Communication Levels

In automated production lines, vacuum generation is no longer isolated from the control system. Intelligent vacuum pumps are now fully integrated into machine architectures, enabling continuous interaction between the vacuum system, the PLC, and the operator.

Two complementary communication linking levels are commonly used:

• IO-Link, a point-to-point industrial communication protocol, typically used at device level for sensors and compact actuators, enabling parameterization, diagnostics, and status feedback via an IO-Link master.
• Fieldbus protocols such as PROFINET and EtherNet/IP, used at machine and line level to connect vacuum pumps directly to the automation network.

Connected vacuum devices provide real-time process data and diagnostics, enable parameterization via the control network, support scalable and modular architectures (from decentralized units to vacuum assemblies), and improve system-level energy efficiency by reducing pneumatic dead volumes, leakage, and pressure losses.