8SMC4-36 is designed for controlling up to 36 axes with DC or stepper motors. The chassis has 7U height and can be setup on usual 19’ industrial cabinet or can be freestanding. Up to 6 8SMC4-36 systems can be installed on a standard 42U 19' cabinet which gives up to 216 axes per cabinet, this industry's highest number so far! Up to 250 cabinets can be assembled in a single system via Ethernet. The system is automatically set on a peer-to-peer principle and does not require any special infrastructure or master servers.
8SMC4-36 contains all necessary subsystems, including control, power units, cooling subsystems etc., which support the simultaneous work of all axes. 8SMC4-36 allows full hot plug: installation/replacement/removal of any controller module without stopping the system. 8SMC4-36 is connected to a number of PC-based workstations via Ethernet, moreover all users have access to the range setting of the available axes and assignment of access privileges. From the programmer’s point of view, work with all axes of the system is very similar to a local 8SMC4-USB box. Needs of the potential clients should be taken into very close consideration when the system is being developed. The system is highly scalable. The number of the axes available for a user and processed by the system can reach 50,000, which is the highest number in the industry! As far as a user is concerned, it does not matter how many 8SMC4-USB systems are installed and how they are connected because a user will enjoy a universal interface with an opportunity to control all the axes provided this user has respective access.
8SMC4-36 Back view. Positioner connection, control, and electric power supply
Front panel consist all LED-indication and connectors for plugging the remote control and indication (joysticks, buttons, limit switches indicators, sync inputs and outputs). The front panel is monolithic and fixed. The back panel is divided into 9 blocks of 8SMC4-4 type of 3U height. Each of them contains four axes. The blocks are independent; they are located on the sleds and can be replaced/installed/removed on the fly; minimal amount of blocks is one, and maximum is nine. If the system is expected to work with less than 36 axes, part of the slots can be substituted with plugs. The 10th block, which contains an built-in programmable controller and connectors for plugging to electric power, is mandatory. Cool air is delivered through a 1/2U slot in the front panel, and it is expelled from the back panel. While in operation the front and the back panels should not be blocked for the purposes of ventilation.
8SMC4-36 uses common Ethernet interface and all users are provided with the range setting of the available axes and access rights differentiation. This setting is created by a superuser, the administrator of the system who has full access. All 8SMC4-36 systems controlled by the superuser exchange data on peer-to-peer principle thus establishing a distributed peer-to-peer network without a central node. This organization allows preserving system availability with at least two connected nodes. An upgrade of such a system reduces to logging a new 8SMC4-36 on. As far as user is concerned, it does not matter how many 8SMC4-USBs are installed and how they are connected. From the programmer’s point of view, work with all the axes of the system is different from one’s with local 8SMC4-USB with the request of a login and password when engine controllers are connected to the net only.
All software supplied with the controller is compatible with Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Linux, and Mac OS X, as well as with 64-bit versions. A controller is delivered with a cross-platform library and examples which allow a quick programming on C++, C#, .NET, Delphi, Visual Basic, gcc, Xcode, Matlab, Java, Python and LabVIEW. A controller is also delivered with the interface of XILab user, which allows managing all functions of the device without the necessity to develop their own programs. A scripting language is integrated into 3 XILab, an EcmaScript dialect, which allows easily sequencing actions including cycles and conditional breakpoint without compilation and mastering a programming language.
Up to 3 А with the total energy consumption of all controllers up to 1.5 kW
Protections
current overload protection, voltage overload protection, short circuit protection, motor hotplug/unplug protection
Motion modes
move left/right, move to point, shift on delta, continuous speed, acceleration and deceleration ramps, backlash compensation mode, automatic home position calibration mode
