Motor drives in factory communication

Concepts are presented for communication between drives and other equipment. The use of a proprietary (yet open and published) protocol as well as a widely accepted industry standard communication standard are presented. The controlling host device can be a standard personal computer or industrial programmable logic controller. The system supplies logical control of I/O devices along with the analog data acquisition and output for process control. In addition, direct control and monitoring of the motor drive is achieved via the same host controller and interface protocol. Widespread use of this concept will open the door for multiple vendor support with standardized software and thus broader application acceptance.<>