Within the newest episode of our sponsored interview sequence, In The Highlight, we’re joined by Deepan Patel, Trade Supervisor – Infrastructure at Phoenix Contact.
Throughout the interview we unpack what’s new in Phoenix Contact’s Niagara controller vary – and what it means for operators balancing uptime, scalability and safety. We additionally uncover how Niagara-based management can deliver a number of programs right into a single platform, significantly in environments corresponding to chilled-water schemes, whereas including {hardware} and deployment advantages aimed on the knowledge centre market.
Scaling I/O with out increasing the footprint
Patel highlights the controller footprint and built-in I/O as a place to begin, then factors to enlargement choices designed to scale up with demand. Within the interview, he explains that the platform can join as much as 16 further extensions, and {that a} bigger controller variant can assist as much as 63 I/O modules in a compact format – concentrating on larger, extra complicated deployments.
Key takeaways from the controller dialogue:
- Niagara-based management with built-in I/O for a compact set up
- Enlargement through extension modules to assist bigger deployments
- A give attention to faster deployment via modular connectivity and integration
- Redundancy, speedy failover and the resilience agenda
With redundancy front-of-mind for operators, Patel explains how community capabilities can assist frequent N+1-style situations – the place a major system palms over to a secondary when one thing goes mistaken.
As he places it, when failures happen, the switch-over could be ‘nearly instantaneous’.
Cyber resilience additionally comes up as a rising requirement for the sector, with Patel flagging that operators might want to align with rising requirements and expectations over the following few years – alongside the same old imperatives round energy and community resilience.
