Power and data…wirelessly!

Written by Gareth Chamberlain, Product Manager- Cyber Security and IT Automation

With 2021 now ending, it is a great time to reflect on what we have achieved in the outgoing year. With the supply chain still suffering from the events over the last couple of years we all have found ways to adapt. Phoenix Contact, of course, has not been exempt from the current component shortages, but when customers have needed a solution from a networking point of view, in most cases, we have been able to help our customers where needed.

So, what can you expect from Phoenix Contact networking in 2022? Our most anticipated product has just been released: NearFi – with the ability of transmitting power and data in the centimetre range.

But what do I mean by this?

Many of our customers have applications with devices that must be mated together or moving components that are a real issue when it comes to hard wire connections. We traditionally had many options for data only connections, such as WLAN or Bluetooth, but we had no solution for transmitting power wirelessly…until now!

Traditional WLAN or Bluetooth are great, and they have their uses, but they can also be a hindered in a very congested area. Adding more Wireless products will only hinder other networks or give suboptimal performance, this is where NearFi comes into its own.

In many applications within factory automation (where mating connectors have a very high mating frequency) dirt, wear and tear can degrade connectors over time. This then needs to be put on the planned maintenance schedule, and if a contact is damaged inside the connector, it can then bring unplanned downtime.

NearFi transmits data and power latency free, meaning that industrial protocols do not notice the wireless air-gap, watchdog timers do not have to be adjusted. Power is transmitted at 24v with a maximum of 2A constantly.

There are 3 variants of NearFi: