Drive connection in accordance with PROFIdrive application class AC1 is suitable for standard drives for simple tasks, such as controlling pumps. With AC3, the drive controller provides the controller with simple drive-based positioning. “Because control and positioning are decentralized in the drives in drive-based applications, all the motion calculation and execution also takes place there,” explains Heiko Berner, System Coordinator from System Support at STOBER. “The set values for position and velocity are converted into movements accurately and precisely.” However, application classes AC1 and AC3 reach their limits when set values for several axes have to be transmitted synchronously, such as for servo drives in machine tools and robots.
In order to implement these complex motion control tasks, the drive specialist now supports the AC4 application class. It is suitable for controller-based positioning with synchronized, cyclical set value specification for motion control drives with central, higher-level intelligence and a patented “Dynamic Servo Control” position control concept.
“We can integrate our drives seamlessly into the Siemens Motion world,” explains expert Berner. Mechanical components such as speed and positioning axes, measuring gauges, cams or cam disks as well as cyclical communication are mapped there and translated to match the drive. STOBER has equipped its SC6 and SI6 series drive controllers in such a way that they can be easily combined with Siemens controllers. They are networked via either PROFINET RT (Real-Time – AC1, AC3) or PROFINET IRT (Isochronous Real-Time – AC4). The user simply integrates the drive controllers into the Siemens environment via the standardized interfaces in the Siemens TIA portal.
“The STOBER drive controllers can also be simulated without the use of corresponding hardware,” explains Berner. “At SPS 2023 in Nuremberg, we will use a digital twin to demonstrate this and thus our full connectivity to Siemens Motion solutions.” The trade fair model includes various components from the drive specialist, such as helical bevel and planetary geared motors as a one-cable solution with hybrid cable connection to the SC6 and SI6 series drive controllers. Siemens supplied the necessary software for the provision of CAD data and for the actual simulation, which is shown in a separate display.