Product Description:

B&R Automation manufactures the 5ACPCI.XPNS-00 as part of the 5AC CNC Addon Modules series. The board extends a CNC controller by adding an Ethernet fieldbus channel, enabling deterministic communication with distributed drives, I/O slices, and visualization nodes. It uses an add-on card concept, so installation only requires inserting the module into a spare half-size PCI slot and fastening the bracket. With this Ethernet fieldbus connection, the controller can exchange cyclic and acyclic telegrams over existing plant cabling without consuming the main processor's onboard port.

Network wiring enters the module through two RJ45 Cat 5 sockets on the bezel and supports a maximum line length of 100 m. Fast frame processing is handled by the on-board netX 500 processor, which performs protocol handling independently of the CNC CPU. The logic domain is powered from the backplane at +3.3 V ±5%, and it draws a nominal current of 650 mA during full traffic. The card measures 120 mm wide, 73.2 mm high, and 18.5 mm deep, so it fits dense multi-axis racks. Copper pairs operate at a selectable data rate of 10/100 Mbit/s, and the link layer maintains error counters that can be retrieved for maintenance. Up to 244 identical modules may be addressed within one controller chassis, allowing segmented machine sections to share a single CNC kernel.

The board provides a dual-port memory of 64 kB, which the host CPU maps directly for zero-copy process data exchange. Module identification is automatic through the PCI half-size Plug and Play interface. Real-time transfer is optimized for a cyclic payload of 2048 bytes (IOCR), while user diagnostics or parameter blocks can move through the acyclic channel at up to 1024 bytes/telegram. A separate diagnostic window handles 200 bytes per telegram so fault codes and status flags do not interfere with process data.