As an enabler, we offer you components and a comprehensive modular system in the IIoT. This includes both greenfield and brownfield applications.
We cover all levels of data, from data acquisition to value creation - "from data to value". Our range of services includes hardware, software, cloud applications and the associated services.
In detail, our offering encompasses data acquisition, data pre-processing and control, data communication and data visualisation and analysis.
In order to keep up with the rapid developments in machinery and plant engineering, you need automation and digitalisation solutions which are not only extremely efficient but also incredibly flexible.
In addition, a wide range of potential applications such as the implementation of small, large and networked control solutions or scalable visualisation concepts are needed.
Local standalone controllers, such as the u-control web, can perform their control tasks independently and without additional devices. They offer benefits compared to central solutions in a wide range of applications: They reduce system-wide data traffic, are resistant to interferences within the network, make troubleshooting easier and are very well suited to being combined with manual processes.
Especially for this application, new flexible control concepts are required, which can be used according to the "Plug and Play" concept. As a rule, however, plants are often equipped with one and the same type of control system, usually according to specifications. On the one hand, this is practical because the same hardware and function blocks are always used. On the other hand, however, greater effort is required to keep adapting them – and sometimes only for one project.
u-control web as an open web-based controller simplifies the programming process for standalone applications. It integrates real-time automation and communication for the Internet of Things and thus forms the ideal interface between the previously separate worlds of Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT).
The remote maintenance of machines and plants is often complex and time-consuming. Additionally, there is also the demand for a targeted and safeguarded functional connection to the associated IT systems. For many users, these two issues make the connection of plants around the world a major obstacle.
How do you guarantee a quick and secure access to machines while also allowing for efficient management of production plants, user clients, access rights or firmware versions?
The easy way to remote maintenance or in other words: how you can easily and securely reduce your service technician interventions by up to 60%
Seamless production sits at the core of every company's operations. If production stops, due to an error for example, a quick response is required. But what if the specialist for the plant is not on site? Thanks to digitalisation, the magic words in this case are often remote maintenance. Estimates assume that up to 60% of errors can be resolved or at least supported via remote access. Not having to send out a service technician can mean savings of EUR 1,000 or more.
However, remote maintenance is not only important for analysing and correcting errors: It is also beneficial for setting up and maintaining the plant, as well as for carrying out optimisation work. Weidmüller's u-link remote access service offers a system that is easy to install, easy to configure and easy to manage – and guarantees a high level of security at all times.
The remote maintenance of machines and plants is often complex and time-consuming. Additionally, there is also the demand for a targeted and safeguarded functional connection to the associated IT systems. For many users, these two issues make the connection of plants around the world a major obstacle.
How do you guarantee a quick and secure access to machines while also allowing for efficient management of production plants, user clients, access rights or firmware versions?
The easy way to remote maintenance or in other words: how you can easily and securely reduce your service technician interventions by up to 60%
Seamless production sits at the core of every company's operations. If production stops, due to an error for example, a quick response is required. But what if the specialist for the plant is not on site? Thanks to digitalisation, the magic words in this case are often remote maintenance. Estimates assume that up to 60% of errors can be resolved or at least supported via remote access. Not having to send out a service technician can mean savings of EUR 1,000 or more.
However, remote maintenance is not only important for analysing and correcting errors: It is also beneficial for setting up and maintaining the plant, as well as for carrying out optimisation work. Weidmüller's u-link remote access service offers a system that is easy to install, easy to configure and easy to manage – and guarantees a high level of security at all times.
The use of artificial intelligence usually requires specific know-how in the field of data science. However, data science know-how alone is not enough - only the combination of data science and application knowledge provides the perfect basis for optimizing your production.
How can you bring this knowhow together and make the most out of Machine Learning for your production without years of data science training?
Weidmüller has standardised and simplified the use of ML for industrial applications to such an extent that domain experts without specialist knowledge of data science can generate ML solutions themselves.
The software tool guides the user through the process of model development, which is why Weidmüller also refers to this as "guided analytics". Machine and process experts can easily create, modify and execute ML models without the support of data scientists, in order to reduce downtime and errors, optimise maintenance activities and improve product quality.
The software helps with translating and archiving the complex application knowledge into a reliable machine learning application. The experts focus on their knowledge of machine and process behaviour and link this to the ML steps running in the background.
Even if current Ethernet technology is suitable for numerous applications in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), users can open up further potential with Single Pair Ethernet (SPE).
Setting up numerous incompatible bus systems costs a lot of time and money and is becoming an increasing challenge due to the shortage of skilled labour. With Single Pair Ethernet, the complicated topologies can be realised through continuous communication without gateways. From the sensor to the cloud. The two-wire network infrastructure, which can transmit data and energy, is not only easier to configure than the conventional eight wires, it also guarantees a significantly longer transmission length and a reduction in space and weight. The field-attachable connector impresses with a plug connector that is only half the size of RJ45, which enables more compact IIoT devices.
The increasing complexity of sensors with limited space makes a system that can provide power and Ethernet data via a single cable attractive.
Single Pair Ethernet technology not only enables data to be collected from the furthest corners of the factory using two-wire technology, but also supplies sensors directly with power, for example. SPE enables communication directly from the sensor (via a switch) to the cloud.
Single Pair Ethernet differs from conventional Ethernet in the IT world only at the physical level. All layers above (protocol layer, transport layer and application layer) remain unchanged.
With Power over Data Line (PoDL), the power supply can be realised via two wires with a compact plug. These reduced connectors make it possible to optimise the design of sensor housings, for example, and reduce the amount of mounting space required.
But this is not the only advantage of the system in the last mile of the plant environment. Single Pair Ethernet offers ranges of up to 1000 metres at 10 Mbit and transmission rates of up to 1 Gbit/s over shorter distances. It also enables considerable savings, as Single Pair Ethernet does not require gateways between machines, controllers and a group-wide IP-based network. In addition, SPE multidrop can be used to create network topologies that do not require an active Ethernet switch and therefore offer further potential savings. The highly compact SPE connectors require only half the installation space of an RJ45, which enables the port density to be doubled. This leads to a significant reduction in costs per Ethernet connection while maintaining the same housing dimensions.
Keith Atkinson
Automation Sales Engineer