In May 2023, Omron Automation (China) Co., Ltd. NJ/NX series new products [automation controller NX502, EtherNet/IP™ unit NX-EIP201] were officially released. This product is a high-performance PLC product specially designed to solve new energy vehicle-related industry issues. It is equipped with a 4-core CPU, taking into account both control performance and data processing speed. Improve the production speed of the manufacturing site by integrating control, information and security!
Nowadays, the demand of the manufacturing industry is changing rapidly. Taking the new energy automobile industry as an example, the business issues are becoming more and more prominent:
*The production of multiple models has brought about an increase in investment in the production line, and a sharp increase in the pressure to reduce costs. How to shorten the production cycle and achieve a reduction in production costs;
* How to ensure quality while increasing production;
*Product changes urgently require rapid response of equipment, how to realize flexible production and ensure efficient operation of the production line;
* In response to overseas factory operations, how to quickly solve overseas production line problems and reduce maintenance costs;
The key to solving these issues is that all processes at the manufacturing site must be accelerated.
① Speed up the improvement of production process
Issue: It takes time to transfer data and reflect analysis results, resulting in decreased yield
X5: Leverage data to increase production
The database transfer performance of NX5 is about 4 times that of conventional products*1, enabling high-speed transfer of high-resolution data, which is increasing at production sites, to the database without fail.
*1 Mechanical automation controller NJ5 series
In addition, the analysis results of the database are reflected in the processing conditions in real time, which facilitates the identification of the cause of defects before reaching the threshold, helps to avoid defects, reduces feedback time, and improves yield.
Problem: In order to achieve quality improvement as soon as possible while maintaining the high-speed cycle of the equipment, precision machining requires high-frequency collection of diverse data. In addition, there is insufficient communication bandwidth when transferring data to PCs and other systems.
NX5: Taking into account equipment rhythm and quality improvement
The NX5 updates the command values of servo motors and stepping motors at a fixed cycle of up to 250 μs, enabling smooth cam operation, high-precision interpolation control between axes, and phase adjustment.
All data from the EtherCAT® I/O is also collected synchronously with an error of less than 1 μs. By collecting the data of non-deviation and high-precision processing, the deviation is compensated in time to ensure the production cycle and quality.
In addition, up to four EtherNet/IP units can be connected to the NX5, with a maximum permissible communication bandwidth of 40,000pps per unit, enabling large-capacity communication, maintaining high-speed tact, and achieving early quality improvement.
②Speed up the change speed of the production line when the demand changes
Problem: Since the safety communication is configured on the same network segment, the network power of all processes must be turned off, which affects a large number of devices and prolongs delivery time.
NX5: High Utilization Appliance for Security Consolidation
Based on the modular structure of software and hardware of previous products, NX5 realizes the modularization of safety network configuration. When the process change is partial, it is not necessary to stop the entire production line, but only need to adjust/check the changed process.
In addition, large production lines with up to 8 independent network systems and 254 secure connections can be flexibly built. Significantly reduce delivery time when changing production lines.
③Speed up the speed of solving equipment/production line problems
Problem: Low failure reproducibility, high overseas maintenance costs.
NX5: Taking into account vertical startup and stable operation, production data reproduction
NX5's automated replay feature collects and replays all information about controls, allowing quick identification of even difficult-to-reproduce problems
In addition, data collection does not affect the control cycle, so it can be used with confidence during mass production. Quickly analyze the cause of the fault from a large amount of playback data, effectively shorten the time to find out the cause, and help improve equipment utilization.
Omron's newly released [automation controller NX502, EtherNet/IP unit NX-EIP201] integrates control, information and security, from start-up to maintenance, helps to speed up multiple processes on the manufacturing site, solves issues in the new energy vehicle industry, and creates corporate social value.
