IT in Manufacturing


Multi-core ­machine control

February 2015 IT in Manufacturing

It has been established that centralised control system architectures have advantages over distributed methodologies. Modern production lines and high-performance, standalone machines incorporate ever increasing functionality with ever shorter cycle times – all of which calls for increasingly powerful control systems. The new C6670 industrial server from Beckhoff represents one of the most powerful controllers to reach the market. The solution can be equipped with 12, 24 or 36 processor cores and its memory can be expanded from 64 GB up to 2 TB. The immense computing power provided by the C6670 can be most effectively utilised when each individual core is leveraged to the fullest using the TwinCAT 3.1 automation software platform from Beckhoff.

The Beckhoff ‘many-core control’ concept complies with the company’s consistent and long-term philosophy of centralised control with integrated Scientific Automation. This means that in addition to the machine’s control functions – PLC, motion, robotics, and CNC – further functions such as advanced measurement technology, condition monitoring, and visualisation are all integrated into one powerful software package, TwinCAT, and executed on one powerful CPU. With TwinCAT 3.1 it is possible to optimally utilise all available processor cores by intelligently distributing individual control tasks among them. With the development of the C6670, Beckhoff now delivers the benefits of many-core technology to machine control projects: there are almost no limits on users’ application ideas which can be realised by dramatically faster and more powerful machine control platforms.

The C6670 is the first industrial server offered from Beckhoff. In addition to computationally-intensive control technology, the C6670 can also be used, for example, for complex robotics or image processing applications. Designed for cabinet installation, the server incorporates two Intel Xeon processors, each with 6, 12 or 18 cores, working together on a motherboard with two Gigabit Ethernet controllers and a powerful graphics card. Apart from the massive performance levels delivered by up to 2 TB DDR4 RAM, there are four PCIe x16 Gen III slots, one PCIe Gen III x 8 slot and one PCIe Gen II x 4 slot for multiple interface cards and maximum flexibility. The C6670 industrial server from Beckhoff makes high-performance many-core technology, with up to 36 processor cores, available to the world’s most challenging machine control applications.

For more information contact Kenneth McPherson, Beckhoff Automation, +27 (0)11 795 2898, [email protected], www.beckhoff.co.za



Credit(s)



Share this article:
Share via emailShare via LinkedInPrint this page

Further reading:

Bringing brownfield plants back to life
Schneider Electric South Africa IT in Manufacturing
Today’s brownfield plants are typically characterised by outdated equipment and processes, and face challenges ranging from inefficient operations to safety hazards. However, all is not lost, as these plants stand to gain a lot from digitalisation and automation.

Read more...
Generative AI for immersive real-time visualisation
Siemens South Africa IT in Manufacturing
Siemens will deepen its collaboration with NVIDIA to help build the industrial metaverse.

Read more...
Award-winning Gen AI solutions
IT in Manufacturing
Amazon Web Services recently hosted an exclusive event in South Africa on ‘Elevating Possibilities with Partners - a Showcase of GenAI Excellence’. This event brought together ten esteemed partners, including Synthesis Software Technologies, to highlight innovative advancements in the field of Generative AI.

Read more...
AI is driving data centres to the edge
Schneider Electric South Africa IT in Manufacturing
The data centre has become the cornerstone that links our digitally interconnected world. At the same time, the rapid growth and application of AI and machine learning (ML) is shaping the design and operation of data centres.

Read more...
Full-scale central control room simulator
Valmet Automation IT in Manufacturing
Valmet will deliver a full-scale central control room simulator to Nordic Ren-Gas, the leading Nordic green hydrogen and e-methane developer in Finland.

Read more...
Re-imagining business operations with the power of AI
IT in Manufacturing
inq. has introduced a range of artificial intelligence solutions to assist organisations across industry verticals in optimising business operations and improving internal efficiencies.

Read more...
Safe, sustainable cycling helmet technology
Siemens South Africa IT in Manufacturing
Lazer Sport, one of Europe’s leading cycling helmet manufacturers, has adopted the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of industry software to bring to market KinetiCore, its new proprietary rotational impact protection technology.

Read more...
Flexible EtherCAT communication interface for DALI-2
Beckhoff Automation Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
The EL6821 EtherCAT Terminal from Beckhoff allows up to 64 DALI/DALI-2 slaves and 64 DALI-2 input devices to be connected. The TwinCAT 3 System Manager makes it easy to configure and parameterise DALI devices flexibly.

Read more...
EtherCAT-based control technology for building automation
Beckhoff Automation Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Modern non-residential buildings place many high demands on building automation. This can be optimally implemented with EtherCAT-based control technology from Beckhoff, which provides an efficient central automation architecture thanks to ultra-fast data communication.

Read more...
Defending against modern-day cyber threats
IT in Manufacturing
The anatomy of cyber threats has changed, meaning that organisations can no longer rely on traditional cybersecurity solutions to protect their perimeter, but should instead rethink their data protection strategy and become proactive in their defence against breaches.

Read more...