In summary, isolation is a means of preventing any DC and unwanted AC interaction between two parts of a system while still enabling data and power transfer. There are many reasons to isolate, a critical use is to protect a system from high voltage surges that could damage equipment or harm humans. For example, in a common PLC system the field side may operate at 24V and the control side at 5V. Without isolation any field side noise or surges could affect the control side. With isolation, the control side components are protected. Another example is a system such as an RS-485 interface which the control cable extends over thousands of meters, which can result in large ground potential differences. Ground potential at the control room location and on the factory floor may not be the same, causing ground loop currents. Isolation helps tolerate the large ground potential differences and breaks any disruptive ground loops. The Texas Instruments ISOW7841 is a reinforced isolator with integrated power which provides single-chip reinforced isolated power and data.