EC-Engineer Web V2.4: New Features

EC-Engineer Web V2.4 offers a convenient dialog to define the communication relationships between the SubDevices.

SubDevice-to-SubDevice communication via the MainDevice allows to exchange data 1:1 between SubDevices without the need for a special application on the MainDevice as the data from the server device is copied to the client device directly within the MainDevice stack like the acontis EC-Master.

SubDevice-to-SubDevice communication approach usually requires two communication cycles (Frame 1 and Frame 2).  
In Cycle1, Frame 1 is sent and data from the SubDevices are read (IN).
The MainDevice then internally copies the IN data that is received in Cycle 1 into the OUT data area.
In Cycle 2, Frame 2 is sent with this data and this data is written to the appropriate SubDevice (OUT).

There is no restriction regarding the topology. The SubDevice where the data shall be copied to (OUT) can be located either in front of the SubDevice where data shall be read (IN) or after this SubDevice.

A common use case for SubDevice-to-SubDevice communication is the exchange of safety data (FSoE connections) between the FSoE MainDevice and FSoE SubDevice devices within the EtherCAT segment.

Depending on the network topolocy, it is also possible to transfer data from one SubDevice to another SubDevice within the same cycle. This is called SubDevice-to-SubDevice In-Cycle Communication. However, this has some limitations, as the SubDevices providing data to another SubDevice must be located physically before the SubDevice consuming this data within the network topology. Meaning that only a downstream communication is possible within the cycle. For more details, please refer to SubDevice to SubDevice Settings

A common use case for S2S in-cycle is to provide the encoder position of a motor to the servo drive amplifier as fast as possible.

It is very easy to select the different EtherCAT Variables that shall be traced.

To facilitate PDO editing, the PDO Edit window also includes direct access to the SubDevice’s CoE Object Dictionary. This allows to directly access the PDO data from the Object Dictionary – either for checking or for modification.

The EC-Engineer Web received an significant enhancement of features to configure EtherCAT networks using Distributed Clocks (DC). This includes a list of all devices with active DC, the possibility to select any slaves to be used as DC reference clock.

In addition, support for external DC synchronization has been improved.

In case of lines connected for a wrong port of any SubDevice, the EC-Engineer Web will highlight the incorrectly connected SubDevices in red. This is a big benefit during commissioning and service, as faults are immediately detected can be fixed by the user immediately.

The new integrated EoE Endpoint support allows the setup the configuration to use EoE SubDevices with the local MainDevice.

The EC-Engineer Web 2.4 alows to setup and check the EtherCAT P system, as soon as are EtherCAT P SubDevices are included in the configuration.

It is also possible to calculate and check the power consumptions in the EtherCAT P segments based on cables and loads – this allows to avoid any network issues due to missing power or overload of the EtherCAT P Soucing Devices:

The EC-Engineer Web alows to switch between all Power Sourcing Devices (PSD) in the configuration. The grid showns all supplied SubDevices from the selected PSD, including calculated voltages and currents as well as the selected loads.
The EC-Engineer marks all values in red which are out of limit.

The EC-Engineer Web now also supports the direct configuration of SoE SubDevices by providing direct access to the SoE object dictionary: