To make electric drives Industry 4.0-capable, they must be digitally mapped. With this in mind, a corresponding ZVEI working group was established in the fall of 2015. In addition to various drive technology manufacturers, representatives from the mechanical engineering and classification/standardization sectors as well as university research are also involved. At that time, Industry 4.0 was described at a theoretical level: RAMI 4.0, the Industry 4.0 component and the administration shell. The working group took all of this as input and has since implemented and defined it for a specific product group.

So what exactly constitutes a 'Drive 4.0'? In the course of the digital transformation, the drive passes through various stages in the value creation process and throughout its life cycle: from planning and manufacturing to integration into machines, commissioning and finally use in the production process. The standardized, manufacturer-independent provision of data plays a central role in this context.

In order to describe the Drive 4.0, concepts for semantics and classifications are first required that go hand in hand with uniform features, data and functions. The eCl@ss classification system, which is based on international standards, was selected to create a uniform data structure with Industry 4.0 semantics. This system already defines many characteristics of different areas of drive technology. The resulting standardized data is then also the basis for the creation of information models, for example for OPC UA.

Based on the features and data handling, the ZVEI working group has developed initial proposals for Industry 4.0 functions. Functions were selected that are of particular importance to machine manufacturers and system operators and are often already integrated into the drives - albeit in a manufacturer-specific version. Industry 4.0 functions include, for example, a standardized interface for reading out the fault memory, auto-tuning for uncomplicated commissioning, oscilloscope function for recording signals in real time or energy management for retrieving the relevant consumption data.

A key advantage of a manufacturer-independent description and access level is that machine builders and system operators do not need a separate tool for every drive from every manufacturer. In other words, the standardized interfaces offer third-party software providers the opportunity to bring specialized tools to the market. The data obtained from different sources (drives and other machine functions) can be merged and evaluated thanks to their uniform presentation, opening up new opportunities to analyze and optimize the machine in its entirety.

As is so often the case in life, the devil is in the detail. Standardized cross-manufacturer semantics and definition of functions is a project that requires a lot of resources - especially time. The definition of features for eCl@ss has now been completed for motors and is complete with Release 11 of eCl@ss. However, this still needs to be done for inverters and other components. In addition, the internationalization of the data is
via the IEC.

Many standards already exist for converting a drive into an Industrie 4.0 drive component. It is therefore to be expected that the transition to Industry 4.0 will not be disruptive.

© ZVEI

Work on a standardized data structure with Industry 4.0 semantics is the most advanced. Initial data and functions are available, so the ZVEI working group is now working with nine manufacturers to put the results into practice in a demonstrator - under the motto: The vision of 'Drive 4.0' is becoming reality. The standardized eCl@ss data will be used in an OPC UA information model and two initial functions will be implemented - reading the rating plate and the oscilloscope. The manufacturers provide their drive systems and software expertise to implement a hardware and software demonstrator. The whole process is carried out in close coordination with other ZVEI working groups, as well as with the VDMA Industry 4.0/OPC UA Drive Technology working group and the Industry 4.0 AG1 platform.

The core of the demonstrator from a software point of view are administration shells that are based on the existing hardware and software of the drive systems provided and offer typical Industrie 4.0 functions such as an electronic type plate and the Industrie 4.0 oscilloscope. The corresponding data structures and software interfaces are coordinated between the participating companies in the working group in various stages of development. Finally, the use of the OPC UA standard enables a largely platform-independent implementation of the administration shells. OPC UA supports the exchange of data from different devices as well as their processing and aggregation at the higher levels of production control (MES, ERP, etc.) - regardless of the available communication protocols (TCP/IP and UDP/IP). Both event-driven and procedural programming concepts are used.

The aim is to complete the demonstrator for Hannover Messe 2020.

Authors: Bernhard Sattler is a consultant in the ZVEI Automation Association and Stefanie Wiesner is a consultant in the ZVEI Automation Association.