Advantage gained from machine control in a box
A
Delta Tau UK product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Aug 18, 2004
A novel CNC/general-purpose controller enables simple and inexpensive operation of all sorts of machines from metal cutting tools to lasers, flatbed cutters and Cartesian robots.
A novel CNC/general-purpose controller enables simple and inexpensive operation of all sorts of machines from metal cutting tools to lasers, flatbed cutters and Cartesian robots.
The control provides motion control, operator interface, PLCs, standard interfaces and software in a single unit.
Called the Advantage 400, the system has at its heart Delta Tau's powerful PMAC PC104 motion controller, acknowledged as the industry benchmark for motion.
The PMAC motion controllers give stability, flexibility, accuracy and speed.
This, coupled with the use of the company's PC104 embedded computer delivers a controller that has many high level features within an otherwise simple system.
Unlike PC based solutions, the Advantage 400 solves all of the wiring headaches of getting cabling in and out of the motion controller.
The controller comes with a broad array of hardware interfaces as standard so that just about anything can be simply plugged into the unit.
Machine operation features such as lead screw and planar compensation; backlash compensation; fast position capture; rapid position comparison; master/slave capabilities; and the ability to handle 40MHz encoders, are just a few of the features that will greatly appeal to machine builders and end users.
Setup could not be easier, there are just four interactive input screens: axis characteristics; axis I/O; axis reference methodology; and finally general axis and CNC options.
The Advantage 400 can be supplied with either CNC machine tool software or with DNC software or custom HMIs designed using VB.net or C++ embedded for any type of flatbed machine.
The CNC interface uses the familiar RS274 G-code library, but also offers the PMAC-style structured text entry and a DNC interface for external program download.
There is alarm logging at standard and dynamic language selection for English, German, Chinese and Thai, although it is also possible to create a custom language file.
The deployment of Delta Tau's soft PLC allows the Advantage 400 to be programmed using American ladder logic or sequential function chart as the software is IEC1131/3 compliant.
Programming can also be performed remotely for subsequent download.
The user friendly programming is emulated at the controller itself, but while allowing the changing of variable values for maintenance purposes, the programs cannot be overwritten at the machine - an important safety and security feature.
There are three models in the Advantage 400 range ranging from a simplified axis controller to a full CNC system.
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