Automation Engineering
Automation engineering is a key technology of central importance for industry because only through increased use of mechatronics expertise in the design, production, operation and optimization of machines and plant can the competitiveness of industry be maintained and ensured.
Siemens defines the core resources for Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) under the headings of Engineering, Communication, Diagnostics, Safety, Security, and Ruggedness. Within these core resources key product categories include software, tuning utilities, controllers, HMI, PLC’s, PC-Based controllers, networks, fieldbuses, drives, motors, feedback devices, I/O, and process control.
Maximum availability only becomes ideal when it can be adapted to own specific automation engineering requirements. Siemens offer I/O modules that can be configured and operated in redundant mode. These modules can be configured in separate racks – but also in a single rack – using standard or redundant PROFIBUS or PROFINET connections.
Siemens and Wago automation hardware sets completely new standards in terms of flexibility, modularity and redundancy and supports fault-tolerant architectures. The level of fault tolerance can be perfectly tailored to requirements by mixing and coordinating single and multiple redundancies in one and the same system.
Flexible modular redundancy (FMR)
Depending on the automation task and safety requirements, FMR allows the configuring engineer to seperately define the degree of redundancy for the individual architecture levels comprising controller, fieldbus and I/O. Each component within a level can be provided with a redundant configuration, and also physically separated. All components also meet the requirements of safety integrity level SIL 3. You can then implement individual, fault-tolerant architectures exactly tailored to individual tasks which tolerate several faults occurring at once.
This all enables more attractive and cost-effective solutions than conventional architectures with uniform design.