Multi-drive control and condition monitoring in networked electric drives with EtherCAT

Abstract

Multi-drive systems and condition monitoring could benefit from a larger exchange of information between the electric drives and the industrial network. This is favored by the Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet initiatives together with the emergence of high-speed industrial networks. This paper investigates how recent industrial communication protocols can handle the emerging diversity of service requirements. After a brief overview of multi-drive system and condition monitoring applications for networked electric drives, the paper provides a quantitative evaluation of the performance of EtherCAT-based network of electric drives, supporting both dynamic control and condition monitoring.