January 2020

n TECHNOLOGY January 2020 www.drivesncontrols.com 22 AT THE RECENT SPS show in Germany, Beckhoff announced that users of its TwinCat engineering and runtime products will, in future, be able to use them directly in the cloud. The new TwinCat Cloud Engineering service will give them an easy way of engineer TwinCat systems and controllers without having to use a local PC. The new capabilities can be accessed via Beckhoff’s Web site using a standard browser. No extra software is needed and registered users will be able to work with the TwinCat development environment even using previously unsupported devices such as tablet PCs. Instances of TwinCat Cloud Engineering generated by users can be connected to physical control hardware via a secure transport channel. This combines the advantages of the TwinCat control architecture with distributed support for collaboration via a source control repository. Beckhoff says that for new users, in particular, having access to TwinCat in the cloud will make it easier to get to know the environment. The cloud support will allow users to move their entire TwinCat architectures to the cloud, the only difference from the standard environment being that they will be using a virtual machine rather than a local PC. They will not need to get used to a new software environment, but can continue to work in the same, familiar environment. They will no longer need to install and maintain multiple software versions tailored to specific machine generations on their own PCs. Instead, they can run separate instances of TwinCat Cloud Engineering with different software versions, any of which they can access remotely. Project files will be stored in a source code control repository that can be accessed directly from within TwinCat Engineering. Also at SPS, Beckhoff announced that its TwinCat Analytics app has a new function that reduces the usually time-consuming process of creating dashboards to a simple mouse click. The automated One-Click Dashboard function converts configurations into executable PLC code, including dashboard generation. Users can generate entire HTML5-based analytics dashboards based on the PLC code and load it into an Analytics Runtime container with the click of a mouse. When the process is complete, they receive a network address that they can use to access the dashboard via a browser. Beckhoff says that the ability to generate dashboards without having to write a line of code or to design graphics will be “a huge time-saver”. The new function provides at least one HMI control for every TwinCat Analytics algorithm. The dashboard controls can be selected individually in an algorithm’s properties with the aid of a control preview. Users can also combine multiple algorithms within an individual HMI control. The automatically generated dashboards can be customised. For example, users can pick their own colours and logos, and even show geographically distributed machine locations on a map of the world. www.beckhoff.co.uk PC-based engineering platform moves to the cloud THE BRAZILIAN motor-maker WEG has developed a wireless gateway that allows users to monitor the condition of any number of motors in real time, and to plan their maintenance accordingly. The gateway is an enhancement of the Motor Scan module that WEG announced last year. The IP66 module can be retrofitted to the cooling fins of WEGmotors in IEC frame sizes 63–450, where it performs temperature and vibration measurements. Originally it had to be used with an app running on an Android or iOS phone. The new gateway works as a router, capturing data from any of the modules within a range of about 30m, and sends the data to a secure cloud. The app is no longer needed, although users can still access the motor data via the app or via a dedicatedWeb portal to allow detailed analysis of the monitored motors. WEG says that the gateway will allow users to perform predictive maintenance on their motors simply and cost-effectively, based on the actual condition of the machines, leading to extended motor lives and higher plant availability. TheWEG IoT portal offers tools for diagnosing faults and configuring warnings. Users can schedule up to 12 vibration measurements per day, as well as temperature measurements every ten minutes. The analyses are performed on demand because continuous monitoring would consume too much power from the module’s on-board battery. As well as monitoring surface temperatures and operating times, the Motor Scan modules measure vibrations with frequencies from 1–3kHz in three axes. The motor condition is determined by frequency spectrum analysis. The sensor can be used to monitor and diagnose motor parameters including temperature, vibration, operating time, load, speed and lubrication intervals. It can also sense imbalances and misalignment. Future versions will also measure current consumption and bearing condition. www.weg.net Wireless gateway sends real-time motor data to the cloud for detailed analysis Beckhoff predicts that its One-Click Dashboard function for TwinCat Analytics will be“a huge time-saver”.