From the end of the 20th century to today, industrial automation technology has received unprecedented attention and development. From the processor, input and output devices, fieldbus, industrial Ethernet, system software, inverters, sensors and implementing components and other automation components have all developed rapidly. This also lays the foundation for a high degree of integration of various automation systems. In the highly developed world of science and technology, the future manufacturing industry will develop in the direction of globalization, flexible production, high efficiency, and high integration. This requires that automation not only focuses on the control of the production process itself, but also the entire supply chain. The whole process of all applications such as order generation, raw material supply, planned production scheduling, material tracking, safety production, quality monitoring, and logistics transportation. This process is associated with a variety of control applications. Integrating all applications into a single system requires the seamless connection and interaction of many possible different control processes, and the integration and integration of information and control systems. PAC (Programmable Automation Controller) is the best solution in such a technical and application requirements environment.
A controller, a variety of control methods
The challenge for the control system platform is the integration of a variety of control functions across the entire plant level, and how to integrate information system applications and communications on the control platform. The powerful flexible expansion capability and system reusability are also important features of the PAC. The revolutionary Rockwell Automation PAC control platform perfectly represents today's full range of automated production. (Figure 2)
Figure 1 Production Supply Chain
Figure II
In modern manufacturing plants, there is seldom a single control, usually a collection of two or more controls in the control processes of logic control, process control, motion control, transmission control, safety control, and batch processing. In the past, this kind of multi-application factory required multiple controllers to support PLC control logic, servo controller motion control, DCS process control and so on. This means that the entire automation plant needs a lot of systems to complete. They may be completely independent. The chaining between systems requires a lot of time and workload. It takes a lot of time to write different interface programs, more training, and more. More maintenance engineers, more spare parts. The PAC now represented by Rockwell Automation PAC can integrate all the above-mentioned control functions on a control platform (as shown in Figure 3), which will bring huge value to manufacturers and make them available through reusable programming. The implementation of the project is more rapid, reducing additional hardware, additional interface programs, reducing maintenance costs, and reducing spare parts. In terms of use, the PAC programming environment is unique among similar products. A unified programming environment enables simultaneous programming and configuration of these types of controls. This truly achieves the purpose of multiple controls for a single platform. Really achieves transparent coordination between different controls. The Rockwell Automation RSLogix 5000 motion control instructions, process control instructions and batch control instructions are all essential features of a true PAC. In addition, the tag programming of the PAC and the global tag call are Rockwell Automation's proprietary leading advantages. This further integrates the man-machine interface and the frequency converter from the software side, making it the most flexible and highly integrated type of control on the market. PAC.
Figure 3
Single open network
According to different control requirements, there will always be multiple bus networks coexisting in a modern factory. The interconnection between the networks, the transmission of information, how to achieve a seamless connection is the key. Rockwell Automation uses open standard Industrial Ethernet (EtherNet/IP), ControlNet, and DeviceNet to use the same application layer protocol (CIP), eliminating the need to transfer data between networks. Programming, a truly seamless connection (Figure 4). With the steady development of industrial Ethernet (EtherNet/IP), substantial progress has been made in various aspects such as communication efficiency, security, synchronization, and multimedia data transmission. Enables the use of industrial Ethernet (EtherNet/IP) at the control and device level. Rockwell Automation and Cisco developed a corporate network reference architecture (Reference Architecture), co-branded Stratix 8000 industrial switches and other products that enable companies to seamlessly connect information systems, integrated architecture PAC control platforms, and device layer actuators. Form a complete enterprise information production control and execution system.
Figure 4
Controller platform plasticity
Rockwell Automation mentioned various controller types on the PAC control platform (Figure 5), ControlLogix for large systems, CompactLogix for OEM users, DriveLogix for drive control, IPC-based SoftLogix, for The same control kernel and unified programming configuration development platform (Figure 6) are applied to GuardLogix for security control, which makes the project's migration and reuse become very simple and convenient.
Figure five
Figure 6
Future PAC Development
The controller evolved from a relay version that initially allowed the machine to operate automatically, to today's PAC controllers based on a variety of control methods and functions of tags. Now it is not only the control of the machine production process but also the entire business process. When connecting to the enterprise intelligent ERP system through industrial Ethernet EtherNet/IP, PAC can provide important production information related to production managers such as the production of production lines or equipment, production efficiency, machine utilization, and other data to help managers rationally analyze and effectively organize Production, these data are the informatization requirements for today's global companies to enhance their competitiveness.
At the same time, the PAC control platform has been developing to more effective and more complete functions. It has more powerful processing capabilities, storage capabilities, Web-Base capabilities, and a single network communication capability. On the one hand, it perfects its various proprietary functions under these various control methods. On the other hand, as a controller with information-enabled interface capabilities, it will also evolve with the evolution and development of enterprise information systems. This will ultimately serve the business development and informationization of the company. A modern automation revolution brought about by PAC has begun quietly and is moving in the direction of its infinite future. In this revolution, Rockwell Automation, with more than 100 years of automation experience and technology accumulation, is leading the development trend of PAC.