Foreword
As production lines become increasingly automated, equipment complexity is also rising. In daily operation, it's inevitable that a malfunction in a component will cause the entire production line to halt. Therefore, improving equipment stability has become a crucial and urgent issue.
To address the challenges mentioned above, Leadshine has launched a ring network redundancy solution. Redundancy is one of the important means to improve system reliability and equipment stability.
01. Overview of Ring Network Redundancy
In redundant mode, the EtherCAT bus can maintain normal EtherCAT communication for other slave stations even if the network cable is disconnected or a slave node fails. This redundancy relies on the communication network forming a loop, requiring the controller to have two EtherCAT bus ports. When a slave station on a normally functioning communication link fails, the system quickly switches to the other link, ensuring uninterrupted operation of other slave stations and thus improving system reliability.
02. Hardware Wiring
The network cable is configured as shown in the diagram below to form a loop.
03. Configuration Steps
LeadSysStudio configuration is simple; the steps are as follows:
(1) Confirm bus version: Click "Library Manager" to confirm if the IODrvEtherCAT version is 3.5.11.30. If the versions do not match, open "Placeholder" to switch versions. As shown below, the current IODrvEtherCAT version is 3.5.15.30. Double-click "Placeholder", find IODrvEtherCAT-3.5.15.30 and double-click it. Select version 3.5.11.30 from the pop-up list.
(2) Configure the number of slave stations: Add slave stations such as servos, couplers, and modules of the device to the software configuration through "Scan Devices". As shown below, right-click "EtherCAT_Master_Leadshine_A" and click "Scan Devices" to automatically scan slave station information.
(3) Enable redundancy: Check if the hardware link is normal. In the software, check "Enable redundancy" and "Automatically restart slave". Click "EtherCAT_Master_Leadshine_A", select the "General" interface, check "Enable redundancy", and configure the network names eth0 and eth1 by "Select network by name".
04. Function Demonstration
(1) Normal communication status: The system is configured as LC1048 + 32 L7EC_400S, and the slave station is configured as 32 drivers.
(2) Disconnect a slave station: At this time, disconnect the second driver from the ECATA port, that is, disconnect the power supply of the L7EC_400S_C_1 slave driver. At this time, the other slave stations will operate normally.
(3) Restore slave communication: Power on L7EC_400S_C_1 again, wait for slave communication to be restored automatically, and then use the two function blocks SMC3_ReinitDrive (restart driver) and MC_Reset (reset axis) to restore the corresponding 402 axis.
05. Realizing Value
(1) Improve efficiency: When some slave stations in the connection link fail or the network cable has poor contact, there is no need to power off and restart the equipment, which improves the overall work efficiency by 10%.
(2) Reduce costs: It can minimize the probability of production failure and avoid data loss and waste of raw materials due to failure.
Leadshine's large-scale PLC products, the LC1048, LC2000, and LC5000 series, all support ring network redundancy. If you require information related to these functions, please leave a comment or contact us via private message. Thank you for your attention!
