Urgent Help - Remote IO Module

I’ve got a project that I am going to work on. Looking for a I/O Module that would do the following, to facilitate communications between a pulse from a Gas meter and a data collection device.

Basically we have a digital pulse signal at one end and our data collection device(no IO capability, but ModbusTCP support) at the other. I need the I/O module in a panel in between to connect the two.

Here’s the requirements: The data collection device communicates via ModbusTCP. The IO hardware installed in the panel must communicate via Modbus TCP.
-The IO hardware in the panel must support pulse counting. The minimum pulse width (time that the pulse is “on”) is 50msec. The data collection unit will not be trying to catch and count every pulse, instead it will periodically interrogate the pulse count in the IO device. There is no need for high speed pulse counting equipment as the frequency of the pulses is not that high.
-The IO module must store pulse counts in non-volatile memory so that when power is restored the previous count is maintained. The IO module should also support analog (4-20mA) signals, or be expandable to support these signals. Currently we have only a single digital input to the IO panel; however, in the future we may add additional meters and would like the flexibility to do so without having to add additional panels.

See link below, worth a look.

http://www.miinet.com/products/ca_distributed.shtml

I recently got to meet the product manager for the Opto-22 SNAP I/O products that have Rockwell EtherNet/IP in them, and I know they support Modbus-TCP as well. The offline counting is something their products do well.

Drop a line to their Systems Engineering people to ask about the nonvolatile save requirement.

http://www.opto22.com/site/pr_index.aspx

I just recently had to go through this with a remote flowmeter. I too wanted to have some local store of data then poll from time to time. I wanted pulse counts for totalizer and analog IO for flow. I knew as soon as I presented totalized flow for the day they would want to know instantaneous flow as well. Anyway, I settled on machine mount PLC solutions so that I didn't have to make a control cabinet. Some solutions I ran across:

Turck http://www.turck-usa.com/Products/Networks/BL67/
Wago http://www.wago.us/products/680.htm
Beckhoff http://www.beckhoff.com/english.asp?fieldbus_bo/plc_box.htm?id=356730254

That gave me the ultimate in flexibility. I coupled it with an IP67 rated 24VDC power supply and all M12 and the like sealed connectors and ... no box.