signal.
The FC-T1 is also equipped with cold junction compensation (CJC) circuitry
to provide an internal ice-point reference. The temperature calculation
and linearization are based on data provided by the National Institute
of Standards and Technology(NIST).
- ALARM and RUN LED
This LED is bicolor (red and green). The red LED indicates a fault,
with internal calibration or thermocouple burnout condition. However,
during power-up initialization the red LED will be on, when process
is complete, the LED will turn green. The green LED indicates normal
function. Green/ Red flashing indicates out-of-range, over or under
temperature/ voltage for the selected range.
Application
The FC-T1 field configurable thermocouple/ mV input signal conditioner
is useful in eliminating ground loops and interfacing sensors to our PLC
analog input modules. If your requirements are just for one channel of
temperature you can add the signal conditioner to your 4-20 mA input modules.
Or, if your requirements are for a single millivolt signal source, you
have the freedom of adding this input to your analog module. The FC-T1
uses a combination of sophisticated circuitry to accomplish the conversion
tasks, state of the art analog to digital converter and DAC chip. Upscale
or downscale thermocouple burnout detection selection is also provided.
|
