Product Description:

The EK9500 is a DIN-rail-mountable coupler produced by Beckhoff within the EK EtherCAT Couplers series. As a gateway, it connects a string of EtherCAT terminals to an EtherNet/IP controller, exchanging process data while also feeding the backplane supply for the attached slices. The device therefore lets PLCs or CNCs extend decentralized digital and analog I/O over standard Ethernet cabling without adding separate fieldbus cards.

Two switched 2 x RJ45 ports form the coupler’s bus interface, supporting line or tree wiring topologies. Each port moves cyclic frames at 100 Mbit/s, and the electronics run from a single 24 VDC supply that draws roughly 3 W during operation. Internally, the unit can buffer up to 496 bytes of input data and 496 bytes of output data per cycle, matching the demand of mid-sized machine segments. The coupler uses the EtherNet/IP protocol and expects signals to travel over a 4 x 2 twisted-pair copper cable in Cat 5 specification. Its 64 mm × 100 mm × 80 mm housing fits the standard Beckhoff terminal pitch, and a 2 A I/O terminal supply is routed through the backplane contacts so that sensors and actuators receive power without external wiring.

Up to 255 EtherCAT terminals can be chained behind the coupler before another power feed is needed, and the integrated power contacts carry 24 VDC / 10 A for that segment. Installation remains compact because the total station length can be bridged with a single field cable that may run 100 m between nodes. An IP20 protection class enclosure limits the device to closed control cabinets but also allows tool-free push-in wiring. The separate backplane line prevents power dissipation in the electronics from loading the field supply, ensuring deterministic cycle times even when many I/O slices switch simultaneously.