In conjunction with Sinamics drives, Simotion is
the scalable motion control system from Siemens for production machines and enables
central machine concepts to be implemented with one central controller and
distributed concepts with distributed intelligence using several controllers. The
user can choose between PC-based, controller-based or drive-based solutions. The system provides
the functionalities of configuring, programming, testing and commissioning of
the application. With its integrated graphics-based programming methods, Scout
particularly facilities system configuring for first-time users.
Interface to the drive
The most significant innovation of version 4.2. of the Simotion
Scout engineering system is the greatly simplified interfacing to the Sinamics drive system.
This feature provides the user with an essentially automated means of
integrating drives and their components into Simotion. Using the new symbolic
assignment of technology objects (TOs) and I/Os to drive objects, the user no
longer has to bother with communicating with message frames and addresses
because the engineering system now takes care of this for him. Object-to-object
assignment takes place by way of a new interconnection dialog. In this dialog,
all the compatible partners are listed hierarchically, and the symbolic
connection of the components to be interconnected takes place by simple
selection. In the dialog area, the Sinamics drives and components and terminal
modules with their corresponding I/Os are available for selection. Only
compatible elements with symbolic identifiers are listed.
Comparison using
graphics-based programming languages
The familiar possibilities of detailed comparison that are provided when
using Structured Text (ST) are now also available in the graphics-based
programming languages ladder logic (LAD), function block diagram (FBD) and Motion
Control Chart (MCC). The new function enables graphic comparisons of programs and
shows you at a glance which structures and commands are identical and which
ones are different by displaying them in different colors. The system displays
identical places in the programs at the same level in order to provide maximum
clarity. Individual program parts or commands can now be easily transferred to
a reference project using this detailed comparison option. This option can also
be used for other project configurations, such as I/Os, TO interconnections, TO
alarms and CPU settings, in order to obtain an overall, detailed device
comparison and to be able to align the differences. The merging of programs can
also be carried out easily.
System trace via
networked Simotion controllers
An important innovation for analyzing or optimizing a system is the new
system trace feature, which enables up to 128 signals from several Simotion
controllers that are interlinked via Profinet to be traced synchronously. Here,
the same trigger criteria are available as are used for tracing individual
devices, for instance, overshooting of a specific tag threshold value. This is
detected on a CPU and then tracing begins on all the configured devices. The
data can then be analyzed graphically, enabling optimizations to be derived or
malfunctions to be located quickly. This is of particular importance in the
case of complex plants such as printing machines with several modular
controllers and cross-device synchronous operation as it shortens the required
commissioning time and service callout times considerably.
Sizer software is an engineering tool for planning drive applications
The new
Version 3.4 of the
Sizer engineering software can be planned
with Sinamics Micromaster, Dynavert T and motor starter devices as well
as Sinumerik, Simotion.
Sizer software offers a load-dependent energy
consumption calculation and adrive conversion program for automatically
generating energy-saving drive variants.
The
energy analysis takes into account components such as the motor, power module,
converter, line reactor, input reactor and output reactor as well as active
interface modules. For the energy needs of the mechanical system the power required at the device is taken into
account. Friction and degrees of efficiency of the mechanics are included here.
For the motors load-dependent
losses, such as copper and iron losses and losses due to friction and
harmonics, are taken into account. For the power components current-dependent losses, such as conduction and
switching losses, are considered. A power-dependent loss due to the output
reactive power is also important and load-independent constant losses are
included in the calculation. The total balance at an arbitrary operating point is the sum of the
individual power losses at the respective operating point.
The
Sizer function for drive conversion can be used to
generate alternative drive systems with a more favorable energy balance from a
previously engineered drive system. On this basis a decision to select the most
efficient system can be made.
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