Sercos III

With the addition of Sercos III, Schneider Electric has created the first fully Ethernet based communication solution enabling communication for Motion-centric machines with both drives and field devices. SERCOS III can also streamline the integration of safety automation, and is a true standard. It does not rely upon a specific manufacturer, and it’s one of the most powerful Ethernet-based communication solutions currently on the market.

• Standardized, Ethernet-based fieldbus-communication

With IEC 61491, Sercos (serial realtime communication system) established itself as the worldwide communication standard for automation. Sercos III uses industrial Ethernet for its transmission physics. The bidirectional full-duplex Ethernet communication provides full media redundancy.

• Universal automation bus

The use of standardized profiles for drive technology, I/O, and communication between controllers (C2C) is increasing the range of possible applications for sercos III: For the first time, sercos can be used as a fully integrated Ethernet-based solution for drive and field bus communications, including communications in safety automation. Sercos III also permits parallel transmission of standardized or proprietary IP protocols over a non-real-time channel.

• Sercos Energy

Sercos III is one of the first communication solutions, offering an energy profile: Sercos Energy is an application layer profile that defines parameters and commands for the reduction of energy consumption in a uniform vendor-independent manner.

High speed serial communication standard for motion centric machine automation

• Vendor-neutral and worldwide accepted: More than 50 controller manufacturers and 30 drive manufacturers worldwide support the standard. Sercos has been used in machine engineering for more than 20 years and is implemented in over 2,5 million real-time nodes.
• Powerful: Sercos III is one of the most powerful Ethernet-based communication solutions currently on the market. Greater bandwidth makes sercos III even faster than sercos II. This allows a network update rate of 1 msec for up to 99 drives. An innovative synchronization procedure makes sercos III even more precise than before.
• Cost effective: Sercos III allows a more cost effective design of communication solutions. Regardless the complexitiy of the automation solution, there is no need of hubs or switches. For installation CAT5e cable is generally sufficient.
• Fast commissioning, fast device replacement: Sercos offers the possibility to parameterize components automatically via software. Sercos III offers for the first time to do this including assignment of bus addresses
• Maximum of reliability: The bidirectional Ethernet communication provides full media redundancy and therefore less failure probability
• Energy profile for enhancing energy efficiency: Sercos Energy allows the machine controls to switch connected components into energy-saving conditions, up to complete shut-down, in a targeted form. For this purpose, Sercos Energy makes the components’ energy consumption transparent allowing for an intelligent control of loads.

• Sercos III – Automation bus of PacDrive 3
• Sercos III is the Ethernet-based automation bus of  PacDrive 3, MachineStruxure´s hardware platform for controlling complete servodriven machines
• Sercos III integrates the entire communication process for PacDrive 3: Drive communication, I/O commmunication and safety communication as well
• PacDrive 3´s scalable controller performance allows economical automation of applications ranging from 1 – 99 servo axes or  with up to 30 robots
• PacDrive is Schneider electric´s solution offer for automating in particular
     - packaging/production machines
     - printing machines
     - material handling systems
     - machines for material working (wood, glas, ceramics, paper)
• PacDrive also comes up to the requirement for implementing strategies for more energy efficiency basing on Sercos Energy