Softmotion using CANOpen/EtherCAT with 3rd party drives

[ThomasV]

Hi,

We have a LabVIEW application on Windows that is controlling 3 Bosch rexroth servodrives using CANOpen.

(Using Industrial Communications for CANOpen toolkit) and PCI-8531.

The application is controlling the 3 drives individually (no motion control / NC)

We would like to upgrade this application so that we can do motion control (combine the individual drives to make NC-movements).

I found this link : softmotion using CANOpen : http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/nl/nid/201873

However this is only with certain 3rd party servodrives. Is there a solution for other CiA DSP 402 compliant servodrives?

Is my only alternative to switch to EtherCAT servodrives and use the NI SoftMotion for EtherCAT?

Will this work with any 3rd party ethercat drive (in this case Bosch Rexroth Indradrive Cs)?

Thanks!

[SebSieros]

Hi Thomas,

1) The NI Softmotion Controller for CANopen is no longer a sold product and therefore would not be a viable upgrade path.

However, there are Third Party Add-Ons (developed by partners) that are written for CiA402 compliant devices.
The first example I found was the following one:
http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/nl/nid/210877

If you want to verify if this 3rd party toolkit also support your CANOpen Modules, then you should verify this with the 3rd party.


2) If you are planning to use the NI SoftMotion Module, then the following table can be useful in determining which HW/SW combinations will work (eg. EtherCAT):
http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/5F019205291BF02686257A07007D1B06?OpenDocument

Aside from which interface you are going to use (eg. EtherCAT, ...) it would be also important to keep in mind the NI Hardware set-up you are going to use (eg. cRIO).
Using the NI SoftMotion Module for specific Interfaces imposes some requirements for the type of hardware that can/should be used:
http://zone.ni.com/reference/en-XX/help/371093T-01/mclvhowto/smrequirements/
http://zone.ni.com/reference/en-XX/help/371093T-01/mclvhowto/motionprojectresourcesecatdrive/

One of the first requirements for this would be that you have to use a Real-Time Controller.
One solution to accomplish this could be to use a cRIO with an EtherCAT port and connect an etherCAT based drive to it (eg. AKD drive).

[SebSieros]

At this moment NI EtherCAT solutions support the following mailbox protocol features:
- CANopen over EtherCAT (CoE)
- Ethernet over EtherCAT (EoE)
- File over EtherCAT (FoE)

As far as I found online Bosch IndraDrives do not support one of these mailbox protocols:
http://www.boschrexroth.com/country_units/america/united_states/sub_websites/brus_dcc/trends_technol...

[ThomasV]

I will look into the Bosch Rexroth indradrive compatibility, but I am sure that they support these protocols,

as we have used motion control via ethercat on them before, but using a PLC.

an concerning the “PC based on cRIO”, that was a typo. I meant PC based or cRIO (PC with LabVIEW RT or cRIO)

[Sreekantham]

Hi Thomas,

In SoftMotion 2015 (which will release in a week) we have added a feature called "SoftMotion Drive Interface".  This feature allows 3rd parties (such as customers, drive vendors, alliance partners, etc) to extend SoftMotion to support any EtherCAT drive.  I will contact the appropriate people to further elaborate by replying to this thread.

Best Regards,

Kiran

[Joel-P]

Hello Kiran and Thomas,

This is exactly what we are trying to address with the SoftMotion Drive Interface (SDI). Like Kiran said, the SDI is a framework in SoftMotion that allows other vendors (including Bosch) to create plug-in's to SoftMotion. This would allow you to use the same SoftMotion code to control the Bosch drive.

We have committed to releasing the first batch of SoftMotion Drive Interfaces by the end of this year on the LabVIEW Tools Network. The current list of SDI's scheduled are as follows; Bosch Rexroth, Delta, Elmo, Janaer Antriebstechnik GmbH (JAT-gmbh), Maxon, Panasonic, and we will still have native support for Kollmorgen.

These SDI plug-ins have not yet been released, but they will be posted on the LabVIEW tools network once they are published.

Best Regards,

Joel