Written by Andy Maskell, Product Manager- Safety, I/O & Networks
Automation continues to develop at a very fast pace but the complexity can also increase and in turn the skills required to make it work. There is no sign this trend is slowing down but what we still see is the need for cost effective and easy to implement solutions that remove the need for software licences, complex programming and expensive hardware for smaller applications that still need to be automated.
Written by Duncan Nicol, Sales & Marketing Manager- Device Connections
Growing up in the 80s, our streets were a lot less cluttered than today. Bollards were made of concrete with the sole purpose of stopping traffic, street lights where just that, and remember telephone boxes? Back then sophisticated electronic devices were inside while the weather remained outside.
Written by Scott Mulholland, Product Manager- Industrial Components
Good morning everyone. If you’re reading this, you survived the weekend. Perhaps like me, you watched incredulously as your neighbour excitedly covered the whole frontage of their house in Christmas paraphernalia in the first half of November. Be vigilant, these people walk among us.
Anyway, back to reality.
A significant amount of effort goes into maintaining and developing our website to help you find the right products for your applications. It’s one of our best kept secrets that we have a suite of product configurators that all reside in the same place on our website.
If you go to the Phoenix Contact UK homepage and select the ‘Products’ drop down button, you will be presented with the image below. On the right of the screen you will also see ‘ADDITIONAL RESOURCES’ and below that ‘Configurators’. This is where they all live.
Written by Nigel Dawbarn, Sales & Marketing Manager- Industry Management
Consider the possibilities of having all the functionality of a building controller but with up to 63 I/O terminals directly connected to the controller, an integrated 4 port Ethernet switch, M-Bus and DALI modules, again directly connected to the controller, multi-protocol support and all 
running on the Niagara 4 framework and it’s available in an industrial platform…what more could you want?
Written by Andy Maskell, Product Manager- Saftey, I/O & Networks.
Wireless technology has moved on in recent years to the point where there are few applications where it cannot be used. The obvious requirement for wireless technology is where it is too costly (cable and copper costs) or where it is impossible to run cables.
Examples are:
The list goes on and on.
Fraser Cowie, Product Manager- Interface
First came the mini analogue pro signal conditioner, which revolutionised the market and set the new standard in space and time saving for end customers.
Mini Analogue Pro communication gateways
Customers today have several problems when they need to connect a variety of signals from the field – these signals may be analogue, digital, temperature, frequency, potentiometer or limit values. To connect the signals they will need several different signal specific cards, which take up space, take time to be wired and can mean high costs per channel if every input is not utilised.
Written by Duncan Nicol, Sales & Marketing Manager- Device Connections
We are in the midst of a third industrial revolution where communication, energy and transport are all evolving and converging.
During the first industrial revolution in the nineteenth century news reached the masses thanks to the invention of the steam powered rotary printing press. Coal became the new cheap energy source which went on to power the railways connecting town, cities and, critically, people. In the second industrial revolution during the twentieth century new forms of communication were introduced with the telephone, radio and television. Cheap oil was discovered which went on to power a transport revolution and the rise of the automobile.
Written by Mark Lloyd, Product Manager- Power Supplies & Surge Protection
For nearly 10 years, the TRIO combined power supply/UPS has been on the market and has become one of our most popular UPS. This year, it has been given a makeover with the release of the 2nd generation TRIO DC UPS.
Paraphrasing something I have heard on numerous occasions from customers: “We really like the concept of a combined mains input power supply and 24DC output UPS, but at only 5A we really could do with more power”.
Written by Fraser Cowie, Product Manager – Interface
Phoenix Contact provides a multitude of products and solutions for the food and beverage market . In this blog I will discuss a product range that I see as particularly beneficial.
I recently did some product training in Germany and was given various different competitor signal conditioners to wire. I am no expert, but after 2 minutes of trying to cable one particularly complicated product I started to feel sorry for electrical engineers who regularly have to struggle just to connect a wire.
Written by Gary Nelson, Senior Product Manager- Device Connections.
Are you looking for an easy way to combine conventional connection technologies for signal, data and power within one electronics enclosure for use on a DIN rail?
The requirements of the internet of things and Industry 4.0 means more and more technology needs to be incorporated within less space and the ability to bring multiple connection technologies onto the DIN rail is becoming increasingly more challenging. A typical device now needs to be able to communicate with units sitting directly along the same DIN rail as well as cloud bases or other devices located elsewhere within the facility whilst being as compact as possible to save space within the control cabinet.