As an enabling technology, Ethernet/IP is revolutionising the industrial automation and control market, thanks to its standard, unmodified approach to Ethernet-based communication across the entire installation – from device level, all the way through enterprise level. Designed for use in industrial automation applications, including discrete and process control, Ethernet/IP is built on the widely-used Common Industrial Protocol (CIP). Along with the recent introduction of CIP Motion, the capabilities of Ethernet/IP are starting to multiply, increasing in line with market demands.
By using existing Ethernet network infrastructure, the entire Ethernet/IP stack can be implemented in software on a microprocessor. Thus no special hardware, such as application-specific integrated circuits or field programmable gate arrays, is needed. The same goes for networks demands. Unlike other proprietary approaches, different networks are often required for different elements of the automation installation, such as motion, control and safety.
Ethernet/IP on the other hand, has been developed to provide all of this capability on a single network. When installed as part of a Rockwell Automation Integrated Architecture installation, only one programming environment is required. This drastically reduces the cost and time associated with multiple-network, multiple-platform applications.
By offering drive, motion, safety and I/O control on the same unmodified Ethernet as the front office, organisations can better exploit their exiting IT infrastructure by making it work harder and more effectively towards their business goals.
Automation control with IT integration
By sharing a common network, the automation infrastructure and a plant’s existing IT-infrastructure can co-exist and share data in an incredibly effective manner. The primary benefit from this is the user’s ability to extract useful, actionable data in real-time.
This data can be used to define and create up-to-date metrics such as overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), energy management and performance dashboards, to provide an instantaneous window into a process, or down to a machine’s current performance.
The use of a common network also removes the need for additional proprietary hardware and software, which can often cause bottlenecks, as well as intrude the need for more skill sets, more training and greater maintenance demands.
High-speed synchronised motion control
CIP Motion over Ethernet/IP provides real-time, deterministic, closed-loop motion control and, when CIP Sync is added, multiple axes can be coordinated. By using time-stamped data along with its simple timing model, any hard synchronisation constraints between the drive and the controller are eliminated. Real-time data values are adjusted at the end device at the time the data is applied; there is no need to hard schedule the network traffic.
Rockwell Automation is complementing this recent advance with the release of next-generation hardware designed to exploit these new capabilities. These include the Allen-Bradley Kinetix 6500 servo drive and the enhanced Allen-Bradley PowerFlex 755 AC drive, both of which offer integrated motion capabilities on Ethernet/IP. This approach marks an industry first, as machine builders can now unite both drive technologies on a standard, unmodified network.
Integration of automation and safety control
Safety control over Ethernet/IP provides users with even greater flexibility in the set-up of safety networks, meeting the needs of applications that have to cover larger distances, or where larger safety packet sizes, or greater throughput are required.
The integration of safety and standard control in one network affords the opportunity to utilise common tools and technologies, while benefiting from reduced costs associated with design, installation, commissioning and maintenance. This allows users to integrate their safety networks into the same Ethernet architecture as is used by standard control devices, and the rest of their enterprise. Since the same switches and infrastructure as with standard Ethernet/IP are used, the cost to add this safety is minimal.
Safety control over Ethernet/IP provides integrity through the use of an extensive set of TÜV-approved protection measures. It does not attempt to prevent communication errors from occurring – communication networks by their very nature are susceptible to noise or disturbances, such as cable breakage. Instead, it provides transmission integrity by detecting these errors, and it enables application integrity by allowing devices to take the appropriate actions.
Process device integration
Both users and suppliers of process applications are rapidly realising the benefits that Ethernet/IP can offer over other proprietary networks. As well as providing comparable performance levels to other device-level protocols, such as Profibus and Foundation Fieldbus, Ethernet/IP also allows higher-level communications without any additional gateways or intermediate hardware and software.
These capabilities are prompting an increasing migration within process companies towards an Ethernet/IP-driven infrastructure. Indeed, backing this trend is a move by some of the world’s leading process solution suppliers to develop and launch process components and equipment that plug directly into an Ethernet/IP network. As with the other factors above, users will benefit from better integration, the need for a greatly reduced skill set and much easier support.
The benefits go beyond connectivity – using a single Ethernet/IP network creates a common platform for a machine’s configuration, programming, commissioning, diagnostics and maintenance. This provides tighter integration, while providing the machine builders the simplified architecture they need to streamline design and development. Using a common network, they can meet all of a machine’s control and information needs, connect to the end-user’s infrastructure and provide secure remote access for value-added monitoring and maintenance.
Reducing the number of networks helps ease machine maintenance, as Ethernet/IP provides more powerful diagnostics and troubleshooting capabilities. Bringing commonality to the network architecture helps cut costs and complexity, while taking integration to the next level. Ultimately, this helps machine builders sharpen their competitive edge with higher-performing, more flexible machines.
Ethernet/IP also gives machine builders access to other intelligent features. For example, many Ethernet/IP devices and drives offer embedded web pages to provide high-speed access to critical drive data. Operators can monitor real-time performance, safety and network data, as well as alarm and fault history, lost packets and power peaks – all through a web browser.
Along with remote access capabilities, this real-time information helps keep machines up-and-running. Ethernet/IP enables machines to relay the condition data back to the machine builder, who can then provide secure, remote diagnostics. In addition, harnessing Ethernet/IP’s IT capabilities, like voice and video, gives machine builders and end-users the eyes and ears they need to thoroughly understand the machine’s condition. By taking vital action before a machine fails, machine builders and their customers save time and money.
For more information contact Sean Homan, Rockwell Automation, +27 (0)11 654 9700, [email protected], www.rockwellautomation.co.za
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