In industry, the 'Internet of Things' concept promises flexible and comprehensive machine communication. In order to achieve the necessary holistic networking from the field level to the cloud, various players must work together efficiently. Wago has therefore established an international IoT partner network, a strategic-technological initiative with partners from the areas of low-code/no-code, security, OT/IT integration and IT software companies. There are also technology partners within the network, for example to enable the mass deployment of Wago hardware. In this way, Wago bundles the expertise of different companies and expands the company's own open Linux-based controllers with the domain knowledge of the respective partners. This is because, depending on the application, needs-based systems are required to achieve optimum results. This applies to industrial production as well as everyday systems such as car washes.

A chemicals manufacturer had the problem of implementing smart data solutions in mass deployment for its customers, in this case car wash operators. The manufacturer's aim was to monitor the consumption of chemicals, reduce service calls and stock levels and optimize the supply chain. Data collection and processing in a car wash is a similarly complex undertaking as in industry. This is because it requires both highly specialized domain knowledge in the field of car wash production and process technology on the one hand, and automation and programming skills on the other. In a car wash, linked machines or system components interact with each other: the cleaning systems must be coordinated with the lane and rotate in such a way that no damage occurs. In addition, cleaning agents must be used sparingly, as the chemicals used are not only expensive but can also pollute the environment. Until now, chemical consumption in car washes has often only been recorded sporadically. The chemical manufacturer and car wash operator therefore wanted to obtain a precise breakdown of consumption.

The software architecture

The solution for the washing system was the open control architecture from Wago in combination with the Prescient Designer.

© Wago

As part of the collaboration with Wago, a switch was made from the previously used hardware to a PFC200 controller in combination with an edge computer as a path to the cloud. In order to offer application-specific mass deployment, such as easy-to-manage software updates and remote troubleshooting, Wago involved its IoT partner Prescient from Concord, Massachusetts. The application was implemented using the Prescient Designer software, which is based on Node-Red. Node-Red is a flow-based open source programming tool that can be used to link software interfaces - for example from machines, sensors, APIs or ERP systems. The graphical programming environment makes it easy to implement complex edge projects. This made it possible to implement a fast and efficient smart data solution that starts at field level, where operating, machine and logbook data is recorded via digital or analog signals, various fieldbuses or energy meters, among other things. Before they are analyzed in the Industrial Cloud, edge devices and the controller pre-process the data into a model. A web-based application is used as the front-end solution, which is fed by the data obtained from the back-end. This software architecture approach, the separation between front and back end, makes it possible in future to process both the automation and the web application independently of each other and to keep them up to date.

To ensure optimal integration of the Prescient Designer, the hardware must work natively with Node-Red. For this reason, the Wago PFC200 controller with the open source capabilities of its Linux operating system was the best possible choice. The PFC200 uses a Docker container that enables access to the physical I/O via Modbus. This is freely available on Wago's GitHub account and is an example of how open source offers customers more flexibility when creating solutions. As the Prescient Designer is based on Node-Red, the I/Os can be read and written via the standard Modbus TCP palette. Node-Red (rescient) also supports the necessary cloud protocols with additional palettes available in the Palette Manager.

The digital twin in the car wash

Due to the growing amount of data in industrial applications and the Industrial IoT, more and more computing power is required with corresponding demands on databases and analysis/optimization algorithms.

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This approach makes it possible to generate a digital twin of the physical process of a chemical delivery for car washes. This digital twin displays the recorded data in real time and allows adjustments to be made. In combination with the data already collected, trends can be identified that provide further information about resource requirements. Employees on site can plan repairs and deliveries so that downtime is not necessary. The car wash thus becomes an example of a large-scale facility that already provides a lot of data from the ground up thanks to the networked machines.

What applies to car washes can also be transferred to the industrial production process. Here, too, vast amounts of data are generated during production, from which valuable conclusions can be drawn about production efficiency. More and more computing power is required to handle the tasks. Modern edge devices process the data in real time and thus offer the corresponding performance for analyses and optimization algorithms. The main advantage of edge devices: on the one hand, they ensure latency-free data processing and, on the other, the data can be aggregated and pre-processed accordingly in order to optimize data transfer to possible cloud infrastructures. This reduces the load on the control systems, allowing them to focus on their original control task with low latency and high determinism.

Open automation as a prerequisite

The author: Kilian Fröhlich is Global Business Developer Digitalization & IoT at Wago.

© Wago

In addition to the solution approach mentioned above, the future of industrial production lies in linking OT and IT. Openness at all levels of automation plays a special role here. Wago therefore relies on Codesys V3 for programming. This makes it possible to implement a continuous connection from the field level to the cloud, which is based on a comprehensively networked infrastructure. Over 500 I/O modules and interfaces enable individual adaptation to different requirements. Of course, IT security is not neglected either: all development processes in automation meet the requirements of IEC 62443-4-1. At the same time, standards such as OpenVPN, SSL, SSH, IPsec and firewall increase security when using Wago controllers.