Sercos Presents Industry 4.0-capable Demos

2023 Author: Hannah Pearcy | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 11:39

Decentralized intelligence and self-sufficient behavior, open communication standards and quick connectivity - these are the requirements of Industry 4.0. In the current motion control and motion logic systems for hydraulics, Rexroth has already transferred numerous functions that were previously purely hydromechanically controlled to the software. The peculiarities of fluid technology are automatically balanced. The decentralized controls carry out their tasks independently and communicate with higher-level PLCs via open communication interfaces. This means that users can also use the physical advantages of hydraulics in an Industry 4.0 environment. The new hydraulic demo from Bosch Rexroth, which celebrates its premiere at the Sercos International booth, shows how this works.

Open communication link

The Sercos Soft Master Demo scores with an open communication link "up" and "down". This is based on a Sercos III Softmaster core, which was developed in cooperation with Bosch Rexroth and is made available as open source software.

Thanks to the Sercos III Softmaster, there is no need for a specific Sercos III master module in the form of an FPGA or ASIC. Instead, a standard Ethernet controller is used and the Sercos III hardware functions are emulated in a host-based driver software. This implementation approach ensures sufficient real-time behavior for a large number of applications. If an Ethernet controller with multiple queues and telegram scheduling (such as the Intel I210) is used, even synchronicity and maximum availability can be achieved in the area of a hardware-based master.

Can now be used on industrial PCs

With the Sercos Softmaster, machine builders and control manufacturers can now use an industrial PC without special fieldbus hardware and without PCI slots to control the machine compared to the previously used solution with the hardware-based Sercos Master. By using the Sercos Softmaster in conjunction with the powerful Intel I210, the CPU load is significantly reduced while saving costs and installation space.

The Sercos Softmaster is available as an open source software license for general use in the software pool of Sercos International eV

"Providing a Sercos III Softmaster implementation as open source makes it much easier for manufacturers to develop a Sercos III master and at the same time to participate in future improvements and enhancements to the software," said Peter Lutz, Managing Director of Sercos International. "Control systems can thus be made simpler, more compact and cheaper in the future." (Jv)