May 18, 2009 - Copley Controls added EtherCAT connectivity to the Accelnet servo drive. Based on FPGA technology, Copley engineers leveraged the inherent flexibility of FPGAs to implement a cost-effective EtherCAT interface as well as significantly expand motor feedback and input/output options. Encoder interfaces include EnDat, Hiperface and BiSS.Available in six current ratings, the compact Accelnet drives a wide range of brushless and brush motors. Several DC supply options are available in the 20~180 V range.
The drives are panel mounted and fully connectorized. As well as operating as an EtherCAT slave, the drive incorporates a range of control modes including camming, gearing and a fully programmable indexer. Copley supports Accelnet with comprehensive software tools that capitalize on the CANopen device profile of EtherCAT. All network management is taken care of automatically by a few simple commands linked into the user’s C++ application program.
Code developed for a CANopen system can easily be ported to an EtherCAT implementation.As well as network control software tools, Copley provides CME 2 - a highly intuitive Java-based drive configuration environment. Auto-tuning, advanced oscilloscope capability and comprehensive diagnostics make system commissioning fast and simple.