IMI Precision Engineering connects its valve islands to the Industrial Ethernet

IMI Precision Engineering has announced it’s upgrading the connectivity of its IMI Norgren VM and VS ranges of valve islands with PROFINET IRT and EtherNet/IP. The upgrades come in response to customer feedback about the valve islands.

The VM Series Valve Islands are available in both 10mm and 15mm valve body widths and provide flow rates of 430 l/m and 1000 l/m respectively. IMI Precision Engineering has now increased the connectivity options on the VM10 Valve Islands from individually wired, multipole and fieldbus to include Industrial Ethernet. According to a press release, the valve islands can be configured from four to 16 stations, with single or double solenoids, providing a high number of manual overrides and tube fitting sizes. The VM Series Valve Island offers more than 15 million configurations.

PROFINET IRT and EtherNet/IP has also been included in the IMI Norgren VS18/26 Modular Valve Islands. IMI says that this will let the user choose the features they need while also giving them the modularity to easily expand and add accessories.

Ron Bennett, Global Product Marketing Manager for Valves at IMI Precision Engineering, explained: “The upgraded VS and VM Series of valve islands are our most connected ranges yet. Incorporating the same footprint, reliability and support our customers are accustomed to, but with increased connection flexibility.

“Our support extends beyond developing products. We have implemented a number of services dedicated to helping our customers. We’re aware that it can be a difficult task to identify the most appropriate component for the application. We are upgrading our online Valve Island configurator which helps customers select the correct valve island for their application. Intuitive, flexible and easy to use, it enables quick specification of the valve island and a live visualisation of their configuration. It also supports 60+ downloadable native CAD formats and price, availability and order-now options.”