APX-SYNC500 Industrial Time Synchronization System
Product Overview
The APEX APX-SYNC500 is an industrial time synchronization system for plants and production sites. It gives controllers, drives, vision systems, line equipment and supervisory software the same time reference, so machine data and production records can be compared instead of merely collected.
Industrial data is rarely collected for its own sake. A quality deviation is traced back through the line, a stoppage is reconstructed from several controllers, a batch record is assembled from equipment that does not share a database. Each of those tasks needs timestamps from different machines to be in the same frame of reference. Where every device keeps its own clock, the reconstruction produces a sequence that looks plausible and is wrong.
The APX-SYNC500 provides that frame of reference. It locks to GPS and BeiDou where the site has a view of the sky, disciplines its internal oscillator, and serves the plant through NTP and SNTP for controllers and supervisory systems, PTP over Ethernet where tighter time is needed, and 1PPS and 10MHz outputs for measurement and test equipment. For sites where a satellite view is not practical, the unit accepts an external reference input and can be synchronized from a reference that is available elsewhere in the estate.
It is used on production and assembly lines, in process plants, in energy and utility industrial networks, and in facility and building systems where the same plant network also carries monitoring and metering equipment.
Key Features
- One time reference for controllers, drives, line equipment and supervisory software
- NTP and SNTP service for programmable controllers and plant servers
- PTP over Ethernet where tighter time is needed on the same network
- 1PPS and 10MHz outputs for measurement, metering and test equipment
- GNSS reference from GPS and BeiDou where the site has a usable view
- External reference input so a site without a satellite view can be synchronized from elsewhere
- Reference priority with automatic switching and holdover when the reference is interrupted
- Status and alarm reporting so a degraded reference is visible in the plant monitoring system
- Antenna, low loss cable and surge protection supplied as one matched set
- Configuration recorded per site so additional lines or cells are set up identically
- Optional redundant power supply
- CE and RoHS compliant, supplied with a test report and a 3 year warranty
Technical Specifications
| Specification | Detail |
|---|
| Part Number | APX-SYNC500 |
| Product Type | Industrial time synchronization system |
| Network Time | NTP and SNTP for controllers, drives and plant servers |
| Packet Time | PTP over Ethernet where tighter time and phase are needed |
| Physical Outputs | 1PPS and 10MHz outputs for measurement, metering and test equipment |
| GNSS Reference | GPS and BeiDou timing configurations |
| External Reference | Input for a second reference source, used where the site has no usable satellite view |
| Holdover | Internal oscillator disciplined to the reference, holdover maintained through interruptions |
| Redundancy | Reference priority with automatic switching, redundant power option |
| Network Interfaces | Multiple Ethernet ports |
| Management | Web interface, SNMP and alarm reporting |
| Antenna Set | GNSS antenna, low loss cable and surge protection supplied as one matched set |
| Configuration | Interfaces and profiles set for the site before shipment, configuration recorded |
| Application | Production and assembly lines, process plants, utility industrial networks, facility systems |
| Mounting | Rack mount chassis |
| Compliance | CE, RoHS |
Applications
Production and Assembly Lines
Aligns controllers, vision systems and line equipment so a quality deviation or a stoppage can be traced across the machines that took part in it.
Process Plants
Gives process control, metering and supervisory systems one time base for batch records and for correlation with laboratory and dispatch data.
Utility and Facility Networks
Covers sites where energy monitoring, building systems and operational equipment share a network and where records from all of them are reviewed together.
Deployment and Selection Notes
Begin with the devices that produce records. List the controllers, drives, measurement devices and software systems whose timestamps end up in the same report, then note how each one takes time. The APX-SYNC500 is configured to that list, and the same configuration is repeated for each similar line so that a report from any line is comparable with the rest.
Decide the reference path deliberately. If the roof or a mast is available, the satellite reference is the simplest arrangement; where it is not, feed the unit from an external reference elsewhere in the estate and set the priority order explicitly. Network design matters too: time should be served over the plant network that the devices actually use, not over a separate network that nobody maintains.
Other requirements of the same project are covered elsewhere in the range: GNSS and NTP network time servers where only network time is required, PTP boundary and slave clocks where time has to be carried across several network segments, and synchronization systems where several sites are configured as one deployment.
Compatibility
The APX-SYNC500 serves standard NTP and SNTP clients, PTP equipment over Ethernet and discrete 1PPS and 10MHz consumers. Tell us the controller and drive types, the number of devices and whether a satellite view exists at the site, and we confirm the interfaces, the reference arrangement and the antenna set in one document.
Related Products
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does a plant network need a time reference at all?
Because records from different machines are compared with each other. Quality deviations, stoppage analysis and batch documentation all depend on timestamps that share a frame of reference.
Can the system be used where there is no satellite view?
Yes. The unit accepts an external reference input, so it can be synchronized from a reference that is available elsewhere and keeps the same time base for the plant network.
How many devices can it serve?
It depends on the client count and the network layout on site. Send us the device list and the switch arrangement and we confirm the interfaces and the expected load in writing.
Does it report into the plant monitoring system?
Yes. Reference source, lock and holdover state are reported through the management interface, so a degraded reference shows up in monitoring rather than in a later investigation.
Why Choose Apex
- One time base for controllers, drives, measurement devices and supervisory software at the site
- A reference arrangement that works with or without a satellite view at the plant
- Device list, interface types and antenna set confirmed with you before the order is released
- Configuration recorded per site so a new line is set up like the existing ones
- Backed by a 3 year warranty and technical support on synchronization planning and topology
