CC-Link Archives - AUTOMATION INSIGHTS

How TSN boosts efficiency by setting priorities for network bandwidth

As manufacturers move toward Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), common communication platforms are needed to achieve the next level of efficiency boost. Using common communication platforms, like Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN), significantly reduces the burden of separate networks for IT and OT without compromising the separate requirements from both areas of the plant/enterprise.

TSN is the mother of all network protocols. It makes it possible to share the network bandwidth wisely by allocating rules of time sensitivity. For example, industrial motion control related communication, safety communication, general automation control communication (I/O), IT software communications, video surveillance communication, or Industrial vision system communication would need to be configured based on their time sensitivity priority so that the network of switches and communication gateways can effectively manage all the traffic without compromising service offerings.

If you are unfamiliar with TSN, you aren’t alone. Manufacturers are currently in the early adopter phase. User groups of all major industrial networking protocols such as ODVA (CIP and EtherNet/IP), PNO (for PROFINET and PROFISAFE), and CLPA (for CC-Link IE) are working toward incorporating TSN abilities in their respective network protocols. CC-Link IE Field has already released some of the products related to CC-Link IE Field TSN.

With TSN implementation, the current set of industrial protocols do not go away. If a machine uses today’s industrial protocols, it can continue to use that. TSN implementation has some gateway modules that would allow communicating the standard protocols while adding TSN to the facility.

While it would be optimal to have one universal protocol of communication across the plant floor, that is an unlikely scenario. Instead, we will continue to see TSN flavors of different protocols as each protocol has its own benefits of things it does the best. TSN allows for this co-existence of protocols on the same network.

The Emergence of Device-level Safety Communications in Manufacturing

Manufacturing is rapidly changing, driven by trends such as low volume/high mix, shorter lifecycles, changing labor dynamics and other global factors. One way industry is responding to these trends is by changing the way humans and machines safely work together, enabled by updated standards and new technologies including safety communications.

In the past, safety systems utilized hard-wired connections, often resulting in long cable runs, large wire bundles, difficult troubleshooting and inflexible designs. The more recent shift to safety networks addresses these issues and allows fast, secure and reliable communications between the various components in a safety control system. Another benefit of these communications systems is that they are key elements in implementing the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 solutions.

Within a typical factory, there are three or more communications levels, including an Enterprise level (Ethernet), a Control level (Ethernet based industrial protocol) and a Device/sensor level (various technologies). The popularity of control and device level industrial communications for standard control systems has led to strong demand for similar safety communications solutions.

Safety architectures based on the most popular control level protocols are now common and often reside on the same physical media, thereby simplifying wiring and control schemes. The table, below, includes a list of the most common safety control level protocols with their Ethernet-based industrial “parent” protocols and the governing organizations:

Ethernet Based Safety Protocol	Ethernet Based Control Protocol	Governing Organization
CIP Safety	Ethernet IP	Open DeviceNet Vendor Association (ODVA)
PROFISafe	PROFINET	PROFIBUS and PROFINET International (PI)
Fail Safe over EtherCAT (FSoE)	EtherCAT	EtherCAT Technology Group
CC-Link IE Safety	CC-Link IE	CC-Link Partner Association
openSAFETY	Ethernet POWERLINK	Ethernet POWERLINK Standardization Group (EPSG)

These Ethernet-based safety protocols are high speed, can carry fairly large amounts of information and are excellent for exchanging data between higher level devices such as safety PLCs, drives, CNCs, HMIs, motion controllers, remote safety I/O and advanced safety devices. Ethernet is familiar to most customers, and these protocols are open and supported by many vendors and device suppliers – customers can create systems utilizing products from multiple suppliers. One drawback, however, is that devices compatible with one protocol are not compatible with other protocols, requiring vendors to offer multiple communication connection options for their devices. Other drawbacks include the high cost to connect, the need to use one IP address per connected device and strong influence by a single supplier over some protocols.

Device level safety protocols are fairly new and less common, and realize many of the same benefits as the Ethernet-based safety protocols while addressing some of the drawbacks. As with Ethernet protocols, a wide variety of safety devices can be connected (often from a range of suppliers), wiring and troubleshooting are simplified, and more data can be gathered than with hard wiring. The disadvantages are that they are usually slower, carry much less data and cover shorter distances than Ethernet protocols. On the other hand, device connections are physically smaller, much less expensive and do not use up IP addresses, allowing the integration into small, low cost devices including E-stops, safety switches, inductive safety sensors and simple safety light curtains.

Device level Safety Protocol	Device level Standard Protocol	Open or Proprietary	Governing Organization
Safety Over IO-Link/IO-Link Safety*	IO-Link	Semi-open/Open	Balluff/IO-Link Consortium
AS-Interface Safety at Work (ASISafe)	AS-Interface (AS-I)	Open	AS-International
Flexi Loop		Proprietary	Sick GmbH
GuardLink		Proprietary	Rockwell Automation

* Safety Over IO-Link is the first implementation of safety and IO-Link. The specification for IO-Link Safety was released recently and devices are not yet available.

The awareness of, and the need for, device level safety communications will increase with the desire to more tightly integrate safety and standard sensors into control systems. This will be driven by the need to:

Reduce and simplify wiring
Add flexibility to scale up, down or change solutions
Improve troubleshooting
Mix of best-in-class components from a variety of suppliers to optimize solutions
Gather and distribute IIoT data upwards to higher level systems

Many users are realizing that neither an Ethernet-based safety protocol, nor a device level safety protocol can meet all their needs, especially if they are trying to implement a cost-effective, comprehensive safety solution which can also support their IIoT needs. This is where a safety communications master (or bridge) comes in – it can connect a device level safety protocol to a control level safety protocol, allowing low cost sensor connection and data gathering at the device level, and transmission of this data to the higher-level communications and control system.

An example of this architecture is Safety Over IO-Link on PROFISafe/PROFINET. Devices such as safety light curtains, E-stops and safety switches are connected to a “Safety Hub” which has implemented the Safety Over IO-Link protocol. This hub communicates via a “black channel” over a PROFINET/IO-Link Master to a PROFISafe PLC. The safety device connections are very simple and inexpensive (off the shelf cables & standard M12 connectors), and the more expensive (and more capable) Ethernet (PROFINET/PROFISafe) connections are only made where they are needed: at the masters, PLCs and other control level devices. And an added benefit is that standard and safety sensors can both connect through the PROFINET/IO-Link Master, simplifying the device level architecture.

Safety

Combining device level and control level protocols helps users optimize their safety communications solutions, balancing cost, data and speed requirements, and allows IIoT data to be gathered and distributed upwards to control and MES systems.

1 Visual Way to Improve Operator Performace

Many manufacturers I talk to are excited about the possibilities that our new Smart Light technology, used in level mode, brings to their production or machines. Here’s a video if you havent seen it yet:

It works over virtually any industrial network with an open standard called IO-Link, which I’ve discussed many times in previous posts.

What I’m really impressed with is the number of people integrating the level mode as a quick and easy way to give instantaneous feedback to an operator on their performance to a quota or as a count-down timer. Here you can see in the middle of the right photo a bright green bar light just to the left of the red kanban rack. There are multiple of these lights in this image.

This light is a five zone Smart Light operating in level mode. As the cycle time winds down, the light decreases in value until there is no more time, at that point it flashes bright red to notify the operator to cycle to the next vehicle. It keeps the production on track and helps operators know quickly and easily how much time remains. What I’ve been told is nice about this is how bright the light is and that it is easily install-able without a controls cabinet or slice i/o j-box like you can see in the photo. Others like it because it makes the data visual from all over, where HMIs require you to stand right in front of them for information.

So if you are trying to think about ways to visualize data in your process or production to operators or managers, there are many others out there already using Smart Light for that application. Check it out.

Machine Mount I/O: Get out of the Cabinet

In April, Jim Montague of Control Design wrote an interesting article on Machine Mount I/O entitled “Machine-Mount I/O Go Everywhere.” I think the article makes some very good points as to the value of why someone wants to move from inside an enclosure, or controls cabinet, to mounting I/O products directly on the machine.

He summarizes, with the help of a number of industry experts, the below points:

Same or Better control performance out of IP67 products versus IP20 products.
- Installation time alone “is reduced by a factor of 5 to 10”
- Assemble more controls equipment faster with the same people & workspace
Smaller & Simpler components take up less real-estate on the machine
- Smaller Controls cabinets are needed
- Less terminations required 2 versus “4 or more” for one connection
- standard & simple quick disconnect i/o and network cables
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Industrial Network Basics: Simplifying I/O Terminology

There are many terms used for I/O technology in industrial automation: Remote I/O, Distributed I/O, Modular I/O, Expandable I/O, Block I/O, Conventional I/O and the list can go on. What do they all mean? Can they be used interchangeably? What is the difference?

Lets be honest… this is a muddled topic and many people use different things interchangeably. I’ve done a bit of research and reading of automation magazines, forums and websites and have tried to piece it together.

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Where does IO-Link go in 2011?

As I sit and ponder what 2011 will look like, only one thought comes to mind, the endless possibilities of IO-Link.

I have written many entries on IO-Link and as I see it there are much more to come. Why more IO-Link? The answer is simple; we have just scratched the surface of the potential of what an IO-Link system can offer an end-customer or OEM. Let’s talk about a few upcoming milestones in 2011 to look forward to:

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One M12 Port = Endless Possibilities

Paradigm shifts in automation are always occurring. The need for cost savings and higher diagnostics caused the shift from IP20 I/O to IP67 I/O. Now, we are in the midst of a shift to reduce or eliminate enclosures in industrial applications by removing control and power from the cabinet. With the reduction of IP20 I/O and enclosures, adding more I/O (discrete and analog) or specialty devices (RF identification, measurement devices, etc…) is now more difficult. In the past it was relatively easy, but expensive, to add another “slice” of I/O to an existing IP20 solution.

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Get Rid of Remote I/O Cabinets Once and For All

Every time I travel, customers tell me, “we just wire everything into a box.” Every equipment designer goes through a phase of their design process where they need to decide how their I/O gets from their sensors and their valves to their controller. Some people use I/O cards on their PLC, or networks with IP20 solutions inside remote I/O cabinets.

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5 Things You Need to Know about IO-Link

Industrial networks are nothing new; ASi, CANbus, DeviceNet, Profibus (to name a few) have all been around for years. Designers of production equipment use networks for a variety of reasons: simplified machine mount I/O, motor starters, valve bank control, etc. Each network has a limited number of devices that can be connected and each device is designated a node address or IP address. IO-Link takes a standard network and expands it beyond its current capacity through flexibility and expansion.

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