As the growth of PROFINET continues, new customer requirements for additional Asset Management functions have been incorporated. Added is the ability to record assets to make maintenance and operation easier despite increasing complexity of processes and related machines.
In the early days of Ethernet, collisions on the network prevented its use in deterministic industrial applications. If two stations tried to transmit at the same time, a collision would result. The collision was detected and each station “backed off” a random time and tried again. This approach was fine for web browsing and email but prevented determinism. The advent of switched Ethernet networks did away will collisions allowing Ethernet to be applied in industrial automation where determinism was a must.
In response to exponential market demand, the annual production capacity at the ArcelorMittal site in Fos-sur-Mer, France, is due to rise from 4.6 to 5.3 million tons of steel. One of the key projects designed to help meet this objective was the refurbishment of blast furnace number 1 based on PROFIBUS.
Did you know that IO-Link does away with the great variety of signals and interfaces on the sensor/actuator level once and for all? Naturally, sensors and actuators covering a wide range of complexity and characteristics were produced in the past, when there was no standard for an interface with communications capability. Today, IO-Link bundles up this variety and simplifies the last meter of the sensor-actuator level. The reason is that IO-Link needs nothing more than an M12 plug connection and a standard 3- or 5-wire sensor cable.
This month there is news from PI UK, PI Germany, PI South Africa, and PI Australia. PI UK is supporting UK’s first Industry 4.0 Summit and reports on their recent Manchester seminar. PI Germany celebrates well-attended seminars in 2016 and looks forward to 2017. PI South Africa announces a new PI Training Center. PI Australia in cooperation with University of Technology, Sydney announces a seminar introducing Industry 4.0.
As the popular saying goes, paths are made by being walked. In this sense, PROFINET has clearly shown that a technology can outgrow its expectations and blaze new trails as a pioneer. When an Ethernet-based communication system was first being considered 16 years ago, no-one had any idea that this technology would be a "door opener" to totally new areas of use, in this case, Industrie 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things applications.
PROFINET, PROFIBUS, and IO-Link will be on display at the SPS/IPC/Drives Show in Nuremberg this month. Find the PI booth at the entrance to Hall 2 in stands 220 and 221. The 3,500 sq. ft. booth is themed “PROFINET – the Backbone for Industrie 4.0.”
At a joint symposium, PROFIBUS & PROFINET International (PI) and NAMUR e.V. discussed the use of Ethernet in the process industry. The goal of the event was to evaluate, coordinate and prioritize the requirements placed on an Ethernet communication system for process automation.
