COVER STORY
Driving fl exibility, productivity and
sustainability in smart manufacturing Maurice O’Brien, Strategic Marketing Manager, Analog Devices discusses intelligent motion control solutions
I
ntelligent motion control is the core building block of smart manufacturing, enabling highly fl exible and effi cient manufacturing.
It combines precision feedback, advanced sensing, high-performance control and seamless connectivity to deliver deterministic motion solutions. Smart manufacturing using intelligent motion control can be reconfi gured quickly to support more agile and scaleable manufacturing, even for minimal volumes. In addition, less energy is consumed leading to more sustainable operations. Today, there are four key drivers accelerating intelligent motion control growth: reduced energy consumption, agile production, digital transformation and the move to new service-based business models for reduced downtime and increased asset utilisation in smart manufacturing. Intelligent motion solutions will continue to deliver signifi cant reductions in energy consumption by moving more applications from fi xed-speed to high-effi ciency motors and variable speed drives, in part driven by energy effi ciency regulations. Agile production has also become a must, with consumer demand and their changing behaviour imposing new practices in manufacturing, such
as reconfi gurable production lines, customisation and fast turnaround times. Agile manufacturing goes hand in hand with digital transformation, expected to reach $6.8 trillion by 2023. Variable speed drives and servo drives use data from voltages, currents, position, temperature, power, energy consumption, combined with external sensors for monitoring vibration and other process variables. With a converged information technology/ operating technology (IT/OT) Ethernet network, motion applications are networked together communicating data and insights. Motion data and insights are now more accessible and can be analysed by powerful cloud computing and AI to optimise manufacturing fl ows and monitor the current state of health of assets across the entire installation; see Figure 1.
Motion control evolution Motion control has evolved over time, from simple grid-connected motors to complex multi-axis servo drive solutions for machine tools and industrial robots. The basic types are based on a grid-connected or AC-powered, 3-phase fi xed speed motor that uses a switchgear to provide on/off control and protection circuitry. These run at a relatively fi xed speed, independent of
any load variation. A reduction in output is implemented with mechanical control: throttles, dampers, gears or valves, pumps and fans are some typical asset examples. Adding a rectifi er, DC bus and a 3-phase inverter stage creates a variable frequency and variable voltage source used to enable motor variable speed control, signifi cantly reducing energy consumption by running the motor at optimum speed. Examples include higher effi ciency pumps and fans. For higher performance motion control applications, a variable speed drive enables accurate torque, velocity and position control. It is achieved by adding current and position measurement into the basic open-loop inverter drive. Examples include conveyors, winding, printing and extrusion machinery. Synchronised, multi-axis servo-driven systems are used in more complex motion applications. Machine tools and CNC machines require synchronisation of multiple axes, with extremely accurate position feedback. In CNC machining, 5-axis coordination is common, although there are applications that use up to 12 axes. Modern industrial robots require multi-
axis servo drives combined with mechanical integration and advanced machine control algorithms to achieve complex 3D spatial
Figure 1: Digital transformation enabled by seamless Industrial Ethernet connectivity
8 February 2022 | Automation
automationmagazine.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50
