I. What is an industrial switch
Industrial switches, also called industrial Ethernet switches, are Ethernet switch devices applied in the industrial control field. Industrial switches have carrier-grade performance characteristics and can withstand harsh operating environments. With a wide range of product series and flexible port configurations, they can meet the needs of various industrial fields. The products adopt wide-temperature design, protection level not less than IP30, support standard and private ring network redundancy protocols, good openness, wide range of applications, can adapt to low temperature and high temperature, strong anti-electromagnetic interference, anti-salt spray, and strong seismic resistance. Generally like high-speed monitoring system, water conservancy power generation system and other large-scale network communication system must use industrial switch.
II. Difference between industrial switch and common switch
Because the industrial switch is generally used in industrial production occasions, so it has a variety of appearance and installation forms, according to different applications, there are requirements for waterproof, dustproof, shockproof, anti-electromagnetic interference, in addition to the reliability requirements are also very high, to be 24 hours uninterrupted long-term operation. Some automatic control applications require low forwarding delay, some require redundant power supply, DC24V power supply and so on.
The ordinary switch is mostly used in corporate office scenarios, are generally placed indoors, the interference of external natural factors is very small, so the requirements of waterproof, shockproof and so on is not high, on the contrary, more in pursuit of reliability, to 24 hours uninterrupted long-term operation. At the same time, because it needs to carry more business applications, so the bandwidth, interfaces and other requirements, generally more than 8-port main.
It is because of the different use scenarios, making industrial switches and ordinary switches from the appearance, functionality, performance are relatively large differences, the following will be expanded in detail to talk about
2.1 Appearance difference
In order to maintain better heat dissipation and prevent corrosion in harsh outdoor environments, industrial switches use aluminum alloy shells with better heat dissipation and corrosion resistance. While most of the ordinary switches will use sheet metal shell, and most of the household plastic shell.
2.2 Different functions
Although the same as the switch, in the data exchange function is basically the same. However, industrial switches are mainly used for real-time Ethernet data transmission in complex industrial environments. Ethernet in the design, due to its use of carrier listening multiplexing conflict detection (CSMA/CD mechanism), applied in complex industrial environments, its reliability is greatly reduced, resulting in Ethernet can not be used. Industrial Ethernet switches use the storage conversion switching method, while increasing the Ethernet communication speed, and built-in intelligent alarm design to monitor the network operating conditions, so as to ensure the reliable and stable operation of Ethernet in the harsh and dangerous industrial environment.
2.3 Different performance requirements
Compared with ordinary switches, industrial switches have higher requirements in wide temperature design, protection level, voltage and anti-magnetic.
- For example, the temperature design of industrial switches needs to meet the range of -40~85°C, while ordinary switches only need to meet the 0-55°C range.
-Protection level: Industrial switches require IP40 protection level, while ordinary switches can reach IP20.
-Voltage: Industrial switches have a wider range of working voltage and support a variety of choices, such as -9~56VDC power supply, ADC220V power supply is optional, while ordinary switches have higher voltage requirements. Ordinary switches are basically single power supply, while industrial switch power supply is generally dual power supply for mutual backup.
Electromagnetic: Industrial Ethernet switches have strong anti-electromagnetic interference ability, generally EMC3 level or above, while ordinary switches will not have higher requirements in this regard.
Besides, there are many other performance requirements for industrial switches.