Today's Automation News Headlines from Automation.com

October 4, 2011 - Siemens Industry announced Simotion D445-2 multi-axis controllers, with features such as onboard Profinet interfaces and high-speed I/O. A single controller can support up to 128 axes of motion.

Simotion D motion control systems are the ideal solution for production machines covering all levels of performance — from simple single-axis positioning tasks to complex synchronous applications — with extremely short cycle times on a large numbers of axes.  Thanks to its scalability, Simotion D offers users a high degree of flexibility for the ever-changing demands on machine automation.  The Simotion D drive-based multi-axis control system not only offers PLC, motion control and advanced technology functions, but also an integrated drive control based upon Siemens Sinamics S120 drives.

With the Simotion D445-2 DP/PN and D455-2 DP/PN versions, the performance range has been extended even higher.  Compared to the previous generation, the maximum quantity has been doubled to 128 axes and the memory capacity significantly expanded.  This has increased the PLC and motion control performance by a factor of three.  With Simotion D445-2 DP/PN and D455-2 DP/PN, the previously optional Profinet I/O interface has now been integrated on the modules as standard. This frees up the option slot for other expansion cards.  The onboard interface is equipped with an integrated three-port switch and facilitates different network topologies such as line, star or tree structures, without the need for additional external switches.  The interface not only supports real-time (RT), but also isochronous real-time (IRT) data exchange and can be operated as a controller and / or device of another controller.  

In addition to the Profinet interface, Simotion D445-2 DP/PN and D455-2 DP/PN also have two Profibus and two Ethernet interfaces, as well as 28 digital I/Os, of which 16 can be used for technology tasks such as output cams and measuring inputs with micro-second resolution.

Siemens Industry, Inc. is the U.S. affiliate of Siemens’ global Industry Sector business—the world’s leading supplier of production, transportation and building technology solutions. The company’s integrated hardware and software technologies enable comprehensive industry-specific solutions for industrial and infrastructure providers to increase their productivity, sustainability and profitability. The Industry Sector includes six divisions: Building Technologies, Industry Automation, Industry Solutions, Mobility, Drive Technologies and Osram Sylvania. With nearly 204,000 Siemens Industry Sector employees worldwide, the Industry Sector posted a worldwide profit of $4.7 billion on revenues of $47.3 billion in fiscal 2010.