NORD Drivesystems BU0270 - Manual (Page 7)

1 General
BU 0270 GB Subject to technical amendments 7
1 General information
Various technology options are available for Getriebebau Nord frequency inverters. General information
regarding these can be found in the relevant main manual of the frequency inverter series (e.g. Manual
BU0200 for the SK 200E frequency inverter series). Further information concerning special technology
options (e.g. the field bus module) is included in the relevant supplementary operating instructions.
This EtherCAT documentation contains supplementary descriptions concerning the EtherCAT options for the
SK 200E frequency inverter series.
The description of other optional modules (e.g. PROFIBUS DP) is dealt with in other supplementary
documentation.
In order to establish communication with EtherCAT, an external EtherCAT technology unit must be
connected.
The EtherCAT bus system
Modern field bus systems, microcontrollers and communication networks have had a great influence on
automation systems and have resulted in greater flexibility, availability and ultimately, also a reduction in
costs.
The widespread use of PC-based control only became possible with the availability of field bus systems.
With increasing control unit performance, the classic field bus ultimately became the limiting criterion for the
entire system. It was therefore an obvious step to adapt Ethernet technology, which provides high rates of
data transmission in IT applications, to the field of automation.
The problem to be solved was real-time capability. EtherCAT uses a system which had already been used
in a similar form by Interbus. Ethernet packages are not first received, interpreted and then forwarded to
participants by each connected device, but rather each EtherCAT slave module extracts the data which is
intended for it whilst the telegram passes through the module. Output data is inserted into the telegram in
the same way. This results in delays of only nanoseconds.
NOTE
EtherCAT® is a registered trademark and patented technology, licensed by
Beckhoff Automation GmbH, Germany