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+62 21 2212-7044
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bs-bamberg-application-report-stage-lowres © Stefan Felkel
© Stefan Felkel

Jan 5, 2024

Modern laboratory workstations for PLC, motion, safety, and IoT

TwinCAT 3, PC-based control and demo racks in vocational training

Industrial Ethernet and PC-based control technology have long been part of everyday life in many plants. The State Vocational School Center Bamberg (SBSZ) focuses its attention on this. At the school, expertise in advanced programming methods, motion control, and safety is imparted using the latest technologies, allowing budding trade specialists and technicians to learn about the advantages of an open automation platform using industrial PCs, TwinCAT 3, and drives from Beckhoff.

The SBSZ Bamberg conveys the necessary theoretical and practical knowledge for a wide range of occupational fields, including electrical engineering, computer science, and mechatronics. To keep pace with technical progress, both the learning content and the teaching materials constantly have to be adapted. In 2020, the Electrical Engineering 3 (Mechatronics) department had its facilities redesigned to include a new laboratory for control and drive technology.

Graduate engineer Stefan Felkel: “The flexibility of PC-based control and the straightforward licensing model of TwinCAT 3 were a huge advantage when setting up and using the lab stations.”
Graduate engineer Stefan Felkel: “The flexibility of PC-based control and the straightforward licensing model of TwinCAT 3 were a huge advantage when setting up and using the lab stations.”

“We want to ensure that the skilled workers of the future – electricians and technicians for automation technology and mechatronics – are provided with the best possible preparation for the tasks they will carry out in practice,” says senior teacher Stefan Felkel, who designed the laboratory workstations together with colleague Markus Grill (M.Sc.). The learning units and exercises in the laboratory are therefore an important part of the training. Through various practical exercises, the aim is to prepare the vocational students to carry out tasks and programming independently. Stefan Felkel has the following to say on the subject: “Each vocational student and the aspiring technicians plan and create their own programs that they can simulate and then test on the hardware.” A total of six lab stations, each of which can be used by up to three students, are available for such work. There is also a lab station for the teacher, which they can use to remotely control the power supply to the lab stations as well as the IPCs.

Safety, motion plus vertical integration

For each workstation, there are three training modules focusing on PLC, safety, and motion, which can be flexibly patched with the C6525 Industrial PCs.

The PLC training board contains digital and analog I/O terminals (EL1895, EL3174, EL4132) plus an AS-i master terminal (EL6201) and EL3214-0090 analog input terminals for two potentiometers. In addition to two EL7221-0090 EtherCAT Terminals (48 V DC, 8 A, OCT) for controlling servomotors, the Motion learning module also includes a brake chopper terminal (EL9576) and a fan module (ZB8610). An EL5151 encoder interface for setting setpoints completes this module.

The Safety training board comprises a TwinSAFE input terminal (EL1918), a 4-channel TwinSAFE output terminal (EL2904), an IO-Link master terminal with TwinSAFE SC communication interface for IO-Link (EL6224-0090), and a digital EtherCAT Terminal (EL1859). “Together with TwinCAT 3 as the programming platform and various TwinCAT 3 functions, we cover a huge range of learning scenarios which always have a practical focus,” emphasizes Stefan Felkel.

“Our three training boards – Motion Servo, TwinSAFE, and TwinCAT I/O – form the basis for this. To ensure that these are compatible with the existing training set-ups, the modules were adapted to the requirements of Stefan Felkel and Markus Grill by Franco Angelico, Beckhoff Application, and Jens Thorun, Beckhoff Demo Systems,” adds Wolfgang Negele from the Beckhoff sales team in Nuremberg.

For Stefan Felkel, it is important that everyone has their own industrial PC and can easily connect it to any hardware. PC-based control and EtherCAT create maximum flexibility here: via corresponding network connections, the industrial PCs can be flexibly connected to the respective hardware of the laboratory workstation or to other mobile training trolleys.

Training with practical relevance and TwinCAT 3

In addition to using hard-wired programmed logic controllers, the laboratory is primarily used to teach the basics of programming sequence controls. The key element here is TwinCAT 3 as the engineering platform. TwinCAT 3 NC PTP and the Safety Editor are also available for the Motion and Safety learning modules. The advantage of TwinCAT is that students can use the IPC to program the application and as a soft PLC. In addition, the students can use their own laptops without having to deal with any major licensing costs. “This usually leads to even more intensive focus on the topic of PC-based control,” says Stefan Felkel. According to him, the main advantage of industrial PCs over traditional, hardware-heavy control platforms is how flexible they are to use. “We also use various extensions, such as for OPC UA from the connectivity area,” he says. In addition to TwinCAT 3 Motion Designer (TE5910) and TwinCAT 3 Drive Manager 2 (TE5950), TwinCAT 3 Bode Plot Base (TE1320) is also used to design and optimize the drive axes.

Each of the total of six lab stations is equipped with two C6525 Industrial PCs for programming, setting up, and testing in various exercises.
Each of the total of six lab stations is equipped with two C6525 Industrial PCs for programming, setting up, and testing in various exercises.

With regard to programming languages, the vocational and technical students start with function block diagram (FBD). This is followed by an introduction to PLC programming with simple tasks. After completing this basic phase, electricians and technicians for automation technology then program exclusively in Structured Text (ST). In order to reinforce the theoretical principles of a fieldbus in practice alongside Ethernet and EtherCAT, components that are controlled via AS-Interface are integrated in a task.

From contactor circuits to robot applications

In the area of drive technology, the basic contactor circuits are taught both via hard-wired programmed logic controllers and corresponding programs using the C6525 Industrial PCs. “With the control of motors via a safety relay, we provide an introduction to the topic of safety, which is then deepened with TwinSAFE,” says Stefan Felkel. The controlled operation of servomotors (AM8132) via the EL7221 EtherCAT Terminals (compact drive technology) and the loading of an asynchronous motor in order to determine its characteristic curve complete the drive technology tasks.

At the end of their training, the students are given the task of programming a robot system: Two robots and five other stations containing basic automation elements (sensor technology, electropneumatics, bus systems) are to be controlled. To do this, the students have to analyze the function of each sub-station, identify its interfaces with neighboring stations, and initiate communication. Program design, programming as well as testing and documentation complete the project. “We want to create as exciting a practical application as possible and at the same time address many fundamental subject areas,” says Stefan Felkel, explaining the level of commitment involved in the training program.

The range of training courses is set to be expanded further in the future to include the topic of servomotor control. The corresponding AX5000 Servo Drives are already available and are currently used to build up new teaching modules. Plans are also in place to integrate translatory motors as well as special motors. As a final comment, Stefan Felkel adds the following: “All in all, I would like to thank Franco Angelico, application engineer at Beckhoff in Nuremberg, in particular, for the excellent partnership we have enjoyed and his huge contribution to getting the modules up and running.”