Rexroth Controller Certified for Use on Ships

 

Six European and American certification boards have approved the IndraControl XM22 control hardware for use on ships and offshore installations even under extreme ambient conditions. The certifications include the control hardware, extension modules for the expansion of the communication interfaces as well as application-specific modules of the fast IndraControl S20 I/O portfolio. IndraControl XM is the latest powerful controller with IP20 protection. The XM embedded controller uses IEC 61131 compliant programming tools for PLC programs as well as motion control tasks to regulate electric, hydraulic and electro-hydraulic drives.

 

The environmental conditions on the high seas are already demanding enough, because the technology has to function simply, safely and reliably. This approach has been followed by classification societies for more than 150 years. Their task is to test the robustness and reliability of all components for shipbuilding and offshore operations. A specially optimized version of IndraControl XM, which is widely used in the industry, has now been certified by six classification societies for use on the high seas: the American Bureau of Shipping, Lloyd's Register, Bureau Veritas, Det Norske Veritas / Germanischer Lloyd, Registro Italiano Navale and the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency. The modular and expandable control solution is also certified according to IECEx (protection class Ex ec IIC T4 Gc) for potentially explosive environments and is therefore also suitable, for example, for the switchgear application on oil and natural gas conveying devices.

 

This special variant of the IndraControl XM22 uses the same modern processor technology for high performance as the standard versions used in numerous stationary machine industries. The hardware proves itself as a high-performance solution even in applications with extreme ambient conditions, e.g. in metallurgy or wood processing in all climate zones. Selected S20 I/O modules are certified to complement the modular control system for a complete automation system. Application examples include winches, tank ballast systems or drill main drives and drill position handling.

 

The control modules are approved for an application temperature range from -25 to +60 ° C. The rugged and shock-resistant electromechanical system can withstand vibrational loads of up to 5 g and impacts of up to 30 g. Both the control electronics and the I/O modules are extremely resistant to EMC influences. The control system, on the other hand, has significantly reduced EMC radiation and thus minimizes effects on other devices in the control cabinet.

 

For the drive communication, IndraControl XM uses Sercos, a standardized real-time automation bus. Extension modules, which are registered by the certification companies, also extend the communication capabilities by providing data access through protocols such as CAN as master, PROFINET RT or Ethernet / IP as master or slave. This allows the control system to be integrated into the architecture on ships and offshore installations. In line with the high performance requirements at sea, Rexroth also offers certified servo drives of the IndraDrive ML family which cover a system power range of up to 4 MW. Electrohydraulic solutions from Rexroth use the same software kernels and automatically take into account the special features of fluid technology.

 

With the fastest S20 modules currently available on the market, highly precise control of several synchronous hydraulic axes can be achieved. E.g. for hydraulic control of ship winches, hydraulic proportional valves can be controlled via certified S20 pulse width modules.

 

IndraControl XM reduces the commissioning times of the hardware and software to a minimum. The I/O modules are installed without tools with pluggable electronics. On the software side, technicians start the control via the First Touch user interface which requires only a standard internet browser.