Baldor is launching an innovative way to implement machinery and motion control systems using the industry-standard Ethernet Powerlink protocol.
Consisting of servo motor drives, a full-function machine controller that will also manage over 200 axes of motion, and a license-free software environment, the range provides machine builders with a platform to enable radical progress to be made.
Among a very broad range of gains made possible by this new Ethernet-friendly machine control architecture are the means to provide end users with machinery that will link seamlessly into local and wide area networks, and simpler system building and commissioning. These are complemented by the possibility of making major hardware bill-of-materials savings from reduced wiring, the ability to use a single controller for almost every application - even those requiring very large numbers of motion axes the freedom to choose the most economic hardware from an open marketplace, and the elimination of software license fees for systems.
The software benefits stem from Baldor's Mint language which provides systems builders with a programming environment that can truly exploit the new wave of Ethernet-compatible machine control hardware. Offering comprehensive facilities for machine control combined with an incredibly rich language for implementing motion that incorporates over 100 man-years of code development, Mint comes free with all Baldor Nextmove controllers and includes its own license-free multi-tasking real-time operating system, as well as programming support for use with Windows hosts and the C language in embedded form.
At the heart of Baldor's new offering is the new Nextmove e100 control platform. This compact panel-mounting box offers a real-time core that can control over 200 Ethernet Powerlink devices such as drives, encoders, I/O and gateways up to 16 of which can be interpolated axes and also an extensive complement of general machine control and connectivity features.
These include onboard analogue and digital I/O and a USB port for simple connection to PC hosts with free ActiveX support tools.
The controller additionally includes support for three traditional analogue-controlled servo axes and four stepper or open-loop axes for maximum system design flexibility, giving OEMs the freedom to remain with conventional control technology if Ethernet is not yet available.
There is also a Canopen interface to provide a low-cost means of adding local or remote I/O or other components into the machine control system; this is supported by the decision of the Ethernet Powerlink group to use Canopen device profiles. Users have the option of controlling any loosely coordinated axes using the Cia DS402 positioning drive profile.
For more information, visit www.baldoreurope.com/epl
