TC2 – Motion Control
Introduction
Based on application
requirements and project specifications engineers are required to use or
select a wide range of motion control hardware. In the past this required unique
software to be created for each application even though the functions are the
same. PLCopen motion standard
provide a way to have standard application libraries that are reusable for
multiple hardware platforms. This lowers development, maintenance, and support
costs while eliminating confusion. In addition, engineering becomes easier,
training costs decrease, and the software is reusable across platforms.
Effectively, this standardization is done by defining libraries of reusable
components. In this way the programming is less hardware dependent, the
reusability of the application software increased, the cost involved in training
and support reduced, and the application becomes scalable across different
control solutions. Due to the data hiding and encapsulation, it is usable on
different architectures, for instance ranging from centralized to distributed or
integrated to networked control. It is not specifically designed for one
application, but will serve as a basic layer for ongoing definitions in
different areas. As such it is open to existing and future technologies.
Overview of the results
Currently
the suite of PLCopen Motion Control Specifications consist of the following
parts:
 |
Part 1 - Basics |
|
Part
2 - Extensions |
|
Part 3 - User Guidelines and
Examples |
|
Part 4 - Coordinated Motion |
|
Part 5 - Homing Procedures |
|
Part
6 - Extensions for Fluid Power |
Part 1 – Basics , released in April 2005 as version 1.1. and implemented
in over 30 products.
Part 2 – Extensions, containing additional function blocks. Released
September 2005 as version 1.0.
Part 3 - User Guidelines, showing guidelines and examples for users. Released
April 2008 as version 0.4, and intended for on-going releases.
Part 4 – Coordinated Motion, focused to the coordinated multi-axes motion in
3D space. Released December 2008 as version 1.0
Part 5 - Homing Procedures, as extension of the homing function block as defined in Part
1, as well as the description of a general homing software tool to add additional
homing modes for applications not yet covered. This is a complete new document,
which was published in November 2005 for comments. Release of version 1.0 is
expected later this year.
Part 6 - Extensions for Fluid Power. A new
initiative, started in June 2009, to optimize programming and integration of fluid power devices
and systems by defining function blocks employing PLCopen standardization
and modular methodology.
Basically every specification contains 3 sections:
|
definition of the state machine |
|
definition of a basic set of FBs for single axis multi-axes motion
control |
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compliance rules and statement |
Definition of the state machine
See
Part 1 and part 2.
Function Blocks Definitions
See Part 1 and part
2.
Certification
Included in the specification are the rules for compliance and certification. Basically
this is a self-certification, from which the results per supplier are published
on the PLCopen website. Certified companies are allowed to use the logo below, with additional number, date and number of supported compliant function blocks:
Conclusion
The publication of the
specification and the first implementations clearly showed that the multi-axes
implementation certainly fits within the framework as defined by the IEC 61131-3
standard.
With many
implementations becoming available, motion control will never be the same: more
hardware independence give the users less training costs, and the possibility to
create application software that is usable on a number of different targets more
easily, and targets which can be selected in a later phase of the overall
machine development cycle. This brings a higher efficiency and reduces costs
during development, maintenance and training.
More information
Click here for a marketing
introduction.
Download specifications.
Presentations on Motion Control.
Compliance Statements
of Suppliers.
Logic, Motion and Safety. The
combination of logic, motion, and safety in one environment provides the
user with a harmonized view to the overall application in one software
environment, for both the safety and the functional applications.
The document is published April 2008 as version 0.41
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