With the switching terminals of the EL/ELM264x (reed) and ELM274x (solid-state) series, Beckhoff significantly expands the application possibilities of the integrated measurement technology of the ELM3xxx series, as well as normal EL3xxx/EL4xxx analog inputs and outputs. This is because several sensors or sources can now be connected to one analog input channel at the same time via high-quality, EtherCAT-controlled switches.

For this purpose, the EL2642 is equipped with reed relays as switching elements that allow fast switching cycles with a long service life. The electrical isolation and the constant transition resistance of the reed switch allow the measurement of sensitive signals up to fast scanning operation. Due to the double input connections X, the channels can simply be connected to 1 x 8 multiplexers and more. The multi-channel acquisition of analog signals as well as the flexible switching of various test states in production-integrated test stations is thus simple to do through the integration of the switches into the EtherCAT system.

https://www.beckhoff.com/vi-vn/products/i-o/ethercat-terminals/el2xxx-digital-output/el2642.html