In recent years, the innovation trend in automation products has been booming. Especially in the past two to three years, driven by the strong market boom, various new technologies and concepts have emerged. However, the process of these new technologies and motion control products developed based on them actually reaching users' mechanical products, from the manufacturers' grand promotional campaigns, is probably not a short and smooth one.
The journey from manufacturers' grand promotional campaigns to users' actual mechanical products for these new technologies and the motion control products developed based on them is unlikely to be a quick and smooth one. Although manufacturers' R&D is demand-driven, the aforementioned problems still exist. Especially given the significant disparities in the level of mechanical automation in my country, whether new technologies can truly solve users' problems is the key factor determining their rapid transition from theory to practice. Particularly in the current context, whether new motion control technologies can effectively meet actual needs is of paramount importance.
Demand is becoming more diversified, so it is even more necessary to be realistic.
Currently, due to the diverse user base, market demand remains highly diversified. User needs, and even the needs of downstream users, influence manufacturers' R&D and design directions. While this is perfectly normal, manufacturers whose R&D is demand-driven often have different perspectives on market demand and different R&D directions because they primarily target different users.
Ding Chenlong of ADLINK Technology believes that speed and precision have always been key performance indicators for motion control products, serving as the main actuators and control components in automated products. With increasing automation, improving manufacturing speed has become the most direct means of minimizing production costs. Therefore, improving production efficiency per unit time has become a primary objective for many equipment manufacturers in recent years. Motion controllers, as the actuators, are often the first to be required to increase speed. Furthermore, the miniaturization of product appearance necessitates the miniaturization of all components, making manufacturing precision another crucial indicator. Notably, he identified energy consumption as the third key indicator. Since manufacturing is a major global energy consumer, energy conservation is a prominent requirement in the industry. To meet these demands, motion control is increasingly eliminating unnecessary intermediate steps, improving internal response speed to inputs and outputs, emphasizing high-speed collaborative control between multiple axes, and replacing algorithms that previously required software fitting with those performed by independent parallel processors.
As users increasingly focus on comprehensive needs, and integration becomes a growing trend in automation technology development, the distinctions between requirements for different automation equipment are becoming blurred. Zheng Yuming of Rockwell Automation points out that requirements such as universal control platforms, simple development environments, and a balance between information technology and safety—originally requirements of the equipment itself—are now being added to the field of motion control. Simultaneously, the popularization of previously expensive high-performance motion products (such as linear motors, direct drives, and multi-degree-of-freedom robotic arms) will become a trend. He also emphasizes that different industries have different requirements for motion control, and both R&D and procurement should be based on actual conditions.
Guo Haidong, a senior technical engineer at Danaher Drives, also emphasized the diversity of actual situations. He used three control methods—position profile command, speed command, and current (torque) command—as examples to illustrate that different methods are selected for different levels and occasions of needs.
Position contour command mode can control stepper motor drivers or servo motor drivers, but it is not suitable for complex multi-axis coordinated movements. It is commonly used in low-end models and is currently widely adopted. Speed command mode, where position loop control is completed within the controller, is a typical control method suitable for most applications with relatively low precision or dynamic performance. Most control cards support this mode. Current (torque) command mode, where both speed and position loop control are completed within the controller, is generally used for precise or high dynamic response applications. It places the highest demands on the CPU's processing power, and most mainstream control cards support this mode. A further advancement involves incorporating the current controller into the control card, allowing the output to directly control the power converter.
Guo Haidong further pointed out that once multi-axis coordinated control is introduced, in such a system, the controller outputting current commands can directly coordinate the torque of each axis, thereby improving the response speed of coordinating the position of each axis. Traditional analog output methods are limited by their resolution and cannot further improve the accuracy and response speed of motion, so they have to use motion control buses. Motion controllers with low computing speed are also unable to complete the calculation of complex algorithms, which has also led to the birth of controllers using 64-bit double-precision floating-point DSPs.
Motion control seeks openness
As mentioned above, competition among users has led to increased focus on the overall performance of mechanical equipment, and the movements of such equipment are becoming increasingly complex. Consequently, the openness of motion control products has become a more prevalent topic. Especially with the emergence of further requirements such as multi-axis collaborative control, motion control products are forced to seek integration with network technology to achieve better synchronization. At the same time, this also solves the problem of seamless integration of motion control components with other automation components.
In response, Duan Cheng of Siemens pointed out that in most cases, motion control products need to have strong network support capabilities. The more advanced the machinery, the higher the requirements for network speed and data transmission capabilities between motion control products. The level of network support capability determines the machining accuracy and speed of the mechanical system.
In fact, although low-end applications remain numerous, communication technologies such as motion buses and industrial Ethernet are maturing and gaining momentum. Once the dilemma of deterministic communication and high-speed real-time performance was resolved, various industrial Ethernet standards, each with its own strengths, entered the competition almost simultaneously. The most representative examples include EtherCAT, EtherNet/IP (CIP motion), POWERLINK, and PROFINET, behind which are strong alliances of major manufacturers. Not long ago, concerns about the closed nature of multiple standards seemed to have subsided, and competition has led to extensive collaborations among different manufacturers.
This undoubtedly brings good news to motion control. Now, some manufacturers are also considering combining motion control with machine vision technology to meet more intelligent application solutions. Ding Chenlong of ADLINK stated that improving the overall speed and accuracy of automation is an industry demand that cannot be achieved solely through motion control. Integration with machine vision and high-speed sensors is inevitable and a necessary trend for industrial upgrading. Since the technical barriers between various components are high, integration will inevitably begin at the interface level. Long-distance and high-speed network technology will naturally become a common standard recognized by all companies and will become a popular and sought-after technology.
Zheng Yuming of Rockwell Automation also pointed out that from the perspective of equipment development, motion control, as part of equipment control, will inevitably need to integrate with various technologies, such as information, security, vision, and even process control. The ability to balance these aspects, improve the overall performance of the equipment, and reduce the overall cost of use and development will be a key advantage.
These factors are inextricably linked to the openness of motion control technology.
Each research and development direction has its own merits and is highly targeted to the market.
Faced with this situation, motion control manufacturers have naturally chosen their own unique strengths. We have also noticed that although these technologies and concepts differ in direction, they are all highly targeted at the market.
One of the distinctive features of Siemens in addressing diverse needs is its wide variety of products and strong adaptability. Duan Cheng emphasized that diversified needs require suppliers to provide different products to match different hardware platforms, enabling the integration of different complete automation systems for different users, and ensuring reasonable cost-effectiveness from the user's perspective.
Its product lineup fully reflects this characteristic: Simotion is a high-performance motion controller from Siemens that integrates logic control, process control, and motion control. It offers three different hardware platforms—Simotion C (PLC-based motion controller), Simotion D (driver-based motion controller), and Simotion P (industrial PC-based motion controller)—as well as three programming languages—Ladder Diagram (LAD), Motion Control Chart (MCC), and Structured Text (ST)—to meet the motion control requirements of various production machines.
The Sinamics S120 is a new generation of high-performance drive system that integrates V/F, vector, and servo control. It can control both ordinary three-phase asynchronous motors and high-dynamic, high-performance synchronous servo, torque, and linear motors. It can achieve both high-precision closed-loop speed control and position control, meeting the drive control requirements of various production machinery.
The Sinamics V80 servo drive system is an economical servo drive product developed by Siemens specifically for small and simple machinery. It is praised for its economical price, easy and convenient setup, and parameter-free configuration. When paired with a Sinamics S7-200 PLC, it fully embodies the characteristics of being economical and practical.
Rockwell Automation, also known for its integrated solutions, launched its integrated motion control solution, Kinematix, early on. Zheng Yuming believes that due to the demand for manufacturing informatization, this will remain the development direction and trend of motion control systems. While continuously improving its IA (Integration Architecture) platform, Rockwell Automation's Kinematix will also continuously add more modular motion control functions and components (such as Kinematix itself) to meet the ever-growing application needs of various industries.
Integrated motion control also encompasses the organic integration of motion control systems and mechanical equipment—MECHATRONICS. This system design approach will greatly optimize equipment design and manufacturing, improve production efficiency, reduce design, debugging, time, and maintenance costs, and lower overall operating costs and risks. The new motion analysis software, MOTION ANALYZER, will further enhance the mechatronics design of motion control systems.
From an equipment safety perspective, Rockwell Automation proposed a safety-oriented motion control solution early on, as a crucial component of overall equipment safety, thereby meeting different levels of equipment safety requirements in various situations. In addition, some new technologies will also be applied to Rockwell's new products, such as direct drive products, single-axis and multi-axis linear drive platforms, electric cylinder linear drives, linear motor systems, and so on.
ADLINK has its own perspective on the development trend of motion control. Ding Chenlong believes that a completely usable motion control solution does not exist in a broad sense. However, industries familiar to various manufacturers often have many common technical needs, which can form general-purpose solutions. Several similar or derivative industries will also have similar technical needs, which can be integrated into a whole solution—this is a large and comprehensive demand. Currently, the demand for high cost-effectiveness requires flexible configuration and on-demand solution generation—this is a small and precise demand. The coordination and unification of these two aspects constitutes the product development strategy of each company.
He explained that unlike manufacturers that unleash their power on multiple hardware platforms, ADLINK Technology seeks to develop a complete set of PC-based industry application and product solutions, encompassing both pulse control and analog control; and both centralized and distributed systems. Recently, ADLINK has also been researching Ethernet-based I/O control, motion control, and machine vision modules, and its applications have been expanded to other industries.
When faced with the impact of economic shocks, industry insiders have differing attitudes towards new technologies. One view holds that for specific industries, the economic crisis will inevitably have a negative impact on new technologies, especially for high-value-added new technology products, which will have no price advantage. Conversely, another view argues that under the influence of an economic crisis, users may actually seek more advanced automated products to improve competitiveness and reduce overall costs. Moreover, a higher price does not necessarily mean lower cost-effectiveness, suggesting that new technologies still have opportunities in a challenging economic environment.
Perhaps technological innovation is a risk even when the economy is booming, but stagnation will inevitably lead to a day of setbacks.
