In recent years, systems for manufacturing and production are becoming increasingly complex. More motorized de-vices are being used in manufacturing or production lines to attain the complex motions that are required for today's sophisticated manufacturing techniques. Analog control has been used to control the devices in these lines, but the vast amount of wiring required for analog control makes it difficult to connect a large number of devices. The func-tions that analog control can offer are too limited to satisfy the demand for higher levels of control. Today, control using digital communications is increasing in demand and replacing analog control. Also, to meet the demand for increased productivity, a cycle time that is one second or even one millisecond shorter will result in a shorter control cycle between control devices. Accordingly, the demand for high-speed digital communications is on the rise to attain these desired results.
Customers frequently change models and manufacturers for their control devices to take advantage of rapidly decrea-sing prices and improvements in function and control performance. They expect a rich selection of control de-vices and technologies to be readily available so they can connect an ever-increasing number of devices from various vendors. Most manufacturing equipment consists of two sections: a drive section and an I/O control section. Cus-tomers want to control both sections with the use of only one digital communications line.
MECHATROLINK can meet these demands through digital communications. We offer a full line-up of MECHATROLINK- compliant products, including master controllers, I/O de-vices, and various types of drives, such as servos, inverters, and stepper drives. These products can be connected to a single communications line. MECHATROLINK is an open network, and its technical information is available (for disclosure) to all members of the MECHATROLINK MEMBERS ASSOCIATION (MMA).
The MMA website, which includes pages for members only, introduces various MECHATROLINK products and provides technical information on MECHATROLINK.
MECHATROLINK can provide high-speed communications in transmission cycles from 31.25 sec at 100 Mbps. Up to 62 nodes can be connected, and fully synchronized control between nodes can be achieved. Two-mode Master and Slave ASIC, economical compact Slave Only ASIC, and an IP core for FPGA allows you to construct the best configu-ration of hardware for your applications. In addition to FPGA, we will continue to develop MECHATROLINK-Ⅲ, which is built into various MPUs, to help construct easier MECHA-TROLINK-compliant systems.
To further widen the global MECHATROLINK network, the MMA established eight offices in major markets overseas. The MMA is also planning to set up booths in several exhibitions and trade shows to increase people's familiarity with MECHATROLINK.
The MMA continues its efforts to encourage even wider use of MECHATROLINK with a larger number of products and to be positioned as an industry standard for easy-to-use mo-tion networks.
MECHATROLINK is an open-end network, with a wide selec-tion of MECHATROLINK products available that are mainly focused on motion control. We hope that you will find this catalog, containing all the information you require to un-derstand the wonders of MECHATROLINK, useful.
MECHATROLINK MEMBERS ASSOCIATION
General Secretary of the MMA
Hironobu Shimohata
November 2019