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NI Tutorial 3291 en
NI Tutorial 3291 en
Overview
This document is part of a comprehensive tutorial on industrial Digital I/O and Counter/Timer hardware. Learn about National Instruments product offerings for digital and timing I/O, the Industrial
Feature Set including watchdog timers and isolation, complementary devices like relays, solenoids and encoders, concepts like sinking and sourcing, and see how these devices can be used in your
industrial application.
For more information return to the Complete Industrial Digital I/O and Counter/Timer Tutorial .
Table of Contents
1. What is Sinking and Sourcing?
2. Sinking Devices
3. Sourcing Devices
4. Recommended NI Products that Connect to Sinking and Sourcing Devices
A sinking device provides a path for the current to ground and is not responsible for powering the device. Terms used to describe sinking devices include NPN, Open Collector, Normally High, and
IEC Negative Logic.
Figure 1: Sinking
3. Sourcing Devices
A sourcing device provides the power or a positive potential. Sourcing devices 'push' the current through the load. Terms used to describe sourcing devices include PNP, Open Emitter, Normally
Low, and IEC Positive Logic.
Figure 2: Sourcing
4. Recommended NI Products that Connect to Sinking and Sourcing Devices
NI 6509
NI 6514
NI 6515
NI 6528
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