The global site of the UK's leading magazine for automation, motion engineering and power transmission
28 March, 2024

LinkedIn
Twitter
Twitter link

SPS IPC Drives 2014 exclusive show report

03 January, 2015
new gateway from HMS Industrial Networks allows Modbus devices to be connected to the BACnet network used in building automation applications. The gateway handles conversion between Modbus (RTU, ASCII and TCP) and BACnet/IP, and makes Modbus devices appear as a BACnet-compliant devices.

Murrelektronik launched a module for its Cube67 fieldbus system that is designed to be used with incremental encoders. The device allows measurements of distances and angles of movement on axes to be integrated easily into Cube67 installations.

Nexans introduced a Cat 6A Ethernet cable for automation applications that can carry 10Gbit/s and signal frequencies up to 500MHz, while offering the durability and flexibility needed for energy chain applications. The Motionline cable can bend to a radius ten times its diameter, while withstanding at least three million cycles of operation.

Phoenix Contact announced a range of optical converters for use in applications with time-critical Ethernet protocols. The FL MC 200T converters (below) can span distances of up to 40km using single-mode optical fibres. An optional pass-through mode halves the latency compared to standard mechanisms.

Also new from Phoenix is an 868MHz wireless module for transmitting I/O signals and serial data over distances of up to 20km. The module, part of the Radioline wireless system, has a maximum power of 500mW and is aimed at applications that are not time-critical.

Weidmüller has developed a Gigabit industrial security router to provide secure communications between Ethernet-based machines and systems, as well as overlay networks. The IE-SR-2GT-LAN-FN firewall/router is aimed at applications where security and Network Address Translation (NAT) are a top priority. It has two Gigabit ports and allows production machines with the same IP addresses to be operated in parallel and integrated into overlay networks without needing to assign individual IP addresses to each machine.

SOFTWARE

The Codesys automation software has received a substantial update said to increase efficiency – with conditional breakpoints and execution points, for example – as well as graphical displays of build errors and input warnings. The V3.5 service pack 6 can refactor IEC 61131-3 application code to customise project call points. A new tool can create a “snapshot” of PLC status and use it to track and edit application errors.

Eaton has released a new version of its Galileo project design software, allowing users to develop projects faster, more efficiently and more reliably. Galileo 10 incorporates new features that simplify the programming and maintenance of control systems over the whole lifecycle of plants and machines.

With its latest version, the Eplan Engineering Center platform has been renamed Eplan Engineering Configuration (with the same EEC abbreviation). Version 2.4 can be used to configure components, machines, and complex projects. The new version includes a direct coupling to Eplan Pro Panel, which is used to engineer 3D enclosures.

On part of its stand, Eplan was demonstrating the integration of the Mitsubishi Adroit Process Suite (Maps) with its Electric P8 data, allowing P8 users to generate Maps projects directly from circuit diagrams. Mitsubishi says this could halve development costs and accelerate commissioning. Maps is lifecycle software used to generate control codes, Scada templates, tags and documents. Its integration with Electric P8 will allow system components to be commissioned without needing to write any control system code, design a faceplate or generate a tag.

Eplan also announced that its Data Portal can now access 2,600 new and updated records for Rittal products, and now covers almost all of its enclosure product data. Meanwhile, Festo’s Eplan library now includes a database with more than 35,000 products and function macros for 22,000 products.

Lenze has added robotics modules




Magazine
  • To view a digital copy of the latest issue of Drives & Controls, click here.

    To visit the digital library of past issues, click here

    To subscribe to the magazine, click here

     

Poll

"Do you think that robots create or destroy jobs?"

Newsletter
Newsletter

Events

Most Read Articles