Decentral intelligence – the trend for secure investments for the future with automation engineering. Classical fieldbus are being continually displaced to the fieldbus level for the connection of peripheral devices by the arrival of industrial Ethernet with the TCP/IP protocol. New technologies are now offering features to combine control, visualization and data management tasks with modern networking options in a single device – the HMI-PLC.
On the one hand this approach reduces the hardware investment, and on the other hand, the engineering costs are reduced decisively by universal data management ranging from engineering to diagnostics during a malfunction.
PLC controlled automation solutions have been used for many years in various applications of different branches of industry. In spite of all optimization such as the use of fieldbusses or high performance PLC’s, the engineering effort required is considerable. Interfacing to conventional networking structures such as Ethernet TCP/IP is partly impossible or associated with considerable investment in hardware and software.
The most modern IT technologies merge with the classical PLC and HMI technologies to form the HMI-PLC. More and more components feature fieldbus interfaces such as CANopen or ProfibusDP with Ethernet. The new XV400 series fulfills these demands and offers decisive advantages for current and future automation solutions due to its performance and flexibility.