EPN Industrial Automation Blog

Process control with a Historian

Even industrial automation systems follow the general trend towards more functionality. A new version of a common process control platform has the potential to make some additional systems unnecessary.

From Bus to Bus

In most cases traditional fieldbuses have been replaced by Ethernet-based solutions or demoted to inferior tasks. This could result in systems with three different Ethernet protocols and various subordinate fieldbuses. Modern automation components need to take care of those issues.

Assembly automation

Modular software for modular systems: Assembly lines consist of several units, which as a rule are developed and tested independently of one another to a large extent. In order to ensure reasonable interaction of those units in a manufacturing plant and to shorten deployment time, automation software development needs to take place in parallel to hardware development, i.e. in a modular way, too.

Growing C

For industrial automation, general purpose measurement and other specific markets, National Instruments has recently released more than 100 »C Series« modules. 50 of those come from NI itself, 50 are third-party modules.

More channels, less cables

Like any Ethernet-based infrastructure, EtherCAT tends to produce cable mess. While this can be tolerated to some extent in office environments, it could pose danger in safety-critical environments. Beckhoff’s »EtherCAT Box« with IP 67 rating and 16 channels has been developed with reduced cabling effort in mind.

Robotics + motion control + PLC

EtherCAT , the Industrial Ethernet system, has become the process communication standard in many robots. Its use in the field of robotics offers a number of advantages: EtherCAT enables extremely short update times for the process image (50 μs); control loops (up to the current controller) can be closed via the bus. Control of the axes can take place centrally in the controller – including the coupled movement function. It integrates redundancy, hot connect and hot swap options.

Industrial Networking for Automation

Anyone interested in industrial networking solutions? If so, you’ve got a very good reason to attend the embedded world 2010 trade show, and while you’re the don’t miss visiting the booth of the pan-European semiconductor distributor Silica.

6-Axis Compact Control Unit

With the MACS4-DC6 the Swiss manufacturer of motion controllers zub machine control presents a compact 6-axis control unit which is meant to offer a low cost solution for simple positioning tasks.

One-hand motion

The T20, newest member of Keba’s KeTop product family of operating terminals is supposed to ensure maximum freedom of movement by means of one-hand operation. The device can be fitted with a variety of operating elements such as key switches, push buttons, hand wheels, potentiometers, or axis selection switches and can thus be adapted to every application. Target applications are control, teaching and visualization.