Efficiency, flexibility, and transparency are hallmarks of a smart factory, while mass production of personalized products is the ultimate goal. To achieve this, machines or equipment must be able to handle the conditions required for producing different products and be adjustable to accommodate different specifications.
Only by realizing intelligent factories can products be personalized according to customer needs, even for single-product production, and produced flexibly and efficiently based on individual requirements. Among these, the intelligentization of encoders, as key actuators for equipment motion control, plays a crucial role, primarily in two aspects: adaptability to change and self-diagnostic capabilities.
Flexible production
Flexible adaptability prepares us for the future.
The intelligentization of motion control primarily benefits flexible manufacturing. For mechanical equipment, this mainly manifests in providing flexible process switching to meet constantly changing production demands.
This means that the machine's motion control can be adjusted and set in real time and with precision based on the real-time position, speed, and torque feedback from sensors. Especially for applications requiring high precision and high speed in equipment processes, this necessitates that motion control sensors continuously improve their response speed, positioning accuracy, and the ability to perform flexible parameter configuration.
For example, the SICK AFM60 industrial Ethernet encoder is a smart sensor product tailored to diverse needs. Its metal code disk, made of a special nickel alloy, achieves a single-turn resolution of up to 18 bits and a repeatability of 0.002 °, ensuring precise angle positioning.
The AFM60 intelligent encoder achieves a single-turn resolution of up to 18 bits and a repeatability of 0.002° .
Currently, market trends are increasingly moving towards fieldbus systems based on Industrial Ethernet. The development of technologies such as Fast Ethernet, dual-port switches, and full-duplex transmission has transformed Ethernet into a powerful communication system. Fieldbus systems based on Industrial Ethernet offer significant advantages and have become the standard configuration for future factory automation, logistics automation, and process automation.
Thanks to the adoption of multiple industrial Ethernet protocols, including PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, and EtherCAT, the refresh time of real-time position information can be controlled within 1ms, which helps to achieve high-speed response position control.
The encoder's output range can be flexibly scaled to suit different application scenarios. This is not only reflected in the fact that the encoder's single-turn resolution can be arbitrarily selected between 1 and 262,144 , but also in the flexibility of the number of turns. In complex motion, one motion cycle of a mechanical device usually does not correspond to an integer number of turns for its connected multi-turn encoder.
The AFM60 intelligent encoder features a unique circulating shaft function.
This challenge can be easily solved by setting the transmission ratio in the AFM60 encoder. Thanks to the Round Axes function, only the numerator and denominator need to be set to precisely match the transmission ratio between the device shaft and the encoder shaft, making secondary development on-site much more convenient. Furthermore, the preferred units for position and speed may vary depending on customer habits; multiple selectable output units allow for more efficient import of application configurations.
Smart sensors enable a new level of flexibility, allowing for real-time acquisition of production data. The sensors' internal intelligent functions analyze the measurement data and apply pre-programmed, effective data.
The intelligent encoder can perform absolute position adjustments synchronously with the control cycle without stopping the machine.
To maximize production efficiency, preset value settings also need to have real-time online functionality. Even while the equipment is running, absolute position adjustments (also known as "offset adjustments") can be performed synchronously with the control cycle without stopping the machine.
Efficiency First
Self-diagnosis and preventative maintenance prevent problems before they occur.
The AFM60 smart encoder leverages the flexible (linear or tree) topology of industrial Ethernet to enable flexible field cabling, but the system faces the risk of interruption due to unexpected faults or wire breaks.
This problem is effectively solved thanks to the DLR (Device Level Ring) function in EtherNet/IP networks. The AFM60 encoder's built-in dual-port Ethernet switch connects the encoder to other Ethernet stations in the system, forming a ring network. When a cable break occurs in the ring, the system immediately detects the interruption and issues an alarm while switching to bypass mode. This ensures that a single cable break will not affect other stations or paralyze the entire system.
What is the current operating status of the equipment? What diagnostic data is available in case of a malfunction? Therefore, comprehensive fault warnings and alarm information are particularly important.
The AFM60 industrial Ethernet series encoders are equipped with five dual-color LED status indicators, enabling intuitive and visual monitoring. These five indicators display the status, showing even the slightest changes, even when the machine is stopped. However, most malfunctions have warning signs beforehand, highlighting the importance of preventative maintenance. To eliminate potential problems before they occur, there are generally two methods: regular troubleshooting or targeted inspections.
While this regular practice avoids losses caused by unexpected downtime, it requires a lot of effort and cost because different devices have different operating frequencies and states.
By collecting and storing diagnostic information and lifecycle data, the efficiency of preventative maintenance can be greatly improved. Intelligent encoders can typically process maintenance data throughout their lifecycle, such as power-on time, rotation duration, operating speed, and ambient temperature , enabling maintenance personnel to perform targeted preventative maintenance. The AFM60 intelligent encoder, using EtherNet/IP , features an interactive web server ( WebServer) and function blocks for fieldbus integration, ensuring that encoder data is always online and readily accessible.
