New 12-ch Thermocouple Module in the APAX Series
- APAX-5018 -

The Industrial Automation Group of Advantech has announced the release of a new 12-ch Thermocouple module, APAX-5018, as part of the growing APAX product line. In numerous automation applications, thermocouple sensors are widely used for collecting temperature information. Inheriting the benefits of the high performance APAX PAC system, the APAX-5018 offers a 12-ch high density analog input solution for reading thermocouple sensor data, saving dimension and installation costs, and satisfying various application needs.

Furthermore, the APAX-5018 has configurable input channels that mean each input channel can be configured with different input types and ranges, regardless of the voltage, current and thermocouple inputs. Now users don’t need to buy separate modules for different input types and ranges. The APAX-5018 is also designed with wire burn-out detection functionality which means each input channel can detect the connection status of thermocouple sensors automatically. When the thermocouple is connected, the information read will operate as usual, otherwise, the APAX-5018 channels will return to the default values as configured to avoid unexpected event occurrences and increase system reliability.

The APAX-5018 thermocouple module can be integrated into Advantech APAX series solutions through versatile controllers (APAX-5570, APAX-5571 and APAX-5520), couplers (APAX-5070 Modbus/TCP and APAX-5072 EtherNet/IP) and also backplanes (APAX-5001 and 5002) to increase system scalability. There is also an optional APAX-5343E power supply module.

Advantech also offers a free utility for configuration and testing, with Visual C/C++ and .NET libraries can to program within Visual C and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET development environments. For more information, please visit Advantech’s PAC website (http://pac.advantech.com) or contact Advantech directly.