Case study: Arteco Motion Tech – Axis Controllers & PLC  units

Application Overview:
The Axis Controllers with included PLC produced by Arteco Motion Tech have reached high standard of quality and performance at very affordable prices.

Connectivity Problem:
Due to the success of the controllers and market demand, many customers asked for capability of connecting  the advanced Arteco Axis controllers to third-party PLC-based automation systems. Initial requirements were to provide Profibus network connectivity capabilities. Due to the small size limitations inside the controller, Arteco needed to find a way to integrate Profibus in a very small way.


Solution:
Due to the very small size and  to the easy-to-use feature of  HMS’  Anybus IC Profibus, Arteco Motion Tech decided to integrate the Anybus-IC with Profibus-DP functionality its Axis Controllers & PLCs. Functional requirements such as, performance, size, reliability and low power consumption were key technical elements which Arteco evaulated. Arteco also considered the commerical aspects. Should we integrate this ourselves? how long would this take? Network certification, support and maintenance were other considerations. Another deciding factor was flexibility and an easy platform to possibly integrate other industrial networks in the future.

Benefits
Customers of Arteco really appreciate the Profibus DP connectivity of its Axis Controllers & PLCs, since they can use the Controllers as advanced slaves which enables movement of Axis to the desired position by simply sending variables shared  via the Profibus network. At the same time customers can use big branded PLCs as masters and “advanced but low cost” axis controllers slaves to help to minimize costs. Another major benefit for Arteco was that with Anybus, Arteco have a flexible interchangeable platform to possibly integrate other industrial networks such as DeviceNet, CANopen, Profinet, EtherNet/IP, and Modbus-TCP which can open up new market oportuniites for Arteco's Axis controllers in the future.

About Arteco Motion Tech
Arteco Motion Tech is one of the Italian leading manufacturers of Industrial Axis Controllers & PLC, PLCs, Distributed I/O and distributed Axis Controller Modules. All of the controllers are programmable using the standard and worldwide known  IEC61131-3 programming languages.