Motion control is one of the central topics in automation technology. This is due in part to the fact that this area bears a relatively high share of the costs of an entire automation solution; as a result, the potential for savings are high as well.
PLCopen motion control function blocks comply with the IEC 61131-3 standard and help users reduce costs by offering vendor-independence and reducing overall development times. Additional support is provided through the use of a wide variety of programming languages, including Ladder Diagram (LD), Structured Text (ST) and the high-level language C.
The functionality provided by these function blocks can be broken down into single- and multi-axis movements. In addition to traditional absolute and relative movements, the first of these two groups also includes the possibility of overlapping movements. Multi-axis movements provide support for gear, cam profile, up/down synchronization and compensation gear (i.e. changing the phase angle) functions.