With Virtual Commissioning, Goals are Achieved Faster

Flexible electronics is about to break through to mass production, and many machine manufacturers are currently working on new machine concepts for it. Virtual Commissioning significantly reduces the development time of economical but complex control technology for roll-to-roll processing. In turn, this helps a machine manufacturer reduce the costs and risks during commissioning. With Open Core Engineering, Rexroth opens up new possibilities to implement a comprehensive range of simulation programs.
In conventional machine manufacturing, the commissioning of the machine control is one of the last steps before delivery is made to the customer. If problems occur here that require rectifying with later design changes, then the costs rise exponentially, and the time schedules come under enormous pressure.

Commissioning using simulation software offers new opportunities for rapid control prototyping, minimizing these risks, and reducing engineering time. It allows machine manufacturers to commission the machine control in parallel, or even prior to the hardware installation. Open Core Engineering from Rexroth is a pre-requisite in achieving these goals. The integrated interface technology within the Open Core Interface can be used for in various virtual development environments created simulations for virtual commissioning. Machine operators use the simulation on a virtual machine, before successfully tested programs are transmitted to the real machine. Hence they shorten the time-to-market.

The simulation program and the Rexroth control directly exchange all the necessary data and commands for virtual commissioning via standard Ethernet and without additional PLC code. The controller adapts to the simulation speed.

The simulations on the PC allow the economic optimization of PLC programs. Decentralized control tasks are embedded seamlessly into the intelligent servo technology by allowing the simulations high-level programming language direct access to drive parameters. Thus, manufacturers of, for example, OLED roll-to-roll machines use virtual commissioning to adjust the pre-defined multi-zone web tension controller from Rexroth to their concepts, or to program movements in the workspace. They can safely simulate errors and take appropriate countermeasures.

Other practical options for integrated engineering with Open Core Engineering for automation will be shown by Rexroth during the LOPEC 2015 on the booth B0 308, and in a machine module of dr. Schwab GmbH on the Demo Line 2015 (B0 307). During the fair, this production line consisting of machines and modules from different vendors produces electroluminescent films the size of a business card.