RS 422, RS 485 and RS 232 are some of the most widely used and successful serial standards of interface for industrial uses. Although they are directly not compatible to one another, it is usually essential to have communication between them. In order to convert one form of signals to another, a special device known as Interface converter is required. Interface converters can be used for electrically isolating and converting analog signals. Actuators or sensors and controls usually have different units of power supply and therefore need electrical isolation for signal circuit. Conversion of analog signal also permits transmission over the longer distances.

Applications: Interface converters are used for following purposes:

·                        For isolating the analog signals electrically

·                        For converting the analog signals

·                        For converting signals into frequencies

·                        For converting the non-normalized signals into normalized ones

·                        To provide over-voltage protection to the analog inputs

Advantages: Some of the advantages of using interface converters include:

·                        These are designed in such a way that they do not consume much space

·                        These converters usually come with the frequency output

·                        All the ranges of interface converters are completely calibrated

·                        There is a unified group of devices which is an ideal solution for all the applications

·                        There is an automatic-manual switch with an adjustable set point

·                        They are safe to use as the outputs are adequately short-circuit proof.

·                        They are able to provide protection against damages caused due to faulty wiring for up to a level of 30 volts.

The interface converters provide the facility of interoperability and connection of equipments that have dissimilar combinations related to standard communication interface. These converts also allow for difference in both signal levels and physical connectors. All the models have two different communication ports. The internal switch helps in selecting which ports will be given the appearance of DCE interfaces and which ones of DTE. The LED indicators will show activity upon the line and will assist in troubleshooting. In addition to that, the interface converters have been transparent to all types of data, frame and clock formats and are able to operate at the transmission speed of up to E1 that is 2.048 MBPS. They are also able to be operated in half-duplex as well as full environments and are made available in rack mount and stand alone versions. The rack mount converters are the plug-in boards which can be mounted in and drawn power from, while the stand alone ones are present in the metal enclosures that have switchable power supply options. The port connectors of the rack mount ones are mounted upon each individual boards so that they can be accessed at the chassis rear end. Some converters can send serial protocols like RS-232 also over wireless, like this serial wifi converter.

Various types of interface converters are designed for easily converting data between these standards and for automatically controlling the directions of serial data, thus eliminating the requirement for a software flow control. Using special techniques, the interface converters are able to automatically adapt to all baud rates and are independent of any communications protocol. It can also be used in any industrial application without the need to make any software or hardware changes.

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Interface converters
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