The SPS/IPC/Drives Show was bigger than ever with an additional hall added to the floor plan.  Our report begins with a photo gallery of the PI Stand and continues with a highlight of the stand’s focal point – a machine to fold and launch paper airplanes.  A look around the fair showcases PI members’ stands and features photos and videos.  This report concludes with all the numbers (size, visitors, exhibitors, and the like).

PI Stand

PROFINET, PROFIBUS, IO-Link, PROFIsafe, and PROFIenergy were featured on the PI stand along with a combined PROFINET and PROFIBUS application wall for process.

This photo gallery will give you some idea of the scale of the stand (click to enlarge and start slideshow):

Experience the PI Stand via video:

PROFINET for Machine Builders

Machine builders have long been using PROFINET. At the SPS Fair this year they were celebrated with a machine to print, build, and launch paper airplanes.

Like many real production machines, this one had multiple modules. The three interdependent modules communicated over PROFINET. And each module was controlled by PROFINET. Twelve vendors contributed PROFINET and IO-Link products to the project which was a Masters project for a student team at the technical university of Darmstadt. Student Daniel Freund was onsite to supervise the machine operation. He provided some background on the project. Many months of effort were expended by the three designers and four builders.

Here’s a two-minute video look at the controls and the operation:

Of course, it’s not just paper airplanes that PROFINET helps build. Read the app story of the machine builder that helps Boeing build the 787 Dreamliner.

Around the Fair

Siemens and Phoenix Contact produced videos from the fair:

The Numbers: The PI Stand

The stand covered 321 square meters (3,455 sq. ft.) with

• 100 co-exhibitors
• 120 PROFINET devices
• 50 PROFIBUS PA devices
• 140 IO-Link devices
• 13 PROFIsafe devices
• 150 staff for the stand

The Numbers: The Fair

The fair was larger this year in terms of area:

• Exhibition space 117,800 square meters (over a million and a quarter square feet in 11 sprawling buildings)
• Exhibitors 1,602 (one third from outside Germany)
• Visitors 56,787 (down about 4,000 from 2013)

 

The PROFIblog features the news above plus some additional background and photos.