At the Hydrogen Technology World Expo 2026 in Hamburg (20–22 October, Hall B7, Booth 7F24), Beckhoff presented its PC-based control portfolio for hydrogen plants. The focus was on three areas that matter as electrolyzers and fuel cell systems move from pilot to series production: explosion protection built into the I/O system, high-resolution cell voltage measurement and AI assistance in TwinCAT engineering.
From pilot plants to industrial-scale hydrogen production
Electrolyzers, fuel cell systems, compressor stations and refueling stations are being scaled up. Once feasibility is proven, the questions change: operating costs, plant availability and how quickly a design can be replicated. Explosion protection requirements, however, stay exactly the same. Beckhoff’s answer is a single open control architecture that runs from the field level to the operator panel, so that machine builders deal with fewer interfaces and fewer hardware variants, and can reuse the same engineering across plant sizes and project phases.
Explosion protection integrated into the I/O level
The Beckhoff Ex I/O portfolio covers the hazardous-area tasks typical of hydrogen plants:
- ELX EtherCAT Terminals: compact I/O with an integrated safety barrier for direct connection of intrinsically safe field devices from zones 0/20 and 1/21, with no external isolating barriers in the cabinet.
- EPX EtherCAT Box modules: the same principle for decentralized installation with IP67 protection (see our earlier article on EPX modules for intrinsically safe signals).
- CPX series: control panels and panel PCs for the operator level in zone 2/22.
The Ex range is certified to ATEX, IECEx and NEC/CEC, which allows the same machine design to be shipped to Europe, North America and other markets without redesigning the control hardware.
Cell voltage and energy measurement for stacks
Monitoring individual cells is essential for the efficiency and service life of electrolyzer and fuel cell stacks. Beckhoff showed cascaded cell voltage measurement with two new EtherCAT Terminals:
| Terminal | Channels / range | Main use |
|---|---|---|
| EL3008-0003 | 8 channels, ±3 V | Single-cell voltage monitoring |
| EL3008-0005 | 8 channels, ±5 V | Single-cell voltage monitoring |
| EL3475 | Energy measurement with SCL6xxx split-core transformers | Grid-side consumption data |
The EL3008 variants handle high-resolution short- and long-term monitoring and support stacked voltages of up to 1,500 V CAT II. Thanks to cascaded wiring, large stacks need far fewer measuring leads. On the supply side, the EL3475 combined with low-power split-core transformers collects consumption data and sends raw and processed values over EtherCAT to higher-level systems, which supports grid transparency and grid-status assessment under Section 14a of the German Energy Industry Act (EnWG), and also suits retrofits of existing plants.
TwinCAT CoAgent: AI support from engineering to operation
Beckhoff also demonstrated TwinCAT CoAgent, its AI assistant integrated into the TwinCAT environment. During engineering it proposes code for PLC, HMI and I/O configuration from natural-language prompts; in operation it supports AI-based fault diagnosis, generates repair instructions and helps analyze plant data. For hydrogen projects, the aim is shorter planning phases, faster commissioning and less downtime. More background in our article on TwinCAT 3 CoAgent for Operations.
Why it matters for hydrogen plant builders
In many hydrogen projects, hazardous-area signals, stack diagnostics, energy metering and the control system still come from different suppliers, each with its own interface and engineering tool. Putting intrinsically safe I/O, cell voltage measurement and energy data on the same EtherCAT network and the same TwinCAT project reduces cabinet space, wiring and integration effort, and makes it easier to standardize a design and scale it from one stack to many. For integrators already working with PC-based control, the main benefit is being able to cover the Ex zones without leaving their usual toolchain.
Read the official Beckhoff press release or browse more Beckhoff automation news.