Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System

David Dudley <[email protected]> · Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:39:22 -0500

I am currently in the process of researching the exact same thing.  We're
using Allen Bradley PLC's in the new NSLS-2 control architecture, and I'm
currently working on extending the Ethernet/IP driver to connect directly to
the various Point I/O, Flex I/O and ArmorPoint I/O modules.

The ArmorPoint and ArmorBlock modules seem to be the most useful of the I/O
blocks I'm researching, as they have integrated Ethernet/IP interfaces (some
with an integrated 2 and 3 port switch), can provide various levels of I/O,
and are ruggedized to the degree we can easily install them on the
experimental floor.

David

On 12/16/09 7:44 AM, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
wrote:

> 
> At Diamond we are considering what to use for the next generation of
> discrete I/O. Currently we have a lot of VME based hardware, but we are
> considering a good architecture for a Linux world.
> 
> The model that we are considering is a soft IOC on a Linux system
> communicating over Ethernet using an open, industry standard protocol to
> distributed DIN-Rail mounted I/O points. These I/O points take in
> Ethernet and are powered from a 24V bus that will run around the
> hardware area.
> 
> This eliminates any dependence on a specialized bus architecture (apart
> from Ethernet) on the Linux system, so they can be commodity PC's, and
> hopefully allows us to use widely available, cheap, industrial modules
> for I/O. It will not completely replace all of the requirements
> currently serviced by VME, but would be able to satisfy most of them,
> with the remaining few being serviced by the occasional VME system (or
> FPGA, or some other bus, or something else entirely in the future...).
> 
> This email is to poll the EPICS community as to the experience people
> have had, and recommendations for and against.
> 
> The sort of thing we have identified are:
> 
>  1. Modbus/TCP based modules, such as the Acromag Busworks series
> http://www.acromag.com/models.cfm?Product_Function_ID=28&Category_ID=22&;
> Group_ID=2
>  2. EtherCAT base modules, such as those from Beckhoff:
> http://www.beckhoff.com/
>  3. Standard PLC systems where (as distinct from the other two), you
> take Ethernet to a PLC controller which then has a series of modules it
> talks to in a variety of possible ways.
> 
> So, is anyone willing to share their experiences with these or similar
> systems,
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Nick Rees
> Principal Software Engineer           Phone: +44 (0)1235-778430
> Diamond Light Source                  Fax:   +44 (0)1235-446713

Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System

Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System