SPONSORED FEATURE
Vario-X: The days of the control
cabinet are numbered Murrelektronik is expanding its business model and with Vario-X offers the first completely decentralised automation platform that brings devices into the field without control cabinets. Vario-X combined with a digital twin saves time and money in all project phases: planning, installation, operation and service
G
rowing digitalisation, shorter development cycles, increasing customer requirements and a shortage of skilled workers
– the world of automation is changing at breakneck speed. Murrelektronik has the answer to all these requirements. It presents Vario-X – a modular, highly- fl exible automation platform that allows all automation functions to be implemented completely decentrally (i.e., without a control cabinet) for the fi rst time. Vario-X brings sensors and actuators directly into the control environment and ensures reliable voltage, signal, data management and the seamless integration of decentralised servo drives. At the heart of Vario-X are robust, IP67-rated waterproof and dustproof modules, which include power supplies, controls, disconnect switches, safety technology and I/O connections. They can be easily assembled side by side on a rugged backplane with integrated mechanical mounting profi les. Once assembled, the Vario-X solution can easily be attached to all common mounting systems without further protection and is rugged enough to be stepped on without damage. Equipped with a multicore CPU, Vario-X can meet all control requirements and easily be integrated into all higher-level industrial Ethernet networks as an open control platform.
100% cabinet-free automation – 40% faster installation
The installation and cabling of devices are plug-and-play with standard M12 and MQ15 connectors, eliminating wiring errors and reducing assembly time. This also eliminates expensive and time-consuming installation work in the control cabinet like populating components, stripping and landing wires, labelling and grounding individual components. To extend the modular concept for your machine control, additional stations can easily be distributed around the machine and connected to each other, like adding an additional power supply to support localised servo motors. Likewise, remote IO modules can be connected directly to
28 March 2022 | Automation
Vario-X to process and control sensors and actuators without a backplane or cabinet I/O. This limits control hardware variants and vastly streamlines the cable architecture. “Vario-X off ers 100% decentralised, cabinet-free automation,” says Olaf Prein, Head of Global Business Unit Automation at Murrelektronik. “Our automation platform ensures modular and transparent processes, higher added value in all areas of your company and, consequently, more competitiveness and profi tability in machine and plant engineering. Thanks to the integrated installation concept alone, Vario-X shortens a machine installation by around 40%.”
Turning off the air in production Vario-X is driving forward the electrifi cation of manufacturing processes and off ers a much more effi cient alternative to pneumatics. With an effi ciency of only 10-20%, far too much energy is wasted by using compressed air as an energy source, due to countless leaks in the system and ineffi cient actuators. Replacing pneumatics with electrics – swapping an air cylinder with a servo motor – brings advantages to all those involved: the engineer who can reduce the ineffi cient, low-resolution and relatively expensive pneumatics in his machine, the production planner who can focus on one physical energy source – electricity, the employees who can fi nally operate in a noticeably quieter work environment and by reducing energy use to help our planet.
Digital twin for planning, installation, operation and service Vario-X is not only a collection of backplanes, modules, cables and I/O. A system automated with Vario-X has a digital twin right from the start: a portable 1:1 image of the virtual system that contains all the functions and parameters of the physical system – even in the design phase, before even the fi rst mechanical
component has been ordered or assembled. For this purpose, Murrelektronik creates a kinematic of machines and systems in a unique software, where movements and processes can be simulated. With the digital twin, the same virtual kinematic is then run to control the real machine. The digital system can also be “placed” directly into the manufacturing process with augmented reality (AR) on a mobile phone or tablet, so that all movement sequences and functions can be viewed virtually while assembling the machine or in production. “All this reduces the assembly and commissioning time many times over, because many problems that are discovered during assembly do not even occur,” Prein summarises the advantages of the digital twin. In addition, assemblers can use the digital twin as a ‘3D blueprint’, for example via augmented reality app or virtual reality glasses. This often works much faster than understanding a plan drawn in 2D. “With Vario-X, we are providing the answer to the pressing questions and challenges of production, plant and installation planning in automation technology,” concludes Prein. “Vario-X helps to avoid silo-driven planning and to break up static planning processes. In addition to the agile development processes, this consistent focus on customer needs has made a decisive contribution to the development of Vario-X.”
CONTACT:
Murrelektronik
www.murrelektronik.co.uk; 0161 728 3133
automationmagazine.co.uk
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