Topic:
- What does OPC UA mean?
- Is an OPC interface present by maxon controllers?
- How can maxon controllers be integrated into an OPC system?
Solution:
1.) Basics
OPC UA (= Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture) is a platform-independent standard for the bus-based exchange of data between different machine components from different suppliers. This includes both the type of data transport and its machine-readable processing. More detailed explanations can be found here:
- What is OPC? - OPC Foundation
- Open Platform Communications - Wikipedia
- OPC Unified Architecture - Wikipedia
The OPC standard is mainly focused on the implementation and use by higher-level controllers (like PLCs). maxon motor controllers (like the EPOS4) are not(!) designed as "OPC UA Server" and do not have a TCP/IP interface, which is mostly used for OPC accesses.
2.) Integration of a maxon controller into an OPC system
For the integration of maxon motor controllers (e.g. EPOS4) into an OPC system environment, a higher-level controller (= master, e.g. Beckhoff PLC) is required that has "OPC UA Server" functionality. The higher-level controller acts as a kind of gateway that reads the data from the motor controller via the fieldbus (CANopen, EtherCAT according to CiA402), processes it and makes it available to the OPC UA clients
Conclusion
Restrictions:
- The maxon controllers do not(!) have their own "OPC UA Server" functionality.
The implementation of such a functionality is not planned for the EPOS4 and cannot be integrated. - maxon does not(!) provide any tools or libraries for OPC data exchange.
Solution:
- The maxon controllers can exchange data in real time with a higher-level controller (= master, e.g. PLC, maxon MasterMACS) via CANopen and EtherCAT.
- An "OPC UA Server" software on the higher-level controller, e.g. PLC (as gateway) can provide the EPOS4 data to any "OPC UA Clients" based on OPC standards.
- The maxon master controller "MasterMACS" (P/N: 001725) has an Ethernet interface and could be used as an "OPC UA Server" with appropriate software add-ons, i.e. forward the EPOS4 data to an OPC environment. Such a software add-on is currently not available for the MasterMACS and is not planned.
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