Farnell to Distribute Industrial Shields' Open-Source Automation Devices
Farnell, an Avnet Company, announced a global franchise with Industrial Shields, a leading developer and manufacturer of industrial automation devices (PLCs and Panel PCs) based on open source hardware from Raspberry Pi and Arduino. The use of open source hardware provides many benefits to design engineers, including the opportunity to bring industrial products to market at a lower cost and in less time than designing with proprietary processor boards.
The partnership strengthens Farnell’s industrial automation and control portfolio by providing more options to customers developing monitoring, control or automation solutions based on single board computers (SBCs). Automation continues to grow in all domestic and industrial sectors including home and factory automation, large buildings and smart cities. Industrial Shields’ feature rich, competitively priced products provide the high performance required for monitoring and control systems used in factories, production lines, machines, buildings and agriculture.
The use of open source hardware removes any lock-in associated with proprietary PLCs, giving customers much more control and ownership of the design. Many designers are already familiar with the programming environment of Raspberry Pi and Arduino, which offers easy access to powerful tools and information about the design and operation of the products. Developers of industrial automation solutions also have the option to integrate a greater range of electronic components into their designs, reducing the cost of end products.
Farnell now stocks Industrial Shields’ full product range, including automation devices, including:
The Touchberry Pi 10.1 Panel PC, based on the Raspberry Pi 4B, features a resistive multi-touch screen in two dimensions of a 10.1" aluminum case or a 7" plastic case. The Panel PC runs multiple operating systems including Raspbian, Linux or Android and can achieve a wide voltage range of 12 to 24Vdc and up to 12x GPIO. Ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity are enabled via USB, I2C, SPI and UART. This product is ideal for applications which monitor and control production lines, machines or installations.
The ARDBOX PLC product family is based on the Arduino Leonardo board and features 20 I/O ports which support digital and analog signals (with PWM output). An optional relay output is also available for AC control. Up to 127 modules can be connected via I2C, enabling up to 7100 I/Os. Other features include a real-time clock and µSD memory support. The ARDBOX PLC product family offers a broad range of communication options including USB, Full/Half Duplex RS485, RS232, I2C and Modbus, making it an ideal product for industrial control systems used in factories, manufacturing, and mining operations.
The M-DUINO PLC family are Ethernet-enabled PLCs that can support any industrial control system requiring analog and digital I/Os. Relay outputs for AC control are also available. The M-DUINO family offers PLCs ranging from 17 I/Os in total to a 59 I/Os with up to 36 inputs or 31 outputs. Like the ARDBOX PLC family, the M-DUINO range can connect up to 127 modules via I2C, enabling a maximum of 7100 I/Os and feature a real-time clock and µSD memory support. Communication is offered by USB, Full/Half Duplex RS485, RS232, I2C and Modbus.
The full Industrial Shields product range is available from Farnell in EMEA, Newark in North America and element14 in APAC.