Positive energy statement
Such a topic can easily be controversial because it involves product technology in the industry. This article is purely a discussion. I am not so in-depth knowledge of the industry's product technology. In order to avoid being traced legal liability, I decided to give "positive energy." .
Really want to put out a high-end low-end out?
High-end is a very interesting word - everyone likes to use it. However, automation itself is just an "application-type" industry. Product technology is more "integrated" - for example, chips, sensors come from cross-domain, then in some In a sense, automation is a core technology industry? Can you tell the difference? Everyone buys components and uses Open software in an open market. What does the high-end automation use to embody?
Automation is an application industry. The customer's demand is the real power that determines the status of the industry. All products, technologies, and companies that consider themselves as high-end must accept the most stringent industrial application challenges. The most demanding customers—that is, The top-level customers in the industry can be said to be high-end, and any high-end claims are meaningless.
If you simply compare PLC performance and functions, you can't reflect the complete picture of the high-end PLC. You can only look at the PLC in part, and must consider the industrial requirements and the product design framework and concepts of high-end PLC manufacturers.
PLC is only a part of the control, the core is in control, Figure 1 shows the development of control, of course, PLC has been extended to all phases with bus, real-time Ethernet, information integration, PLC and PC integration.
For the sake of discussion, we do not need to discuss the specific application of the industry, otherwise the problem becomes complicated and involves the company's trade secrets - customer information.
Several trends of PLC
01
Comparing hardware is meaningless
Today, PLC should not have to compare who's CPU performs faster? Whose storage is bigger? Who can bring more I/O points? What programming language can I use? As a core product of industrial control, PLC has produced a lot of changes, all of which are due to the revolution brought about by IT technology.
Storage is getting cheaper and bigger, so that you can store a lot of real-time data on the PLC, and the CPU is getting faster and faster. Previously those problems that cannot be solved are being easily solved, and the display is becoming more and more diverse. With richness, the demand for hardware is getting higher and higher, but standardization and generalization are the future trends. Therefore, competition is no longer in the hardware itself. The age of performance is about to pass.
02
PLC will be more open to fusion of various technologies
The functional era has arrived. This includes motion control, security, hydraulics, robotics, CNC, real-time communications, FDT, wireless Ethernet, GPRS, etc., all of which are infiltrating into control. PLCs must become more open in the future. Survive in competition.
03
Technology is moving towards convergence - integrated solutions
The wide application of PC technology makes the energy of the controller infinitely wide, and the rich software applications also make the CPU must be faster and stronger. IT technology provides all this. The embedded CPU of Intel architecture has been widely used in industrial control. The concepts of PAC, PCC, PLC, PC, DCS, and SCADA are merging with each other, and gradually interoperate with GIS, SQL Server, and other professional technologies. The control technology is forming an integrated whole. A single PLC or PC is already in the overall control. The needs of applications have become flat, the boundaries have begun to blur, the concept of dedicated controllers and universal controllers has begun to blur, and the world is moving towards convergence.
The driving force of high-end PLC technology
01IT Industry's Promotion to the Automation Industry
1.1 Make the hardware more general - With the development of IT technology, CPU processing power, communication speed (Ethernet technology), storage and expansion capabilities, software function blocks (OPC), diagnostics and maintenance capabilities (maintenance based on IT technology) Both capabilities and display capabilities have been greatly improved, and the development of IT technology has also led to a continuous decline in hardware costs, and IT's competition makes chips easier to obtain, but the cost is lower.
1.2 Standardization and Modular Design - In order to reduce the production and manufacturing costs of the system, PLC products continue to move toward modularization and standardized design.
Therefore, the development of domestic PLC products must always pay attention to the promotion of IT technology for the development of automation, focusing on how IT technology is integrated into automation technology.
02 Demand for Complex Control Pulls PLC Development
Regardless of PLC, PCC, PAC technology, its development purpose is to meet the more complex control requirements of the machine and the production site, distributed computing puts forward new requirements for the bus, and production integration has increased the demand for software SCADA and DCS, PLC will take more functions here.
The initial application of PLC was mainly developed for logic control. With the requirements of IT technology, communication technology, sensor technology, and production management for on-site data, in order to track the production process and analyze the influencing factors of process and quality, the demand for on-site data is constantly increasing. The increase in demand for the environment and safety has also led to the development of safety technology, which has affected the PLC's requirements for control:
2.1 Complex Algorithm Design: In the field of machine control today, PID adjustment and process algorithm design (color registration, tension, weighing, drafting, unwinding, and rewinding) have been similar to the process control field. PLC is required to have a superior algorithm. Design and processing capabilities, such as: B & R's PCC can use C, C + + programming, which is easier for complex algorithm design, and Bachmann's PLC can be based on C, C + +, Java programming, SoftPLC's SoftPLC can also be based on Java programming .
2.2 Motion Control: Due to the fact that there are few motion control actuators in the previous machines, a dedicated motion controller is usually used, but now the motion control applications are more extensive, in various mechanical manufacturing fields, as well as papermaking, beer production lines, tobacco, etc. There are more extensive applications in the field, and this has more requirements for motion control such as electronic gears, electronic cams, positioning control, such as SIEMENS T-CPU series to complete the processing of motion control tasks, and B & R's PCC You can directly control the servo drive through the bus to implement various motion control algorithms.
2.3 Safety Technology - With the requirements for personal safety and equipment safety, Safety PLC ICs for safety applications have been developed by various PLC manufacturers. For example, SIEMENS 317F and 319F CPUs are designed for safety applications. ABB's PLUTO Safety PLC, Rockwell Automation, while B&R developed SafetLOGIC PLC.
2.4 CNCs and Robots: Robots and CNCs in traditional sense usually use dedicated systems because these system requirements are more complex path planning and matrix transformation, which makes PLC unable to meet and use a dedicated system. As early as 1997, B&R The CNC can be integrated in its PLC, and the integrated robot library started in 2006.
03 Fierce market competition promotes the development of software
3.1 The development of software - As the generalization and standardization of hardware reduces the cost of the system, and in order to seek differentiated competitiveness, high-end PLC will focus more on the development of software functions and industrial application libraries. The market makes the application of differentiation become a weapon of competition.
3.2 The software encapsulates the customer's inherent competitiveness - protecting intellectual property.
Rich bus support capabilities
01 Bus Control Advantages
Based on bus-based control technology, high-end PLCs have rich bus interface support capabilities, and bus-based connections offer the following benefits:
1.1 The bus connection reduces the number of cables: distributed I/O stations connected via the bus reduce the number of connections to the central control unit.
1.2 Make the control more flexible: The bus allows distributed control to be achieved. For distributed control systems, the bus is an integral part.
1.3 Make the machine design more flexible - In the OEM machinery manufacturing, the bus makes the mechanical modular design possible, each independent mechanical unit with a local independent controller, through the bus to achieve the integration of the entire production line, and these only need The Communication Cable can be connected.
02 bus classification
2.1 Fieldbus Technology
The traditional field bus includes Profibus, CANopen, CC-link, FF, HSE, DeviceNet, Modbus,etc., how many automation manufacturers there are busses, various busses have defined different application layer agreement and profile, Busses cannot be interconnected or need additional switching and gateway equipment for interconnection.
Figure - Various Bus Integrations Form Bus Battle
2.2 Standard Ethernet Technology
The development of IT industry technology has made Ethernet technology more widely used. Because of its openness, high speed, and low cost, more and more automation vendors have begun to integrate Ethernet technology into their automation components. Mainly brings the following advantages:
A. Its higher speed - 100Mbps data transmission meets the application of industrial data transmission such as video data, visual recognition, image processing, etc.
B. It is open - it can be used without paying any license fee;
C. Its low cost - due to a large number of standard applications, Ethernet's data cable prices, chip prices have been greatly reduced, making it a widely used low-cost technology.
Currently, Ethernet technology has been widely used in the products of various automation vendors, including PLC, HMI, sensors, security systems, and DCS, and is the fastest growing technology.
2.3 Real-time Ethernet Technology
The development of Ethernet technology brings so many benefits, but the uncertainty of Ethernet data exchange is a huge obstacle for robotics, CNC, motion control and Safety technology. Therefore, each company develops on the basis of Ethernet technology. Real-time Ethernet is used to meet more demanding requirements for real-time performance. Usually, Ethernet with data refresh rate of uS and synchronization accuracy of 0.1uS is called real-time Ethernet.
The typical techniques here include:
A.Ethernet POWERLINK technology This is the earliest real-time Ethernet technology. As early as in 2001, the founding company B&R developed this technology and put it into use. It uses a polling mechanism to manage the data exchange by a MN (master). The node schedules the time slice to each CN (slave node). The refresh rate that can be achieved is 100uS. The physical medium uses the physical layer that meets the IEEE802.3 specification, and the application layer uses the profile of CANopen. Currently, it is the only one in the automation industry. Open Source Technology, Open Source Technology. Support for the bus includes ABB, Schneider and LENZE, Baldor, and some motion control system vendors.
B. SERCOSIII Ethernet technology developed on the basis of the SERCOS fieldbus developed by Rexroth in 1994. The same polling management mechanism can achieve 100Mbps transmission speed, uS-level refresh cycle, currently includes Rockwell AB, Schneider. Some automation companies support this bus.
C.Profinet Real-time Ethernet technology developed and put into use by SIEMENS, but ProfiNet and ProfiNet RT are currently available in several versions, and its real-time hardware-based ProfiNet IRT based on ASIC technology has not yet been fully introduced. IRT can be implemented. US level data refresh, high clock synchronization.
D.EtherCAT Real-time Ethernet based on bundled frame transmission. The main station is standard Ethernet. However, the slave non-standard Ethernet is implemented by ASIC and can realize 100uS data refresh.
Real-time Ethernet mainly solves the data exchange capability in high-speed synchronous control.
Figure - Various real-time Ethernet technologies
At present, domestic automation vendors, such as PLC manufacturers, are generally able to do such buses as ProfiBus and CANopen. The domestically-developed EPA is currently only used by some founders, such as Zheda Zhongzhong and Zhongli, and is used in DCS. The application of real-time Ethernet is mainly required in the areas of motion control and robotics.
Strong software capabilities
The power of high-end PLCs and ordinary PLCs lies in their software capabilities. These software capabilities are divided into several levels:
Figure - High-end PLC Software System
01
Development platform software
Whether or not there is a complete development platform and library call is the key to whether it can complete the machine control and plant equipment integration. If there is no powerful development platform, it can not complete the software system construction of complex control tasks.
1.1 Development Language Support Capabilities
In addition to commonly used ladder diagrams, instruction lists, and structured texts, some PLCs support high-level languages ​​for complex algorithmic design, such as B&R support for C, C++, C# programming, Bachmann's PLC support for C++, Java, and SoftPLC support for Java programming as well. It has its own operating system that runs the build system and Java virtual host.
1.2 Development Platform for Lifecycle Services
Tools rather than platforms, the concept is that the PLC is changing, can not simply describe with tools, because, not just a development tool, it contains more and more features.
02
Operating system support
Unlike traditional PLCs, today's PC-based controls, PACs, and PCCs have created huge differences in capabilities due to the different operating system platforms they run. Operating systems have enabled many rich IT-Based software to run on them. Greatly enriched the PLC software operating environment and the number of support libraries.
Figure - Main RTOS
High-end PLC adopts RTOS to improve the real-time processing and supports multi-task. For example, Rockwell Automation's ControlLogix supports the processing of multiple tasks, while B&R's PLC supports eight different task levels, and each task can be set differently. The cycle time.
03
Application Library Support
In order to achieve unified programming for Logic and Motion, Safety, PLCopen standardizes some program interfaces. These software module calls can achieve some simple control requirements. However, this is far from enough, and you need to be able to customize the library support, for example Application packages generated by the needs of different industries - these constitute their own core competencies.
Figure - PLCopen Library
The problem of coordinated motion control in PLCopenMotion Part 4 is added here. Traditional PLCs cannot complete motion control and must rely on dedicated motion controllers or modules—often more expensive than the CPU. However, the new PLC will directly run motion control. PLCopen solves practical problems for this integration from the software perspective.
Safety technology integration
01
Safety PLC
Many European and American high-end PLC manufacturers have introduced Safety PLC, follow the IEC61508 standard, and are certified by TUV and TUV SÃœD and have already started to use it. The following are typical examples.
1.1 Rockwell AB GuardLogix System Meets TUV SIL3 Certification
Figure - Rockwell Safety PLC
1.2 B&R SafetLOGIC
Figure - B&R Safety PLC, SafeLOGIC
1.3 SIEMENS S7300F, S7-400F/H
Figure - SIEMENS Safety PLC
1.4 ABB 800xA and SafetyGuard 400 Series
Figure - ABB 800xA PLC
1.5 EmersonDeltaV SIS
Figure - EmersonDeltaV SIS PLC
02
The future of security technology
2.1 Entry barriers: If China's automation products need to enter the European and American markets, as well as applications in areas of nuclear power, machine control, and petrochemicals that require safety, it is necessary to develop safety standards that meet international standards IEC 61508, 61511 in the future.
2.2 Policy requirements: The increasing emphasis on human life and safety requirements must be reflected in the government's mandatory requirements in the future.
High-end PLC simulation capabilities
MATLAB/Simulink is an engineering development and simulation platform widely used in scientific research. Through the development model based on modeling, the cost of R&D of the entire system can be reduced, especially in the fields of aerospace, high-speed rail, automobile manufacturing, construction engineering, and electric power. System simulation can save a lot of project test costs.
In 2008, B&R and Rockwell AB cooperated with Mathworks. Through the development of data interfaces, the C code automatically generated after MATLAB/Simulink simulation can be run directly on the CPUs of the two companies, enabling hardware in the loop. At present, this technology has been applied in the wind power industry. The system developed by B&R for wind power generation adopts MATLAB/Simulink simulation and then runs the code on the CPU. It also includes applications such as anti-rolling algorithm and robot inertia feedforward.
Figure - Simulink Process
In 2010, Mathworks continued to develop the code that meets IEC61131-3, including the support of ST. SIEMENES began to support this, which allows the PLC to directly access the code and run, which can greatly reduce the development costs, in addition, in Bachmann, Phoenix, and Beckhoff, the well-known controller manufacturers in the field of wind power generation, can also be combined with SIMULINK to achieve wind power master control.
High-end PLC software platform integration
The integrated engineering platform is becoming a trend, and various automation manufacturers are moving in this direction. This shows several advantages:
01 Integrated Platform
Representing the overall solution offering capability - Providers of high-end PLC products can complete the integration capabilities of the system, for example: it has PLC technology, HMI technology, Motion technology, sensor technology, bus technology, and the integration of these systems enables it to be firmly established. Grasp the customer and get a high degree of customer loyalty.
Correspondingly, domestic automation manufacturers cannot provide complete platforms yet, because PLC manufacturers often do not have motion control, inverters do not make PLCs, and servos do not make inverters, which means that they have not yet formed a truly complete solution. Manufacturers.
If you cannot provide a high degree of integration of the overall hardware platform and software development, then "TotalSolution" will become empty words. If domestic automation manufacturers want to develop, they will have to go in the direction of integration. Otherwise, if there is only PLC and no other supporting system components However, it still cannot consolidate the entire market.
Figure - Integrated Development Platform Capabilities Support
Although the automation market is very large, there are only a few platforms such as SIEMENS Portal, B&R Autoation Studio, and Rockwell's Logix, which are truly integrated development platforms. Others have not yet reached a fully integrated capability.
02 Integrated Engineering Platform is the Foundation for Transformation to Services
We all say that the future is service competition, and the software platform is a tool for service. It can provide a full product life cycle PLC (ProductLife Cycle service capability, integrated engineering platform is a must, not only programming, but also simulation, testing , maintenance, diagnostics and other functions.
Figure - Integrated Development Platform Features and Task Support
High-end PLC manufacturers participate in the formulation of industry standards
01
IEC/PLCopen organization
PLCopen library includes PLCopenLogic, XML, Safety, Motion, Hydraulic, IEC61131-3, etc. If you can support these libraries, you can easily develop software applications based on these libraries.
02
Open Machine Automation and Control OMAC
In order to improve the consistency of the control systems of packaging machines and machine tools, OMAC was established to represent the international organizations that represented the manufacturers such as Boeing Aircraft, P&G, and SAB in the End User, in an effort to promote uniform machine operation and control standards. , And many technology providers are also in-depth and become the makers of future technical standards.
Including Rockwell AB, SIEMENS, Rexroth, B&R, Elau, ABB, etc. are all members of this organization, and they jointly support the promotion of OMAC technology in the world.
Figure - OMAC PackML Core Membership
03
EUROMap - Manipulator Connection Standard Library for use in Plastic Machinery
Including Rexroth, B&R, KEBA, SIEMENS, etc. all support this library to obtain application support in this field.
04
Unicode can satisfy the system's support for multi-language libraries
It can ensure that PLC products can support a variety of languages ​​around the world, enabling products to be sold globally.
05
OPC UA
In order to be able to connect with superior SCADA and management's ERP systems, OPC Servers for different PLC connections are jointly developed by Microsoft and other automation vendors to ensure connection with the management system.
Automation In various application areas and its own standards, internationally renowned manufacturers are actively involved and are leading domestic manufacturers in terms of standards. Moreover, these standards are being actively implemented.
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