P876
EtherCAT sets new standards for real-time performance and topology flexibility, whilst meeting or under cutting other fieldbus cost levels.
 P876 EtherCAT master module enables the MC464 Motion Coordinator to enter a very exclusive club offering an independent, standalone EtherCAT master for motion control; this arrangement enables up to 64 axes of any manufacturers' EtherCAT-compatible drives and motors - or other devices - to be controlled. The module comes with 2 axes enabled. Further axes can be enabled with ‘Feature Enable Codes’.
Trio currently support a growing list of supported devices:
- Beckhoff - for IO devices (not drives)
- Control Techniques
- Copley Drives
- ESR Pollmeier TrioDrive
- Gefran
- Infranor
- Jenny Science
- Kollmorgen/Danaher
- Kuhnke (for IO devices)
- LinMot
- Moog MSD and MSD Compact
- Omron - drives, MX2 inverter and GRT-ECT I/O
- Sanyo Denki
- Stober
- Yaskawa
Every axis can be programmed to move using linear, circular or helical interpolation, electronic cams and gearboxes. Features include support for merging multiple moves that are typically generated by CAD/CAM software, plus support is provided for continuously rotating machinery. EtherCAT also offers the major advantage of high-precision device synchronisation.
| Specification |
|
| Network |
EtherCAT |
| Network Speed |
100Mbps |
| Topology |
Chain |
| Max Slaves per Interface |
64 |
| Max Interfaces per MC464 |
7 |
| Max Axes per MC464 |
64 |
| Cable |
STP Cat 5-e or Better |
| Bus to MC464 |
32 Bit |
| Registration Inputs |
8 x 24V Inputs |
| Optically Isolated registration Inputs |
Y |
| Map Any I/O to Any Axis |
Y |
| Axis Feature Enable Codes |
P701, P702, P704, P708, P716, P732 |
Features
- 8 Registration inputs repeatable to 100nS per module
- Drive parameters setup from the controller
- Position Set point update 0.125mS
- RJ45 Connector
- Drive parameters may be set from the controller
- 4 LED status indicators
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EtherCAT is an efficient and deterministic communication protocol aimed at high speed digital motion control, I/O and other devices. It enables industrial equipment from different manufacturers to be precisely synchronized and exchange information at very high speeds.
EtherCAT is an open standard, enabling multi-vendor motion controllers, intelligent drives, IO, sensors and actuators to communicate over a single industry-standard Ethernet network. It exchanges closed loop control and feedback data at high speed and with very short cycle times. In addition, the standard also defines a service channel for non-cyclic data exchange – such as progress, status, and diagnostics. The architecture has been designed to greatly simplify installation, diagnostics, and commissioning, hence reducing both the time and costs of machine delivery.
There are a number of protocols which can run over EtherCAT. One of the most popular is CanOpen-over-EtherCAT. (CoE) This is the main standard adopted by Trio and follows the DS402 CanOpen device profile for Drives and Motion Control.
- Fast and capable; Up to 64 axes of control ! The Trio EtherCAT module sends control values and receives feedback values, at speeds of 100MHz and with a cycle period as fast as 250 µsec. With up to 64 axes per P876 EtherCAT expansion module at 2 msec, 32 axes at 1 msec, 16 axes at 500 µsec and 8 axes at 250 µsec servo period. The motion on all these axes being synchronised by the Motion Coordinator.
- Precise Synchronization; Hardware synchronization ensures precise and reliable timing of the communication messages. The standard enables precise synchronization, with jitter (fluctuation in accuracy) of the messages of less than a microsecond. Before commencing normal operations, each drive is given a time offset to compensate for network delays and the single periodic telegram ensures that there can be no data collisions or traffic overload.
- Ease of Use; You can achieve 'plug and play' ease of installation and commissioning using EtherCAT with the help of Trio. The use of the single Ethernet cable chain simplifies installation, and automatic device detection and initialisation in the MC464 software makes startup very easy.
Each time the coordinator and drives are powered on, the auto configuration will initialise the network and raise the drives into their normal operation mode. We have added keywords to the TrioBASIC language to simplify access to the EtherCAT drives, providing easy access the drives’ internal parameters, and control of the Network.
- Flexible; A range of cycle times can be defined. The number of axes on a network can be from between 1 to 64. The drives can be located some 50 metres apart using standard screened Ethernet cables. The drives can be configured in position or velocity control modes, and access to all the standard DS402 and the drives own manufacturer specific parameters is possible via the CanOpen over EtherCAT objects.
- Standardized Communications; A standard service channel communication method provides access to a range of parameters on all devices on the network. Trio's Motion Coordinator can access all the drives and other devices on the network, updating their internal parameters in order to configure them for different applications, monitoring status and diagnostic information, or even saving existing configurations.
- Rapid Machine Design and Development; The use of EtherCAT greatly reduces machine design time. It solves connectivity problems between equipment from different manufacturers, and the use of industry-standard Ethernet cables removes the need for complex wiring.
- Reduce Commissioning Costs; The reduced wiring speeds installation time and reduces costs. Application development is simplified, with the MC464 automatically configuring and starting the network. The master can access a whole host of parameters on any device on the EtherCAT network, to configure the device, check status, and help identify and resolve any problems encountered.
- Reduce Cost of Ownership; EtherCAT enables Trio's Motion Coordinator to request drive status information every servo cycle. By monitoring this status information, the motion co-ordinator can determine when errors occur and then interrogate further to give an accurate problem report to the operator.
This will assist in the diagnosis of the problem, and provide information to the operator about how it should be resolved. Should a drive need to be replaced, the maintenance engineer has only to set the appropriate drive address (or even just plug it into the same place in the chain), and re-start the MC464 to re-commence normal machine operation.
- Safe and Reliable; The use of ethernet cabling provides high immunity against electromagnetic interference. The Motion Coordinator and the drives verify and validate all messages received. Errors are identified whether they have arisen at the data transmission or higher application levels.
The EtherCAT hardware checks all messages to identify any message corruption, stopping the drives if an error occurs with the cyclic command information. If the drive does encounter a communication or motion error, it will stop, log the error and inform the Motion Coordinator of the problem.
Commissioning
Installation is simple – plug in the P876 EtherCAT module to the Motion Coordinator. Connect the Motion Coordinator to the drives using screened Ethernet cables between each to create a chain, set the node address on each drive if required (usually via external rotary or dip switches), and power-on these units.
NB. If no drive addresses are set then the axes are allocated in order of the drives on the network.
Ensure that you have a suitable version of system software in the MC464 and power up the system. Drive detection and network initialisation will be automatic. There is no need to install a device XML file for drives that are already known to be compatible with Trio.
Once the EtherCAT is in operational state, the drives are controlled as always using the axis parameters and TrioBASIC language motion keywords - it is transparent to the user whether the axes are controlled via traditional analogue wiring or a digital fieldbus.
Operation
The Motion Coordinator exchanges data with the EtherCAT module via the high speed 32bit data bus, and the module transmits the commands out on the network and receives the drive feedback values.
Registration is available via an external connector on the EtherCAT module, alternatively many slave drives can be configured to latch a position value themselves which is transferred cyclically to the Motion Coordinator.
The Motion Coordinator can operate the slave drives in either torque, speed or position control mode, with position feedback.
In certain applications where you want the ability to enable and disable sub-set groups of axes, and not all the axes on the machine at one time, there is a greater level of control provided by TrioBASIC language features available for networked systems. The use of the ENABLE/DISABLE_GROUP TrioBASIC keyword provides this finer level of control as it enables groups of axes to be organised together, and enabled or disabled as a group. Hence a particular group of axes will all be stopped when any one of them encounters an error, but all other axes in the system can continue operation as required. This feature must be used with great care of course!
Solving your problems and supporting your needs!
Trio's EtherCAT support has been designed from the ground up to uniquely fulfil the needs of your customers, and to meet all their automation control requirements. Using EtherCAT will enable you to answer those questions, and resolve those issues which occur time after time as you put forward your proposal, win the contract and deliver upon your promises!.
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