Weighing company Hardy Process Solutions
has added Profinet communications
to its HI 6200 single-channel
weight controller/indicator.
The decision to implement Profinet came
about because of growing local market demand,
and the fact that Hardy is increasingly supporting
world markets where Profinet has achieved significant
market penetration. Hardy is also pursuing
the growing trend of IoT (Internet of Things)
adoption, which is easily supported by netX.
“We’ve always been protocol agnostic,” says
Tim Norman, Hardy product manager. “For
example, back in the days of the fieldbus wars,
we were one of the first North American companies
to introduce Profinet into our products,
to complement the protocols used here in North
America. We strongly believe that our customers
should be free to use whatever communications
protocol they prefer.”
HI 6200 details
The HI 6200 has been available with EtherNet/
IP, ModBus, and Ethernet TCP/IP communications
since launch. The decision in 2020
to add Profinet came about because a significant
amount of product sales now come from
European, Asian, and South American markets.
Norman says there’s a clear need to support
the widest range of international standards.
“The increasing trend towards deploying IoT,
particularly remote monitoring, means that
our products must have the latest technologies
available,” says Norman. “That requires ever
more and better connectivity. We see Profinet
as key in those global mark ets.”
The HI 6200 is an ultra-compact, DIN railmounted
device measuring just two inches wide
and three-and-a-quarter inches high. It allows
for high-density panel designs compared with
traditional weighing instrumentation, reducing
both machine costs and control cabinet footprints.
It has a 32-bit ARM core for processing
which, along with Hardy’s proprietary WaveSaver
technology and a single-button-press calibration
method, delivers accurate, stable, and fast weight
readings in the type of adverse conditions that
plague process control.
The HI 6200 supports proactive maintenance
strategies while delivering the benefits of IIoT
device-level connectivity though built-in web
servers or directly via the UDP transport layer.
It can also be used as a co-processer for a control
system such as a PLC, DCS, or PAC, delivering
100 updates per second of processed weight data
at resolutions exceeding 1:10,000.
Profinet integration
Integrating Profinet proved to be a bigger
challenge than expected, mainly because the
ultra-compact design meant there were limited
resources available on the motherboard. Norman
says, “We initially purchased a Profinet
software stack to reside on our existing Ethernet
platform. However, the stack required
an extensive rework and optimization, and
after many months of engineering effort it
still wouldn’t pass Profinet certification. As we
were in a hurry to get the product released, we
decided to stop that approach and look for an
integrated hardware and firmware solution.”
Hardy evaluated several possible options and
chose to use the netX 52 chip from Hilscher.
“Our engineering staff already had experience
with this chip from an earlier product upgrade
to our HI 4050+ single-scale weight controller,”
says Norman. “That’s quite an old product
but we were able to add Profinet using the netX
52. So, it made sense to use the same chip when
upgrading the HI 6200.”
Inside the netX 52
Part of Hilscher’s netX family of network interfaces,
the netX 52 is a Profinet node device. The
netX range is unique in that it supports all popular
industrial networking protocols by deploying
appropriate firmware. The netX 52 supports up to
14 industrial networking protocols. Fully certified
stacks are available for all supported protocols
and simply loaded into a chip as needed.
Using netX devices enables an OEM to create
a single hardware platform and install the communications
protocol after manufacture to meet
a customer’s particular requirements. Hilscher
provides starter kits for developers and offers full
engineering support.
Engineers from Hardy Process Solutions
visited Hilscher North America in Chicago to
receive local engineering training and guidance.
With the netX 52, it took Hardy less than six
months to achieve a certified Profinet weighing
solution for the upgraded HI 6200.
Now the company is looking to use the netX
52 a third time, in a future flagship product
designed to meet the growing demand for a
weight controller that can support IoT-compliant
systems and strategies.
