Control, Instrumentation and Automation in the Process and Manufacturing Industries September 2017
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Safety and security Mobile robots: a game changer for flexible should be a joint manufacturing? endeavour
HART holds its own in the race to Industry 4.0
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CONTENTS
What will you be wearing in the future?
Editor Suzanne Gill suzanne.gill@imlgroup.co.uk Sales Manager Nichola Munn nichola.munn@imlgroup.co.uk Production Sara Clover sara.clover@imlgroup.co.uk Business Development Manager Iain McLean iain.mclean@imlgroup.co.uk Dan Jago David May Colin Halliday
Group Publisher Production Manager Studio Designer
I hope that you have all had a fantastic summer! This issue is filled with discussions about the future of manufacturing, from predictions that the sector will very soon turn to ‘wearable’ technologies, sounding the death-knell for the use of pen and paper to track vital manufacturing steps. I must say I was very surprised that 62% of those surveyed still relied on this method today! You can find out more about the report findings on pg 4. Robotics is another area of activity currently, with the purpose-designed ‘cobot’ seeming to divide opinion – some say it is the future, while others say that all robots could work collaboratively if appropriate safety mechanisms are put in
place. You can read more starting on pg 10 of this issue. This issue also includes a report on the future of the HART Communication Protocol in the factory of the future. It seems that this now ubiquitous communication technology does still have plenty left to offer, having been designed from the outset – in the 1980s – around the basic concepts that have become the pillars of Industry 4.0. Find out more on pg 28. Suzanne Gill - Editor suzanne.gill@imlgroup.co.uk
INDUSTRY REPORT
FUNCTIONAL SAFETY
4
21 Learning from your mistakes can be expensive in the processing industry. Implementing a Functional Safety Management system allows failures to be anticipated and avoided.
Wearable technology set to find a role in manufacturing.
EDITOR’S CHOICE 6
Harnessing the power of portability; Mobile platform puts the plant in your hands wherever you are.
24 There is a need to understand the interaction between safety and security in production processes, says Dr Alexander Horch.
ROBOTICS 10 Control Engineering Europe looks at some of the current issues related to the use of collaborative robots in the manufacturing environment.
ENERGY MANAGEMENT 26 Suzanne Gill looks at the energy saving benefits of an innovative passive air cooling solution for control cabinets.
12 Oliver Giertz defines ‘cooperative robotics’ which, he says, offer a compromise between collaborative robots and traditional industrial robots.
HART COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL
16 Suzanne Gill finds out about the potentially vital work that mobile robotics will play in the factory of the future.
FINAL WORD
CONTROLLERS
28 What role might the HART protocol have to play in factories and processing plants of the future?
38 Rob Hulsebos argues that Modbus/TCP users should think carefully before migrating to a more modern, Ethernet-based protocol, purely to increase speed.
20 An innovative compact control solution was specified for use on a photochromic lens coating machine.
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Control Engineering Europe
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September 2017
3
INDUSTRY REPORTS
Wearable technology set to find a role in manufacturing Zebra Technologies recently commissioned a global study to analyse the latest trends and challenges that impact the manufacturing industry. The survey of executives from automotive, high tech, food, beverage, tobacco and pharmaceutical companies, gathered their thoughts on adopting technology on the plant floor to increase their competitiveness. An interesting finding of the research was that 50% of manufacturers expect to have adopted wearable technologies by 2022. There looks set to be an increase in wearable technology investment over the next five years in a bid to stay competitive and rid complex supply chains of pen & paper and other out-dated, manual processes. Currently, 56% of manufacturers still rely on pen and paper for many of its processes. This figure is expected to decrease to 24% as fully-connected factories double in number in the next five years. As industry starts to embrace the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), driven by the need to meet customer demand for more options and higher quality products, a connected plant floor is becoming a necessity. Zebra’s survey shows the number of organisations achieving a fully connected factory is expected to rise dramatically over the next five years. EMEA-based manufacturers rank
mobile and wearable tech as the highest investment areas: • Mobile 55% • Voice direction & recognition 49% • Location Tracking in real-time 47% • Wearable 41% However, despite the investment pledge, nearly half of manufacturers say the complexity of these technologies is a barrier to achieving a fully connected factory. Other barriers to adoption include budget constraints and integration with legacy systems. The report also found that manufacturers will continue to adopt Industry 4.0 and the smart factory. Workers will use a combination of radio frequency identification (RFID), wearables, automated systems and other emerging technologies to monitor the physical processes of the plant and enable companies to make decentralised decisions. By 2022, 64% of manufacturers expect to be fully connected compared to just 43% today. One-half of manufacturers plan to adopt wearable technologies by 2022 while 55% of those already employing wearable technology expect to expand their level of usage in the next five years. Manual processes are expected to dramatically decline. Today, 62% use pen and paper to track vital manufacturing steps; this is expected to drop to one-in-five by 2022. The
Currently, 56% of manufacturers still rely on pen and paper for many of process monitoring applications. This figure is expected to decrease as adoption of wearable technologies increases.
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use of pen and paper to track work in progress (WIP) is highly inefficient and susceptible to error. Quality assurance emerged as the top priority over the next five years. Forward-looking manufacturers are embracing a quality-minded philosophy to drive growth, throughput and profitability. By 2022, only 34% expect to rate this as a top concern – signalling that improvements made by both suppliers and manufacturers will ultimately improve the quality of finished goods. Investments in visibility is also expected to grow, with 63% of survey respondents citing tracking as a core focus with a blend of technology (barcode scanning, RFID and realtime location systems) expected to be deployed to achieve the desired visibility. Over one-half of those surveyed are planning to expand the use of voice technology in the next five years. The most dramatic growth for voice technology will be in larger companies, with reported use growing to 55% by 2022. Commenting on the report findings, Jeff Schmitz, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Zebra, said: “Manufacturers are entering a new era in which producing high-quality products is paramount to retaining and acquiring customers as well as capturing significant cost savings that impact the bottom line. The results of Zebra’s 2017 Manufacturing Vision Study prove that IIoT has crossed the chasm, and savvy manufacturers are investing aggressively in technologies that will create a smarter, more connected plant floor to achieve greater operational visibility and enhance quality.” Control Engineering Europe
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Harnessing the power of portability The EPOCH 6LT ultrasonic flaw detector from Olympus is said to offer fast and precise industrial inspections on a rugged, portable device. Optimised for inspections in hardto-reach areas, such as wind turbines, offshore platforms and pipelines, the EPOCH 6LT is a compact unit that enables single-handed operation with all the controls being readily accessible for quick adjustments – even when wearing gloves. It can be attached to a harness or leg, to ensure the operator’s hands are free to carry out ultrasonic scans safely. The unit carries an IP65/67 rating for resistance against moisture and dust.
Its clear 640 × 480 pixel display screen features an outdoor mode to make it easy to see A-scans when lighting conditions are challenging. The interface of the EPOCH 6LT flaw detector is simple and straightforward so technicians can spend more time on the inspection and less time adjusting the instrument.
Mobile platform puts the plant in your hands wherever you are Emerson has introduced DeltaV Mobile, a new platform that utilises Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to give engineers complete access to realtime data, trends and insight to make better-informed, critical operations decisions – securely from anywhere in the world.
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September 2017
Part of Emerson’s Plantweb digital ecosystem, DeltaV Mobile fuses smartphone technology and process control data to make operational intelligence available 24/7 for improved safety, reliability and operational performance. By integrating with the DeltaV distributed control system, DeltaV Mobile delivers critical contextual data that is often left behind by other solutions. With this added context users can make better informed decisions around operational events. The solution incorporates Emerson’s Plantweb Secure First Mile technology, to ensure safe remote access to plant data without impacting critical production systems.
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Space-saving analogue input modules for panels WAGO’s twowire analogue input modules are said to significantly reduce cabinet space requirements by packing eight channels into a 12mm wide housing, reducing the number of modules required per node. The three new analogue input modules can quickly and accurately transmit measured values as digital variables to the controller. They can be simply calibrated using WAGO-I/O-CHECK software or via fieldbus description files, allowing programmers to adjust parameters to suit the application and operating conditions. The new range includes an eightchannel analogue input module 0-10 V/±10 V; an eight-channel analogue input module 0-20 mA, 4-20mA; and an eight-channel thermocouple module. The modules fit into the WAGOI/O-SYSTEM 750 automation platform and are compatible with its latest fieldbus couplers and controllers. Spring pressure connection technology ensures that wire terminations in all modules are robust, easy to connect and free from maintenance, reducing installation time while improving reliability. The modules are compliant to EN 610006-2 immunity and EN 61000-6-3 emission standards. Communication between fieldbus couplers/controllers and the I/O modules is via an internal bus. All inputs can be configured individually via software such as WAGOI/O-CHECK and fieldbus device description files.
Control Engineering Europe
HITTING TOP QUARTILE MEANS
Liberating data to flow as freely as your production
Emerson.com/IIoT
The Emerson logo is a trademark and a service mark of Emerson Electric Co. © 2017 Emerson Electric Co.
COVER STORY
OEM size doesn’t matter when it comes to INDUSTRY 4.0 Many smaller machine builders may feel that smart factory technology is not relevant for them. However this could not be further from the truth, particularly when it comes to choosing a PLC, says Rami Hanan, VP of Sales and Marketing at Unitronics.
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arge-scale complex industries, such as the automotive industry, are already implementing smart factory solutions, in line with the vision of the Industry 4.0, so the ability of your machine’s PLC to support these technologies is vital. To understand the relevance of Industry 4.0/Smart Factory and ‘Cloud’ technology, we begin with the traditional pyramid. Figure 1 shows the communication layers in the traditional factory. Each layer has a specific set of functions and functionality. Each layer communicates with the one above and/or below it through different communication networks and protocols. The bottom layer of this pyramid is the factory floor, where manufacturing machines live. The manufacturing process incorporates various technologies, communication networks, and protocols that connect peripheral devices to the manufacturing machines.
At the top of the pyramid is the factory management system - the Manufacturing Execution System (MES). This includes servers, software, and services that communicate with the factory floor to: • Inform the manufacturing staff/system what needs to be manufactured, based on customer orders. • Coordinate the front-end and backend factory logistics to fill those orders, based on available data, including manufacturing times and raw material inventory management. • Enable monitoring. Therefore, this is where you will typically find HMI that allows access to machine/process status, as well as SCADA systems which show an overall picture of the manufacturing facility, generally allowing a drill down per device. The middle of the pyramid is traditionally called the control layer. Here are the devices that control the machines that perform the manufacturing - the PLC. A traditional PLC is generally limited to communicating directly with the machines executing the process and the peripheral devices via fieldbus protocols, and can modify processes based on realtime application data.
Attend a 15-minute Webinar! Selecting Smart: Crucial tips on selecting a PLC brand. Scan QR code for registration.
Where does Industry 4.0 fit in?
September 2017
A PLC that supports Industry 4.0 technology can modify the manufacturing process based on data from the application and act on
instructions received from the top layer. Such a PLC: • Can receive instructions from the layers above it: what to manufacture and how to manufacture it. • Start the process on the machines, execute the instructions, and monitor the running condition of the process. • Report data –process data, production data, and of course errors, up through the layers. Industry 4.0 technology support brings other benefits, such as the ability to: • Communicate directly with the facilities’ backend systems. Existing Ethernet infrastructure allows communication protocol support for SQL interfaces to factory ERP/MRP servers. • Use remote control applications like VNC so that you can control your PLC from a remote location. Ethernet interfaces and TCP/IP support also provide access to the PLC for file transfers (FTP) and email support, so that the PLC can send messages directly to personnel. • A built in webserver provides another form of HMI access. • Employ SNMP to integrate a PLC into the IT infrastructure, and manage it as an IT asset. In small to mid-size machines, a PLC + HMI integrated controller can provide an advantage in terms of space, and wiring. The controller’s HMI Panel and the HMI application enable users on the production floor to view and track
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Control Engineering Europe
COVER STORY
machine processes, input data and view the status of peripheral devices, as well as edit data and issue commands. Your ideal controller should include options such as CANbus, serial, and Ethernet ports, plug-and-play support for a range of fieldbus protocols such as CANopen, MODBUS, and Ethernet/ IP. To support Industry 4.0, look for SQL, email, FTP, SMS texting, and integrated webserver to enable your clients to view run-time data as trend graphs, bar graphs, and gauge on both HMI panel and remotely. Selecting a manufacturer that stands behind a brand of controllers Control Engineering Europe
is as important as your CPU and I/O requirements. The selected brand must have a complete product range that can meet the requirements of your customers, and meet the standards applicable to their sector. A high level of customer care is also important. When you purchase a PLC you are also
selecting the company that stands behind that PLC—and this decision could have a major impact on your success in industrial automation. Unitronics, a leading manufacturer of PLC + HMI All-in-One controllers, integrates such technologies into its latest products lines.
A PLC that supports Industry 4.0 technology can modify the manufacturing process based on data from the application and act on instructions received from the top layer. www.controlengeurope.com
September 2017
9
ROBOTICS
Cobots: addressing current issues Control Engineering Europe looks at some of the current issues related to the use of collaborative robots in the manufacturing environment.
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ollaborative robots have become one of the latest industry buzzwords. To address the obvious safety issues related to the interaction of robots and humans the ISO/TS 15066 was published in February 2016 to provide guidelines on safety in collaborative robot systems. It lists four types of collaborative operation: a. Safety-rated monitored stop, b. Hand guiding, c. Speed and separation monitoring, and d. Power and force limiting. When it comes to the safety-rated monitored stop, the robot system needs to stop before the human operator can access or be exposed to any hazard in the collaborative workspace. Only when there is no human operator can the robot move as a non-collaborative robot. In other words, either the robot system or the human operator moves, not both at the same time. This method is not able to utilise the advantages of collaborative operation and it requires safeguarding of a traditional industrial robot. The benefit that it offers is the ease and speed to resume automatic operation. With respect to hand guiding operation, the human operator uses a hand-operated device and the robot system moves based on the motion commands of the operator. It is a manually controlled operation in that the operator is in direct control of the robot system’s operation. This is considered automatic, not manual operation. In reality, only option c and d in the above list are used for beneficial collaborative applications in industry, according to Roberta Nelson Shea and Seungmin Baek of Universal Robot. “Currently, most collaborative robots are inherently designed to limit power and force. If the robot detects a certain
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level of power or force, the robot stops to protect the human operator. Due to the safety-functions for motion, speed, force, and power monitoring, the human and robot system can move at the same time in the same workspace,” said Shea and Baek. ”As long as the risk assessment is conducted properly, traditional guards and protective devices are not needed.” The power and force limiting method assumes that the human can contact the moving robot system. “It is important to consider impact to the human body during the risk assessment process. To prevent pain or injury, the application also restricts payload and speed. As a result, the robot speed will likely be too low to be useful for high risk applications,” continues Shea and Baek. “In order to use the speed and separation monitoring method, external safety devices, such as a safety scanner, have been used to lower speed as a person approaches the collaborative workspace.”
Hand guided operation is one type of collaborative robot operation covered by ISO/ TS 15066 (Image supplied courtesy of Universal Robots).
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Assessing risk So, improvements in safety technology are now allowing industrial robots to be used in collaborative operations, providing many of the same benefits that a cobot brings, along with increased speed and accuracy. Of course, this collaboration can only be implemented after the appropriate risk assessment – but that is no different than when choosing a cobot. “What many are unaware of is that almost any robot is capable of collaborative operation with the appropriate safety mechanisms in place,” said Nigel Smith, CEO at TM Robotics. “It is the application that defines the ability for human and machine to collaborate. Some manufacturers may specify a cobot assuming it will work without caging. However, they may find their risk assessment shows the need for a safety cage or force limiters to keep human workers safe. The additional cost of these safety features would render the total cost of the cobot similar to that of an industrial robot, but without the additional capabilities of speed and accuracy. Suddenly, this initially low-cost, low-risk investment has not turned out as planned. “The growth in the cobot market represents a view that cobots can be a good first step towards automated processes. If the application doesn’t require safety guarding, then the initial investment is low. However, as applications evolve, multiple cobots may soon be required for scalability, and the cost of the additional equipment and additional human workforce will exceed the cost of an industrial robot, and you will still lack speed and the benefit of unattended production. It’s imperative that business owners assess the application and the needs of their business’ future carefully before making Control Engineering Europe
ROBOTICS their decision and carefully consider one important question — is a cobot actually what you need?
Complementing the workforce Martin Walder, VP industry at Schneider Electric in the UK, believes that the breakthrough to ensuring continued modernisation of production facilities lies in human-robot collaboration, where compact and easy-to-use synergic automation will drive the market in the coming years. He said: “In many cases, robots can be employed to complement, rather than replace, workers. This concept, often known as ‘cobotics’ teams operators and machines in order to make complex parts of assembly processes faster, easier, and safer. “In meat packaging lines, for example, part of the process involves handling products with a high degree of variability which is often more suited to humans, whereas the remaining packaging process can easily be
performed by robotics. This cobotics collaboration, with both humans and robots working within the same area and packaging line, provides a more flexible and efficient outcome for all. “Robotic functionality provides full adaptability to new processes, reduces footprint requirements and even enables the automation of manual tasks – often the most dangerous, monotonous and/or dirty ones which help keep our workforces safe. Walder says that ensuring the safety of humans in collaborative scenarios should always take priority and this can be supported by technology advancements and upskilling staff. “Tapping into advances in computer vision, information technology, and engineering can enable manufacturers to deliver real-time information and guidance at the point of use,” he said. “These insights help to notify and inform operators of the quality risks involved and the appropriate action to be taken.
In addition, an investment in upskilling workforces on how to mitigate the risks on the factory floor when working alongside robots will go a long way to ensuring the safety of all those involved. “As Industry 4.0 remains central to global manufacturing moving forward, where automation developers introduce more sophisticated sensors and more highly functional robotic equipment, the collaboration between humans and machines interacting on the factory floor will be imperative. “The health and longevity of the industrial sector will boil down to our ability to meet the high-performance demands of modern production lines. Only when we have greater collaboration with greater control, will we have the opportunity to profit from the true benefits of robotic alliances and have a holistic approach capable of optimising the production process for the modern Industry 4.0 environment.”
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ROBOTICS
THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS Collaborative robots deliver on the promise of reduced investment costs, simple programming and inherent safety. The compromise, of course, is that they cannot offer the performance of traditional industrial robotics. But, suppose it was possible to have the best of both worlds? Oliver Giertz defines ‘cooperative robotics’.
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ollaborative robots (cobots) have been created to address an area of the automation market that traditional industrial robots were not designed to satisfy – working alongside humans. This new breed of robots can provide support roles, helping to optimise workflow and improve productivity. Typical applications might include loading and unloading a machine or aiding with assembly operations, with the important distinction between them and standard industrial robots being
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that cobots are mainly slower, but don’t need any safety guarding around them. They are designed to be inherently safe. This safety is built around three key performance aspects. The first is that cobots are speed limited and tend to have soft-touch surfaces. Because they can’t move quickly, they can’t do any real harm or damage. The second is their limited torque, which again ensures there is minimal risk involved in their deployment. The third is torque monitoring, which ensures the robot is promptly stopped if a collision is detected. This is not to say that guarding is
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never required. For example, if the robot’s task is to wield a sharp cutting tool, then even the low speed and low torque wouldn’t prevent a worker being cut if they strayed within the path of the robot arm. Every robot application, therefore, requires a thorough and complete risk assessment of the application including process, gripper, clamp and robot. Traditional industrial robots are more associated with the need for high levels of support due to the difficulty of programming, adjusting and > p14 maintaining them. With some cobots,
Control Engineering Europe
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ROBOTICS < p12 however, even a robot novice is able to program the robot, often just using teach functions.
Cooperative robotics is the name that Mitsubishi Electric has given to its class of robots that incorporate its MELFA SafePlus option.
Cooperative robots This makes a compelling case for cobots in certain applications, but the caveat will always be the characteristically limited performance. What if we could have all of the benefits of cobots, but in a ‘cooperative’ role rather than a collaborative role, and with the performance of traditional robotics? Cooperative robots interact with operators, but do not necessarily work alongside them. They offer the performance advantages of industrial robots without the need for the traditional safety guarding arrangements. Inherent safety technologies allow them to monitor where the operator is in relation to the robot arm, and adjust the performance of the robot accordingly. Cooperative robotics is the name that Mitsubishi Electric has given to its class of robots which include the MELFA SafePlus option, that offers these benefits. In effect, they are standard industrial robots but with in-built safety technologies that allow them to be deployed more flexibly in production cells to work in cooperation with operators rather than standing alone, and which also offer ease of programming. In a traditional industrial robot installation, the robot would typically be isolated in a cell, with physical guarding around it. With secure access, either through a physical door with safety interlocks or through a light curtain. This arrangement does not lend itself to true cooperation between the robot and the operator. But suppose it was possible to define zones around the robot where it would simply adjust its speed downwards as the operator approached, perhaps also limiting its torque and/or its reach. This scenario starts to emulate the inherent safety of collaborative robots, but without compromising performance when the operator is outside of the safety zone.
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Safety technology Mitsubishi Electric implements this level of safety functionality through the MELFA SafePlus safety system, along with additional technology such as a safety scanner in the robot base. A pre-defined, reduced operating speed or a movement stop is then assigned to the robot in real time, enabling operators to work in close proximity to the moving industrial robot without the need for a safety cage. As a result, operators and robots are able to work side by side in an environment where the risk of danger is significantly reduced. Five key safety functions are embedded within the MELFA SafePlus system – reduced speed control, limited range control, torque monitoring, safety input, and safe torque off/safe stop 1. With reduced speed control, two zones around the robot can be defined. The robot doesn’t automatically stop when an operator enters the first zone, but just reduces its speed. With limited range control, the robot cannot move beyond a given range when an operator enters the defined zone. The control system monitors four particular points of the robot arm,
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and if any one of these exceeds any set plane, the robot will stop immediately. In torque limit mode, the operator can be interactive with the robot while it is running in automatic mode, thanks to its low speed, reduced torque and collision detection. Finally, if the operator gets too close to the robot or if an error is detected, the safe torque off and safe stop 1 inputs will shut off the motors to stop the robot. With all of these safety functions, because the robot does not need to stop automatically if an operator moves within the defined zones, downtime is reduced and productivity improved. But at the same time, safeguarding costs are reduced and less space is needed for the robot installation. This reduction in the need for physical guarding also makes it easier to redeploy a robot from one task to another. Indeed, any small industrial robot can now be redeployed with exactly the same flexibility that you might enjoy with a collaborative robot. Oliver Giertz is product manager for Robotics, Servo and Motion at Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V., Factory Automation – European Business Group. Control Engineering Europe
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ROBOTICS
Mobile robots: a game changer for flexible manufacturing? Suzanne Gill finds out more about the potentially vital work that mobile robotics will play in the factory of the future.
T
here has been much debate in recent years about the move towards more flexible manufacturing techniques. However, the reality for the manufacturer will surely always come down to a simple equation of cost versus volume. Traditionally, fixed mass production has translated into lower costs per unit while more flexible production, with high variety, has translated into higher cost per unit and longer lead times. So, how can manufacturers now address today’s paradox – the need to provide more customised products, faster, more cost-effectively, and with less
AIVs can help to automate line replenishment, freeing up skilled operatives to do more productive work.
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waste? Omron believes that this new era of manufacturing optimisation can only be truly achieved when manufacturers and consumers/users become connected. “Indeed, this is what IoT and Industry 4.0 are aiming to achieve through information enabled manufacturing,” said Faouzi Grebici, industry solution manager for Omron EMEA. Much progress has already been made in the production process to automate, robotise and address quick machine change-over to accommodate more flexible manufacturing. Innovative solutions have also been developed to platformise and modularise end products. A push production model is being adopted by many for standard component parts, while a pull model is implemented for finished parts. This situation now appears to be fairly standard within the automotive industry and its supply chain and this is spreading into consumer electronics and white goods production. Huge progress has also been made in automating warehousing. However, according to Grebici, there is one area of production that is lagging behind – line replenishment of components or parts to automated lines and in the area of storage of finished goods. “Such tasks are still mostly achieved manually using pushcarts; semi-manually with automated guided vehicles (AGVs); or via the use of complex and rigid conveyor lines,” he said. “While this results in a highly flexible manual in-feed and out-feed,
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the traceability chain is broken. Further, it often results in highly skilled and expensively trained operators spending much of their time on non-added value tasks such as pushing carts. AGVs require floor marking or sensor guiding installation and maintenance and conveyor lines are inflexible and not suited for long distances between production and warehouse. There is also the difficulty of synchronising the push of parts with the pull model of finished customised goods.” Such issues have led to the recent emergence of fully autonomous and intelligent vehicles (AIVs) that are able to work in a safe and collaborative manner with workers and are able to navigate freely and safely within the workspace, without any external guidance. For ease of comparison, Grebici likens AIVs to taxis and AGVs to buses. Compare, for example, the rigid routes of buses with optimised routes of taxis. The AGV (bus) is relatively bulky and can handle large loads. It follows a defined route and a rigid schedule, while the AIV (taxi) consists of a nimble and highly flexible fleet for smaller loads. This allows an efficient and relatively cost effective link between warehouse and production or even between production stations. “Because AIVs can be easily integrated into existing workspaces more frequent replenishment, with just the right amount of replenishment, is achievable and is a better solution to meet the demands of a pull production > p18 model,” claims Grebici. Control Engineering Europe
| AT11-17E |
AX8000 multi-axis servo system: minimum cycle time, maximum performance.
Fast current and position controller: ■ Current controller response time of 1 µs ■ Current controller cycle time of 62.5 µs (down to 16 µs) ■ Speed controller cycle time of 62.5 µs (down to 32 µs) ■ Position controller cycle time of 62.5 µs ■ EtherCAT cycle time of 62.5 µs
Hall C1, Booth 452
Hall 25, Booth D42
www.beckhoff.com/AX8000 The modular AX8000 system complements the highly scalable Beckhoff Drive Technology portfolio. With freely combinable drive modules, the AX8000 multi-axis servo system delivers high-performance drive technology and enables optimised space utilisation in any control cabinet. Increased sampling rates enable smoother mechanical movements and therefore optimised product quality. With FPGA technology current measurement takes less than 1 µs.
ROBOTICS < p16
Key to success “Key to the success of AIVs is embedded navigation software that allows free travelling without the need for any external marking or guidance,” he continued. “By walking an Omron AIV around the workspace, a built-in laser scanner maps precisely the environment. When dealing with a larger plant a fleet of up to 100 AIV’s can be efficiently managed, thanks to enterprise manager software. Border line replenishment, finished goods storage and AIV battery level control are all managed and supervised from a single software environment. A modelling and simulation tool is also available to grasp a realistic feel on load balancing and production rates. The enterprise manager can also easily interface with existing MES or ERP system. “The AIV is a fundamental technological brick to fulfill the vision of Omron’s NEAR factory, enabled through an integrated, interactive and intelligent automation. NEAR stands for Networked, Effective, Agile and Responsible manufacturing that strives for an optimum balance between profitability through good quality products and purpose through a cleaner planet,” said Grebici.
Enhancing operational effectiveness “AIV operational effectiveness can be further enhanced when wider industrial machine automation solutions, such as machine control, vision inspection, machine safety and robotics solutions are also employed to offer a complete and integrated supply and manufacturing process,” he continued. “Beyond merely traveling from A to B, this allows the AIV to incorporate automatic loading and unloading and even on-the-go operations such as part inspection, alignment, orientation, and code reading.” Grebici concludes by highlighting the fact that mobile robotics are not designed simply to replace humans in an existing manufacturing model. “Training, motivating and retaining key
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AIVs are able to work in a safe and collaborative manner with workers and are able to navigate freely and safely within the workspace, without the need for any external guidance
people represents a big investment for any company so it is more important to identify whether these operators are actually doing the tasks that they were trained to do, or whether they are spending too much of their valuable time replenishing lines and transporting goods around the plant. Grebici believes that the AIV should be considered as a technology enabler, with maximum benefit only being achieved when the manufacturer and the technology provider engage in a
co-creation journey and when both are prepared to think outside the box and are willing to move away from conventional approaches. “As we are mostly bound by non-disclosureagreements we cannot elaborate on the numerous cases to demonstrate this point. However, we can cite a recurrent theme, where we start working with a manufacturer on improving productivity and reducing machinery idling times and discover that reducing the intermediate stock with all the side benefits that come with it would offer the biggest benefits. Such hidden advantages include traceability, floor space, workers productivity etc... There is even an anecdote of a famous top luxury wearables producer where the insurance fee reduction outweighed the productivity gain as the former was estimated according to the gold and other noble metals on the production lines,” said Grebici. “As the saying goes… the real treasure is mostly in the journey itself. We believe that we are at the start of a very exciting journey,” concludes Grebici.
Mobile robots set to transform material handling and logistics A recent IDTechEx Research report ‘Mobile Robots & Drones in Material Handling & Logistics 2017-2037’ looks at all aspects of mobile robotics in material handling and logistics applications – looking in particular at automated guided vehicles and carts (AGVs and AGCs); autonomous mobile vehicles and carts/units; mobile picking robots; last mile delivery ground robots (droids) and drones; and autonomous trucks and light delivery vans (level 4 and level 5 automation). The report predicts that mobile robotics in material handling and logistics will become a $75bn market by 2027, and that the market will then more than double by 2038. It also predicts great change for the sector, with new technologies and transforming the industry, resulting in other technologies becoming obsolete. The report found that the navigation technology on AGVs is evolving rapidly with multiple options now being available, ranging from low-cost wire or magnetic tape guidance through to laser guidance. However, all still follow rigid guide points, so still require some degree of infrastructure modification and extended onsite installation. With the latest generation of infrastructureindependent navigation technologies offering more flexibility this sector of the market is expected to see new entrants and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are expected to see a rise, not just largely replacing AGVs but in time diffusing beyond the structured confines of warehouses and factories.
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INDUSTRIAL CONTROL
When size MATTERS An innovative compact control solution was specified for use on an equally innovative photochromic lense coating technology. Control Engineering Europe finds out more.
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oday’s organic photochromic lenses, which darken automatically in response to short-wave light, involve a very complex manufacturing process which makes the finished product expensive. The photochromic process sees molecules of silver halides embedded into the lens material which transform into neutral silver atoms that absorb a significant percentage of visible light, resulting in the lens darkening. A new solution has been developed by Shyre Ltd, which allows for the production of photochromic lenses at one-tenth of the traditional cost. The new coating technology makes it possible for large eyeglass retailers or labs to produce customised photochromic lenses, made of all kinds of materials, eliminating the need to stock large amounts of costly pre-made photochromic lenses. Lee Gough and Dan Hancu, developers of this technology and directors at Shyre, explain the concept: “Developing a chemical process for coating the lenses was the first major challenge. The second involved designing the machine.” The process starts with the lenses being placed on a conveyor that
transports them into the machine where they undergo a five-stage chemical cleaning process before being dried. They then move into the dipping station, which applies the coating. Finally, the optician cuts the coated lenses to the correct size for a particular frame. In addition to the cost-saving benefits of the process the coatings can also be designed in a variety of different colours and even with gradients, while the classic process is only able to produce lenses that turn either grey or brown.
A compact controller The coating process required a compact controller and the team turned to Beckhoff for a solution. Gough takes up the story: “What impressed us initially about Beckhoff’s offering was its One Cable Technology (OCT) for servo motors. We had been looking for a compact solution as the drives needed to be integrated into the machine. By implementing Beckhof AM8100 servo motors with OCT we were able to save a lot of space, because the control cabinet only needs to be 20 cm deep. Since laboratory facilities are generally expensive and space is at a premium, this was vital.” OCT combines power and feedback signals in one standard motor
Thanks to One Cable Technology, the AM8100 servo motors take up very little space. (Picture credits/Copyright: Shyre Ltd., Great Britain).
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cable which can help reduce project material and commissioning costs. The central controller of the resulting machine developed by Shyre includes a Beckhoff CX5120 embedded PC with an Intel Atom processor running TwinCAT 3 automation software functions. A CP2912 multi-touch panel is used for operator interaction and ‘recipe’ control. With IP65 protection at the front and IP20 at the rear, the panel is well suited for use in this application. Gough has been impressed by the control system’s flexibility, which allowed it to upgrade from TwinCAT 2 to TwinCAT 3 during the design phase. “The connectivity of the PC-based platform is another benefit, because it allows us to integrate it directly into our VPN system,” he said. “Using a secure and dedicated Internet interface, we can support our customers remotely from our head office. The coating machine includes components such as solid-state switches and sensors, LED lighting, brushless motors and lubrication-free bearings to minimise maintenance and downtime. Having access to the data stored on the system, our process experts are able to quickly identify the root of any issues or recommend improvements remotely.”
The machine is operated and controlled via a CP2912 multi-touch panel. (Picture credits/Copyright: Shyre Ltd, Great Britain).
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UK INDUSTRY REPORT
Whitepaper documents the road to digitalisation
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whitepaper from Mitsubishi Electric sets out to answer many of the questions being asked about how to take the first steps on the road to Industry 4.0. At the launch of the document Chris Evans, marketing & operations group manager at Mitsubishi Electric, highlighted the challenges facing industry. “On one level we are looking at the convergence of business systems with the physical plant control but is this really new? Does this really move us on from where we are today?” Evans believes that the real impetus behind Industry 4.0 comes not just from linking the plant and the enterprise but from the ability for in-depth analysis and continuous improvement which defines the true spirit of Industry 4.0 – but, how do we get there? “The challenge with many manufacturing plants is that their automation systems have evolved over many years, resulting in disparate automation platforms, poor network infrastructure, no data management strategy and very little genuine knowledge of how to get the relevant information out.” Evans believes that planning is the key when looking to move forward with Industry 4.0. He
said “You have to define exactly what you are trying to achieve, what are the business drivers and where are your problem areas. Look at what automation currently exists and what automation network infrastructure is already in place. Accept also that it will take time and investment. “The first step is to look for the quick wins that demonstrate fast returns against a moderate budget and which prove that the path you are taking will deliver much bigger benefits over the longer term.”
Following its own advice Mitsubishi Electric has undertaken smart factory implementations at its own manufacturing facilities. At its Kani Works switchgear production facility, for example, a smart factory upgrade drove a significant increase in productivity and operating rate and a large reduction in the number of stages in the manufacturing process. By redesigning the production line into a more compact manufacturing cell, utilising robotics and vision as well as conventional automation control, savings were made in the occupied floor space – some 85% reduction – this is particularly significant, as in the majority of manufacturing plants space is at a premium. This was achieved using Mitsubishi Electric’s own
automation technologies and utilising complimentary technologies from its e-F@ ctory Alliance partners. In the whitepaper ‘Industry 4.0 – The road to digitalisation in future manufacturing’ Mitsubishi Electric defines the basis of Industry 4.0 and the overlapping principles of interoperability, information, integration, automation and autonomy. It defines the key features of Industry 4.0, looking at the importance of areas such as communications, cyber physical systems, cyber security, new computing models such as edge computing and cloud computing and standards such as OPC UA and the forthcoming RAMI4.0 and IIRA architecture models. It then lays out the key steps on the road to digitalisation, concluding that, while there are undoubtedly challenges to be overcome, it is quite possible to convert an ageing plant into a smart factory using today’s technologies through correct planning and by taking a structured approach. To download the whitepaper go to: https://gb3a.mitsubishielectric.com/ industry40whitepaper?count=0
I/O FOR THE MOST EXTREME CONDITIONS WAGO’s I/O system, 750 XTR, is extremely weather resistant and can operate from -40 °C up to +70 °C, making additional heating or cooling equipment unnecessary. It is highly resistant to electromagnetic interference as well as insensitive to vibrations and impulse voltages up to 5 kV, ensuring secure communications in demanding applications. With up to 16 channels in a 12 mm wide housing it requires less space, and has lower energy and maintenance costs; taking automation into extreme environments. To request a catalogue call 01788 568 008, e-mail ukmarketing@wago.com, or visit www.wago.com
UK INDUSTRY REPORT
Vendors need to expand their smart handheld optical scanner portfolios A growing interest in industrial automation and enhanced quality inspection is driving the adoption of smart handheld metrology devices, with flexibility and versatility boosting demand, according to a Frost & Sullivan report – Global Market for Smart Handheld Metrology Devices, Forecast to 2023. “Market growth is primarily due to an increased focus on research and development (R&D) in the automotive industry. Automotive manufacturers are also willing to invest in a handheld system that provides six degrees of freedom over a manufacturing unit,” said Viswam Sathiyanarayanan, test & measurement
research analyst at Frost & Sullivan. The smart handheld metrology devices market is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10.4%. The study highlights market drivers, restraints, opportunities, and technology trends, and analyses the regional influence on market dynamics. “The biggest challenges for the smart handheld metrology devices market remain competition from fixed and portable optical scanners with high accuracy range and end users looking toward traditional fixed and portable scanners due to lack of smart handheld metrology scanner awareness,” noted Sathiyanarayanan.
Government initiative to bolster global competitiveness The Carbon Trust will be running a new £9.2 million Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator (IEEA), launched in January by the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to help bolster the global competitiveness of British industry. Over the next four years, the IEEA will aim to lower costs and increase the number of available energy efficient technologies for a range of industrial sectors, through demonstration of near to market innovations. The Accelerator also aims to address technical and commercial challenges by providing tailored incubation support and cofunding to technology developers and
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start-ups to drive UK expertise, exports and jobs. The IEEA will run an open application process until January 2018 to engage with technology developers looking for opportunities to demonstrate nearcommercial solutions and to access incubation support. Industrial players across a number of sectors will also be encouraged to apply in collaboration with a technology developer to receive support to pilot the best innovations that will have the greatest impact on their operations. It is anticipated that between 15 and 30 pilot projects will be selected to receive funding and implementation advice. At the end of the two-year pilot phase results from each of the projects will be incorporated into sector guides and presented through a series of regional events. Further information on the IEEA and details of the open call and workshop dates are available at www.carbontrust.com/IEEA
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Extended calibration capabilities Hydrotechnik UK has unveiled a new addition to its calibration department in the form of new flow test rig which enables the company to offer full in house flow meter recalibrations traceable to National Standards. The new rig runs on oil, a major advantage for its hydraulic, lube and diesel use customers. The oil’s viscosity is adjusted from 15 to 100cst with 32cst being the norm. A five point calibration is standard although 10 or more points throughout the measuring range can be performed on request. The rig has a flow range of 0.05L/min up to 700L/min and has two master flow meters giving a maximum uncertainty of +/-0.5% The company has created a dedicated in-house laboratory room which caters for flow, pressure, temperature and oil particulate sensors as well as instrumentation calibrations, re-calibrations and repairs. Pressure sensor calibration is from 0 – 1,200 Bar and Temperature from -50 to 200°C, all traceable to UKAS standards. Commenting on the latest addition to its capabilities, Michael Sharpe, calibration service manager at Hydrotechnik UK, said: “The new equipment enables us to accurately calibrate flow meters, pressure, temperature, analogue and digital gauges, displays and data loggers to national, UKAS and DKD traceable standards.” www.hydrotechnik.co.uk/ calibration-services
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ROBOT SAFETY
Robots and humans collaborate on safety A new age of collaborative robots put people closer to technology. Tania Anandan reports on the risks and opportunities.
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n 2008, collaborative robots were a mere curiosity. In 2012, they were largely viewed as a fad. But just a year later, the industry began to take note. Today, collaborative robots are here to stay. Many would say they are the future. “Collaborative applications is that next new frontier and it’s really going to drive business and applications, and
probably applications we don’t even know yet,” said Roberta Nelson Shea, global technical compliance officer for Universal Robots, headquartered in Odense, Denmark. An ABI Research study predicts the collaborative robotics market will surge to $1 billion by 2020, populating manufacturing with more than 40,000 collaborative robots. As that population
grows, so does concern over robotics safety. One of the most anticipated technical specifications in the collaborative robotics realm was released in February 2016. ISO/TS 15066:2016 Robots and Robotic Devices — Collaborative Robots provides data-driven guidelines for designers, integrators and users of human-robot collaborative systems on how to evaluate and mitigate risks. Nelson Shea is convener for the ISO Technical Committee 299 Working Group 3 (ISO/TC 299 WG3) that was responsible for developing the new technical specification. Nelson Shea has been involved with the robot safety standards since the first committee meeting in 1982, and as convener for ISO/TC 299 she continues to hold an impartial position in the standards community. She was chair of the ANSI/RIA 15.06 robot safety standards committee for 23 years, and is now chair emeritus. She says the initial idea of collaborative robotics was met by strong skepticism. “The premise about safety was to keep people away from robots. But then the conversation changed to say if the robot with its tool and part touches you and there’s no injury, why not allow contact?”
Factoring in people “Traditionally, the design of automated systems has not factored in people. But with robots becoming mobile and developing a greater capacity to interact with humans, that design paradigm is not the way of the future,” said Roland Menassa, leader of GE’s Global Research
While moving a collaborative robot’s arm to ‘teach’ it a task is an important part of collaboration, it’s not the same as hand guiding a robot, one of the four methods of collaborative operation. (image courtesy: RIA/Yaskawa)
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ROBOT SAFETY Automation Center in Van Buren Township, Mich. “Now I can place a robot with fairly decent capability on the factory floor next to people and they can operate side by side,” he said. The Global Research Automation Center focuses on four main areas: robotics, controls, material handling, and work system integration, which tracks the flow of data on the factory floor. GE has embraced the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and automation as a key ingredient. It’s taking the lead on factory optimization, or what it calls Brilliant Manufacturing, to optimise the flow of materials, people and processes within the organization and across its global supply chain. “When I came to GE, collaborative robots were starting to move on the market, so I visited different factories within GE to do an assessment,” said Menassa. “We are either a lowvolume manufacturer of very large industrial goods such as gas turbines that weigh thousands of pounds, or human-scale, mid- to high-volume products like lighting fixtures and circuit breakers, where you have hundreds of SKUs on the line. “We’re still going to weld and have robots handling heavy equipment and performing very difficult processes,” Menassa added, “but when you look at where robotics has gone in the last 55 years, we still see a lot of people on the assembly line. And that’s primarily because of the challenges in compliant material. When we make our circuit breakers or lighting fixtures, there are wires and flexible materials that are very hard to handle. The challenge becomes, how do you interject automation in a manual process to handle compliant parts?” Power and force limited robots are specifi by way of inherently safe features of the robot or the control system. These types of robots are typically made from lightweight materials, have force and torque sensing in their joints, and may have soft padded skins.
Under the ANSI/RIA 15.06 and ISO 10218 harmonised robot safety standards and the new TS 15066, there are four methods, or types, of collaborative operation: • Safety-rated monitored stop • Hand guiding • Speed and separation monitoring • Power and force limiting. These tend to be the most misunderstood aspects of human-robot collaboration. To avoid confusion, Nelson Shea suggests manufacturers think of each of the four methods of collaborative operation as scenarios rather than distinct modes. In every instance, there is a shared space between a robot and a human operator. In a safety-rated monitored stop, the premise is that in a shared space with a human a robot does not move at all. With hand guiding, a common misconception is that this method is used for teaching. Nelson Shea says that’s not the case. “When you’re moving the robot’s arm around to teach it certain tasks, this is not hand guiding in the collaborative sense.
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It’s not running in automatic when you’re doing that,” she said. When used to describe collaborative operation, hand guiding indicates a condition where a robot and a person occupy a shared space and the robot is only moving when it is under direct control of the person. “In speed and separation monitoring, both the robot and the person can be moving in that space,” said Nelson Shea, “but if the distance between the robot and the person becomes too close, the robot stops, effectively becoming just like the first scenario (safety-rated monitored stop). In power and force limiting, there can be contact between the person and the robot, but the robot is power and force limited and sufficiently padded or otherwise, such that if there’s any impact, there’s no pain and no injury.” She said it’s also possible to have any mix of the four methods of collaborative operation represented in one robot system, even all four of them. The new TS 15066 standard includes formulas for calculating the protective separation distance for speed and separation monitoring. But perhaps the most interesting part of the technical spec is the annex, which contains guidance on how to establish pain threshold limits for various parts of the body, particularly for power and force limiting applications. The data can then be extrapolated to determine speed limits for the collaborative > pUK6 application.
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“Although there is information about the four modes of collaborative operation, the more interesting stuff is for power and forlimited robots,” said Jean-Philippe Jobin, CTO at Robotiq, a manufacturer of adaptive grippers for collaborative robots in Lévis, Quebec, Canada. “More types of these robots are on the market now, but there was no clear guidance except ISO 10218 to help people safely install those robots in their factories.”
The bottom line for any collaborative robotic installation is to conduct a risk assessment. (Image courtesy: RIA/GE).
Start with a risk assessment Both Nelson Shea and Jobin stress that the bottom line for any collaborative robot integration is a risk assessment. “The risk assessment is the most important aspect,” said Jobin. “If your application requires a little bit higher force or power than what is stated in the document, it does not mean it is not safe. The data we have from this technical specification is relative to pain, while what is required from ISO 10218 is that no injury should occur. “There’s a difference between pain and injury,” he added. “A user could do tests to show that even if they are a bit above what it states in ISO/TS 15066, it’s still safe because they can prove that the robot cannot hurt or injure the people in those specific circumstances.” Jobin said it’s very important to note that the application is the main concern, not the robot, when assessing risk.
“If you look at the document, it rarely states ‘robot,’” he said. “It states collaborative work cell or collaborative application. It involves the cables, jigs, clamps, the robot and the gripper, everything which is inside that cell.” He said it’s a common misconception that if the robot is “inherently safe” then the operation is safe. For instance, if your robot is manipulating sharp objects, then it is not safe to have a human beside it without protective safety measures. Another case is if the robot is handling a heavy object, which could cause injury if it’s dropped or become a projectile at a particular rate of speed. Safety was a major factor in the robot adoption process at GE Lighting and for instilling worker confidence in the new
Collaborative robots safely work side by side with humans on a production line assembling street light fixtures. (Image courtesy: RIA/GE Global Research)
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collaborative robotics paradigm. “At GE, safety is our overriding priority,” Menassa said. “With any application it’s not about if the robot is safe, it’s about ‘is the task safe?’ So we do the task assessment risk-based analysis. We observe all the rules and all the RIA standards. We brought people in from RIA to train us. We make sure we understand what the robot is doing, the shape of the end effector, is there anything sharp, and is there anything that could eventually hurt someone? “If we feel there is a need for protection beyond just the force or torque limiting capability of the robot, then we’ll place the appropriate safety device, such as a light screen or laser scanner, so we can mitigate the risk,” he added. The ANSI-registered technical report, RIA TR R15.306-2016 Task-based Risk Assessment Methodology, describes one method of risk assessment that complies with requirements of the 2012 R15.06 standard and was updated in 2016. “RIA publishes the method by which we do a task assessment. We go through the steps of the process, and we use their methodology to assess if there’s any risk and how severe it is,” Menassa said. “We try to do any of the engineering designs around it to mitigate that risk.” Tanya Anandan is a contributing editor for the Robotic Industries Association (RIA) and Robotics Online. This article originally appeared in www.controleng.com. Control Engineering UK
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SHOW PREVIEW – PPMA
Processing and packaging innovations ON SHOW The annual PPMA exhibition will take place at its regular NEC, Birmingham, venue from 26th to 28th September.
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he event is organised by the Processing and Packaging Machinery Association (PPMA) which comprises the PPMA, British Automation & Robot Association (BARA) and the UK Industrial Vision Association (UKIVA). We are told that this year will be the biggest PPMA show in 12 years with over 320 exhibitors, from sectors including materials, automation, robots and machine vision on hand to show, demonstrate and talk about the latest innovations in packaging machinery and processing equipment.
Robots on show Omron will debut its flexible four-arm Delta robot which has a pick rate of 300 per minute. The Quattro is the only USDA certified Delta robot and is constructed with materials that are safe for primary food handling. The robot is based on a four-arm rotational platform, which allows it to
reach up to 30% further than traditional designs, facilitating a larger operational area, including the ability to access wider conveyors. The extra arm also allows the robot to tilt, meaning the load can be placed at a different angle than it is picked. Complementing the Quattro Delta at the show will be a demonstration of Omron’s futuristic OKAO software to demonstrate gesture control over the production process, as well as showing how facial recognition can be used to unlock different levels of access to control functions and information. Omron will also demonstrate a new 4.0 ready visualisation platform. FANUC UK will be demonstrating the ease and affordability of automated picking, packing and palletising. On a joint stand with Pacepacker Services it will be featuring a fully functional display with automated case-loading, palletising and end-of-line system. The aim of the demonstration is to show how
FANUC UK and Pacepacker Services will be demonstrating the ease and affordability of automated picking, packing and palletising.
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automation can be applied to any stage of a packing line. It will include solutions covering a variety of functions, such as case erecting, case loading, sealing, packing, conveying and transferring. The display will include two FANUC robots – the M70iC 45M and the LR Mate. The six-axis M70iC 45M can handle payloads of up to 45kg and will be equipped with a dual function gripper for picking both bags and cases. The smaller LR Mate cell will be demonstrating FANUC’s Dual Check Safety (DCS) technology, which allows operators to visualise defined safety zones in 3D to avoid damage to personnel or equipment. New products on the RARUK Automation stand will include a Robotiq gripper system that enhances the productivity of the Universal Robot six-axis, collaborative robotic arms and a new autonomous mobile robot. The company will also introduce the next generation of its cost-effective mobile robot. The MiR200 autonomously transports a load of up to 200kg and can be customised with top modules such as bins, racks, lifts, conveyors or even a Universal Robot. With built-in sensors and cameras the mobile robot can identify its surroundings and avoid all obstacles. With the aid of a ProSeal GT0 automatic in-line tray sealing system, Mitsubishi Electric will be demonstrating how high-speed heat sealing technology and robots are becoming easier to deploy. The tray sealing machine was designed to increase line speeds, cut labour costs and produce over 45 packs per minute. Its tool alignment system ensures consistently accurate sealing and film cutting, while a servo-driven ‘setting-free’ automatic tray collation > pUK10 in-feed offers performance increases. Control Engineering UK
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SHOW PREVIEW â&#x20AC;&#x201C; PPMA intelligence, realtime synchronisation with other processes, assured safety and the ability to switch between vertical as well as horizontal tracks. STEMMER IMAGING will have a team of vision experts available The RDR drive roller from Rulmeca is aimed at conveyor handling systems that require higher throughputs, greater flexibility, accuracy, traceability on its stand to and reliability. discuss any machine < pUK8 A pendant mounted touch-screen HMI vision requirements, provides control for full double-sided applications and training needs. Vision operation, with menu-driven control technology on show will include the offering step-by-step prompts, error latest techniques, such as hyperspectral and status displays and a useful batch imaging, which allows users to see things counter function, as well as providing that traditional machine vision cannot recipe-driven auto machine set-up for show â&#x20AC;&#x201C; namely the chemical composition tool change. of organic materials and it can provide All of these benefits are delivered a reliable method of foreign body by Mitsubishi Electric automation detection in foodstuffs. equipment, including its GOT series HMI Smart sensors for operator interaction, variable speed SICK will be unveiling the latest Smart drives and servos for the demanding Sensors in its range of intelligent motion control requirements, control solutions for real-time data sharing gear and an iQ-platform PLC for overall and IO-Link connectivity. These sensors machine control. The demonstration will are said to enable more rapid product also include a MELFA articulated arm changeovers, transparent track and trace robot picking and placing trays to and and improved diagnostics. from the GT0 tray sealer. The sensors can be integrated into Mitsubishi Electric will also be existing automation architectures to demonstrating simplified line open up data sharing with higherintegration, particularly in a multi-vendor level systems and providing greater environment, using the OMAC PackML production flexibility, right down to standard. The result for end users is Batch Size 1 changeovers, and real-time said to be faster upgrades and machine condition monitoring. implementation in addition to the ability Also on the stand will be the nextto collect OEE data in a uniform way generation KTS/KTX sensors which from multiple machines and lines. promise accuracy and versatility for print, Visitors to the Mitsubishi Electric labelling, converting and packaging stand will also be able to see the latest applications. The growing range of developments in its Smart Carriage industrial instrumentation sensors for technology, developed in conjunction level, flow and pressure measurement with a linear transfer system designed from the company include the SICK by its e-F@ctory Alliance partner, APT Dosic ultrasonic flowmeter. With fully Automation. The Smart Carriage stainless steel wetted parts without inaddresses industry challenges such as channel seals or moving component, it is improved productivity, increased OEE said to offer reliable inline measurement and greater production line flexibility. for applications where hygiene and Features and functions include on-board
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corrosion resistance are essential. HBM will be exhibiting its latest range of load cells and weighing electronics for checkweighers, packaging and filling and sorting machines, including the WTX120 weighing terminal, which has been designed for integration into industrial and rail-mounted weighing applications. Suitable for use in filling, dosing and sorting plants and machines, the new terminal is based on the latest strain gauge technology and is approved for legal-for-trade applications. It offers real time communication via industrial Ethernet and Fieldbus interfaces. Also on display will be load cells developed to meet food production hygiene regulations. The PW25 and PW27 are designed for use in filling systems and packaging plants, multi-head combination weighers and static scales. They are hermetically encapsulated and housed in stainless-steel making them compatible with cleaning and disinfectant ranges commonly used in the food production process. Ingress protected to IP68/IP69k, the PW27 allows weighing equipment to be used in fields where aseptic production is required. It meets the guidelines set out by the EHEDG. RULMECA UK will be showing its hygienic drum motors, energy efficient 24VDC roller drives, conveyor rollers and conveying elements. The drum motors are designed to offer an efficient drive solution for belt conveyors subject to frequent washdowns, with diameters ranging from 81.5mm to 1000mm and power from 0.02kW to 250kW. The totally enclosed sealed unit is rated IP66/69. With fixed external shafts the drum requires less space when compared to traditional multiple component motor transmission systems. Rulmeca will also show its RDR 24VDC drive roller which is aimed at conveyor handling systems that require higher throughputs, greater flexibility, accuracy, traceability and reliability. It consists of a brushless motor cartridge with includes the electric motor (24V dc low voltage) and the relative reduction gear, housed in a 50mm diameter tube. Control Engineering UK
VISION. RIGHT. NOW. Innovative products, intelligent consulting and extensive service. Solve your machine vision projects with speed and ease by working with STEMMER IMAGING, your secure partner for success. Share our passion for vision. www.stemmer-imaging.co.uk
NEW PRODUCTS
Energy efficient and compact servo drives A new range of AC servo drives has been introduced by YASKAWA. The compact Sigma-7 servos (200 V Series & 400 V Series) cover a power range from 50W up to 15kW in various formats, with the largest motors offering a continuous torque of 95Nm and a peak 224Nm. The drives were developed to meet the needs of today’s production engineering machine builders and
end-users in packaging plants, semiconductor manufacturing, digital printing and wood processing. Initially, the range is available just with embedded EtherCAT and Mechatrolink3 communications with further connectivity options set to follow. Features of the drive include quick set-up – just three minutes – due to pre-sets in the amplifier software to simplify commissioning, a ‘tuning less’ function enabling immediate use and an auto-tuning function to ensure quick adjustment. The motor is designed to operate with up to 20% less heat generated. Furthermore, the possibility of DC power coupling of axes offers the potential for sharing and energy savings of up to 30% Sigma-7 includes a 24-bit absolute encoder that ensures a resolution of 16
Industrial camera captures 3D images in an instant SICK has launched the Visionary-T industrial imaging camera to capture high-resolution 3D data with a single ‘snapshot’, whether the object is stationary or moving. The camera uses high-resolution Time-of–Flight (TOF) technology. Unlike 3D vision systems, based on laser triangulation, the 3D image is captured with one shot of light, without the need to profile a moving object. While single shot imaging systems have already been introduced for consumer applications, the IP67-rated Visionary-T is designed for 24/7 industrial use in rugged conditions and can offer a cost-effective solution to integrate 3D imaging into vision applications such as obstacle recognition for automated vehicle or robot navigation, intrusion detection, parcel quality checking or gesture recognition. Images of moving or stationary objects are captured within a range of up to 7m. The Visionary T builds up a detailed
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and accurate real-time 3D image of fixed or moving objects regardless of angle, surface finish, material or shape of object. It is not necessary to design a system that requires either the camera or the object to move across a laser line to create a triangulated image. In a single shot it combines different aspects of the light scattered by the object to build up a detailed picture of shape, distance, reflectivity and object depth. Trials have shown that the single shot method performs well and minimises false imaging. The SICK Visionary-T uses Time-ofFlight measurement of a light signal between the device and the target for each point of the image. The CCD/ CMOS imager develops a pixel matrix, with each pixel containing depth and intensity information. The camera is designed to capture more than 25,000 distance and intensity values to create real time 3D images at up to 30 frames per second.
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million pulses per revolution for precise positioning. The drives meet all mandatory safety standards. For example, the STO function is implemented by default in all units so they comply with the requirements of SIL 3 and PL-e, while the safety functions SS1, SS2 and SLS can be integrated by using the safety module.
Light curtain improves flexibility and workforce safety The new Allen-Bradley GuardShield 450L safety light curtain system from Rockwell Automation is said to offer a flexible solution to enhance workforce safety in an increasingly automated manufacturing environment, while improving productivity through the addition of transceiver technology. Unlike traditional safety light curtains, which are based on predefined transmitter and receiver units, the addition of a transceiver which employs plug-in modules, establishes each unit’s function as a transmitter or receiver. Once powered up, the transceiver learns its functionality from the plug-in module. This allows identical GuardShield 450L sticks to be customised to add the features required for different applications. Five-pin plug-ins are available for basic on/off functionality, while eight-pin plug-ins provide manual and auto restart with external device monitoring. The light curtain system is suited to hand and finger detection, and is available in a range of protective heights, equipped with an active protective field that senses the entire length of the transceiver. This reduces the inactive sensing areas that generally appear at the top and bottom of other light curtains.
Control Engineering UK
HAZARDOUS AREA & SAFETY
TREAT THE CAUSES not the symptoms Learning from your mistakes can be expensive in the processing industry. Implementing a Functional Safety Management system allows failures to be anticipated and avoided.
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utting corners on safety to reduce costs in the processing industry can be a very costly mistake. The devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill was a direct consequence of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform explosion. One of the main factors that contributed to the explosion was the sealing of the bore hole: despite warnings, a cheap solution was adopted that involved a higher risk of escaping gas. Take heed; in all plant construction, whether for the chemical industry, for firing technology or for incineration systems, systematic hazard assessment is essential. There are clear legal requirements regarding the implementation of functional safety measures. In Germany, for example, the Industrial Safety Regulation obliges operators of plants requiring compulsory monitoring to ensure the safety and protect the health of their employees. It lays down clear guidelines on hazard assessment and protective measures, and names the elements of infringements and criminal offences. Nevertheless, for reasons of cost, many safety measures are not implemented at all, or are only implemented half-heartedly. Other stumbling-blocks are a lack of knowledge on the topic of functional safety, or confusion about navigating complex standards and guidelines. Establishing a Functional Safety Management (FSM) system can help avoid major safety risks, and on a smaller scale can reduce downtimes. FSM is a systematic procedure that Control Engineering Europe
Figure 1: An FSM is based on the safety life cycle as defined in DIN EN 61511.
can help to avoid potential failures even at the stage of plant planning and development. The failures that occur in a plant can be generally divided into two groups â&#x20AC;&#x201C; stochastic and systematic. Stochastic failures occur by chance and are not able to be prevented beforehand. One example is the unforeseeable failure of an electric component. If something like this occurs it is a case of minimising the damage
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that could be caused by malfunction, and ensuring sufficient safety in advance by redundancy concepts. While stochastic failures cannot be prevented in advance, systematic failures can be recognised beforehand and their consequences are foreseeable. For example, an error in the instructions for inspecting a protection system results in an inspection that is wrongly carried > p22 out. The intended function of the September 2017
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HAZARDOUS AREA & SAFETY the catalogue of questions in these style sheets is to eliminate all possibilities for different interpretations as to whether, and how, tasks have been carried out. Figure 2 shows an example of an excerpt from a style sheet for phase 1 of the safety life cycle for verification of the task concerned. After each phase a note is made of whether all tasks have been performed in compliance with the rules. Only then will the Safety Manager give his ‘all clear’ for the next step.
< p21
Improving safety at work
Figure 2: Excerpt from a style sheet for Phase 1 of the safety life cycle for verification of the activity concerned. (supplied by Rösberg).
protective system is not ensured and as a result there may be damage to the plant, to the environment and, in the worst case, to people. Systematic failures therefore need to be anticipated and avoided. A study by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) demonstrates that this is worth doing. In the UK the HSE regulates major areas of health and safety at work. The study investigated 34 accidents that caused substantial damage, and came to the conclusion that more than 60% of these failures were built into the plant before it was commissioned. Around 25% of failures arose through installations or changes made after commissioning. Only 15% of the failures that occurred had a stochastic cause. The main cause of systematic failures is generally humans, so it is important to support people during the planning and implementation stage, in order to avoid these errors – which are mainly down to the management – as effectively as possible. This is where FSM systems help. They are based on legal regulations, guidelines and standards. An FSM system is built on the ‘safety life cycle’ as defined in DIN EN 61511. Figure 1 shows all the stages of hazard and risk assessment, from planning to commissioning and ending with decommissioning. Right at the beginning, people responsible for each of the total of eight phases are
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defined in a safety plan. In each of these phases the FSM system uses two main instruments: process definition (left-hand bar: Management and Evaluation of Functional Safety) and control of whether the process definitions are actually adhered to (right-hand bar: Verification).
Process definition and control Process definitions are created for each individual phase of the safety life cycle. For each phase the hazard level is also defined. That, in turn, influences who should perform verification. Where the hazard level is low, this can be done by employees within the company, but the higher the hazard level, the more independently the verification must be conducted, and for extremely dangerous processes the ‘four eyes’ principle applies. The question of who is allowed to verify which processes is decided not only by independence, but also by competence. Both specialist qualification and professional experience in the particular area play an important role here. Style sheets similar to quality management sheets are used for control. With these specially prepared lists, potential causes of failure can be systematically checked. When compiling these checklists for a particular plant, specifications from various standards can be used. Individual adaptations are only necessary in a few cases. The aim of
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Andre Günther, product manager for Functional Safety at Rösberg Engineering, says that increasing safety is often thought to mean doing without freedom and flexibility. “This, however, is exactly what FSM is not trying to achieve,” he said. “A well-set-up FSM system helps users to develop the best and safest solution as simply as possible.” Günther and his colleagues support plant constructors and operators in all tasks involving functional safety and also help with the integration of an FSM system. Plant operators who have previously installed a quality management system according to DIN EN ISO 9001 are already part of the way there. Günther explains: “The departments and their employees are then already accustomed to defined processes and the use of style sheets. And individual processes are already in place, such as steering and document revision.” The Rösberg team help with the integration of quality management (QM) and FSM systems by defining relevant interfaces. The company has developed its own style sheets verified by the TÜV (German safety and standards institution). These can be made available to the customer after consultation. Günther sums up: “Although the legal requirement for functional safety is clear, many people still hesitate to adopt an FSM system. By providing services in this area, we want to help lower the inhibition threshold so that implementation becomes straightforward, feasible and preventative – and people are not forced to learn from their mistakes when it is too late.” Control Engineering Europe
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HAZARDOUS AREA & SAFETY
Safety and security:
A JOINT ENDEAVOUR There is a need to understand the interaction between safety and security in production processes, says Dr Alexander Horch.
E
very production process has inherent risks. One of the most recent additions to this being cyber criminality. To achieve the greatest degree of safety and security in production processes it is vital to implement effective separation of the process control and safety systems, as required by standards for functional safety and cyber security. There is a lot at stake â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the health of employees, the assets of the company and the environment. For a better understanding of the interaction between safety and security, it is helpful to clarify several terms. There are numerous definitions of safety. A general definition is that safety is the absence of danger. This means that a condition is safe when there are no prevailing hazards. Often it is not possible to eliminate all potential risks, especially in complex systems and a more usual definition of safety is that it is the absence of unacceptable risks. Reducing risks to an acceptable level is the task of functional safety. The safety of an application depends on the function of a corresponding technical system, such as a safety controller. If this system fulfils its protective function, the application is regarded as functionally safe. This can be clarified by the following two examples: oil flowing out of a pipeline and endangering people in the vicinity is a safety issue. A system that cannot prevent icing in a pipeline, even though that is exactly its task, and a critical situation subsequently arises, is a functional safety issue. Functional safety systems protect people, facilities and the environment.
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For example, they start up or shut down systems when hazardous situations arise suddenly and people do not respond or are not able to respond, or when other safety precautions are not adequate. They are intended to prevent accidents and avoid downtime of equipment or systems.
Separate layers reduce risks The process industry is becoming increasingly aware of the importance of relevant standards for the safety and profitability of systems. The IEC 61511 standard for functional safety defines the best way to reduce the risk of incidents and downtime. It prescribes separate safety layers for control and monitoring, prevention and containment, as well as emergency measures (see Figure 1). Each of these three layers provides specific functions for risk reduction, and collectively they mitigate the hazards arising from the entire production process. IEC 61511 also prescribes independence, diversity and physical separation for each protection level. To fulfil these requirements, the functions
Figure 1: IEC 61511 prescribes separate safety layers for control and monitoring, prevention and containment, as well as emergency measures.
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of the different layers need to be sufficiently independent of each other. It is not sufficient to use different I/O modules for the different layers because automation systems are also dependent on functions in I/O bus systems, CPUs and software. To be regarded as autonomous protection layers in accordance with IEC 61511, safety systems and process control systems must be based on different platforms, development foundations and philosophies. In concrete terms, this means that the system architecture must, fundamentally, be designed so that no component in the process control system level or the safety level can be used simultaneously.
Rising risk In the last 10 years, the risk of cyber attacks on industrial systems has risen significantly, due to increasing digitalisation. In addition to endangering information security, these attacks increasingly pose a direct threat to system safely. System operators need to be aware of these risks and actively address them. This can be achieved in a variety of ways. Unlike functional safety systems, which are mainly intended to protect people, these systems and measures protect technical information systems against intentional or unintentional manipulation and attacks intended to disrupt production processes or steal industrial secrets. Safety and security have, therefore, become more closely meshed topics. Cyber security plays a key role, particularly for safety-oriented systems, because it forms the last line of defence against a potential catastrophe. Control Engineering Europe
HAZARDOUS AREA & SAFETY Standards define the framework Compliance with international standards is necessary in the design, operation and specification of safety controllers. IEC 61508 is the basic standard for safety systems, which applies to all safetyoriented systems (electrical, electronic and programmable electronic devices). The IEC 61511 standard, which is derived from the basic standard, is the fundamental standard for the process industry and defines the applicable criteria for the selection of safety function components. The IEC 62443 series of standards for IT security in networks and systems, which effectively forms the standard for cyber security, must also be considered. It specifies a management system for IT security, separate protection layers with mutually independent operating and protection facilities, and measures to ensure IT security over the full life cycle of a system. It also requires separate zones for the enterprise network, control room, safety instrumented system (SIS) and basic process control system (BPCS), each of which must be protected by a firewall to prevent unauthourised access (see Figure 2).
Cyber security by design Safety and security are closely related aspects of process systems, which must be considered separately and as a whole. Standardised hardware and software in process control systems require regular updates to remedy weaknesses in the software and the operating system. However, the complexity of the software architecture makes it difficult or impossible to assess the risks analytically, which could arise from a system update. For example, updates to the process control system could affect the functions of the safety system integrated into the control system. To avoid critical errors with unforeseeable consequences in safetyrelevant processes, as a result of control system updates, the process control system must be technologically separate from the safety system. For effective Control Engineering Europe
cyber security, it is not sufficient to upgrade an existing product by retrofitting additional software functionality. Every solution for functional safety must be conceived and developed with cyber security in mind, right from the start. This applies equally to the firmware and the application software.
Effective protection A proprietary operating system, specifically designed for safetyoriented applications, runs on HIMA’s autonomous safety controllers. It includes all functions of a safety PLC and excludes all other functions, making it immune to typical attacks on IT systems. In HIMA’s controllers, the CPU and the communication processor are separate to ensure operational security even in the event of an attack on the communication processor. The controllers allow several physically separate networks to be operated on a single communication processor or processor module. This prevents direct access to an automation network from a connected development workstation. In addition, unused interfaces can be disabled individually. Furthermore, the SILworX configuration, programming and diagnostic tool runs in a Windows environment and works in a manner as independent as possible from Windows functions. This enables secure operation without interference from other programs or updates. It provides maximum protection against operator errors and creates a set of proven data components for programming the safety PLC. Nevertheless, SILworX allows automatic import of configuration data from outside systems into the proven data set via interfaces. In addition, the
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Figure 2: IEC 62443 requires separate zones for the enterprise network, control room, SIS and BPCS, each of which must be protected by a firewall to prevent unauthorised access.
programming tool supports two-level user management. This allows user permissions to be set individually. A common feature of the process industry standard and the cyber security standard is that both require separation of the safety system (SIS) and the basic process control system (BPCS). This independence of safety systems is a good idea from practical and economic perspectives. The SIS and BPCS have, for example, very different life cycles and rates of change. System operators are therefore free to choose ‘best-of-breed’ solutions from different manufacturers. Systems that are independent of the process technology and which can be easily integrated into process control systems despite physical separation, offer the highest degree of safety and security in safety-critical applications. Practical experience shows that they are the best way to increase the operational reliability and availability of process systems, and thereby to improve the profitability of production processes. Dr Alexander Horch is, head of the R&D and product management business area at HIMA Paul Hildebrandt. September 2017
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ENERGY MANAGEMENT
Cooler cabinets
AT LESS COST
Suzanne Gill recently found out about the energy saving benefits of an innovative passive air cooling solution for control cabinets.
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ith its LSC-AirSTREAM wiring system, LÜTZE has looked outside the box to develop a passive control cabinet cooling solution which focusses on the principle of ‘intelligent air guidance’ for a technically and economically ground-breaking thermal concept within control cabinets. Nigel Broad, managing director at Lütze, said “Components and power electronics in control cabinets are becoming increasingly smaller and more efficient. However, their heat dissipation losses are not reducing at the same pace. In addition, an increasing number of components are being packed into ever more compact control cabinets which has resulted in the heat inside the cabinet consistently increasing. This has led to a requirement for the use of
high-performance, but energy-hungry, cooling units for cabinets. “Because active measures for control cabinet air conditioning – for example a roof-mounted cooling or front-mounted cooling unit – are so costly in terms of energy usage, interest in passive cooling methods is increasing. The Green Carbody Alliance, for example, a scientific initiative under the leadership of Volkswagen AG, has been able to verify that energy savings of up to 23% can be realised using the LÜTZE LSC AirSTREAM control cabinet system which means in some cases additional cooling can be dispensed with”.
The Green Carbody Alliance Control cabinet manufacturers working as part of the Green Carbody Alliance, have also worked to develop
air conditioning units which are able to provide cool air to meet specific cabinet requirements at minimum cost. When these active cooling solutions are employed alongside the passive LSC-AirSTREAM wiring system the Green Carbody Alliance says that energy savings of up to 50% can be realised for cabinet cooling. The ever closer proximity of components within the control cabinet means that the cold air flow from active cooling systems is often not able to flow sufficiently through the areas between the components which leads to ’hot spots’ within the cabinet. If, for design reasons, it is not possible to spatially uncouple components in hot-spots, and if the reduced air flow exacerbates the heat problem, localised temperature levels of over 45°C can be reached which results in gradual thermal fatigue that can lead to premature component failure. Broad explains: “The LÜTZE LSC AirSTREAM control cabinet system was designed to offer a solution for the targeted ventilation of such hot spots. Instead of the usual wire combs, its specially designed AirBLADES are inserted into the 50mm grid of the webs. At first glance, an AirBLADE looks similar to an aeroplane wing. It is designed to ensure that the air is not swirled around at its trailing edges which would cause the air flow to peter out. Instead, it is possible to accurately control the air flow and individual hot spots can be cooled to allow the operating heat in the control cabinet to be dissipated both selectively and generally.”
Making passive solutions work To make the passive cooling solution work to its best advantage LÜTZE advises that some design issues should be given careful consideration. It is, for example, necessary to ensure that no cumbersome components prevent the undisturbed inflow of cold air into the control cabinet interior and the extraction of warm air from the control cabinet interior. Components with high levels of heat dissipation should be placed close to
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ENERGY MANAGEMENT the cold air intake. Correct component placement is especially important for the air conditioning variant with frontmounted cooling unit. For this purpose, the LÜTZE LSC AirSTREAM wiring system generates an optimised air circulation inside the cabinet. It is a modular aluminium frame, into which a further level is used at the bottom of the control cabinet for the wiring. In contrast with conventional cabinet constructions, no cable trunking is used. A ‘chimney effect’ is formed behind the LSC wiring frame and this dissipates hot air, depending on the cooling unit used. Ideally, cold air is guided downwards to the rear of the cabinet and then to the front and upwards again. This effect is improved on the new LSC AirSTREAM through the use of cable holders on the rear side of the wiring. In this way, the wiring becomes more compact and does not interrupt the air flow.
The design of the AirBlades allow the air flow within the cabinet to be accurately controlled, and individual hot spots can be cooled.
Ambient temperature considerations Ambient temperature is another factor that can have a major influence on the heat in the control cabinet interior. If the control cabinet air conditioning takes place with ambient air as the heat sink – as in the case of the free cooling or in operation with the air/ air heat transmitter – the result will be increasingly high air temperatures
within the control cabinet in comparison with the ambient temperature. The control cabinet interior temperatures will not naturally drop below the ambient temperature. Cooling of the control cabinet interior temperature below the ambient temperature is theoretically possible through the use of air conditioning units or air/water heat exchangers. However, in this case, heat is carried in, against the original intention, via the exterior surfaces. It is important to note that, for practical application, having a lower temperature inside the control cabinet than outside is inefficient and that the lower the ambient temperature surrounding the cabinet, the lower the expenses for air conditioning will be so it certainly makes sense to consider first whether it is possible to lower the ambient temperature, in particular if several control cabinets are put into operation.
HART COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL
HART holds its own in the race to Industry 4.0 Suzanne Gill finds out what role the now ubiquitous HART protocol might have to play in factories and processing plants of the future, as more enterprises look to reap the benefits promised by Industry 4.0.
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ith over 40 million installed field instruments and support from leading instrumentation suppliers, the HART Communication Protocol (Highway Addressable Remote Transducer) is the largest digital communications technology deployed in the process industry today. Beyond its original ability to communicate over 4-20 mA analogue instrument current loops, which helps preserve existing investments in legacy analogue instrumentation, today the technology can offer many additional capabilities and it has huge potential when it comes to plant digitalisation and the move towards smarter factories and Industry 4.0. Even if the HART signal is predominantly used for parameterisation, with the appropriate tools it can enable continuous device monitoring, real-time device diagnostics and multi-variable process information for both new and old devices. If collected and turned into actionable information, this data has value throughout the plant lifecycle – from design and installation right through to operation and maintenance.
Well positioned According to Ted Schnaare, director engineering, Rosemount Wireless at Emerson Automation, the HART protocol is well positioned to help realise the vision of Industry 4.0. “While the protocol has been in existence for some time, it was designed around the basic concepts that have become the pillars of
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Industry 4.0. The WirelessHART protocol was designed to provide reliable, secure and ultra-low power wireless communication for field measurement and control instruments,” he said. HART instruments themselves are key maintenance tools within plants. One important element of the HART protocol is its ability to effectively communicate instrument and measurement health information to operators and maintenance technicians. The protocol allows for the right status information to be delivered to the right person at the right time. HART was also designed to strike a balance between the benefits of standardisation and the need for customisation for certain types of instruments. This ensures interoperability while providing the flexibility to support new and innovative instruments – including instruments such as wireless ultrasonic monitors used for state and event detection in critical plant assets. “The HART protocol is being used by many of our customers as they move into the next industrial revolution and it has been proven to be very well suited for this task,” continued Schnaare. The WirelessHART protocol has enabled users to improve the safety and efficiency of their operations at much less cost than with traditional wireless solutions. Examples include monitoring and optimising the performance of
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critical assets such as steam traps, safety showers, pressure relief valves, heat exchangers and pumps. “Using WirelessHART-enabled monitoring solutions allows users to gain critical insight into aspects of their operation that were either not possible or costprohibitive in the past. This insight is one of the key aspects of the Industry 4.0 vision,” continued Schnaare. Bastian Engel, team leader technology marketing for Endress+Hauser Process Solutions, agrees. “With industry moving forwards to Industry 4.0, the importance of wireless communication is also increasing. If measurement points are distant or difficult to access, WirelessHART is particularly useful,” he said. “It can add wireless functions to the HART protocol transmitting the measured value and additionally supports all specific HART functions, especially diagnostic information and can be easily retrofitted into existing infrastructures.”
The importance of data An example of how important the data provided by HART-enabled field devices is for processes can be demonstrated by a simple valve. Often, it is not only a question of how often the valve is operated, but also how long it takes to open. If the time period is longer, it may be an indication of wear. The correct times for maintenance or replacement are also relevant. Whereas premature replacement increases costs, a date scheduled too late can lead to a total system failure. Sabrina Weiland, product marketing > p30 manager at Pepperl + Fuchs, agrees Control Engineering Europe
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HART COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL < p28 that HART is an important element for Industry 4.0 projects. She said: “When modernising a plant towards Industry 4.0, for example, a remote I/O system is the ideal solution, as a new control system works with bus protocols such as PROFIBUS, PROFINET, MODBUS RTU or MODBUS TCP. The remote I/O system replaces the point-to-point connection between field devices and control levels, enabling migration to a bus protocol. However, only the connection from the control system to the remote I/O is a bus; the existing cabling from the remote I/O to the field devices remains. The benefit of this is that plant operators can retain the existing structure with HART and 4-20mA, with all of its advantages. “In parallel to PROFINET or MODBUS TCP, there is an Ethernet-based communication with the control system, such as HART IP via PROFINET. Direct access to the field device is also possible via HART IP. In addition, an OPC UA server can be implemented into a remote I/O gateway.” OPC UA offers standardised communication according to IEC 62541 with a high data throughput for connecting different systems. The operator is then able to choose whether data is accessed via HART or other protocols. Weiland continues. “If the operator only requires more information from the field devices for Industry 4.0, without plant modernisation, this can
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be very conveniently implemented via a HART multiplexer connected to the control system via an RS485 interface. The multiplexer can be integrated in up to 32 different loops in the field and can request HART data from the devices.” This, says Weiland, can offer a very economical solution, as a loop currently costs less than 100 euros. “The multiplexer also ensures that a request from the asset management system is forwarded. This variant can be used with OPC UA to access data via the serial interface and distribute it as needed.”
Making life easier Some time ago an end-user called on device vendors to make life easier for end users of HART devices in three particular areas – simplified and unified device integration software; reduced device complexity for basic functionality; and simplified device diagnostics capabilities in line with NAMUR NE 107. Vendors are now addressing these issues with many demonstrating their commitment to making their products easier to configure, use, and maintain by investing in initiatives such as Field Device Integration (FDI) whose primary goal is to produce consistent, easy to use tools that simplify the management of field devices over their entire lifecycles. Weiland explains more about FDI. “Previously, when a new measuring instrument or an actuator was integrated
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into the process, the user deployed EDDL or FDT. This meant either a text-based parameter description or a standardised, multi-vendor software interface that allowed the programming and description of complex functions and displays. However, neither variant alone meets the current requirements when it comes to integrating functions of field devices. In contrast, FDI provides the full description of a device in an FDI device package. This is supplied by the device manufacturer and contains all the essential information for integration. “The device parameters are described via an EDDL interpreter and supplemented by complex graphic elements in freely programmable user plug-ins, just as with FDT. A further advantage of FDI is that it can be easily integrated into existing system architectures. An FDI-enabled host must, therefore, be available for new plants. In the case of existing plants with FDI devices in the field, the control systems must be able to understand EDDL and FDT.” Endress+Hauser is also actively working on the FDI standard as the new integration standard with a unified EDDL specification as a base. “FDI is seeking to provide the same look and feel for all devices within the FDI host, independent of device type, manufacturer and communication protocol. Endress+Hauser focuses on the most important customer demand – meaningful diagnostics according to NE 107,” said Engel. So, next generation field measurement and control devices are being designed with ease of use as a primary objective. While some devices can be extremely complex by necessity, manufacturers are going to greater lengths to make sure that these complexities are hidden from users. Emerson, for example, has invested in the area of human centered design (HCD), with reviews being a standard part of all of its new product development programmes. “These reviews address all aspects of a product and all phases of its lifecycle including ease of ordering, installation, configuration, and maintenance,” said Schnaare. Control Engineering Europe
HART COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL Alert flooding Attention has also been paid in recent years to the problem of diagnostic alert flooding. This condition results from a single instrument health issue generating numerous diagnostic alerts which can distract or overwhelm operators. “Today, instruments and asset management systems are being designed to simplify diagnostic alerts and ensure that the right people get the right information at the right time. For example, operators don’t need to know the details of a particular diagnostic such as a detected memory failure, they just need to know if the data they are using to control critical processes can be trusted,” said Schnaare. “Instrument maintenance resources, however, need the details so they can investigate and solve problems. This is being achieved by applying the basic principles defined in NAMUR NE107 which recommends classifying alerts and using that
Digital ecosystem expanded with dual-mode wireless gateway Emerson has introduced a new dual-mode wireless gateway which supports both IEC 62951 WirelessHART and ISA100.11a industrial wireless communications standards to its PlantWeb digital ecosystem to offer ISA100.11a users an easy path to improved operating performance. Serving as the backbone of a wireless infrastructure, wireless gateways and access points increase the amount of realtime information available to automation systems, applications and analytics tools. Critically, they need to possess robust, ‘always-on’ security to limit network
classification to determine how to communicate with operators and maintenance people. Indeed, the
vulnerability. When deployed efficiently, they can require the least hardware necessary to keep costs low while keeping operating reliability high. Lastly, customers consistently seek ease-ofdeployment as a key consideration. A future release of Emerson’s dualmode wireless gateway will be integrated into the Cisco 1552WU, a combined WirelessHART and WiFi solution for industrial hardened wireless, and will seamlessly integrate into Emerson’s security and network management tools, including Plantweb Insight applications for Industrial IoT.
latest version of the HART protocol has revisions that align it with the recommendations of NE107,” he said.
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n A TEX, IECEx and ETL gas or dust certified models n C onfigurable input: magnetic pick-off, switch contact, proximity detector, open collector or voltage pulse. n Three panel mounting enclosures DIN 144 x 72mm plus two new additions DIN 96 x 48mm and Rugged 105 x 60mm. n Two field mounting enclosures Compact ‘G’ and ‘E’ with a separate terminal compartment. n Other features: synchronous pulse output, dual alarms, 4-20mA output and backlight models. n General purpose models also available
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TECHNOLOGY UPDATE: ON THE EDGE
PC-BASED CONTROLS:
Expanding plant-floor architectures from the edge to IIoT According to Eric Reiner edge devices facilitate data processing at the plant level, increasing security and using Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) standards.
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loud computing is a hot topic in factory automation circles, and while Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies can offer many benefits, not every company is fully on board with moving operations to the cloud. Edge computing, conversely, takes the data processing concept enabled by cloud service providers and moves it back down to the plant level, closer to the devices that create the data. This can alleviate some of the security concerns, as the data never leaves the facility, but also can serve as a stepping stone into a future cloud solution as business needs grow and change.
Smart edge devices Smart edge devices facilitate data processing at the plant level. Several tasks must be accomplished before a device can be considered a smart edge device. The first task centers on data collection from the industrial process. Once data has been acquired and stored, the edge device then accomplishes its primary task – data analysis based on preset goals or parameters. These tasks are carried out directly on the device, with the option to move the data vertically to the cloud or to other company databases for filling dashboards used by business and facilities managers. Data can be transmitted at the edge and/or to the cloud using recognised IoT and IIoT standards, such as object linking and embedding for process control unified architecture (OPC UA),
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message queuing telemetry transport (MQTT), and advanced message queuing protocol (AMQP). This creates a seamless migration path for future upgrades, and PC-based control systems are best-suited for these kinds of applications because of inherent openness to IT standards for hardware, software, and networking. Another point to consider with PCbased control is hardware scalability. Control engineers can start with small processors for very basic commands and protocol translation, then migrate to powerful multi-core industrial PCs and embedded PCs for advanced data processing and analytics at the edge. The more powerful industrial PCs also can pull double duty as complete machine or line controllers. PC-based control architectures make it possible for the same hardware platform to be deployed everywhere on the manufacturing floor. For example, this type of automation hardware can serve as the PLC, motion controller, robot
Smart edge devices facilitate data processing at the plant level, enabling transmission of process data to and from the cloud. Courtesy: Beckhoff Automation
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controller and/or as an IoT gateway device, and much more. Thinking higher level, the hardware components used to power the cloud are typically data center-level servers run by a large IT companies, or smaller servers that are purchased by a large end-user and run on-site as a private cloud application. Using an intelligent edge device, such as a PC-based controller, can help users filter out important data from huge masses of raw data, whether this data stays in the facility or is sent to the cloud. As part of a cloud services solution, smart edge devices can reduce the associated expenses, regardless of whether cloud service fees are based on the volume of data transmitted or the number of messages sent to the cloud. PC-based control technology makes it possible to implement plant floor-tocloud communication architectures that do not need expensive managed switches from a third-party IT vendor. Machine builders and manufacturers can access some pre-integrated IoT and cloudconnected technologies. The hardware involved is part of the standard industrial PC and I/O hardware offering. All the programming or configuration to establish the IoT connectivity is conducted in the same universal platform used to program a PLC, motion control, robotics, safety, and human-machine interface. While this won’t make a motion control programmer an instant ‘IoT expert’ it facilitates efficient programming among specialised programmers and teams. This way, advanced analytics and filtering Control Engineering Europe
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE: ON THE EDGE can be handled at the machine in a programming environment that’s very familiar across engineering teams.
Security for smart edge devices The combination of a high-performance industrial Ethernet system such as EtherCAT and a vertical communication protocol such as OPC UA provides a variety of built-in security measures that do not require programming to implement. At the plant floor and machine to machine level, EtherCAT has integrated security features that block unwanted intrusion from outside sources, and it does not require the use of IP addresses. By default, EtherCAT slave devices ‘destroy’ non-EtherCAT frames. This includes injected malware or viruses, since they are not part of the control process. These unexpected ‘bad’ frames of data are not forwarded by EtherCAT, so they are immediately stopped without losing important process data. EtherCAT also preserves data tunneled through standard TCP/IP
devices that are connected as part of the system architecture. Since EtherCAT does not require the use of switches, there is little danger of outside frames being inserted into the control system in the first place, but if so, those frames would be destroyed automatically. For vertical integration, OPC UA provides built-in session encryption, message signing, sequenced packets (to block replay attacks), authentication, and more. MQTT and AMQP offer similar security and encryption measures for cloud communication. Further protections can be implemented with standard IT infrastructure planning for firewalls, providing ample security for public cloud systems. If preferred, end users can consider a private cloud running entirely within the enterprise IT system. When the right technology components are in place, users can feel confident that data is encrypted and protected from intrusion. In the future, smart devices must find
a balance between delivering highperformance and offering a compact footprint. Despite the ultra-compact size, CPU options are available up to a quad-core processor, so this interprocess communication (IPC) can be an overall machine controller and/or an IoT gateway to push data to cloud services. IPCs can integrate industrial Ethernet protocols such as EtherCAT and cloud communication standards such as OPC UA and MQTT with ease. With the appropriate PC-based control software, the IPC hardware becomes whatever it is programmed to be. Advanced IoT and Industrie 4.0 concepts are changing by the minute, and it is this kind of flexibility and adaptability in hardware and software that will help machine builders and end-users stay ahead in the industry. Eric Reiner is industrial PC market specialist, Beckhoff Automation. This article originally appeared in www.controleng.com
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PRODUCT FORUM • AUMA HAS LAUNCHED THE NEW GQB COMPACT GEARBOX RANGE A new range of part-turn gearboxes, the GQB series, extends the gearbox portfolio of electric actuator manufacturer AUMA. The GQB gearboxes combine compact design with superior quality and reliability. Engineered and manufactured in Germany, they have been designed to meet the requirements for basic 90° applications with standard industrial valves such as butterfly and ball valves. All components within the power drive, like the worm wheel and worm shaft, are surface hardened to increase wear resistance. In addition, all housing parts are powder-coated using AUMA’s corrosion-resistant two-layer powder coating system. The housing incorporates a coaxial primary reduction gear as well as integral mounting flanges for the actuator, handwheel and valve. This considerably reduces the number of parts and the amount of material required, without compromising performance. End stops to limit the valve travel are easily accessible next to the output drive shaft. A patent-pending overload protection guarantees safety in case of
excessive torque. Cyrille Decker, Product Manager at AUMA, says: “This unique overload protection ensures gearbox housing integrity even in the event of critical input torques. With the GQB the AUMA Group worldwide can offer a high-quality gearbox at an attractive price.” www.auma.com Auma Actuators Ltd, Generation House, Yeo Bank 3, Kenn Road, Clevedon, North Somerset, BS21 6TH Tel: +44 (0) 1275 871141 Email: mail@auma.co.uk
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MULTI-USE PDF TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY DATA LOGGERS The OM-22, OM-23 and OM-24 are multiple use temperature and humidity data loggers that are ideal for a wide range of test and measurement, quality control, and environmental monitoring applications. They conveniently generate a PDF and Excel report on completion of data logging. The OM-22 measures ambient temperature using an internal thermistor temperature sensor. The OM-23 measures ambient temperature and also accepts an external thermistor temperature probe as input. Model OM-24 measures ambient temperature and relative humidity. These data loggers are completely user-programmable including language selection, sampling interval, start delay, alarm delay, temperature units, alarm range, alarm type, password and user name. No special software or driver is required for setup or download of data. The data logger appears as a mass storage device when connected to the PC. The user manual, a calibration certificate and data logger configuration utility are all stored in the data logger.
To setup the data logger simply plug it into a USB port on your computer and run the on-board configuration utility. Once configuration is complete the data logger can be removed from the PC’s USB port. On completion of data logging re-connect the data logger to the computer and open the configuration utility. Choose the function convert to PDF or convert to Excel and select the desired location on your computer to store the reports. The PDF report contains the data summary, graph and tabular results. The Excel report contains all of the information in the PDF report except for the graph. http://www.omega.co.uk/pptst/OM-22-23-24. html Free Phone 0800 488 488 International +44(0) 161 777 6611
2-CHANNEL THERMOCOUPLE THERMOMETER WITH DATA LOGGING The HH147AU is a 2-channel thermometer with data logging capabilities and a storage capacity of 14,000 records. It offers a wide array of value added features including: accepting 7 different thermocouple types, large backlit LCD with 5-digits, dual displays (T1, T2 or T1-T2) with the maximum reading of 9999.9, relative (REL) measurement, selectable °C/°F/K units, stores 300 readings manually, max/min/avg/time and data hold functions, auto power-off with disable function, and hi/lo audible alarm functions. A USB PC serial interface and cable are also included for connectivity to a PC.
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T Type: -250 to 400°C (-418 to 752°F) E Type: -210 to 1000°C (-346 to 1832°F) R/S Type: 0 to 1767°C (32 to 3212°F) N Type: -150 to 1300°C (-238 to 2372°F)
http://www.omega.co.uk/pptst/HH147AU.html Free Phone 0800 488 488 International +44(0) 161 777 6611
Specifications Accuracy is specified for ambient temperatures between 18 and 28°C. Thermocouple Ranges: • K Type: -200 to 1372°C (-328 to 2501°F) • J Type: -210 to 1200°C (-346 to 2192°F)
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PRODUCT FORUM • INDUSTRY 4.0 REQUIRES INTELLIGENT INTERLOCKS - FORTRESS IS DELIVERING Fortress is Delivering As we race towards 50 billion devices connected to the internet by 2020, Industry 4.0 presents a huge challenge to manufacturers. Collaborative robots and the automation of tasks previously carried out by people is reducing the need for traditional machine guarding while increasing the need for smart interlocks. Malcolm Sharp, Managing Director of Fortress’ Australian operations, discusses how the company is facing these challenges head-on. “At Fortress, our focus has always been on mechanical strength and reliability - our interlocks are, after all, the strongest in the market. But we’re also building in additional functionality to help our customers with their processes. As the importance of data increases, we know that our products will be required to feedback through extensive, potentially global, data networks.
“Two years ago Fortress launched an online configurator, enabling customers to create complex safety products from our wide range of modules and components. There are more than 4.9 billion potential configurations that could be created and since its introduction over 10,000 unique configurations have been created. Five years ago, such a configurator was unimaginable. “As industry evolves, our view remains unchanged - we need to protect people and productivity. It remains our massive transformative purpose in this digital age.” Fortress Interlocks Ltd 2 Inverclyde Drive, Wolverhampton WV4 6FB Tel: +44 (0)1902 349000 Fax: +44 (0)1902 349090 Email: sales@fortressinterlocks.com Web: www.fortressinterlocks.com
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UNIVERSAL DIFFERENTIAL PH WATER QUALITY SENSORS Sensorex SD7500 works with any existing conventional pH transmitter Routine sensor replacement is a necessary maintenance step in continuous online pH monitoring. The Sensorex SD7500 Universal Differential pH Probe extends the working lifetime of sensors, reducing maintenance frequency, without compromising accuracy and reliability. Universal compatibility with virtually any brand of conventional pH transmitter enables easy upgrade of existing sensors for industrial and municipal wastewater treatment and neutralisation; metal finishing and plating; wet fume scrubbers; chemical processing; and other online water quality and process applications. The SD7500 probe measures process pH differentially with three electrode sensors: a process pH electrode, a pH reference (actually a second measuring pH electrode in a known pH 7.0 buffered cell solution protected by a
replaceable salt bridge reference junction), and a titanium ground electrode. The result is a highly accurate differential pH measurement that is virtually unaffected by ground loop measurement errors. The three electrode design, coupled with durable Ryton® Polyphenylene Sulfide (PPS) body construction, resists process contamination. The double junction construction of the replaceable salt bridge further guards against fouling, even in highly aggressive chemical environments. Automatic temperature compensation with an accurate Pt1000 RTD ensures pH measurement accuracy over a wide temperature range. To learn more about the SD7500 Differential pH Probe, visit www.Sensorex.com, email info@sensorex.com or phone +1 714-895-4344.
Power Management IoT Kit Microsoft Azure IoT Starter Kit
Ready-to-run Energy monitoring and management IoT Cloud solution: Includes an Intelligent Power Meter Concentrator, a power meter, and Microsoft Azure service.
ICP DAS CO., LTD. www.icpdas.com
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TEL:+886-3-597-3366 FAX:+886-3-597-3733 e-mail:sales@icpdas.com
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PRODUCT FORUM • HOW PRODUCT SAFETY WILL DEFINE THE SUCCESS OF INDUSTRY 4.0/IIOT As Industry shifts go, it’s hard to think of one as exciting or defining as Industry 4.0 and IIoT. Yet with any advancement in technology it’s important to ensure that product safety remains a cornerstone. What will the landscape for product safety in a disruptive technology look like, and how far will product safety go in defining the success of Industry 4.0? As Industry shifts go, it’s hard to think of one as exciting or defining as Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). With digitisation of equipment affecting all industries, from automation and process control to upstream oil and gas and every sector in between, IIoT is a rapidly growing movement that’s set to see the number of connected devices rise to 22 billion by 2021. Forecasts suggest that IIoT investment will make up as much as 40% of some organisations’ capex budgets as businesses embrace the opportunities of digitization. You only have to visit industry events such as the recent Hannover Messe fair in Germany to see that Industrial companies large and small are designing products and solutions under IIoT for the benefit of business efficiencies. The challenge now is how Industry will collaborate to ensure the continued benefit of IIoT, and how product safety is maintained. CSA Group T: +44 (0) 1244 670 900 E: ukinfo@csagroup.org W: www.csagroup.org
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BATCH CONTROLLER FOR FLOWMETERS The Metra-Batch from Titan Enterprises is a batch controller specifically designed for flowmeters or machinery with pulse or frequency outputs. Ruggedly constructed to provide years of trouble-free operation, the Metra-Batch is proven to deliver precise control of batch dispensing, blending and bottle / tank filling of beverages, chemicals, food ingredients, fuels and solvents. Metra-Batch has a two-stage batching facility with selectable automatic over-run compensation as well as safety features to prevent erroneous dispensing in the event of a system fault. This versatile flow controller can be configured as a plant or panel mounted unit offering 2-stage batch control, automatic over-run compensation as well as safety features to prevent erroneous dispensing when a fault occurs. The 8-digit batch display is selectable to count either up or down, in engineering units, or can show the
current flow rate, or total product consumption on a password protected accumulator, as well as number of batches delivered. The unit can transmit totalizer and rate of flow data for remote monitoring. Simple PINprotected flow-chart programming with English prompts guide the user through the entire setup routine. Multiple units may be used in conjunction with each other with lock out and networking enunciation giving the user full operating data. Designed to P67 (NEMA 4X) standards the Metra-Batch housing is purposed designed to suit harsh industrial environments. For further information please visit http://www.flowmeters.co.uk/flowinstrumentation-metra-batch-batchcontroller-for-flow-meters/ or contact Titan Enterprises on +44-1935-812790 sales@flowmeters.com.
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ALICAT MASS FLOW CONTROLLERS POWERS MDC’S XPRESSSTICK GAS DELIVERY MODULE Gas connection module benefits from Alicat’s MCE’s high precision flow control Tucson, Arizona (28 August 2017) – Alicat Scientific’s MCE mass flow controllers have been integrated into MDC Vacuum Products’ XpressStick™ MFC Gas Stick. With precision control of gas flows of up to 20SLPM and onboard display, Alicat’s MCE provides gas programming functionality to the gas connection module, which links pressurized gas inputs to vacuum chambers. The all-in-one design of the XpressStick MFC gas stick eliminates complex hardware specification in processes which include a combination of specialty gases, pressure, precise regulation, and vacuum. Its easy programming and precise gas control system allows users to go from bottle to process in one simple step. Designed to meet ultra-high purity process requirements, the XpressStick is also offered in a stainless steel model for corrosive environments.
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The standard gas calibration list includes 98 gases, with an additional 32 corrosive gases on the stainless steel model. Alicat’s built-in COMPOSER™ gas mixing software can be used to compose up to twenty additional custom blends using the standard gas list. Accuracy is virtually unaffected by change in gas type, and full-scale valve range is automatically recalibrated to maintain throughput ranges. Alicat Scientific 7641 N. Business Park Drive Tucson, AZ 85743 USA Tel: +1 520.290.6060 Fax: +1 520.290.0109 Email: info@alicat.com; europe@alicat.com
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FINAL WORD
Speeding up Modbus/TCP Rob Hulsebos argues that Modbus/TCP users should think carefully before migrating to a more modern, Ethernet-based protocol, purely to increase speed.
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odbus/TCP, the ‘Ethernet’ version of the old faithful serial Modbus/RTU (and Modbus/ASCII) versions have been with us for over a decade. If you are familiar with the serial Modbus versions, Modbus/TCP will not be difficult to learn. However, those familiar with the serial Modbus versions often assume that Modbus/TCP has the same limitations with regard to master/slave behaviour, fixed roles, single master only, slow speed due to master and slave turnaround times, slow polling cycles, etc. Due to the flexibility of TCP, all these limitations are not necessary. Modbus/ TCP allows for more innovative ways of working, if only the protocol stacks would use them. Probably the single reason that most implementations do not do this is because they are revamped serial Modbus implementations. They come up with the same limitations, which are completely unnecessary and limit the power of Modbus/TCP. It is possible to take advantage of Modbus/ TCP implementations, giving a more flexible and faster Modbus, improving the responsiveness of applications, without any change to the protocol.
Master/slave roles In serial Modbus, there is always one device configured to be the ‘master’ on
the network, and all others are ‘slave’. These roles cannot change dynamically. The drawback of being a slave is that these devices cannot communicate among each other. In TCP, all devices are created equal. Every device can communicate with every other device on the network (if they agree on a common protocol, such as Modbus). This means that the master/ slave distinction is no longer necessary. Modbus/TCP has renamed these roles as ‘client’ and ‘server’, but the name change has no functional consequences. An innovative implementation of a Modbus/TCP stack can offer more functionality. A device can run a client and server implementation simultaneously on TCP. A device can also have multiple client roles, multiple server roles, and multiple client and server roles simultaneously. This allows for a hierarchical network architecture, where a device is server to one device, and is client to other devices. This gives considerable freedom in designing large systems. There is no longer a need to create a star-like communication architecture. No central device, no bottlenecks, no extra programming effort, better scalability and no single point of failure. At this point some might be arguing that this can be done on serial Modbus too! This is true, but it cannot be done
It is possible to take advantage of Modbus/TCP implementations, giving a more flexible and faster Modbus, improving the responsiveness of applications, without any change to the protocol. 38
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on the same network. For each master role or slave role, you need a network interface card, and a separate network infrastructure.
No more polling In serial Modbus, the only way for a master to become aware of a change in a sensor or input, or the presence of an alarm, etc. is to regularly ‘poll’ a slave. Although polling is simple, it takes up network bandwidth and processing time on the master and the slaves. It is not uncommon for dozens of poll cycles to be executed before data changes once. If each device is able to autonomously decide to communicate with another device, the consequence of this freedom is that polling is no longer necessary – if a device has something of interest to report to another device, it can behave as a client and just send the information. If data is not changed, send nothing. This means that for every change in data only one Modbus communication cycle is necessary, immediately after it is known that data must be sent. Apart from the gain in network use and processing time, there is no more delay due to the polling cycle, allowing for faster response on events. Control Engineering Europe
FINAL WORD Less slave delay In serial Modbus, after a master has sent a command to a slave, the master must wait for the answer from that slave. In the meantime, nothing much happens on the network, wasting bandwidth. One slow slave can negatively influence the communication speed from the master to the other slaves. In TCP, the protocol gives a separate communication channel between a client and all the slaves. The client can send a message to a slow server but does not have to wait for an answer – the other clients can be sent messages in the meantime. So Modbus/TCP allows for parallel communication from the client to all its servers. TCP assures that the replies from the slaves can be matched to the corresponding commands, so there is no fear of confusion. This parallel communication increases the effective use of the network, and decreases the polling time. Each device can have its own polling time. Slow devices do not delay the faster devices. In serial Modbus, a master can only send a new command to a slave if the previous command was processed by the slave and the response message has been completely received. The master must then process the response, and can only then transmit a new command to the same slave. In the meantime, the slave is doing nothing (for the duration of the transmission of the response, the processing time of the master, and the duration of the transmission of the next command). When two devices communicate in TCP, both have a queue of data to the other party. Each one reads as much data as it needs from the queue, processes it, and repeats this cycle. This allows a client to send multiple commands to a server; as long as they are not processed by the server TCP keeps both messages in its queue. So a client can fire multiple commands in a row quickly. The server can now extract one message from its queue of incoming commands, and process it. After the response is sent back to the client, the server can immediately extract the Control Engineering Europe
next message from the queue (still waiting there) and start processing it. It is efficient, because the server does not have to wait for the client to process a response, decide on the next command to be sent, wait for the next command to arrive, etc, as is the case in serial Modbus. It is useful when a client needs to send a batch of commands that are not depending on each other – for example read a group of holding registers which are not sequential in memory (otherwise a single Modbus/TCP command would have sufficed).
Not real time, but still fast TCP/IP was not designed to operate in real time. However, this does not mean it is slow. It is bad softwareimplementations that make TCP slow. An example of this is the Nagle algorithm, designed in the 80’s as an optimisation tool for doing terminal I/O on slow networks (10 Mbit/sec at the time). By default, the Nagle algorithm is still active on every TCP implementation. Luckily it can be shut off, but only following instructions of the application software. It must be done correctly on the client and on the server side. If only one half disables the Nagle algorithm, communication one way will be quick, but the other way it will be slow. An easy way to inadvertently invoke the Nagle algorithm is to implement a Modbus/TCP protocol stack in such a way that network messages are sent in two pieces, after which the protocol stack
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waits for a response from the server. This ‘write, write, read’ is often easily programmed in Modbus/TCP, where each network message consists of a sixbyte header, followed by the function code related data. Although logical from a programmer’s point-of-view, it kills performance.
No changes needed Modifying existing protocols is difficult, due to compatibility issues. But we are lucky: all of the suggested improvements can be done without changes to Modbus/TCP. It just requires better use of TCP. Of course, the protocol stacks must be changed (perhaps completely rewritten), but no changes are necessary for Modbus/TCP itself. This means that the introduction of new features can be done device-by-device. If you are a dissatisfied Modbus user and planning to migrate to a more modern (Ethernet-based) protocol, think twice as this is not necessarily Modbus/TCP’s fault. If Modbus/TCP implementations make good use of the capabilities of TCP, it allows for much more flexibility in communication architecture, and a much higher speed than with implementations that only mimic serial Modbus capabilities. Rob Hulsebos is a specialist in datacommunications. He has been active in industrial networks since 1993, both as vendor and end-user and has authored several books about industrial networks. He can be contacted on r.hulsebos@onsnet.nu September 2017
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