Bosch Rexroth AG (Germany) - With the new Sercos-Master-Module SERCANS from Rexroth, an Ethernet cable is enough for the entire real-time, non-real-time and safety communication.

Parallel communication of Sercos, EtherNet/IP, TCP/IP and safety:
With the new Sercos-Master-Module SERCANS from Rexroth, an Ethernet cable is enough for the entire real-time, non-real-time and safety communication. Engineers now have the possibility to combine any devices of different manufacturers with one another that support Sercos, EtherNet/IP or TCP/IP. This PC plug-in card simplifies the automation of individual machine modules as well as of entire machines.

More and more often, real-time coordinated movements increase the productivity of machines and systems. At the same time, the processes need the evaluation of numerous data from the peripherals. The integration of scale transmitters, camera systems and a large number of other sensors has required an additional communication cable so far. If safety control is still necessary then, machine manufacturers often have to install and commission a third bus line. With the latest firmware version, SERCANS reduces this effort to one single Ethernet cable for the entire communication.

The PC plug-in card is prepared for the dual master operation. This allows the mixed and direct operation of Ethernet/IP-, TCP/IP- and Sercos devices without additional hardware. The Sercos communication provides sufficient bandwidth for the parallel information exchange of real-time and non-real-time data. Every SERCANS master module with PCI-/PCI Express interface connects up to 128 Sercos participants with one another. Per PC, the combination of up to four Sercos masters is possible. This increases the number of participants up to 512 with Sercos interface.

The direct cross-communication between the peripheral devices increases productivity and shortens cycle times, because it provides a very fast axis coupling and I/O communication. A new wizard simplifies the engineering of the cross-communication. The structured memory interface clearly manages cycle, system and diagnose data; configuration data for HMI and motion logic as well as standard Ethernet data. Even before a Sercos III communication has been initiated by the master, the network participants can already exchange data via TCP/IP, EtherNet/IP and the S/IP protocol specified by Sercos. In addition, Sercos supports the hot plugging of participants.

In addition, the Ethernet cable transfers safety signals via CIP Safety on Sercos. The protocol was defined by Sercos in cooperation with the ODVA and is certified according to IEC 61508 to SIL3. An additional wiring for a safety bus is eliminated, because these signals are transferred along with the real-time data of the Sercos network. For example, the safety control SafeLogic compact from Rexroth takes over the monitoring of more than 400 drives with their certified safety functions in the application of SERCANS via the Ethernet cable.

SERCANS simplifies the realization of mixed infrastructures in machine tools as well as in food and pharmaceutical production, the packaging industry or assembly and handling technology.