Rockwell Automation has announced a portfolio of products and enhancements to provide high-performance, open- and closed-loop drive control on EtherNet/IP. It says that the development will lead to more flexible machine designs, improved system performance, and reduced system costs.

At its recent Automation Fair in California, Rockwell was showing several products, including AC variable speed and servo drives, that support the Integrated Motion system which is based on ODVA’s Common Industrial Protocol (CIP) Motion and CIP Sync technologies.

The system will allow machine-builders to configure, program, commission and maintain drives on Ethernet/IP. It will also eliminate the need for dedicated motion networks and allow high-performance drives, I/O, smart actuators and other EtherNet/IP-connected devices, to be supported on a common network (see diagram above).

ODVA’s executive director, Katherine Voss describes CIP Motion as “a technological paradigm shift for systems designers looking to integrate motion with the overall network architecture on a common network. The availability of EtherNet/IP products with CIP Motion from ODVA members exemplifies the innovation that EtherNet/IP has achieved in the application of standard, unmodified Ethernet to a large suite of industrial control applications.”

Products previewed by Rockwell at the Automation Fair and due to become available soon include:

♦ The new Allen-Bradley ControlLogix L73 and L75 programmable automation controllers (PACs), which offer enhanced memory technology, high-performance EtherNet/IP motion control, and redundancy performance improvements. The PACs are ideal for information-intensive applications, such as batch processing where additional memory is needed for recipe management.

♦  The new Kinetix 6500 modular servo drive with embedded EtherNet/IP (below), which can be used to integrate high-performance drive control, I/O, smart actuators and other EtherNet/IP-connected devices, helping to cut system costs, and to improve system performance and ease of use. Linear and device-level ring topologies are supported using embedded switching.

♦  A new version of the RSLogix 5000 software with more than 30 enhancements, including support for integrated motion on EtherNet/IP, as well as additional controller support and usability, reporting and security functions. These help to simplify programming and configuration, and ease maintenance and troubleshooting of control and information systems.

♦  An updated version of the PowerFlex 755 AC drive with an embedded Ethernet port and support for CIP Motion. The drive can be configured, programmed, commissioned and maintained using motion profile and instruction sets within RSLogix 5000, allowing integrated motion instructions to be used for co-ordinated control of drives from 0.75–260kW.