July 2016System Integration & Control Systems Design
“VIPA always thinks in terms of its customers and seeks solutions that did not exist before”. This statement is particularly true for the new EtherCAT CPUs. With completion of the development work on the Speed7 EtherCAT Manager, the full performance of the two CPUs 315SN/EC and 317SN/EC can now be utilised. For project planning only Speed7 EtherCAT Manager together with the Simatic Manager, version 5.5, from Siemens need to be installed. It will be even more convenient soon when the new Framework Speed7 Studio from VIPA can be used for this purpose.
Hardware performance of the CPUs
Both CPUs offer an EtherCAT master interface on the integrated EtherCAT CP with cycle times of at least 500 µs. As with most VIPA Speed7 CPUs, the 300 series also includes the Profibus master as one of the essential features. In addition, the CPU 317SN/EC also has VIPA’s own Speed bus for a high-speed data communication via the backplane bus. Otherwise, the CPUs 315SN/EC and 317SN/EC with those features correspond to the existing Speed7 CPUs of this performance class. Therefore, the standard RJ45 Ethernet interface for PG / OP communication, the PtP interface for serial protocols, Profibus master and a Profibus slave belong to the already traditional standard equipment. Of course, both CPUs have the Speed7 CPUs possibility of using the memory configuration card (MCC) to expand the memory without CPU swap.
Bridging the gap between EtherCAT and the Simatic world
EtherCAT technology is growing in importance for the world of automation both from a technological as well as commercial point of view. With the Speed7 EtherCAT Manager VIPA has now connects the Simatic world to EtherCAT. A bridge between the PLC world and the usual programming with Simatic Manager, the decentralised connection via Profibus/ Profinet and now the networking via EtherCAT is thereby created.
Familiar programming environment
The Speed7 EtherCAT Manager is integrated throughout. In practice, this means that the Simatic Manager (V5.5) can remain the programming base and only Speed7 EtherCAT Manager needs to be additionally installed. With this combination, all the possibilities of EtherCAT become available. It will be even easier for PLC programmers in the future with the brand new engineering tool Speed7 Studio. They will then be able to carry out project planning without being familiar with the EtherCAT technology. The program, which includes Speed7 EtherCAT Manager, automatically converts the configuration into the EtherCAT format. The user can therefore utilise the advantages of this networking in the simplest way.
With EtherCAT, many more options are available for the user as they can access a greater number of products than with Profinet, for example. Even the combination of Profibus and EtherCAT is feasible. For example, it allows drives to be run via EtherCAT and to bind the rest via Profibus. EtherCAT also offers, in connection with Speed7 technology, high performance at the low cycle times.
A complete EtherCAT-Network can ideally be achieved with VIPA components as a combination of EtherCAT CPUs and decentralised SLIO setup. In addition, the SLIO EtherCAT coupler 053-1EC00 is employed together with the signal modules of the proven SLIO system to provide a decentralised connection. Extensive compatibility tests in collaboration with the EtherCAT user organisation ensure full compatibility in the use of other brands of different manufacturers.
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