PROFIsafe: Functional Safety Over the Bus
loading… Functional safety (fail-safe) is the overall part of safety which aims to prevent hazards due to the incorrect functioning of industrial machinery. Traditionally, functional safety systems relied on separately wired circuits that are expensive to build, commission, and maintain. Nowadays, functional safety can be done over the fieldbus, shifting from safety in hard relays…
Security Classes for PROFINET (coming soon!)
loading… As digitalization spreads to all levels and applications in manufacturing, IT security gains more importance. Previous security concepts relied primarily on isolating production plants from external users and networks. But in the nowadays connected environment, security strategies must take another approach. PROFIBUS and PROFINET International (PI) is working towards implementing a state of the…
PROFINET Media Redundancy
loading… Ring topologies establish media redundancy. If a wire breaks in one section of the ring, there is a secondary connection to the network. The image below shows an example of a ring topology within a network with multiple topologies. Generally, Ethernet should not be connected in a ring without performing some sort of management….
PROFINET iPar Server – Overview and Description
loading… Aside from the mandatory characteristics in each PROFINET device, PROFIBUS and PROFINET International (PI) defines a list of optional features. These features are not required in all PROFINET devices; nonetheless, they can provide tremendous added value. This post describes one of those PROFINET optional features: the iPar Server. Since this feature is optional, users…
PROFINET Conformance Classes
loading… All PROFINET products are developed according to international standards and certified by PROFIBUS and PROFINET International (PI). Every PROFINET device has a defined set of features that are mandatory based on its conformance class. There are three PROFINET conformance classes: A, B, and C. Conformance Class A (CC-A) is the most basic, while C…
PROFINET Optional Features – Q&A Block
loading… Did you miss the PROFINET Optional Features webinar? We got you covered. You can watch the whole webinar recording and go over the slide set here. This webinar explains several PROFINET optional features, such as Device Redundancy, Shared Device, Dynamic Reconfiguration, Fast Startup, iPar Server, and Time Stamping. During the live session, we got…
Dynamic Reconfiguration
loading… The process industries have many challenging production requirements. For example, in some applications, systems must run continuously without interruptions; not even emergency stops are possible. For those scenarios, PROFIBUS and PROFINET International (PI) specified a PROFINET feature to ensure continuous processes. Such feature is Dynamic Reconfiguration (DR). DR allows users to reconfigure, insert, remove,…
PROFIsafe over Wireless
loading… Nowadays, functional safety can be implemented over the bus shifting from safety in hard-wired relays to safety performed in logic. PROFIsafe is an additional software layer that provides functional safety over the bus in PROFINET networks. PROFIsafe ensures the integrity of failsafe signals transmitted between safety devices and a safety controller meeting the relevant…
PROFINET I-Device
loading… I-Device is an optional PROFINET feature, which operates on the controller level. This feature allows a controller to be both a device and controller simultaneously, allowing for controller to controller (some might say peer to peer) communications with PROFINET. I-Device functionality brings many benefits. For example, it enables the setup of communications between IO…
PI Technologies Everywhere
loading… 2019 Application Stories This year, PROFINEWS featured several application stories that highlighted the role of PROFINET, PROFIBUS, or IO-Link in a current automation project. The list below includes all of those application stories. Click on any title below to read the full article. Also, don’t forget, PI North America is always looking for exciting…