In industrial harsh enverionments, communication over the data lines is disturbed by the noise and ripple signals being induced on these lines. Main cause of these noisy signals is the unwanted electromagnetic fileds in the environment and RS485 and RS422 standards overcome this problem by using differential voltage lines for data signals. However, another cause for these noisy signals are the faulty currents flowing through the data cables due to the different grounding potentials at the two end-points of the data line. This unwanted system is called a "Ground Loop". sometimes this faulty current becomes so high that it is enough to damage the equipment at the two ends of the data line. Escessive surge currents flowing through the data  lines during lightning strikes are good examples for these situations. The only way to prevent such damages is to galvanically isolate the equipment attached to the data line. Since same scenairo is also possible for the power lines of these equipment, isolating the power lines also is the best solution.

 

DC / DC convertors are utilized at the power input and optocouplers are used for the signal lines in order to implement an isolation barrier inside a convertor or repeater. Max voltage difference between the input and output of an isolation barrier that the barrier could withstand without a damage, defines the level of that isolation barrier. Convertors and repeaters we are offering all have an isolation barrier of 3000 Vdc or 3750 Vrms AC. Although our standard models have 2-way isolation, there are also special models available with 3-way isolation.