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WORLD OF INDUSTRIES - Industrial Automation 1/2017

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  • Industrial
  • Automation
WORLD OF INDUSTRIES - Industrial Automation 1/2017

IO-Link solution

IO-Link solution demonstrates its advantages INDUSTRIAL COMMUNICATION IO-Link brings great flexibility, efficiency, and easy handling to the new Fives Giustina grinding machines. With IO-Link and centrally-stored parameter recipes, format and product changes are easy and can be accomplished in the shortest possible time. Transparent parameterization and diagnostic concepts offer users additional significant benefits. Together with Balluff, this Italian manufacturer has made its machines Industry 4.0-capable. The Giustina RVD 23 literally grips the workpieces to be processed in a vice: the machine grinds components with plane surfaces such as con rods, disks, gear wheels, and other machine and tool construction components. This vertical double-grinding machine can be used for a variety of purposes, its flexible changeover concept supports a wide variety of parts. Both workpieces with plane-parallel surfaces and those with only one plane surface can be ground on the machine using the infeed or continuous flow process. The component is rotated during the grinding process, which improves the parallelism and quality of the surfaces. With a simple exchange of the workpiece holders, different workpieces with material thicknesses from 0.5 to 100 mm and diameters up to 200 mm can be processed. IO-Link opens up new perspectives The manufacturer of the grinding machine is Fives Giustina S.r.l. headquartered in Turin; this company is part of the Fives Group. Fives Giustina offers a full spectrum of grinding machines including grinding accessories and service. Its customers are in nearly all branches of industry, especially vehicle manufacturing and aerospace. The Giustina RVD 23 distinguishes itself through its great efficiency and good price-performance ratio. “We always keep our ears open for innovative technologies that increase performance WORLD OF INDUSTRIES – INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION 1/2017

01 Fives designs and supplies ultimate grinding machines and solutions for precision component manufacturers in a broad range of industries 02 Profinet fieldbus module with IO-Link interfaces to sensor switching and reduce costs at the same time,” says Damiano Bosa, Project Engineer at Fives Giustina. For many years, the sensor system, RFID supplier, and automation expert Balluff has maintained a close partnership with Fives Giustina. IO-Link, in accordance with the IEC 61131-9 internationallycertified point-to-point connection below the bus level, is a known standard at Fives Giustina. Starting in 2014, the company equipped machines with the digital communication standard and delivered these to a well-known automobile manufacturer—and since then, it has received many positive reports. In fact, IO-Link, which is comparable to the USB standard in the computer field, has opened up completely new perspectives: the digital I/O standard links sensors and actuators to the system controller easily with a three-wire cable and plug connector. Complicated wiring is passé, which saves time, material, and money. At the same time, this simple communication standard focuses directly on the place where things happen. Anyone who thinks about Industry 4.0 now is entirely on the right path: for it’s not without reason that IO-Link is regarded as an enabler technology in the industry. Plugging instead of wiring There are several reasons why Fives Giustina selected IO-Link in cooperation with Balluff for its current grinding machine series. One of the core requirements was that it should be possible to process a broad spectrum of parts on the machine. With a flexible changeover concept, the company had already provided the prerequisites for a quick product change. Parallel to this was the request for a simple and flexibly-applicable parameterization concept. “Balluff Sales Engineer Mauro Guglielmino provided About Balluff With over 50 years of sensor experience, Balluff GmbH is a world leader and manufacturer of sensor technology with company office in Neuhausen, Germany. 3,200 employees nationally and abroad are committed to this. For all areas of automation they offer electronic and mechanical sensors, rotary and linear displacement transducers, identification systems and optimised connection technology for efficient automation. the first hint about the intelligent interface. Although this is a standard supported by many companies, in the meantime, we identify IO-Link with Balluff,” emphasizes Damiano Bosa. The pressure sensors used and the new Smart Light LED signal lamps from Balluff tipped the balance in favor of IO-Link. These are connected to the controller level with simple three-wire cables and M12 connectors via a Balluff BNI Profibus master. There is no need for screened lines, switch boxes, and additional cards. Even simple inductive sensors are collected via special Balluff sensor hubs and incorporated into the IO-Link architecture. Plugging instead of wiring wins people over because the probability of installation errors is reduced to almost zero. Not to mention the material savings and clarity. Since IO-Link makes do with a few standard components, this approach is frequently worthwhile simply with regard to the hardware components. Flexible adjusted to custom requirements The extensive functionality of Balluff’s new Smart Light LED signal lamps would not be conceivable without IO-Link: in contrast to the usual signal lamps, the colors and zones are not assigned permanently; instead, they can be activated at will and programmed centrally. 20 colored LEDs arranged one over the other either light up or flash in several selectable colors depending on the requirements and tasks at hand. Various operating states of the system, flows, or physical variables such as temperature states can be visualized easily as needed. “It was a declared goal that users of our grinding machines should be able to adapt the relevant modules flexibly to changing tasks. This is easily and quickly possible thanks to IO-Link and the use of stored parameter recipes. Downtimes can therefore be reduced to a minimum,” adds Damiano Bosa. In addition, IO-Link structures the wiring of the machine clearly and takes up much less space in the control cabinet. Creating the circuit and terminal diagrams is quick and they are immediately comprehensible for both machine operators and service technicians. “With IO-Link, our machines are put on the market faster, our customers have machines that can be used flexibly and provide performance and operating advantages,” summarizes Damiano Bosa. These are arguments that will be heard on the hard-fought market. Photographs: lead fotolia, 01-02 Balluff www.balluff.com WORLD OF INDUSTRIES – INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION 1/2017

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