An easier route to multi-axis drive control

Third Quarter 2006 Electrical switching & drive systems & components

Multi-axis drive applications like transfer lines or web processes usually require some form of special interface between the host controller and the various drive elements of the machine. This can involve the purchase of expensive secondary hardware or alternately, the embedding of special control functions within each drive in the form of bespoke software. In both cases, the additional systems integration tasks add cost and time to the project.

Some recent drives and drives control product developments from KEB could make life easier for machine control systems integrators. The company has recently come up with an effective alternative approach to this problem in the form of its Combicontrol C5 module, which can be interposed between controllers such as PLCs or industrial PCs, and the motor drives themselves. It is primarily designed to interface controllers to KEB's Combivert F5 series of AC motor drives, and is freely programmable using the company's CoDeSys IEC 61131-3 compliant software. In some cases, the Combicontrol C5 module can replace a PLC in a decentralised control application.

With a 32-bit microcontroller at its centre, the Combicontrol C5 offers a host of communications options, including drive bus connections for up to eight separate axes, Ethernet for parameterisation and visualisation, CANopen and Profibus fieldbus connectivity, and eight digital inputs and outputs. The unit mounts on a standard 35 mm top-hat rail.

KEB's latest offering in the Combivert F5 series of drives is the Version SCL (sensorless closed loop) option, which is available across the power range, 0,75 to 630 kW. Working on the principle of real field orientation without encoder feedback, this drive package could save unnecessary investment in motor-mounted encoders, the additional cabling required to route encoder signals back to the drive and the cost of a drive encoder interface. Combivert F5 SCL can presently be used in conjunction with servomotors, spindle motors and torque motors, with linear and asynchronous motor operation promised in the not-too-distant future.

For more information contact PECS, +27 (0) 11 907 1910.

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