How do I trigger a MCP2200 / FT245RL chip
The "PNP" output on sensor means that the wire is pulled to ground when the output is active, and left unconnected when the output is not active. The Denkovi board has a digital input with pull-up, which means you need to connect it to ground to activate. Sounds like they are perfectly compatible to each other (I am not sure where does "Normally closed 12.5VDC to open 4.5VDC" come from)

I'd recommend just connecting them together, after taking basic precautions to ensure that there are no mistakes in documentation:


I recommend using normally closed output (white wire) because the other output also have IO-Link and who know how it will interfere with the sensitive logical input.
Connect sensor to power supply, power it up, and use voltmeter to measure voltage output. Ensure it is always &lt;5V, because your USB board will be damaged otherwise. In fact, since you have no pull-up yet, I expect you will always see 0V. This is OK.
Configure your Denkovi board pin as input, connect 1K resistor per picture 6.2 in the manual, and use it to temporary short the In1 input to ground. Make sure you software registers change when you connect and disconnect the pin to the ground.
If both previous steps were successful, just connect sensor output to In1 pin via 1K resistor. It should just work.
If this does not work, use voltmeter to measure the voltage on the input pin. It should be either &lt;0.5 volt or >4 volt, depending on whether sensor is triggered or not. 


If "high" output is too low, and never reaches 4 volts, you need more pullup. Connect extra resistor, say 10K, between 5V output and In1 input.
If "low" output is too high, and never reaches &lt;0.5 volt, then output driver in the sensor is not good enough. This is harder to fix, you may need to add a relay (or another transistor, or optocoupler) after all.