Motion Control Library meets PLCopen standards

Hayes Control Systems offers new Motion Control Library for use with Beckhoff TwinCAT NC automation software and is compliant with PLCopen motion control programming standardisation scheme.

Hard on the heels of the PLCopen organisation's publication of the first document giving details of the proposed standardisation scheme for motion control programming in the IEC 61131-3 environment, Hayes Control Systems has announced the availability of a fully compliant implementation in the form of a new Motion Control Library for use with Beckhoff TwinCAT NC automation software.

This important announcement means that PLC and NC functionality can now be readily combined in a single program which, like all Beckhoff software, runs on standard PC hardware.

Beckhoff, for whom Hayes Control Systems is the exclusive UK distributor, is an active member of the PLCopen Organisation, and has made important contributions to the development of the new standard.

In line with the goals of the organisation, Beckhoff's implementation of the standard comprises a library of software blocks, for use within the IEC 61131-3 environment, which provide for the control of motor-driven axes.

Advanced concepts, such as electronic gearing and camming, are fully supported, and users may combine axis types in any way required.

The new Beckhoff Motion Control Library from Hayes Control Systems supplements the existing axis control blocks for the TwinCAT range, which are specifically designed to extract the maximum possible performance from the TwinCAT NC software.

The new library, however, provides a greater degree of manufacturer independence and, in some applications, simplifies interfacing.

Users can choose between the existing TwinCAT blocks, and blocks from the new IEC 61131-3 compliant library, or they can combine both to achieve exactly the levels of functionality and performance that they need.

Prior to its general release, the Beckhoff Motion Control Library was extensively tested and validated in a material-feeding application for Muller Weingarten, one of the world's leading suppliers of metal-forming equipment for the automobile, domestic appliance and aerospace industries.

The success of this application demonstrated conclusively the practicality and the ease of interfacing of the function blocks.

Hayes Control Systems is the leading UK expert in the design and supply of complete automation solutions based on open-architecture PC technology.

The company is the exclusive UK distributor for Beckhoff in Germany, whose products include fieldbus-independent input/output systems, industrial PCs, and soft programmable controllers which use standard PC hardware, and which can also provide sophisticated motion control functions.

In all of its product areas, Hayes Control Systems champions an open-systems approach which avoids the technical limitations, high costs and restricted availability associated with proprietary equipment.

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