Product Description

B&R Automation's main goal for creating the X20 product line is to provide users all over the globe with the right tools to automate industrial processes. Their I/O modules, PLCs, and bus modules under the X20 family have become successful and well-known in the market. The X20 family of products is heavily modular, often assigning different products to carry out specific functions instead of selling a complete system for different applications. For this reason, large X20 systems often have several digital input or output modules for controlling and influencing other devices within the system. One powerful product invented by B&R under the X20 system is the X20CM1201, a combination module.

Combination modules like the X20CM1201 often contain a set of fixed outputs together with a set of configurable channels. Specifically, for the X20CM1201, there are four fixed digital inputs, while four other digital channels may be configured as inputs or outputs. This module makes it easier to expand the system since it dedicates channels that can act either as sources or sinks. Aside from its channels, the X20CM1201 also features an AB incremental encoder running at 24 V. Although the X20CM1201's bus consumes only 0.01 watts, its internal I/O draws 1.5 watts.

The X20CM1201's nominal voltage is 24 VDC, but it allows the switching voltage to fluctuate from 20.4 volts to 28.8 volts. Its AB incremental encoder has a 32-bit counter size and uses a maximum internal current supply of 600 mA. Impressively, the incremental encoder is protected from short circuits and overloading. When operating a channel as a digital output, the nominal output current is 0.1 A. Assuming all four configurable channels are set as outputs, the total nominal current is 0.4 A.