Motion control system synchronises drives

A Siemens Automation and Drives product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team May 11, 2007

The Simotion 4.1 system can be used to synchronise electrical and hydraulic drives with each other.

With Version 4.1 of its Simotion control system, Siemens Automation and Drives (AandD) provides additional Profinet functions for modular machine concepts.

The Simotion 4.1 system can be used to synchronise electrical and hydraulic drives with each other.

In addition, control units can be configured as controllers and devices simultaneously at the same Profinet interface.

By means of controller-to-controller communication via Profinet, Simotion V4.1 enables axis synchronisation distributed over several controllers.

It also supports automatic topology recognition in the Profinet network.

Thanks to the enhanced performance of the PC-based Simotion P control unit and the new Simatic ET 200S high-speed peripheral devices, cycle times of 250us with isochronous real-time (IRT) are now reached.

This is the basis for highly dynamic closed-loop control circuits, such as those needed for hydraulic applications with position and pressure control.

With Simotion V4.1, it is possible to synchronise hydraulic as well as electrical drives with each other.

As a result, integrated automation solutions can be implemented for conveyor systems and press lines in the automotive industry, for example.

Simotion 4.1 ensures synchronisation not only of electrical drives such as those used for coilers, cross-cutters, and roll feeds, but also of hydraulic drives such as those used for deep drawing presses.

With the new version, Simotion controllers can be configured as control units and devices at the same Profinet interface.

This means that hierarchical automation structures and modular machine concepts can be implemented easily and without any additional components.

IRT controller-controller relationships can be used for distributed axis synchronisation across several Simotion units.

Due to the flexible selection of controller and device classes, tasks such as central machine logic and motion control can be separated and implemented easily as modular solutions.

With automatic topology recognition in the Profinet, Simotion supports additional functions for the implementation of modular machine concepts.

Solely based on the position in the network, Simotion can recognise the address and function without any further position-dependent indicators.

This enables flexible modification of a machine through the addition or removal of a machine module with Simotion as the control system.

An existing configuration can therefore be adapted to new tasks and market requirements without requiring a programming device for system reconfiguration.

Thanks to the new Redundant Sync Master function, Profinet makes it possible to improve availability in modular motion control applications.

Due to the use of controller-to-controller communication with IRT, Simotion can be used to implement axis synchronisation across several controllers.

To do this, a control unit must act as the master and stipulate the cycle for all other control units.

If the master fails or is switched off due to alteration of the machine configuration, another Simotion controller can take over the role of the sampling master, without a cycle being lost in the existing IRT network.

This means that the machine can continue working with the remaining modules.