Power Failure of the Industrial Network Switches

Industrial Switch is also called industrial network switch, that is, Ethernet switch equipment used in industrial control field. Because of the network standard adopted, its openness is good, its application is wide, its price is low, and the transparent and unified TCP/IP protocol is used, Ethernet has become the main communication standard in industrial control field.

As we all know, due to its specific industrial applications, industrial network switches will inevitably have one kind of failure or another in the process of use, but from a general perspective, these failures still have certain rules to follow, such as power failure accounts for a large proportion of them. We often encounter a variety of industrial network switch power failure problems in our work, and it is estimated that the proportion should not be less than 50%. Here, we will make a brief summary of the industrial switch power failure problem, hoping to help you.

Generally speaking, the power supply of the industrial network switch can be divided into two parts: one part is the external feed of the industrial network switch, that is, the equipment power input part; The other part is the working power supply of the main board, light board or serial port board inside the industrial network switch. Under normal circumstances, after the industrial network switch is powered on, the external feed part provides the working voltage such as DC3.3V, DC5V or DC12V to the main board, light board or serial port board through the converter. Of course, there may be some power supply devices on the main board or serial port board to provide the necessary working voltage, and then the industrial network switch starts to work. It can be seen that any business trip during the power-on process of the industrial network switch will lead to the power-on failure of the industrial switch, commonly known as "unable to turn on the machine". Let's briefly analyze:

1. The device is powered on but does not start

This is also a kind of problem that customers often feedback: all indicators are always on after the industrial network switch is powered on, or only the power indicator is on after the switch is powered on, and the device does not work. In this case, the power input part is normal, but there is a problem with the power supply on the motherboard.

The main board of the industrial network switch is usually equipped with various power supply devices required for operation. These power supply devices provide the necessary voltage and current for the normal operation of the switch. Usually these power supply devices are packaged by the chip, and the faulty soldering of the chip device is inevitable for the machine. The proportion of the faulty soldering of the power chip encountered in the operation is really not low. Also, the power supply chip is used to supply the main board with DC3.3V main voltage. It often encounters faulty soldering, and the equipment cannot be started. It should be emphasized here that the 3.3V performance of the main board will directly affect the communication performance of the industrial switch.

2. The equipment is not powered on

This is a kind of problem that customers often feedback: the industrial network switch cannot be powered on or there is no display on the industrial network switch after power on, and the power indicator light is not on. Usually this is a problem with the power input part of the device.

Industrial network switches usually deal with the input voltage of the equipment due to the electromagnetic compatibility requirements. Common mode chip inductor is a commonly used device. Many industrial network switches use it. What is depressing is that the common mode chip inductor with only 4 solder joints and no small size often fails to weld, which leads to the failure to power on the equipment, and machine welding will also make low-level errors. Other anti-surge devices such as varistors, TVS tube breakdown or leakage will also cause the equipment to fail to power on. Of course, the problem of the power converter is the most direct. It is also common for the switching power supply, power supply module, filter, etc. to have faults, such as input short circuit, input overcurrent, no output, output undervoltage, or no load.

For the power failure, we should first do a good job in the supply of external power supply. Generally, independent power lines are introduced to provide independent power supply, and voltage regulators are added to avoid transient high voltage or low voltage phenomenon. If conditions permit, UPS (uninterruptible power supply) can be added to ensure the normal power supply of the industrial network switch. Some UPS provide voltage stabilizing function, while others do not. Pay attention to the selection. Professional lightning protection measures shall be set in the machine room to avoid the damage of lightning to industrial network switches. Secondly, select industrial network switches with excellent quality to avoid power failure caused by faulty soldering and instability of components.