ABB NKST11-15

Technical Dossier

Product Details And Specifications

ABB NKST Series Technical Notes

The ABB NKST series comprises termination cables and interface accessories engineered for the Advant OCS and MOD 300 distributed control system (DCS) platforms. These components serve as the physical interconnect layer between I/O modules, field termination units (FTUs), and marshalling cabinets in process-critical installations. Deployed across global heavy industry — including petrochemical refineries, nuclear power stations, offshore platforms, and large-scale chemical processing plants — the NKST series represents a standardized cabling architecture that underpins the signal integrity of the entire Advant control loop. The series is characterized by defined pin-count configurations, shielded construction, and compatibility with ABB's S100 and S800 I/O families. Given the long operational lifecycles typical of DCS infrastructure (15–30 years), NKST cables remain in active demand for brownfield maintenance, panel retrofits, and system expansions even as the broader Advant platform has transitioned to end-of-life status.

The Evolution of NKST Series Architecture

The NKST cable series was introduced alongside ABB's Advant Controller 400 and MOD 300 platforms in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The naming convention encodes the cable's termination type, conductor count, and length variant: NK denotes the Advant network/cable family, ST indicates a shielded termination cable, and the numeric suffix specifies the pin configuration and length in decimeters.

Early NKST variants (NKST11-xx) were designed for 15-pin D-sub termination to analog and digital I/O modules in the S100 I/O family. As the platform evolved through the 1990s, extended variants with higher pin counts (NKST21, NKST31) were introduced to support the denser S800 I/O modules and the Advant Fieldbus 100 (AF100) communication architecture. Compatibility between generations is constrained by connector geometry and pin assignment — cross-generation substitution requires verification against the specific I/O module's terminal block drawing.

NKST Series Full Catalog & Functionalities (SKU List)

The following SKUs represent verified, commonly stocked NKST series components. Each entry reflects a distinct cable configuration within the Advant OCS / MOD 300 ecosystem.

Analog & Digital I/O Termination Cables (S100 I/O Family)

• NKST11-15: 15-pin D-sub termination cable, 1.5 m, for AI/DI modules in S100 I/O rack
• NKST11-30: 15-pin D-sub termination cable, 3.0 m, extended reach for remote marshalling
• NKST11-50: 15-pin D-sub termination cable, 5.0 m, for cross-cabinet field wiring
• NKST12-15: 25-pin D-sub termination cable, 1.5 m, for AO/DO modules with higher channel density
• NKST12-30: 25-pin D-sub termination cable, 3.0 m, standard marshalling length
• NKST12-50: 25-pin D-sub termination cable, 5.0 m, long-run field termination
• NKST13-15: 37-pin D-sub termination cable, 1.5 m, for high-density DI modules
• NKST13-30: 37-pin D-sub termination cable, 3.0 m, marshalling cabinet standard

S800 I/O & AF100 Fieldbus Interface Cables

• NKST21-15: S800 I/O module termination cable, 1.5 m, for CI810/CI820 fieldbus adapters
• NKST21-30: S800 I/O module termination cable, 3.0 m, standard panel depth
• NKST22-15: Dual-port termination cable, 1.5 m, for redundant S800 I/O configurations
• NKST22-30: Dual-port termination cable, 3.0 m, redundant fieldbus wiring

Controller & Communication Module Cables

• NKST31-15: AC410/AC450 controller termination cable, 1.5 m, CPU rack interface
• NKST31-30: AC410/AC450 controller termination cable, 3.0 m, extended rack spacing
• NKST41-15: MasterBus 300 communication module cable, 1.5 m, for MB300 network nodes
• NKST41-30: MasterBus 300 communication module cable, 3.0 m, inter-cabinet bus wiring
• NKST51-15: PROFIBUS DP interface cable, 1.5 m, for CI840 PROFIBUS adapter modules