World-wide novelty: new Unidrive M, the new family of accionamientos of Control Techniques
'Without limit' prays the slogan of the new platform. A new family for which according to Ramón Troy, director of applications of Control Techniques, have had the customers like essential part of the development. From a study of market the signature ascertained that the final user looks for more agility and the manufacturer, machines more competitive. With these premises gave solution to such demands, fundamentally of the sectors of industrial automation.
Enrique Miñarro Visors, President of Control Techniques, added: “Once launched the family Unidrive M, Control Techniques will enter other ranges of accionamientos focused in the other sectors of the market. This will allow us adapt our products to the exact requirements of all the customers in all the sectors of a way that never has done before. Our aim like company is not another that revolutionise the market of accionamientos”.
The new product of high range of Control Techniques, the Unidrive M800, integrates a new generation of controller of machines in the own accionamiento. The solution is designed to offer a total control of the machinery and uses the surroundings of programming CoDeSys with standard programming languages IEC 61131-3 and standard Ethernet for communication with accionamientos, And/S, HMI, PLC and other industrial devices. The structure multitarea synchronous and the control of movement advanced 'Motion Control' of Control Techniques complete the offer of high performance and do use of open technologies and standard of the industry.
Ethernet of base and to real time (with IEEE 1588 V2) provides a better control of the machine with fast and flexible communications, attaining a speed of synchronisation in the inferior network to 1 µs, a speed of update until 250 µs and headcount of nodes practically boundless.
The new protocol Ethernet of Control Techniques does use of Ethernet TCP/IP and UDP standard to offer a structure of compact and effective messages that frees the bandwidth of the network Ethernet and minimises the load. This allows that the models Unidrive M communicate between yes instead of having to direct all the communications with the traditional controller of the machine. Each accionamiento with Ethernet incorporates a switch of double port Ethernet with connectors RJ45 standard that simplify the connection in network of the machinery.
Some applications like the ‘axles of electronic transmission' (also called ‘digital synchronisms') can configure without need to write code of programming. In these cases, the accionamientos begin to communicate between yes of automatic way, synchronising his loops of control so that they can work with a coordination without interruptions. Standard ethernet allows that the protocols of Control Techniques work at the same time that others like PROFINET RT, Ethernet/ IP and Modbus TCP/IP.
Another area of important innovation in the development of Unidrive M have been the tools of PC of Control Techniques. These facilitate the access to all the functions of the product. They allow to optimise the set up of the accionamiento, realise a backup of the configuration and solve the problems more quickly. All the tools of software use the same components of communications, by what can execute simultaneously using numerous protocols.
Like support of Unidrive M, Control Techniques has developed new tools of PC in base to an investigation in depth of the requirements of the user. This new generation of tools facilitates even more the optimum configuration of the accionamiento and the engine. The tools of programming do use of open programming languages IEC 61131-3 standard with CoDeSys to fulfil the requirements of applications of production automated.
The global project of engineering and design of Control Techniques has given like result the application of thirty patents to protect the enormous variety of technologies advanced that they have developed for Unidrive M.
To create the family Unidrive M, Control Techniques realised the study of market more complete of his history. The aim of this investigation was to develop a plan of engineering totally focused in the needs of the customer. The initial program of qualitative investigation consisted in a series of interviews in depth with manufacturers and other final users, designed to identify the needs of the industrial market. To this followed a complete program of quantitative investigation that expanded the results of the interviews, to guarantee that Control Techniques comprised exactly the characteristics of the accionamientos that requires each specific area of the industrial market. The quantitative investigation consisted of conjoint studies that included sophisticated surveys in Internet in which it re-created the decision of purchase to determine the unseen needs of the customer.
Jay Wirts, vice-president of strategic marketing of Control Techniques, affirmed: “Our investigation has allowed us comprise the industrial market much better that in any previous period, and the information that receive was indispensable to decide the customers in that focus us with each product. We discover that the customers of the industrial state were grouped in seven main groups, each one with needs very specific. Like result of this investigation, decide to develop a range of seven accionamientos: one for each group of customers.
“When having available a wide selection of accionamientos and options, Control Techniques will be able to offer to his customers some products optimised much more adapted that other offers of the market. I am convinced that ours new range goes to transform the performance and the productivity of the customers”.
“Instead of updating our software to adapt it to the new product, have developing new tools of PC using the results of an innovative program of design centred in the ease of use that took in account the requirements of the user from the beginning of the process. Our new tools have an operative approach, by what the user does not have to know our accionamientos specific neither menus of parameters to configure the accionamiento and the application, monitor the system and the accionamiento, optimise the performance of the engine, or even to write programs of system advanced”.
”Besides, the set up and the maintenance have simplified enormously thanks to an interface of user that gives priority to the most frequent tasks, improving the experience for all the users, whereas the users advanced can take advantage of the diagrams of logical dynamics of the accionamiento and the listings of research improved. In the meantime, the performance of the accionamiento and the engine can optimise with a skilled knowledge minimum”.