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Overview: What it is. Goal. Who does it make. How does it work. Application scenarios. Diagnostics, Machine operations
What are EuroMAP, UMATI, TMC, UA Robotik, PackML and MachineVision
In this article all these things are called "UA industry standard". Within the framework of Industry 4.0, such neutral interfaces are important.
The objectives of these UA industry standards
The main objective is a standardized handling of all requirements from the point of view of communication and configuration for the machines.
In the context of industry 4.0 it is particularly important to have common interfaces.
This concerns the connection to superimposed systems such as production planning. It also covers machine operation.
These things are offered:
- Identification of the machine with descriptive names and a self-explanatory interface
- Control of the machine for interactive operation and detailed planning
- Product Tracking, Job Management, Order Management
- Data for the quality management
- OEE Functions such as cost control, energy efficiency
The SCADA manufacturers are also on board. In the market, however, it is evident that rather newer - often web-based - systems are open for these standards. More and more SCADA manufacturers offer standard operating pages that are quickly adapted to a machine.
Mobile operating devices play out their strengths with it, they only use the web browser. Individual app developments are no longer necessary.
It is also important that the learning effort for operating the machines is reduced. The same operation for machines with similar tasks achieves this.
Who is behind these standards
These are all well-known manufacturers and users of machines. The industry association VDMA implements this together with the suppliers of machines, IT companies and system integrators. In addition, the OPC Foundation is involved and all standards are also available there. There are efforts to coordinate the standards with suppliers from other regions of the world.
How it works
Many - if not all - machines have very similar tasks in common. In plastics machines there are often heating zones, pressing zones, cooling zones. A heating zone has one or more temperature curves. Of course, there can be several heating zones. This also applies to all other data and structures offered. EuroMAP knows such a model for a heating zone. This model is used several times for several heating zones - the technician says "derived" or "instanced". The basic data of a heating zone with all details is described in EuroMAP. Of course not all these elements have to be used, this is determined during the setup at the machine builder. Different conditions occur during the running time of the machine. For all these conditions there are reporting elements (events), status elements and also error elements. With this exact definition, a simple and standardized data transfer between the machine parts and the rest of the system is much easier than before.
It is also possible to simply transfer many production jobs to one machine. These are then processed one after the other. Job management is a function of most UA industry standards. For example, night shifts without personnel are relatively easy to implement.
How it works with PLC Engine Collect
With the Tani PLC Engine Collect, you can easily and cost-effectively bring these UA industry standards into your machine. The OPC page shows the complete industry standard. On the machine side, the normal and previously available things are used. The Tani PLC Engine Collect takes over the functions required by the UA industry standard.
Variables, functions and events used via OPC can be used in several ways:
- Direct assignment of OPC variables to PLC variables. With a 1:1 assignment this is the fastest way.
- If this is not enough, the logic tables come into play. An OPC variable is distributed to several PLC variables in logic tables, PLC data is summarized and also converted before it is passed on to OPC.
- Program calls - called RPC calls in technical jargon - are also processed by the logic tables. The program call provides the input data. When the program is finished, the results are written to the output data.
- Events are also generated with the logic tables. If the condition specified occurs, the event is sent.
- Of course this can be mixed at will. Simply assign as often as possible, the rest uses logic.
- If a built-in controller offers subsets of the UA industry standards, these things are directly value-guided.
- PLC Engine Collect also offers order management, also known as job management. This is important if a machine is to process the production jobs one after the other during the night shift, for example.
Even large tasks can be easily realized in this way. An intervention in the control program is rarely or never necessary.
Application Scenarios
The UA industry standard can in principle be programmed directly into the machine. However, it is often easier to select standard controls and machine elements. In the machine, these are standard variable speed drives and standard controls and marketable sensors. The Tani solution is designed precisely for this. The PLC Engine Collect product with logic tables, which has been on the market for some time, converts the structures and functions available in the OPC UA Server to the machine\'s controls and sensors. Since PLC Engine Collect directly supports all commercially available controllers, existing and older systems can also be extended without any problems. This consistently brings the industry standard to the plant.
Diagnostics for commissioning
Tani attaches great importance to diagnostics in order to simplify the commissioning of the machine.
This simplifies troubleshooting even when the machine is at a standstill.
A quick way is to display all elements of the affected machine part.
The descriptive names of the elements make it easier to quickly view the correct elements.
In addition, for each element it is indicated when the value was last changed. For events, the last occurrence is also displayed.
For effects that only occur at runtime, PLC Engine provides Collect Logger.
This means that all sequences can optionally be written. For better limitation, only certain program parts can be logged.
There is also a logger output command in the logic tables that only comes when called.
Machine Operations
This is a core goal of UMATI. The other UA industry standards, however, also contain precise interfaces that simplify neutral operation. Modern SCADA and visualization systems support OPC UA. The Tani OPC UA Tunnel converts older OPC DA programs to OPC UA free of charge. This means that SCADA systems that have existed for a long time can continue to be used.