W
In the years past, it was hard to find a popular brand
PLC that had decent integrated motion.
By popular brand, I mean a PLC system that most Fortune 500 companies would accept in their plants.
By decent, I mean master/slave, cams, multi-axis interpolation, parametric motion, easy integration...
Here is what I have seen recently:
A-B has their ControlLogix with multi-axis motion
programming in ladder logic. They are using Sercos to
digitally interface with their servo drives. They offer multi-axis slaving, cams, and interpolation.
GEFanuc has a digital two axis servo module for their
90-30 PLC. It has a digital interface to their servo
drives. They offer multi-axis slaving and cams. They
use the two CPU approach, where you have a sequential
motion program controlled by bits and words transferred from the ladder CPU.
I do not know much about Siemens approach. They have
a system called Simotion D which looks suitable. It
appears to use a mult-axis digital drive system intefaced to their PLC's via Profibus.
I know even less about Modicons offerings. They appear to have something called Quantum Motion Control. This uses Sercos for multi-axis control.
I am not counting the many motion board manufacturers in this quest. I use many of their products, but they are not well integrated with PLC's and are not well accepted by the larger plants.
I am looking for a good clean slate approach, without
carrying forward all of the baggage and shortcomings of the older systems. Is this available today?
Are most PLC based motion using ladder based function
blocks to program motion, or is the two programs with
handshaking still predominate?
There is the classic problem of combining a continuous
scanning ladder process with a seqential motion program. Has this been solved by IEC-1131 and multiple languages?
I'm not looking to start a flame war. I just want to
find out what is being successfully used these days and why. I want to quote PLC based motion systems to my current customers. I work for a small company and cannot afford an expensive false start by choosing an unruly solution. Been there and done that.
Thanks for any and all advice.
Bill Sturm
Applied Grinding Technologies
PLC that had decent integrated motion.
By popular brand, I mean a PLC system that most Fortune 500 companies would accept in their plants.
By decent, I mean master/slave, cams, multi-axis interpolation, parametric motion, easy integration...
Here is what I have seen recently:
A-B has their ControlLogix with multi-axis motion
programming in ladder logic. They are using Sercos to
digitally interface with their servo drives. They offer multi-axis slaving, cams, and interpolation.
GEFanuc has a digital two axis servo module for their
90-30 PLC. It has a digital interface to their servo
drives. They offer multi-axis slaving and cams. They
use the two CPU approach, where you have a sequential
motion program controlled by bits and words transferred from the ladder CPU.
I do not know much about Siemens approach. They have
a system called Simotion D which looks suitable. It
appears to use a mult-axis digital drive system intefaced to their PLC's via Profibus.
I know even less about Modicons offerings. They appear to have something called Quantum Motion Control. This uses Sercos for multi-axis control.
I am not counting the many motion board manufacturers in this quest. I use many of their products, but they are not well integrated with PLC's and are not well accepted by the larger plants.
I am looking for a good clean slate approach, without
carrying forward all of the baggage and shortcomings of the older systems. Is this available today?
Are most PLC based motion using ladder based function
blocks to program motion, or is the two programs with
handshaking still predominate?
There is the classic problem of combining a continuous
scanning ladder process with a seqential motion program. Has this been solved by IEC-1131 and multiple languages?
I'm not looking to start a flame war. I just want to
find out what is being successfully used these days and why. I want to quote PLC based motion systems to my current customers. I work for a small company and cannot afford an expensive false start by choosing an unruly solution. Been there and done that.
Thanks for any and all advice.
Bill Sturm
Applied Grinding Technologies