Abstract: The aim of the invention is to reduce the temperature gradient at the connection terminals of a connection unit to which lines can be joined. The inventive temperature compensation element is made of at least one first strip of thermally conducting material on which terminal lugs are arranged in a row at essentially right angles to the strip and are insulted in relation to each other and the strip. The terminal lugs are connected to the strip in a thermally conductive manner and can be respectively contacted to the lines with corresponding contact terminals of the connection unit.

Abstract: The aim of the invention is to reduce the temperature gradient at the connection terminals of a connection unit to which lines can be joined. The inventive temperature compensation element is made of at least one first strip of thermally conducting material on which terminal lugs are arranged in a row at essentially right angles to the strip and are insulted in relation to each other and the strip. The terminal lugs are connected to the strip in a thermally conductive manner and can be respectively contacted to the lines with corresponding contact terminals of the connection unit.

Abstract: The intrinsically safe detection of binary signals of a sensor with a variable internal resistance is achieved by connecting the sensor to the voltage output of a d.c. voltage source via a shunt. To the voltage output is attached a multistage voltage divider with voltage comparators each being connected to its voltage taps by one input terminal each and with the other input terminals of the voltage comparators being connected to the terminal (26) of the shunt attached to the sensor. Optocouplers are provided downstream from the voltage comparators for transmitting the comparison results of the voltage comparators to an analysis unit (30).