Data Transfer in Real Time
Presenting it as “the only real-time system currently available on the market,” B&R Automation displayed its Ethernet Powerlink automation system at the National Manufacturing Week trade show in Chicago in February. Key attributes of the system are said to be exceptionally low jitter and extremely high data-transfer speeds.
According to B&R Automation, the Ethernet Powerlink is an ISO/ OSI level 2 protocol enabling deterministic, isochronous, real-time data exchange via standard Fast Ethernet (IEEE802.3u). The Ethernet Powerlink is said to enable high-precision data communication with cycle times down to 200s and jitter below 1s. It allows all stations to be synchronized either with one another over a network or to a program running on the PLC.
The automation system “has already been deployed in more than 12,000 nodes by customers worldwide” in applications ranging from injection molding to packaging machinery, according to B&R Automation. Users of Ethernet Powerlink reportedly include Ferromatik Milacron Maschinenbau GmbH (Malterdingen, Germany) for its Electra Evolution series of injection molding systems, and Bruckner Maschinenbau GmbH (Siegsdorf, Germany) for its Lisim line of fully electric, linear motor-driven extruders.
B&R Industrial Automation Corp., 1325 Northmeadow Parkway, S- 130, Roswell, GA 30076; (770) 772-0400; www.br-automation.com
Copyright Society of Plastics Engineers May 2004