February 1st, 2010
Our one-day training class schedule for 2010 continues to firm up. We are revamping the material based on feedback from attendees in 2009. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the content for 2010:
PROFIBUS classes are relatively unchanged, but we’re going to shorten the introduction. People don’t come to hear about the organization. We are making the architecture explanation more comprehensive to explain how PROFINET and PROFIBUS fit together and how other buses can be integrated. Wireless has a place in this architecture, too.
We’ve eliminated the distinction between discrete and process PROFIBUS classes. The content was virtually identical anyway. So this year the PROFIBUS classes explicitly include discrete and process automation. The fact that PROFIBUS handles both types of application has always been one of PROFIBUS’ strengths.
PROFINET classes are getting some major changes. Last year we focused on introducing attendees to PROFINET concepts and applications; this year we’re focusing on using PROFINET. This year when students leave they’ll be ready for their first PROFINET project. (Of course, we recommend the 4-day PROFINET Certified Network Engineer class for more depth.)
Take a look at the class schedule and plan to come to the class nearest you!
Tags: free training class
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January 7th, 2010
Each year at this time, we at PTO scramble to find cities and times for the free PROFIBUS and PROFINET classes we offer throughout North America. We’ve narrowed all of them down to cities and months. Now we’re working to get final dates and confirmed venues (we have that for the first couple). We have ten PROFINET one-day training classes on the schedule and eight PROFIBUS. Take a look at the class schedule to see if we’re coming to a city near you.
With the schedule in process, now we have to work to update the course material. We’ve looked at the 2009 course evaluations and are reshaping the courses accordingly. Look for an all new set of demos for the PROFINET classes. The PROFIBUS classes will cover both discrete and process automation.
The Certified Network Engineer classes are all set for 2010 including a new PROFIBUS PA class. These classes are held at the PROFI Interface Center (PIC) in Johnson City, TN. See the Certified Network Engineer class schedule.
You may have seen some of this news if you follow me on Twitter. If you don’t follow me, you also missed these off-topic tidbits:
What does your team expect from you as the boss? Wally Bock answers at http://bit.ly/6vhedI
The transistor turned 62 in December: http://bit.ly/6vCayG
Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine, a digital mechanical computer. Read more and watch the video at http://bit.ly/8XoMgE
–Carl Henning
Tags: certified training class, free training class
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December 18th, 2009
In an energy saving move that does not require PROFINET or PROFIenergy, the Henning unit will be offline for a week or so. I just finished listening to my 464 Christmas tracks so it sounds like Christmas in Scottsdale, but at 72 degrees, it does not feel like Christmas. I’ll remedy that by spending a week where it is colder and snow is forecast for Christmas Day.
My Christmas wish for you: that you also get to spend some pleasant time offline.
I’ll see you next year… in person perhaps if you’re in one of our PROFINET one-day training class cities:
Atlanta
Nashville
St Louis
Pittsburgh
San Jose
Kansas City
Cleveland
Denver
Dallas
Detroit
–Carl Henning
Tags: off-topic
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December 14th, 2009
I walked into the Arizona Science Center this past weekend to see the interactive robots exhibition. I took some grandkids along so I wouldn’t be conspicuous… and ran into an old friend there that the kids didn’t know:
Can you name him? (I’ll provide a clue; I blogged about him before: “Klaatu barada nikto! And salad dressing.”)
I was really looking for PROFIBUS and PROFINET in industrial robots, but this is as close as I came:
Two joysticks for controls – nothing automatic. There were some real industrial robots mentioned in words though, including the ground-breaking Unimate.
If it were necessary to change the tooling on even the simple block-building robot then it could have benefitted from PROFINET. One reason you could not use an Industrial Ethernet for robot tooling was that it took too long to make a tool change. Ethernet has to negotiate between the data providers and consumers and that takes time. PROFINET found a way to speed that up allowing fast tooling changes. This makes PROFINET practical for all aspects of manufacturing including robot tooling. You can find details of this technique in the PROFINET news article “Fast Start Up for PROFINET IO.”
I was happy to see that there was an exhibition wall highlighting FIRST robotics. This is a very worthwhile effort to involve youngsters in robotics. And for more ways to involve them, give them an engineering Christmas gift. Some are highlighted in this video. (Hat tip: Phoenix Contact twitter feed.)
–Carl Henning
Tags: profinet
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November 30th, 2009
Although I spent most of my time at the SPS Show in the PI booth, I did get to visit the booths of some PTO members. I already mentioned Stahl, WAGO, Siemens, and Phoenix Contact. Here are some others:
HMS was showing the PROFINET relatives in their Anybus family. These included boards for PROFINET RT and IRT and including one board with fiber optic connections:
(click for larger image or click here for close-up of devices)
IXXAT was showing their Industrial Ethernet Module that supports PROFINET:
Industrial distributor Anixter was there:
Hilscher was showing their netX chip family which supports many networks including PROFIBUS and PROFINET:
(click for larger image)
Turck was showing their PROFINET IO, PROFINET RFID, and PROFINET switch products:
And last, but not least, a PTO member from the US, Real-time Automation with their new PROFINET product:
I’m sure I missed some members, but it’s only a three-day show and on Wednesday you could barely get from one place to another!
–Carl Henning
Tags: profinet, show report
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November 30th, 2009
At the show PROFINET was ubiquitous, but I think the biggest news of the fair was PROFIenergy.
First, PROFINET. Here is a ten-second pan of the PROFINET wall in the PI booth. And this is the PROFINET display at the Phoenix Contact stand:
Now to PROFIenergy: PROFIenergy is an application profile for PROFINET that makes it easy for manufacturers to save energy. An application profile does not impact the underlying communication protocol (PROFINET), it specifies an arrangement of data and commands that is understood by the provider and the consumer of the information.
Here is the PROFIenergy wall in the PI booth:
In the Siemens booth they made much ado about energy management, including a display where PROFIenergy was used:
(click for a close-up of the devices)
Norbert Brousek of Siemens, who is active in the PROFIenergy community, provides a short video introduction to PROFIenergy. Siemens has also produced a professional video about PROFIenergy.
For more information on PROFIenergy visit the white paper section of our website. Control Engineering Europe just published an article on PROFIenergy: “New source of energy savings: shut it off with Profienergy.” It’s a bit commercial, but provides some interesting background on the origins of PROFIenergy; for example, “How to save energy during afternoon beer breaks.” And watch for the December issue of PROFINET News for a detailed article on PROFIenergy.
You can talk about being green or reducing your carbon footprint, but to me it’s all about saving money, as the piggy banks in the PI booth say:
–Carl Henning
Tags: PROFIenergy, profinet, show report
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November 28th, 2009
I do not understand the slow acceptance of functional safety over the bus in North America. PROFIsafe has been around for more than 10 years. It covers functional safety for discrete, process, and motion control applications in the same system. It works on PROFIBUS and PROFINET. It works via wire or wireless. It accepts AS-I Safe inputs. It’s allowed by code in the US and Canada. It enables improved uptime by reducing maintenance actions and pinpointing faults. It saves wiring costs, installation time, and commissioning time. Isn’t lower cost upfront and reduced downtime worth something to North American manufacturers? European manufacturers have an advantage over those in North America since they have adopted PROFIsafe.
Ok, that’s the end of the rant, here’s a view of the wrap-around PROFIsafe wall in the PI booth with 50 different PROFIsafe devices:
PTO member Stahl was displaying PROFIsafe products in their booth:
(click for larger image)
The PROFIsafe news the surprised me a bit was in the WAGO booth. They were showing their PROFIsafe IO for PROFIBUS and PROFINET. That’s not unusual and has been around a while. What was new was WAGO’s use of the iPar Server to save and restore configuration without requiring a configuration tool. For more on the iPar Server, visit here. Here’s the display in the WAGO booth:
(click for larger image)
Please feel free to comment on my rant.
–Carl Henning
Tags: profibus, profinet, PROFIsafe, safety, show report
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November 28th, 2009
IO-Link is a fieldbus-neutral, point-to-point connection and communication method for intelligent IO. I think of it as HART for discrete because it superimposes a digital signal over the regular wiring. More information on IO-Link is at www.IO-Link.com. And for my past posts on the topic, use the IO-Link tag.
IO-Link was big again this year:
And it has reached critical mass. There were many suppliers who had adopted it; many tool providers; many semiconductor providers; many inquiries in the US. Here is the IO-Link wall in the PI Booth (note the non-PROFI masters on the wall):
(click for larger image)
IO-Link was visible in many other booths as well, including PTO member Phoenix Contact:
(click for larger image)
Siemens introduced a new range of IO-Link products at the fair as well. Their IO-Link adapter has been available for a while. It allows a standard sensor to communicate using IO-Link, thus allowing some diagnostic information to be communicated (wire break being one example):
Siemens intelligent starters and contactors just started shipping the Monday before the fair. These products were previously available with direct wiring and with an AS-I interface that mimicked the hard wiring; i.e., diagnostic information was not communicated. The IO-Link versions communicate a wealth of information. They can report information useful in asset management, like the number of cycles the contacts have made. Predictive maintenance could therefore be implemented. Reactive maintenance can be pinpointed, too, if for example, the contacts welded shut.
Watch for a lot more activity with IO-Link in the near future.
–Carl Henning
Tags: IO-Link, show report
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November 27th, 2009
Here is the reception area of the booth:
(click for larger view)
An video introduction to the booth by PI’s Tina-Maren Weith:
A video walk through the booth (it’s called a “stand” here instead of a “booth”):
–Carl Henning
Tags: show report
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November 27th, 2009
There were not many of us from the US at the SPS/IPC/Drives Show in Nuremberg. So for the benefit of US blog readers who enjoyed Thanksgiving at home, here is the first of several reports about the show. There is no longer a comparable show in the US. Here there are many halls filled with automation suppliers and organizations. (SPS, by the way, is German for PLC.) SPS seems to be on the increase while the Hanover Fair in April is rumored to be headed the other direction. PI, the international umbrella organization for PROFIBUS and PROFINET technologies, has a large booth in both fairs – more on that in the next report.
I tweeted throughout the show at http://twitter.com/CHenning. A tweet is like a 140-character blog posting, so even though I tweeted some pictures, the blog postings will have a “little” more content than the tweets. Watch for another three or four reports.
For more on the non-PROFI aspects of the show start at the Read-out Signpost Blog. (I did eventually visit the booths of some PTO members, so watch for those reports and photos.) In the meantime, here is a very short video clip as I tried to walk the aisle on Wednesday of the show. I fully believe their count of 48,595 visitors.
Composed on the train from Nuremberg to Frankfurt.
–Carl Henning
Tags: show report
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