Almost a quarter of a million visitors attended the recent Hannover Fair, reinforcing its claims to be the world’s biggest industrial exposition. We sample some of the wares on show.

The Hannover Fair may be heading out of the doldrums. After several years of falling exhibitor and visitor numbers, this year’s event attracted more than 240,000 visitors – an increase of at least 15% on the figure for 2005, when the biennial Motors, Drives and Automation (MDA) show-within-a-show was last held. There were around 6,400 exhibitors this year, compared to 6,090 in 2005. (The importance of the MDA event for Hannover is clear from the fact that last year’s non-MDA show attracted "just" 155,000 visitors and 5,175 exhibitors.)

Probably even more reassuring for the show organisers was the fact that 73,000 of the visitors at this year’s Fair were attending for the first time.

Many observers have been forecasting the demise of the Fair due to a combination of factors including the growing challenge from smaller, specialised events such as Automatica and SPS/IPC/Drives, the downturn in the global economy, and the easy availability of information via the Internet.

But this year’s show may have proved the critics wrong. Part of the resurgence is coming from foreign exhibitors. For the first time in the Fair’s 61-year history, exhibitors from outside Germany accounted for more than half of the 6,400 total. There were 3,222 foreign exhibitors from 61 countries – the largest contingents coming from Italy, China and Turkey (this year’s partner country).

Although there were few breakthrough technologies at this year’s Fair, there were significant innovations in a variety of product areas. This report looks at some of the show`s highlights.

MOTORS

Although the most significant news in the motors field was Siemens’ and SEW Eurodrives’ development of modular designs that allow motor efficiencies to be determined by the choice of rotor, other motor manufacturer have also been busy.

Italy’s Lafert Group, for example, was demonstrating its HP (high performance) range of AC brushless motors which combine permanent magnet rotors with conventional windings to produce a machine that bridges the gap between inverter-driven induction motors and brushless servomotors. The motors, with ratings from 200W–50kW and peak torque levels from 0.1–2,000Nm, are said to be more efficient, quieter and cooler-running than inverter-driven induction motors.

Siemens has merged its SGM series of geared motors with the Motox-N series from its Flender acquisition to create a new family called Flender Motox (shown above) which can be supplied with helical, parallel-shaft or bevel-helical gears in ratings up to 200kW and torque capacities up to 20kNm. The motors, which include energy-saving and explosion-proof variants, are the same size as their predecessors. A modular structure allows brakes, fans and encoders to be added after installation.

Brazilian motor-maker WEG had several new ranges on display at Hannover including: a range of washable (IPW56) motors for food and pharmaceutical applications in ratings from 0.12–37kW; a family of high-efficiency motors (0.37–355kW) designed for extra-long service duties in continuous process applications; a range of motors (0.12–315kW) designed to operate in Zone 21 hazardous environments; and a family of water-cooled motors with single-piece cast-iron bodies, designed for use in applications where noise, space, or aggressive atmospheres could pose problems for conventional machines.

SERVOS AND PRECISION

There was plenty of activity in the precision motion arena. Baumer, for instance, was showing its FlexiDrive range of compact servo drives which provide absolute multi-turn positioning measurement to a resolution of <0.02 degrees. The drives cover ratings from 8–238W in two diameters (42 and 46mm).

Danaher claims that its new CT series of hybrid stepper motors (above) deliver "significantly higher torque" than rival products of a similar size. An aluminium housing dissipates heat well, allowing higher output torques, while improved stator magnets are said to boost torque output by up to 40%. The motors have a step size of 1.8 degrees, and come in NEMA flange sizes 17, 23 and 34.

Danaher was also showing a new digital servo amplifier for output currents up to 24A, which has a built-in Ethernet interface and a slot for a safety expansion card which supports functions such as safely reduced speed and safe operational stop. The Motion S700 amplifier (which is compatible with Danaher’s Servostar S300) has two other slots for fieldbus connections and feedback devices.

Festo launched pair of stepper motors designed to operate synchronously on parallel axes and to provide a low-cost alternative to servo motors. The EMMS-ST motors are designed to be used with a matching closed-loop controller (CMMS-ST) to create a complete, smooth-running drive package that can handle loads up to 6.5Nm.

Lenze has extended the power range of its 9400 servo drives up to 370kW and added support for "safely limited speed" and "safe stop 1 and 2" functions, in accordance with EN 954-1, category 3. Secure two-channel inputs and outputs, and Profisafe, are available to communicate with safety PLCs.

Rockwell Automation was demonstrating its modular Allen-Bradley Kinetix 2000 servo drive (shown above), aimed at applications in the power range 300W–3kW. The drive uses one power rail for both mounting and connecting, while a Sercos fibre optic interface eliminates up to 18 separate wires per axis.

Schneider Electric was emphasising its growing activity in the motion control market with a new controller for up to eight servo axes as part of its Lexium range. The LMC 20 offers a choice of CANopen or Profibus communications and supports IEC 61131-3 programming.

DRIVES

Control Techniques added a new frame size to its Commander SK family of general-purpose drives – including a 7.5kW model which it claims is the world’s smallest, with a footprint of just 110 x 295mm. The Size D drives fit in the middle of the SK’s 0.25–132kW range, spanning ratings from 3kW (single-phase, 200V) up to 7.5kW (three-phase, 400V). Since CT launched the SK family two years ago, it says it has tripled its share of the global market for general-purpose drives. CT also unveiled the 21st in its series of drives option modules – a communication device supporting the LonWorks network used widely in building services applications.

As well as promoting its recent VLT MicroDrive and high-power versions (up to 1.2MW) of its VLT AutomationDrive, Danfoss was also highlighting IP20 versions of the AutomationDrive in ratings from 11–75kW. It claims that these require up to 60% less space than its previous VLT 5000 series. Despite their compact dimensions, the drives accommodate EMC and mains filters, as well as brake modules.

The Swedish drives-maker Emotron used the Hannover Fair as a launchpad for a new range of compact drives (shown above) optimised for applications such as pumps, fans, mixers and cranes. The VSA/VSC drives cover ratings from 0.18–7.5kW and have built-in functions such as: protective starts and stops for pumps; spin start for fans; torque boost for starting and stopping mixers smoothly; over- and under-load monitoring; and low-voltage overrides.

The Welsh drives-maker Invertek was previewing the second generation of its general-purpose Optidrive E range. The E2 drives will span a wider range – with a top rating of 7.5kW, instead of 4kW – and will have a front-panel slot for a memory stick which will allow fast copying of parameters between drives. The E2 will come in one- and three-phase versions, and is expected to cost slightly less than the first-generation devices. It is due to reach the market in October.

KEB revealed its sixth generation of inverters – the Combivert B6 family which, by the end of this year, will cover ratings from 0.37–4kW. The fan-free drives are based on 32-bit microprocessors and offer the choice of traditional analogue/digital I/O or a CAN interface. KEB was also demonstrating a regenerative system designed to operate at three-phase line voltages and provide DC voltages to DC-fed inverters and servo systems.

Rockwell Automation was promoting a new range of liquid-cooled drives which, it claims, are up to 65% smaller than similarly rated air-cooled drives. The Allen-Bradley PowerFlex 700L drives cover ratings from 150–860kW, and use IGBTs instead of diodes in their AC/DC converters, allowing energy to be regenerated and returned to the mains supply. Unlike other liquid-cooled drives, the 700L uses just one input and output for all of the IGBTs, boosting the system’s power density.

Schneider Electric is now offering its Altivar 61 and 71 drives ready-assembled in IP54-protected enclosures in ratings from 90–630kW.

SEW-Eurodrive has adapted the non-stick technology used on pots and pans to develop a permanent coating for its Movifit decentralised drives (above) which prevents dirt sticking to them and allows them to be used in food and pharmaceutical plants. The HygienicPlus option is combined with a smooth IP69K-rated enclosure which resists acid and caustic cleaning agents.

Siemens has added a frequency converter to its modular ET200pro I/O system which, it asserts, offers "unique" encoderless safety functions including "safely switched-off torque", "safely limited speed" and "safe stop 1". The Simatic ET200pro FC also has a "new power infeed concept" said to require about 2% less input current than comparable frequency converters. It cuts reactive power and avoids the need for commutating reactors, brake choppers and brake resistors. And the drive can regenerate power as well.

Siemens has also added an electronic motor starter to the ET200pro family. It sees the starter, which uses power semiconductor switches, as an alternative to star-delta starters or frequency converters, for applications that need frequent motor switching but do not need variable speed or high starting torques.

CONTROLS

Baumüller has expanded its modular system for PLC and motion control tasks with a high-performance 32-bit RISC-based PLC with a cycle time of 25 microseconds per 1,000 lines of STL programming. I/O modules can be connected directly to the PLC without needing bus couplers.

Beckhoff used the Hannover Fair to launch a high-speed control technology which, it claims, is ten times faster than current PC-based technologies and allows cycle times of 100 microseconds without affecting the core performance or the execution of high-performance algorithms. The XFC (eXtreme Fast Control) technology combines an advanced PC, ultra-fast I/O terminals, the EtherCat high-speed Ethernet system and Beckhoff’s TwinCat software. It will "open up new process optimisation functions," the company predicts.

Festo was demonstrating a modular, high-speed, multi-axis robot controller with a contour control function supervising a tripod robot which delivers high dynamics when moving small loads. The CMXR controller is designed to unite mechanical systems with electrical drive and control technologies, to co-ordinate dynamic 3D movements.

Hitachi launched a high-speed PLC system based on a 32-bit RISC processor which takes just 20 nanoseconds to process an instruction. The EH-150 PLC is aimed at applications such as positioning and incorporates Ethernet, USB and serial communications ports.

Kontron was showing a top-hat-rail format industrial PC (above) which is based on a dual-core Intel processor for high-performance applications. The fan-less PC has three LAN interfaces and includes a CompactFlash memory slot for data storage and backups.

On Lenze’s stand, visitors could see a new family of Windows CE-based HMIs with touchscreens ranging in size from 14.5–26.4cm. The low-power, IP65-protected EL 100 HMIs incorporate an SD memory card slot for archiving and for process data.

Mitsubishi Electric and the German process engineering consultancy ProLeiT have teamed up to offer a specialised process control system for the food and beverage sector, based on Mitsubishi’s Melsec System Q controller and ProLeiT’s Plant iT software. They say that the development is a response a growing demand for systems that combine process automation and production data-logging.

Moeller was demonstrating a compact touchscreen device that combines a PLC, visualisation, and programming using CoDeSys software, and allowing direct access to the PLC variables. The IP65-protected MFD4 display has a 14.5cm colour display and Ethernet, CANopen and RS-232 ports.

Rexroth unveiled an open motion control system for complex applications that can control up to 32 electrical and hydraulic axes operating in parallel, in real time. The modular MAC-8 controller communicates with higher levels via Profibus DP or Ethernet, and with the field level via CANbus.

Rockwell was showing a couple of additions to its ControlLogix Programmable Automation Controller (PAC) family, including a fast analogue module with on-board data archiving, designed to reduce the load on the PAC. The module, with four inputs and two outputs, collects and stores 20 samples of data at a time, thus stretching the time between I/O data transfers. The second addition is a Web server module, called Eweb, which brings networking and Web capabilities to applications with fewer than 2,000 I/O nodes.

Siemens’ Simatic Microbox PC 420 industrial PC can now be expanded using I/O modules to provide up to 120 analogue I/Os, 320 digital I/Os and 12 encoder/counter interfaces. This is said to make it particularly suitable for open- or closed-loop real-time applications requiring fast measurements.

Turck announced several additions to its BL20 I/O system (above) for Profibus, CANopen, DeviceNet, Ethernet/IP and Modbus TCP. These include: 12.5mm-wide compact "economy" modules for up to 16 I/O; RFID modules; and motor starter modules that can control motors up to 5kW in direct or reversing modes.

VIPA claims that its Speed7-CPU is the world’s fastest PLC with built-in High-Speed Ethernet-CP 343 ports. The PLC, which is programmed using Siemens’ Step7 instructions, is aimed at time-critical applications. Its memory adapts dynamically to the demands of the application.

SENSORS

Balluff was showing many additions to its sensor portfolio including an incremental magnetic linear encoder system (shown below) which can operate at speeds of up to 10m/s and deliver an accuracy of ±10 microns and a resolution of 1 micron. The BML encoder uses a sensing head that operates up to 2mm away from a magnetically encoded tape.

Balluff also demonstrated a tubular laser sensor with background suppression which, it claims, is the most precise available, and can detect parts as small as 0.1mm – such as wires. The BOS 18M sensor operates over a 30–150mm range.

Baumer claims to have developed the most compact ultrasonic sensors available. Its Sonus devices, which can detect objects regardless of their colour or transparency, measure just 10 x 14 x 27mm and weigh a mere 4g. They have a 200mm scanning range.

From Jumo comes a system for measuring temperatures wirelessly. The Wtrans RF probe has a built-in radio transmitter. The signals are picked up by a matching receiver. The waterproof probe can sense temperatures in the range –30°C to +85°C.

The German encoder manufacturer Kübler was showing a range of single-turn (16-bit, with a total resolution of 32-bit) and multi-turn (up to 12-bit) encoders with EtherCat connections. All of the Sendix encoders’ parameters can be programmed via the bus. Built-in functions include temperature monitoring and recording of operating times.

Leuze electronic launched a new generation of optical laser distance sensors which, it claims, can measure dynamic processes up to five times faster than rival products. The ODS 96B sensors have a measurement range of 60mm-2m, a measurement time of 2ms, an accuracy of around ±1%, and a repeat accuracy of ±0.5%.

Leuze also says it has produced the first area scanning distance sensor to incorporate a Fast Ethernet interface, allowing data to be transmitted at 100Mb/s – about ten times faster than previously possible. The 2D Rod 4plus sensor has a scanning angle of 190 degrees and a range of up to 50m, allowing the widths, contours and positions of objects to be detected.

Omron was demonstrating an easy-to-use laser profile sensor (shown below) which can be set up easily using a built in colour LCD, which avoids the need to use a PC. The ZG sensor has 18 built-in tools for measuring widths, heights, angles and areas automatically. The sample time can be as short as 5ms

Pepperl+Fuchs exhibited a rotary motion standstill monitor with built-in functions for time-limited start-up over-rides and direction monitoring. The monitor, with the snappy name KFD2-SR2-Ex2.W.SM, is a pulse evaluation device, set up using DIP switches.

Rockwell Automation was showing an easy-to-use vision sensor that integrates a camera, optics, lighting, communications and a fail/pass controller in a single compact package. The 48MS MultiSight can handle ten different inspections with ten different regions of interest simultaneously. It has three inspection tools – pattern matching, contrast and brightness – with advanced versions adding contour detection and XY position control.

TEST AND MEASUREMENT

FAG Industrial Services has collaborated with National Instruments to produce an Atex-certified, online plant condition monitoring system that records and analyses data such as vibration and temperature, and uses this to warn of possible failures. The ProCheck system combines NI’s CompactRIO hardware platform with FAG’s Adminstrator software and can be integrated easily with external control systems.

A rather unusual sensing system from ifm electronic evaluates pressure variations in pump installations and compares them to reference values to give an early indication of possible damage caused, for example, by cavitation or trapped air. The efector PIM sensor (shown above) has a built-in display showing trends, and triggers an alarm if a critical point is reached.

Prüftechnik was demonstrating a low-cost wireless condition monitoring system that uses remote sensor-transmitters powered by machine vibrations. The system uses the vibration-powered microgenerator technology developed by the Southampton-based company, Perpetuum.

ELECTRICAL AND SAFETY

Euchner was showing several new safety products at Hannover, including a double-headed safety switch which can protect two doors simultaneously. The Twin switches, available with or without guard locking, are said to cut wiring as well as eliminating the need for an extra switch. Another new arrival was a modular enabling switch that allows extra functions such as LED indicators and key-operated switches to be added, and uses vibrations to tell the operator when the switch is in the enabling position. Finally, Euchner was showing a non-contact switching system that allows up to 20 safety guards to be connected in series.

At Hannover, igus demonstrated its inductive power transmission system first seen in a pre-production form at the SPS/IPC/Drives show last November. The modular invis system can deliver up to 40kVA of power over distances of up to 400m, without making physical contact. The power transmission efficiency is said to be 92–94%. The maintenance-free system is not subject to friction or wear, and can be used in aggressive environments.

Leuze was showing a laser safety scanner with a plug-in memory module that makes it quick and easy to configure a new scanner if the old one needs to be replaced or maintained.

Moeller unveiled a busbar system and a new generation of motor protectors and circuit-breakers, designed for the global market. The SASY 601 busbar uses double T-profile bars to reduce the time and effort needed to prepare contact points. Device adapters can be mounted on different profiles and busbar thicknesses. The 45mm-wide adapters match the width of the motor protectors and contactors. Direct and reversing starters up to 15kW are simply clicked into place on the busbar,

Omron has developed a range of non-contact switches for guard door interlocking with built-in controllers, thus avoiding the cost and space of external controllers. The magnetically coded F3S-TGR-N switches conform to EN 954-1 (up to category 4).

Phoenix Contact was demonstrating a compact power supply with "selective fusebreaking technology" which allows faulty current paths to be switched off selectively, while other parts remain operating. The Quint supply is said to allow six times the rated current to be drawn for 12ms. It also has a "power boost" function that delivers up to 1.5 times the rated current for loads with high start-up currents, such as DC motors.

REO was showing a range of water-cooled components for drives including line reactors, RFI filters, braking resistors and sinusoidal filters. It was also displaying a range of encapsulated filters, said to avoid damage during transport.

The enclosures giant Rittal claims to have developed the world’s first series-produced enclosure cooling systems (above) to use carbon dioxide as its cooling medium. In this application, CO₂ is said to be more environmentally acceptable than alternatives based on CFC refrigerants. Rittal has also produced a pair of wall-mounting enclosure cooling systems (rated at 1 and 1.5kW) that can be used safely in Zone 22 hazardous areas (where explosive dust may be present). Another Rittal innovation is a range of stainless steel enclosures for food industry applications. There are no crevices or outer hinges where bacteria and other micro-organisms could collect.

Rockwell has a new family of coded, non-contact interlock switches which use RFID technology for coding, and an inductive technology for sensing. The IP69-K-protected Allen-Bradley Guardmaster SensaGard switches are available in plastic and stainless steel versions and have typical sensing distances of 15–25mm.

Siemens has fitted a light curtain with a Profisafe interface which can be used to exchange safety-relevant real-time data and diagnostics information with a PLC. The interface supports secure cyclical and acyclical data at speeds of up to 12Mb/s via Profibus DP. The 3SF7844 light curtains meet the Cat 4 requirements of EN 954-1 and come in resolutions of 14, 30 or 50mm, and protective heights of 150mm–3m.

The German safety specialist steute was previewing a coded magnetic sensor (above) which, it believes, will be the world’s smallest. The vibration-resistant HS Si 4 sensor measures just 18 x 28.6 x 8.6mm, and is fitted with a Hall device to give it an unusually long switching range. Steute was also showing a family of compact, ATEX-approved solenoid interlocks for use in applications where there is a risk of gas or dust explosions.

MECHANICAL AND LINEAR

The belt-maker Contitech launched three new Conti Synchroforce timing belts at the Hannover Fair and claims to be the only manufacturer to offer four different compounds on three different sections. The CXP belt, based on a polychloroprene elastomer, uses a new glass fibre tension member and a new fabric to withstand high loads, resist wear and transmit power better. The CXA belt uses a new elastomer and duromer combination to boost belt lives and tear strengths for slow-running drives with high torque loads. The new Extreme belt is aimed at applications with pulsating forces and torques.

Danahaer announced the development of a new ball recirculation mechanism for its Thomson ballscrews which, it says, will result in less wear, smaller torque variations and lower noise levels. The new mechanism will be used initially in ballscrews with rolled screws and screw leads from 5-10mm. The standard precision is 12 microns on a 300mm length.

There were several new energy chains on igus’ Hannover stand. One – the lightweight T3 band chain – is aimed at short-stroke applications with high speeds and acceleration rates, and is said to be almost silent. A second (E4.1) offers a rapid locking device that allows the links to be opened from both sides and closed quickly using a screwdriver. A third is aimed at vertical applications, while a fourth (shown above) is formed from a new material that will not be damaged by hot chips at up to 850°C – they simply bounce off.

The German chain-maker Iwis introduced a range of corrosion-resistant roller chains which, it says, have 50% longer fatigue lives and 30% higher breaking strengths than stainless steel chains, despite being smaller.

Klüber Lubrication has developed a long-life synthetic grease specifically for linear guides, free-wheeling bearings and roller bearings operating at temperatures from –40°C to +140°C. The Klübersynth BN 44-42 grease has a low starting torque and is said to reduce the need for maintenance, even in open bearing applications.

Rexroth has developed a range of high load-capacity feed modules (above) with a low moving mass, which reduces their need for driving power. The VKK modules are said to be particularly suitable for use as vertical axes or actuators in handling applications.

On its large Hannover stand, the Schaeffler Group was showing several advances. For example, it has developed a new range of spherical roller thrust bearings (FAG E1) which, it claims, have lives 170% longer than previously possible, making them "the best performing" bearings of their type on the market. It has also optimised the contact geometry of its cylindrical roller bearings to boost their axial load capacity from 40% to 60% of the radial load. There was also a new range of single-row tapered roller bearings with 70% longer lives and up to 20% higher dynamic load ratings than earlier versions, allowing smaller bearings to be used in many applications.

Schaeffler’s Idam (INA Drives & Mechatronics) subsidiary introduced a family of rotary direct-drive tables with diameters from 160–230mm and peak moments from 8.7–352Nm.

SEW-Eurodrive announced a new range of helical and helical-bevel industrial gearboxes in the torque range 58–175kNm and weighing up to four tonnes. The X-series gears offer two, three or fours stages, and ratios from 1:6.3 to 1:400 (or more than 1:1000 when used with a gearmotor). Extensions to the range are planned.

In another development, SEW has rethought the design of the monorail conveyors that are used widely in the automotive industry. It has come up with a system (shown above) that uses decentralised "intelligence" with distributed drives and communications that move with the conveyor vehicles, allowing them to take on tasks without needing to be under central control. SEW says this approach is more flexible and avoids the need for stationary sensors along the track.

COMMUNICATIONS

Beckhoff has introduced an eight-port probe for analysing industrial (and other) Ethernet installations. The ET2000 probe allows synchronised recording of up to four channels at 10 or 100Mb/s, and time-stamps frames to a resolution of 1ns. The device is designed to be used with PC-based analysis tools to analyse Ethernet traffic and to troubleshoot problems.

On its stand, the EtherCat Technology Group was proudly displaying its latest slave control chip – the ET1100 Asic – which it is hailing as "a major milestone" for the industrial Ethernet bus. The chip has 32 I/O ports and four EtherCat ports and supports flexible topologies, including redundant drop lines.

Euchner has developed a device that acts both as a monitor and as a gateway connecting safe AS-i buses to Profibus. The GMO monitor (shown above) incorporates a display that allows bus diagnoses to be performed in real time without needing a PC. The diagnosis data can be sent to a control system via Profibus. The monitor allows safe connections to be made between two AS-i networks and can be used to create safety groups with different switch-off hierarchies. For example, emergency-stop functions can be grouped on one AS-i circuit and forwarded safely to another circuit.

The Fieldbus Foundation announced the availability of a new chip for H1 (31.25kb/s) applications. The Asic, developed jointly by Softing and Aniotek, provides an alternative to Yamaha’s Find1+ chip.

The Swedish developer HMS Industrial Networks has added an EtherCat module to its Anybus family of embedded communications modules which now supports 18 fieldbuses and four versions of industrial Ethernet. The EtherCat module provides a two-port 100Mb/s interface with RJ-45 connectors and supports installations with a variety of topologies, including trees, daisy-chains and drop lines.

The energy chain specialist igus has expanded its activities to include two forms of wire-free data transmission: one uses Bluetooth or radio transmissions to provide a transmission range of 20m or 1km respectively; the other uses optical fibres to provide an interference-free, higher-capacity link of 500m or more. The radio technologies are suitable for RS-232 and I/O communications, while the fibre system can carry FireWire and USB signals.

MTL Instruments had several new products at Hannover, including a "second generation" fieldbus barrier wiring hub (above) that provides intrinsically safe spur connections to form a non-intrinsically safe trunk for connection to Profibus PA or Foundation Fieldbus (FF) field devices. MTL has also developed a diagnostics module for monitoring the health of FF networks.

From Pepperl+Fuchs comes an intrinsically safe Ethernet isolator which extends Ethernet networks into Zone 1 hazardous areas using conventional 10Mb Ethernet wiring without extra earthing wires. The isolator not only separates the Ethernet network galvanically from a hazardous area, but it also provides intrinsically safe energy limiting to prevent arcing.

Phoenix Contact was promoting a GPRS/GSM modem for transmitting process data via cellular phone networks. It says that the device is particularly suitable for applications where data needs to be acquired continuously, because GPRS transmissions are priced according to the volume of data, not the connection time.

ProSoft Technology was demonstrating a high-speed wireless Profibus DP gateway which can be used to link 12Mb/s Profibus networks. The flexible ProLinx gateway is said to provide secure, reliable wireless transmissions and can provide point-to-multipoint connections.

On its stand, the Sercos International group was demonstrating a software-based Sercos III master that allows automation devices to exchange real-time data with any Sercos III slave using a standard Ethernet controller instead of dedicated Sercos hardware. The system is said to achieve synchronisation accuracies of better than 1 microsecond when used with off-the-shelf PC hardware and a real-time operating system. This makes it fast enough even for challenging motion applications.

Weidmüller has developed a Bluetooth-based wireless communications system for sensors and actuators. The Bluetooth SAI gateway (above) can communicate with up to six slave stations, and acts both as a Profibus DP station and a slave in the Profibus system. The devices can be arranged into up to 31 "piconets", each comprising a gateway and six Bluetooth slaves – a total of 186 Bluetooth modules. The IP67-protected devices have a transmission range of up to 100m.

SOFTWARE

The latest software from Rittal’s Eplan subsidiary reflects the growing convergence of electrical, control and mechanical engineering. The Eplan Electric P8 package gives electrical designers access to 3D mechanical design models and allows electrical components to be allocated to the mechanical parts. The electrical designers can also determine cable lengths on the basis of mechanical 3D models and the system updates itself when the mechanical designers make any changes.

Lenze’s L-Force Engineer engineering environment has now reached version 2.0 which offers more functions and supports more control architectures. It allows users to plan and implement complete automation systems – from distributed drives-based architectures to hierarchical PC-based control systems – in a single environment. Drives-based systems can be designed and commissioned without any programming, using a graphical connections editor.

Mitsubishi announced two low-cost MES (manufacturing execution system) products that allow production data to be exchanged in real time between application and management levels. The MES Interface module for the System Q automation platform, and the MES Interface Function for the GOT1000 series of control terminals, support direct data communications and eliminate the need for conventional gateway computers and their complex programs.

The latest version of Rockwell Software’s RSLogix 5000 integrates drive configuration functions, making it easier to set up and maintain drives in a control system. Version 16 of the software has more than 30 other enhancements designed to simplify programming and configuration and to ease maintenance and troubleshooting of control and information systems. The enhancements include: multi-axis robot controls; user-defined add-on instructions; two new alarm blocks; and an option to create fuzzy logic algorithms.

The next Motors Drives and Automation show at the Hannover Fair takes place in 2009. Next year (21-25 April), the spotlight turns to pipeline, power plant and energy technologies.