In a recent customer survey, commissioned by Control Techniques, some 75%
of automation users said they are either already using, or investigating,
Ethernet in industrial applications. Now, a new Ethernet module brings
online connectivity to Control Techniques' range of ac drives, enabling
direct drive access and diagnostics from any location. The module,
SM-Ethernet, is a plug-in option and resides within the footprint of both
the Unidrive SP and Commander SK ac drives. It supports 10Base-T and
100Base-T Ethernet, Modbus TCP/IP, SMTP mail and DHCP IP addressing.
User-friendly web pages are embedded in SM-Ethernet to assist the user in
the set-up of the module and its host drive, though users can also embed
their own web pages, at no extra cost, to provide a customised graphical
interface. The SMTP feature enables automatic email generation to signal
any event such maintenance due or batch complete.
CT's Modbus TCP/IP protocol supporst both standard Modbus features and
some additional, optional functions that allow the communications to
tunnel through the Ethernet option module and on to CTNet, CT's
proprietary drive-to-drive network. This allows one Ethernet option to be
used for the configuration and monitoring of a complete drive automation
system, reducing the cost of distributed automation.