National Instruments 780438-01 CompactRIO Chassis

The National Instruments 780438-01 is an eight-slot EtherCAT slave chassis intended to provide distributed, deterministic I/O capabilities in real-time systems. It belongs to the NI-9144 Model series.

The deterministic Ethernet I/O can be added to NI CompactRIO or NI programmable automation controller (PAC) systems with the help of this expansion chassis. It makes communication via the open, real-time Ethernet protocol EtherCAT easier, guaranteeing accurate and coordinated data flow. Daisy-chaining multiple 780438-01 slave chassis from the master controller allows time-sensitive applications to grow while preserving hard determinism and using the least amount of processor power possible.

The 780438-01 chassis features an industrial-grade design, is robust and dependable, and can function in a wide temperature range of -40 to 70 °C. It provides versatility in the creation of measurement and control systems by supporting over 50 analog and digital C Series modules. High-speed and configurable I/O timing, inline processing, and control are made possible by the chassis's integration of a 2 million gate Xilinx field-programmable gate array (FPGA), which is programmable using the LabVIEW FPGA Module.

Integrating with LabVIEW makes it easier to provide deterministic expansion I/O using a graphical programming environment. After installing the NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT driver on the NI master controller, LabVIEW instantly detects all connected slaves and modules. The LabVIEW Real-Time Module includes I/O variables for fast access to physical I/O values, making monitoring and troubleshooting easier with I/O forcing and live test panels.

As a modular expansion system, the 780438-01 chassis enables  the simple installation of additional I/O modules to meet a variety of measurement types and channel needs. Attaching another expansion chassis increases the system's module slots. All I/O modules within each chassis are automatically synced to ensure accurate data capture. Furthermore, all expansion chassis on the network synchronize with one another.

The 780438-01 chassis contains a 100BaseTX Ethernet interface that supports the EtherCAT communication standard. It enables 100 Mb/s communication rates and a maximum cabling distance of 100 m per segment. Power requirements include a 48 W power supply at 24 VDC, with a maximum power consumption of 20 W. The chassis offers an input range of 9 V to 30 V, making it compatible with a variety of power sources.