DESIGN0PRODUCTS
&
SPECIAL FOCUS:
DRIVES & CONTROLS
Automation industry brings greener
drives faster to the factory floors
By Christoph Hammerschmidt
. -
ENERGY EFFICIENCY REMAINS a para-
i n g at f u l l p o w e r . T y p i c a l l y , t h e a c t u a l p o w e r
m o u n t t o p i c f o r a l l segments o f i n d u s t r i a l
c o n t r o l i n s u c h c o n t r o l loops is i m p l e m e n t e d
a u t o m a t i o n . T h e discussion o n e f f i c i e n c y
by m e c h a n i c a l actuators. I n t h e case o f an
also d o m i n a t e d t h e recent SPS/IPC/Drives
h y d r a u l i c i n s t a l l a t i o n , these actuators can be
trade f a i r i n N u r e m b e r g . T h e basic figures are
valves.
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k n o w n , b u t t h e y r e m a i n i m p r e s s i v e a n d i t is
A m o r e e n e r g y - e f f i c i e n t a p p r o a c h is t o
h e l p f u l to recall t h e m : electric drives account
c o n t r o l t h e m o t o r ' s r o t a t i n g speed and t h u s
f o r t w o t h i r d s of t h e energy c o n s u m p t i o n i n
t h e o u t p u t p o w e r b y means o f t h e s u p p l y
t h e i n d u s t r y . W i t h a p p r o p r i a t e measures a n d
voltage f r e q u e n c y : H i g h f r e q u e n c y equals
technologies, the a m o u n t o f wasted energy
h i g h r o t a t i n g speed and, i n m o s t a p p l i c a t i o n
c o u l d be reduced v e r y s i g n i f i c a n t l y . I n Ger-
cases, h i g h p o w e r . I n m a n y d r i v e a p p l i c a t i o n s ,
or EtherCat, three o f t h e m o s t w i d e s p r e a d
m a n y alone, 38 T e r a w a t t h o u r s o f electrical
the d e p l o y m e n t o f i n v e r t e r s t h a t c o n t r o l t h e
realtime-enabled E t h e r n e t v a r i a n t s . Since the
energy c o u l d be saved a n n u a l l y , a n e q u i v a l e n t
s u p p l y voltage f r e q u e n c y can i m p r o v e t h e
Ethernet c o n n e c t i o n o f f e r s h i g h b a n d w i d t h ,
of 15 m i l l i o n tons of CO2 w o u l d be p r e v e n t e d
e f f i c i e n c y a n d reduce p o w e r c o n s u m p t i o n .
s u c h s o l u t i o n s are a i m e d at sensor types
i f energy-efficient electric drives w e r e used i n
Siemens promises savings o n t h e e l e c t r i c i t y
w h i c h generate h i g h v o l u m e s o f data, f o r
i n d u s t r i a l a p p l i c a t i o n s , said K l a u s H e l m r i c h ,
b i l l o f u p t o 70 p e r c e n t t o users o f selected ap-
instance, OCR cameras or barcode readers.
CEO o f Siemens D r i v e T r a i n s D i v i s i o n .
p l i c a t i o n s . Frequency converters t h u s p l a y a
For the p o w e r supply, t h e p r o d u c t s s u p p o r t
m a j o r role i n e n e r g y - e f f i c i e n t d r i v e concepts,
Power over E t h e r n e t (PoE), f e d t h r o u g h a r u g -
H e l m r i c h said. A t t h e fair, Siemens s h o w e d a
ged M12X1 E t h e r n e t cable.
j
I n order t o d r i v e t h e r e p l a c e m e n t o f less
b r o a d range of l o w - v o l t a g e f r e q u e n c y converters w i t h o u t p u t p o w e r s o f u p t o 2700 k W .
Bosch Rexroth's SafeLogic adds safety functions to
existing automation solutions.
T h e Safety-over-EtherCat b a n d w a g o n sees
increasing p o p u l a r i t y i n the industry. A t the
Safety is a n o t h e r b i g t o p i c i n i n d u s t r i a l
fair, several vendors a n n o u n c e d s u p p o r t f o r
a u t o m a t i o n . A t the f a i r i n N u r e m b e r g , au-
t h e safety p r o t o c o l or n e w related p r o d u c t s .
t o m a t i o n s o l u t i o n p r o v i d e r Bosch R e x r o t h
IXXAT G m b H offers technical support d u r i n g
i n t r o d u c e d its SafeLogic p r o g r a m m a b l e safety
design a n d c e r t i f i c a t i o n f o r customers w h o
c o n t r o l w h i c h meets SIL3 a n d E N ISO 13849-1
are d e v e l o p i n g t h e i r o w n Safety-over-Ether-
The Sizer 3.4 software from Siemens enables
f u n c t i o n a l safety standards. A c c o r d i n g to
Cat based safety s o f t w a r e . 3S-Smart S o l u t i o n s
project engineers to compare two competing drive
the company, t h e c o n t r o l covers a l l v e r t i c a l
G m b H says i t can c o n n e c t t h e CoDeSys Safety
solutions with respect to energy efficiency.
segments o f f a c t o r y a u t o m a t i o n . W i t h its
E d i t o r to t h e decentralized Safety-over-Ether-
e f f i c i e n t m o t o r s against state-of-the-art drives,
m o d u l a r design, t h e s o l u t i o n can g r o w a l o n g
Cat, e n a b l i n g CoDeSys users t o c o m p l e m e n t
standards b o d y IEC p l a n s to exchange t h e
w i t h t h e scope o f p e r i p h e r y signals a n d can
t h e i r c o n t r o l systems w i t h f u n c t i o n a l safety
o l d E F F i a n d EFF2 e f f i c i e n c y classifications
be p r o g r a m m e d v i a g r a p h i c a l w i r i n g f o r f u n c -
w i t h o u t t h e need to develop a n d c e r t i f y t h e i r
b y a n e w system w i t h t h r e e segments - I E i
t i o n blocks. C o n f i g u r a t i o n o f p e r i p h e r a l u n i t s
o w n software.
w i l l be t h e l o w e s t classification, i t stands f o r
is done b y drag &: drop; a n u m b e r of i n t e r f a c e
m o t o r s w i t h "standard e f f i c i e n c y " . T h e IE2
modules i n c l u d i n g Profihus and Profinet
complexity i n drive controls, chip vendor
level corresponds to " h i g h e f f i c i e n c y " a n d
f a c i l i t a t e t h e exchange o f c o n t r o l data a n d sta-
Infineon introduced a microcontroller
IE3 t o " p r e m i u m e f f i c i e n c y " . T h e t w o u p p e r
tus i n f o r m a t i o n b e t w e e n t h e safety c o n t r o l l e r
d e v e l o p m e n t k i t w h i c h supports v e r s i o n 1.1
IEC designations w i l l c o r r e s p o n d t o t h e n e w
and the overall c o n t r o l u n i t .
of t h e I/O-linlc c o m m u n i c a t i o n technology.
EPAct a n d N E M A P r e m i u m levels o f t h e
Drives, actuators, sensors, a n d f a c t o r y -
I n order to c o u n t e r t h e i n c r e a s i n g
" I n d u s t r i a l d r i v e c o n t r o l s o f t w a r e becomes
A m e r i c a n N E M A system. E f f e c t i v e June 16,
f l o o r c o n t r o l u n i t s a l o n g w i t h t h e i r respective
i n c r e a s i n g l y c o m p l e x " , e x p l a i n e d Stephan
2011, vendors i n E u r o p e w i l l o n l y be p e r m i t -
o p e r a t i n g u n i t s are n e t w o r k e d , t r a d i t i o n a l l y
Zizala, Senior D i r e c t o r f o r I n f i n e o n ' s i n d u s -
ted to m a r k e t m o t o r s m e e t i n g at least t h e
b y means o f f i e l d b u s systems a n d increasing-
t r i a l m i c r o c o n t r o l l e r segment. "Since m a n y
IE2 e f f i c i e n c y r a t i n g . S i m i l a r g u i d e l i n e s w i l l
ly b y means o f E t h e r n e t i n several real-time
s o f t w a r e p r o v i d e r s a n d system integrators
a p p l y i n t h e USA a n d C h i n a .
flavors o p t i m i z e d f o r i n d u s t r i a l applications.
i n t h i s segment are s m a l l a n d m e d i u m - s i z e d
Besides t h e m o t o r s , d r i v e c o n t r o l s are
T h e t e n d e n c y goes t o w a r d e x t e n d i n g t h e Eth-
companies, c o m p l e x i t y becomes a p r o b l e m .
another s t a r t i n g p o i n t to i m p r o v e energy ef-
ernet c o n n e c t i o n d o w n to t h e sensor a n d ac-
I n p a r t i c u l a r , s o f t w a r e e v a l u a t i o n gets v e r y
ficiency
t u a t o r level. A n e x a m p l e is W e n g l o r Sensoric
t i m e c o n s u m i n g . " For t h i s reason, Zizala says,
c o n t r o l architectures, m o t o r s k n o w o n l y t w o
G m b H w h i c h s h o w e d a n u m b e r o f sensors
the ecosystem is a n i m p o r t a n t f a c t o r w h e n
states: o n or of - a n d w h e n o n , t h e y are w o r k -
f o r direct c o n n e c t i o n to Ethernet/IP, P r o f i n e t
designers select a microprocessor.
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i n electric a u t o m a t i o n : I n t r a d i t i o n a l
Electronic Engineering Times Europe December 2 0 1 0
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