Product Description:

The IL2301-B110-0000 is a coupler box manufactured by Beckhoff within the IL Coupler Box Units series. It serves as a decentralized interface that links four local sensors and four actuators to an EtherCAT network, allowing field devices to be mounted directly on machines while maintaining deterministic communication back to the central controller in industrial automation. This layout keeps sensor and actuator connections close to the machine and reduces long cable runs back to the control cabinet. Control and fieldbus circuits are galvanically isolated to prevent ground loops between the network and the local I/O domain.

Communication performance is established at 100 Mbaud, so telegrams traverse the segment without timing jitter. The fieldbus runs in EtherCAT (Direct Mode), and physical transmission uses 4 x 2 twisted pair copper, Cat 5 cable to meet impedance and crosstalk limits. The module accepts a nominal control voltage of 24 VDC and draws up to 0.5 A, and these values set the power budget for the integrated electronics and the eight digital channels. Up to 512 bytes of input data and 512 bytes of output data can be mapped into the process image, allowing each connected device to transfer status and command words in a single EtherCAT cycle.

Two fieldbus trunks are implemented through 2 x M12 d-coded sockets, supporting line or ring topologies with distances up to 100 m between nodes. Local wiring is completed through M8 bolted connectors; an M8 plug feeds operating power, and an M8 socket provides onward daisy-chain distribution. Four input points and four output points share this supply, and each channel is reported individually for clear status handling at the controller. The enclosure carries a protection rating of IP65/66/67, so it can be mounted outside control cabinets in wash-down or dusty areas.