Faster drive-to-drive communication with CAN-Cross
KEB enables flexible exchange of CANopen process data
The COMBIVERT F6 and S6 drive controllers from KEB Automation are now available with new firmware that includes a real highlight: CAN cross communication. This means that plant and machine manufacturers using the corresponding drives benefit from faster and more flexible communication between the inverters. Another advantage: users can utilise all process data-capable parameters.
This new firmware, including CAN cross-communication, is available for the APPLICATION and PRO device variants of the COMBIVERT F6 and S6 Drives. “The cross-communication enables the direct exchange of information and data between the inverters without the information having to take the "diversions" via the customer controller and other fieldbus participants,” says Tobias Wenneker, Product Manager Drives at KEB.
The fact that the data can now be exchanged independently and no longer necessarily via other participants means that a faster data flow can be achieved. In the drive trains of many machines, it is not uncommon for milliseconds or even microseconds to be crucial. With a rigidly coupled shaft, even the smallest delays can therefore lead to considerable damage to the shaft in the long term and therefore to machine downtimes. This makes the fast and flexible exchange of CANopen process data between the inverters all the more important.
“A special feature of CAN cross-communication with KEB Drives is that users can utilise all process data-capable parameters. Whether it's torque, position or speed: plant and machine manufacturers are free to decide which data they want to work with,” says Wenneker. Up to ten F6 or S6 devices can communicate directly with each other. The independent exchange of data also has the advantage of reducing the load on the machine's Ethernet-based fieldbus communication. Last but not least, cross-communication also makes it possible to set up multi-level communication systems in which the fieldbus slave of one system acts as the fieldbus master of another system. Parallel fieldbus communication is supported by EtherCAT and PROFINET.
CAN cross-communication in practical use
In general, the advantages of cross-communication come into play in many application areas – for example, where high torques are required. In this context, fast, synchronised torque sharing of the drives is crucial. The COMBIVERT Drives enable exactly this through the direct exchange of torques by means of cross-communication without a PLC loop. In this way, machine and system manufacturers can not only increase efficiency, but also the overall service life of the system.
