Machine modularization is imperative for economic efficiency. It calls for a decentralized architecture of automation solutions. Control and drive components therefore frequently need to be installed on moving machine parts, and occasionally on rotating parts. Their power and data supply relies on slip rings.

At the Nuremberg SPS/IPC/DRIVES show, the Ethernet POWERLINK Stand-ardization Group (EPSG) exhibited an assembly with ACOPOSmulti65 drives on a rotating machine part. With a Cobham slip ring, connectivity of the 24 V power supply and the 750 VDC DC bus as well as the control data was accom-plished using POWERLINK and openSAFETY.

As a first in industrial applications, data at a rate of 100 Mbit/s and the DC bus voltage were simultaneously transferred via the slip ring. "Our engineers were impressed with the stability and EMC compliance of the POWERLINK protocol," stated Martial Favrat, Head of the Engineering Department and Product Quality Manager at the slip ring manufacturer, Cobham. "We performed comprehensive tests so we can guarantee the transmission quality of our slip rings." POWERLINK uses individual frames, so data transfer reliability is naturally higher than that of protocols using summation frames.

POWERLINK and openSAFETY keep the automation world turning with series production applications using slip ring data transfer for drive and safety technology already implemented by B&R.

Source: Bernecker + Rainer Industrie Elektronik Ges.m.b.H.