What is an Industrial switch?
Industrial switches are also known as industrial Ethernet switches. At the beginning of the design, The Ethernet switch does not take into account the application requirements of the industrial network. Therefore, when the network equipment is deployed in the industrial field, the stability of the commercial switch will be greatly challenged in the face of a harsh working environment. In this regard, industrial Ethernet switches with high reliability, stability, and security have emerged as the times to become a transmission tool that can adapt to complex industrial environments and facilitate industrial automation network deployment.
Industrial switches are designed to withstand the toughest working environments, with a wide product line and flexible port configurations to meet the needs of a wide range of industrial control applications. With the rapid development of power, metallurgy, petrochemical, environmental protection, transportation, construction and other industries, the demand for industrial Ethernet switches is also growing.
So, what are the advantages of industrial switches compared to commercial PoE switches? PoE switches brand manufacturer ONV introduces you in detail.
The main advantages of industrial switches
1. Using industrial-grade components
Industrial switches have high requirements for component selection and can withstand the detection of harsh environments, so they can adapt to industrial environments and support industrial applications in harsh environments.
2. Fast ring network, fast redundancy
Industrial switches generally have a fast ring network and fast redundancy, and the system redundancy time can be less than 50ms. Although commercial PoE switches can also form redundant networks, the self-healing time is more than 10 to 30s, which cannot meet the needs of industrial environments.
3. Super anti-interference performance
Industrial-grade switches have strong anti-interference performance, can work in harsh electromagnetic environments, and have high protection levels in lightning protection, waterproof, anti-corrosion, anti-shock, anti-static, etc., while commercial-grade PoE switches Do not have these characteristics.
4. Adapt to the wide temperature environment
Industrial switches generally use a pleated metal casing for faster heat dissipation and greater protection. They work well in the temperature range of -40°C to +75°C and can be well adapted to complex temperatures and humidity. Commercial PoE switches can only work in the range of 0°C to +50°C, which can not meet the working requirements in harsh climates.
5, Redundant power supply design
The power supply is a very important part of industrial switches. Power failures generally account for more than 35% of equipment failure rates. To avoid the trouble of power failure, industrial switches use dual power supply redundancy to ensure stable and reliable operation. Commercial PoE switches generally use an AC single-supply power supply, which is not suitable for industrial environments.
6, Long service life
Industrial switches use industrial-grade solutions from the shell material to the companion components, so the product has higher reliability and longer service life. The service life is more than 10 years, while the service life of common commercial PoE switches is 3-5 years.
What should I pay high attention to when buying a network switch? The main factors in choosing an industrial switch, and the considerations for purchasing a switch:
1, Reliability
Reliability is critical in an industrial field environment. The factors related to product reliability are equipment hardware tolerance to the working environment: such as operating temperature range, EMC electromagnetic compatibility, lightning protection level, installation and power supply mode, fan-less design, redundancy, fault diagnosis and resilience, and so on. In the parameter description of the product, there should be a detailed description of the operating temperature range, electromagnetic protection, and lightning protection level.
2, Real-time
Network data transmission will cause delays. Therefore, the first consideration for selecting an industrial Ethernet switch is the port delay of the switch during data frame forwarding. In a standard factory automation control system, the system can tolerate a response time of no more than 10ms. Therefore, when selecting a switch, the switch port delay should not exceed 10μs.
3, Compatibility
Industrial Ethernet switches and other Industrial Ethernet components should be able to communicate using the standard TCP/IP protocol. Under no circumstances should there be an incompatibility between Industrial Ethernet devices and commercial Ethernet devices. For different industrial Field bus solutions, Industrial Ethernet devices should have the corresponding capabilities and compatibility.
In addition, in the process of selecting an industrial switch, the user should also select an appropriate twisted pair or fiber interface according to some basic requirements such as transmission distance and transmission switching capacity. When connecting some devices such as video terminals and wireless base stations, PoE switches can be selected for wiring convenience.
