Machine Automation has become a significant feature for many processes and plants in recent years with simple applications such as conveyor control or more complex applications such as robotic arms and manufacturing cells becoming more common.

Whether you are in manufacturing, assembly, test and measurement, packaging, or distribution industries, Motion Control will become more important to help maintain market share and increase profitability against ever increasing competition.

Motion Control installations fall in to two main categories, Centralised or Distributed. Traditionally, Motion Control applications are designed using a centralised design topology with all the motion control hardware contained in a single computer controlling the process and the user interface.

Major disadvantages of this architecture include:
Reliability. All the hardware is in a single computer which controls all processes, so any problems can cause a complete failure of the system.

Wiring. All the wiring needs to be brought back to the computer which can result in a high density mixed signal cable loom and limits the maximum distance between the controller and the motors.

Location. To accommodate the size of the computer, there may not be sufficient space in the best position for the machine compromising the overall design and system efficiency.

Distributed systems for Motion Control solve all these problems with dedicated modules in a Master/Slave configuration connected by a high speed serial bus and using the ADAM 5550KW for overall control and system management.

Utilising the ADAM 5550KW gives you a compact, cost effective, and embedded host for the Master control modules. It runs in a real-time and deterministic manner with software dedicated to motion control applications.

Functionality in this architecture is not compromised since each port on a Master addresses up to 64 motion axis or 2048 digital I/O points on the slaves at 20Mbps. The Master optimises the system further by automatically reading the I/O status of the Slaves which allows the controlling software to read the status of the I/O points by simply reading the memory of the Master as opposed to checking each I/O point itself.

All the standard functions you would expect such as multi axis control, 2 axis circular interpolation, and 2~4 axis linear interpolation are available and these are enhanced with advanced features such as:

• Encoder Channels
• Home Input Channels
• Emergency Stop Inputs
• Position Compare Events
• Slow Down Limit Switches.

Wiring. Cabling is simplified with a single twisted pair of industry standard Cat5 cable connecting the Master to the Slaves on a dedicated data network.

Location. With a cable run of up to 100 metres, slave locations can be optimised and mounted adjacent to the motor drives and sensors, simplifying their wiring and allowing easy segregation of signal types.

All these features make the ADAM-5550KW a logical choice for modern Motion Control applications and with interfaces for Panasonic, Mitsubishi, and Yaskawa as well as general purpose interfaces, connecting to your servo drives and stepper motors is made as easy as possible.

This results in a reliable, optimised and efficient Motor Control solution with reduced wiring and improved programming interfaces as well as compatibility with motors and sensors from all the major manufacturers giving you a complete solution.