GS1B-ECS-MR03 | Lithium Battery Electrode Equipment: Tension and Temperature Instruments on the EtherCAT Cycle
On the electrode roll press of a lithium battery equipment manufacturer, 13 temperature controllers and tension transmitters connect to the EtherCAT network via a GS1B-ECS-MR03, so that process parameters and motion axes are sampled in the same cycle.
Project Background
A lithium battery equipment manufacturer's electrode roll press uses an EtherCAT motion control system, in which the multi-axis servo drives and remote I/O modules all sit on the same network. The process section needs to monitor temperature in 3 heating zones via temperature controllers as well as tension transmitters, all with RS485 interfaces on the Modbus RTU protocol — 13 instruments in total.
Challenges
- Many instruments, spread across 3 temperature zones, with relatively long wiring distances
- Temperature and tension data must be synchronized with the motion axes' positions, which places high demands on the refresh cycle
- The site has a large number of servos and VFDs and strong electromagnetic interference, so serial communication is prone to errors
Data Stability in an High-EMI Environment
The roll press station has a dense concentration of servos and VFDs. The customer initially used a gateway from another Chinese vendor; after production started, temperature readings occasionally jumped, and in some periods communication dropped out entirely, requiring a reset at the cabinet to recover.
After replacing it with the GS1B-ECS-MR03, whose EMC immunity to level 4 per IEC 61000-4, the system runs continuously and stably under the same harsh site conditions, and neither temperature control nor tension data has shown fluctuation or dropout since.
Solution
The GS1B-ECS-MR03 is used, with its 3 independent RS485 channels grouping the instruments by temperature zone: channel 1 carries the 5 temperature controllers of heating zone 1, channel 2 carries the 6 temperature controllers of heating zones 2 and 3, and channel 3 carries the 2 tension transmitters.
- On the EtherCAT side the gateway works as a slave and maps all instrument data in a single process data area (up to 32 slots / 1024 bytes of PDO), so the master can read all process parameters in one cycle
- Baud rate 19200 on the RS485 side, shielded twisted-pair daisy-chain wiring, with a terminating resistor at the end of the bus
- Channels are grouped by temperature zone, so servicing the instruments of any one section does not affect data refresh in the other sections
Key Parameters
| Item | Setting |
|---|---|
| Process data capacity | Up to 32 slots / 1024 bytes of PDO |
| Serial channels | 3 × RS485, 19200 baud, 8N1 |
| Number of slave devices | 13 (11 temperature controllers, 2 tension transmitters) |
| Topology | 3 channels grouped by temperature zone, shielded twisted-pair daisy chain, terminating resistor at the end |
| Power and mounting | DC 24 V (±5%), 35 mm DIN rail mounting |
Results
- Temperature curves and motion axis data are sampled in the same control cycle, which makes correlation analysis easier
- When an abnormal temperature occurs, the specific heating section can be identified quickly
- Communication is stable in a strong electromagnetic interference environment, with no downtime caused by serial port faults