SST 5136-PFB-VME Profibus Interface Modules

Technical Dossier

Product Details And Specifications

SST 5136 Series Technical Notes

The SST (now Molex) 5136 series represents one of the most widely deployed families of fieldbus communication interface cards in global heavy industry. Installed across petrochemical refineries, nuclear power facilities, chemical processing plants, and offshore platforms, the 5136 series provides deterministic, real-time fieldbus communication between host controllers and field devices. Its VME, ISA, PCI, and CompactPCI form factors have made it a standard component in DCS and SCADA architectures from the 1990s through the present day. The 5136-PFB-VME, in particular, remains a critical spare part for legacy VMEbus-based control systems that cannot be migrated without significant capital expenditure.

The Evolution of 5136 Architecture

The 5136 series was originally developed by SST (Synergetic Micro Systems) and subsequently acquired by Woodhead Industries, then Molex LLC. The architecture evolved across three distinct generations. The first generation (early 1990s) targeted ISA bus hosts and supported single-protocol operation — primarily PROFIBUS-DP and DeviceNet. The second generation introduced VMEbus compatibility, enabling integration with real-time operating environments such as VxWorks and LynxOS, which were standard in nuclear and defense-adjacent industrial control. The third generation added PCI and CompactPCI (cPCI) form factors, extending the series into modern rack-mount industrial PCs while maintaining backward protocol compatibility. Throughout all generations, the on-board NEC V25 or Intel 186-class embedded processor handled protocol stack execution independently of the host CPU, ensuring deterministic scan cycle performance regardless of host load. This architecture remains relevant for systems where protocol offloading is a hard requirement. Compatibility issues arise primarily at the driver level: 32-bit Windows XP/7 drivers are not directly portable to 64-bit Windows 10/11 environments, requiring either virtualization layers or hardware replacement with modern equivalents such as the Molex SST-PB3-VME or third-party PROFIBUS masters.

5136 Full Catalog & Functionalities (SKU List)

The following SKUs represent the verified production catalog of the SST 5136 series, organized by bus interface and protocol:

VMEbus Interface

• 5136-PFB-VME: Single-channel PROFIBUS-DP master/slave, VMEbus, up to 12 Mbps
• 5136-PFB2-VME: Dual-channel PROFIBUS-DP master, VMEbus, independent channel operation
• 5136-DNP-VME: DeviceNet master/slave scanner, VMEbus, 500 kbps max
• 5136-CN-VME: ControlNet adapter, VMEbus, coax and fiber media support
• 5136-SD-VME: PROFIBUS-DP slave-only interface, VMEbus, for host-as-slave configurations
• 5136-RE2-VME: Dual-port PROFIBUS repeater/bridge module, VMEbus form factor

ISA Bus Interface

• 5136-PFB-ISA: Single-channel PROFIBUS-DP master/slave, 16-bit ISA, legacy PC integration
• 5136-DNP-ISA: DeviceNet master/slave, ISA bus, for embedded industrial PC platforms
• 5136-SD-ISA: PROFIBUS-DP slave interface, ISA bus, shared memory host interface
• 5136-CN-ISA: ControlNet adapter, ISA bus, coax media

PCI Bus Interface

• 5136-PFB-PCI: Single-channel PROFIBUS-DP master/slave, 32-bit PCI, 3.3V/5V universal
• 5136-PFB2-PCI: Dual-channel PROFIBUS-DP master, PCI, independent GSD-based configuration
• 5136-DNP-PCI: DeviceNet master/slave scanner, PCI bus, EDS-based device configuration

CompactPCI (cPCI) Interface

• 5136-PFB-CPCI: Single-channel PROFIBUS-DP master/slave, 3U CompactPCI, hot-swap capable
• 5136-DNP-CPCI: DeviceNet master/slave, CompactPCI, for ruggedized rack systems