ST's IO-Link actuator board delivers turnkey reference design

ST has introduced an IO-Link reference design for industrial beacons and home-appliance alarms, delivered ready-to-use as a fully built board complete with protocol stack and application software.

The EVLIOL4LSV1 board leverages ST’s L6364Q dual-channel IO-Link transceiver to handle communications and the IPS4260L intelligent low-side power switch for driving the indicator lights. The board can be directly connected to signaling systems such as smart tower lights used in factory automation, funnel material alarms for quantity-remaining or urgency-level awareness, and other system warnings. It also provides a fast way to test the IPS4260L and L6364Q ICs and has a 4-pin M12 connector for an IO-LINK master and a 5-pin SWD connector for programming.

An STM32G071CB microcontroller, which hosts the ST proprietary IO-Link demo stack and the application software, handles system control and diagnostics, communicating with the transceiver and low-side switch.

The L6364Q transceiver is fully protected and supports standardized IO-Link communication speeds including 38.4kbit/s COM2 and 230.4kbit/s COM3. The transceiver can operate in single or multibyte mode, as well as in transparent mode delegating control of IO-Link communications to the microcontroller by a simple URT interface. The in-built protection ensures EMC immunity up to 2.5kVpk surge pulse/500Ω coupling without additional protection elements.

The IPS4260L low-side driver has four outputs for driving loads with one side connected to supply voltage, each individually controlled by a signal such as a digital microcontroller output. It has a wide operating-voltage range, from 8V to 50V, and the current for each output can be independently programmed from 0.5A to 3.0A.

The IC integrates overload and overtemperature protection for each channel and provides open-load, overload, and overtemperature diagnostic signals to aid system management and enhance reliability. The reference design also features ST’s SMBJ30CA TVS (transient-voltage suppression) diode to withstand surge pulses with 2Ω coupling on the supply rail.

The EVLIOL4LSV1 is available now from the eSTore and ST distributors for $23.