Packaging glass wool insulation is not an easy task. The material is difficult to handle and there are many packaging styles, so several steps must be performed with a high degree of precision. With the growing interest in energy conservation, Norway’s Askim Mek Verksted (AMV) needed to improve the efficiency of its glass wool packaging lines.

When AMV upgraded its Battpacker control architecture in 2008, it needed a good networking architecture to ensure that the many sensors and valves on an eight-stage system all worked in harmony. EtherNet/IP, a protocol promulgated by ODVA (previously known as the Open DeviceNet Vendors Association), provided the necessary level of performance, along with the ability to link to a number of peripherals.

For example, plug-in pneumatic valves from components supplier Festo and some motors use Internet Protocols, operating without having to maintain constant contact with controllers. Allen-Bradley PanelView Plus human-machine interfaces (HMIs) and ControlLogix programmable logic controllers (PLCs), all from Milwaukee automation supplier Rockwell Automation Inc., are linked to the same network, keeping efficiency high.

That’s a growing trend as Ethernet takes over the industrial world. Peripherals as diverse as vision systems, bar code readers, printers, and radio frequency identification (RFID) scanners now often run transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), once used only for backbone communications. Ethernet is expanding its reach by moving to higher speeds for products such as cameras, while trimming costs to pull in more low-cost products.

At the high end, the emergence of gigabit (Gbit) and 10 Gbit Ethernet lets a single network carry large volumes of video data without compromising the delivery of data packets needed for control and other functions. At the low end, the shift away from fieldbuses and other simple connections is driven in part because Ethernet connectivity is common on microcontrollers, which are being used in more products as the chips become less expensive.

“Most peripherals connected to Ethernet are intelligent. They need some intelligence to handle Ethernet communications, so they have enough for sensing process functions,” says Dan Holste, applications engineer at Banner Engineering Corp., a Minneapolis automation components supplier. “Vision systems and high-content sensors like those used for laser gauging have a lot of intelligence, either microprocessors or DSPs (digital signal processors).”

There’s high likelihood that a constantly growing number of peripherals will use Ethernet and TCP/IP instead of fieldbuses and other alternatives. A recent survey by automation supplier Turck Inc.’s Minneapolis-based network division found that 100 percent of the responding companies either use Ethernet or plan to adopt it this year. “I never thought I’d see 100 percent on any survey of industrial companies,” says Karie Daudt, senior product manager at Turck.

Speeding up

A fast network is critical for AMV as it transforms glass wool into palletized products that are ready to ship. Its Battpacker system has eight separate stages, each using several sensors and valves to move the raw materials through each step. Accuracy and repeatability are vital to minimize waste and maximize throughput. The network also helps make the machinery flexible enough to adapt to the many products and recipes used for Europe’s diverse markets.

AMV is hardly the only packager that’s adopted Ethernet for all of its hardware. This field is among the leaders in moving to flat architectures that eschew alternative communication schemes. “Packaging is one of the areas that has seen the value of moving the entire plant to one network,” says Mike Hannah, marketing manager for Rockwell Automation, in Mayfield Heights, Ohio.

Cameras are among the high-end peripherals taking advantage of Gigabit Ethernet and the GigE Vision variation developed by the Automated Imaging Association. It’s possible to link them to controllers using older versions of Ethernet, depending on the volume of data that goes onto the network. But whether cameras send raw video streams or simple pass-fail messages, Ethernet and IP protocols are gaining market share. “IP cameras are gaining popularity. There’s a strong advantage in linking them to Ethernet,” Hannah says.

As cameras see more use, the large volumes of video data often mean that system architects must look at the network schemes closely before setting them up. Video networks may have to be segmented so they don’t consume all the bandwidth. While engineers need to ensure that video arrives in time to be useful, they must also ensure that these video streams don’t degrade performance for important system commands. “If you’re going to do straight video, you don’t want it interfering with mission critical tasks,” says Carl Henning, deputy director at the Profibus ...