Product Description:

The CX5130-0161 is an embedded PC manufactured by Beckhoff within the CX Embedded PC Systems series. Designed as a DIN-rail-mountable controller, it combines PLC logic, HMI, and fieldbus routing in one device for mid-level industrial automation cells. The unit serves as the central processing element that runs TwinCAT control tasks, exchanges data with I/O terminals, and interfaces with higher-level networks, reducing cabinet footprint compared with a traditional IPC plus drive solution. It targets applications that need deterministic control with low power consumption.

At the heart of the system is an Intel Atom E3827 dual-core processor; its 1.75 GHz clock and 2 logical cores give deterministic cycle times for typical PLC scan rates. The CPU works with 4 GB of DDR3 RAM, so larger code bases and motion libraries can be loaded without swapping. During full load, the platform draws no more than 14 W, which eases cabinet thermal design when the supply is the standard 24 V DC control rail. Beckhoff rates dielectric strength at 500 V between isolated groups to guard against transient line faults. The pre-installed TwinCAT 2 PLC runtime executes IEC 61131-3 programs and communicates directly with EtherCAT I/O for microsecond-level reaction times.

Nonvolatile program and recipe data are stored on media inserted into CFast and MicroSD slots, allowing convenient replacement without opening the housing. Four front-mounted USB 2.0 ports supply up to 500 mA per port for local panels, scanners, or wireless adapters, while network backbones connect through two RJ45 Gigabit LAN sockets that support separate machine and plant segments. A single DVI-I connection drives a detached monitor for visualization tasks, and the controller occupies only 142 × 100 × 92 mm of rail space. An internal UPS keeps the logic alive for 1 s after a mains drop so buffered data can be written to flash.