The winners of the 2021 LEAP Awards (Leadership in Engineering Achievement Program) were announced today in a digital ceremony, with products across 12 categories, including Motion Control. Critical to LEAP’s success is the involvement of the engineering community. The Design World editorial team assembled a top-notch independent judging panel, comprised of a cross-section of OEM […]

Beckhoff USA has appointed Steve Rastberger to take over as the regional director for the eastern U.S. following the retirement of Graham Harris. Rastberger will leverage his formidable expertise in automation technology and industry trends to drive sales development and market share gains throughout the region. He will grow the region’s team of sales and…

The new C6027 ultra-compact Industrial PC (IPC) from Beckhoff is a fanless device that offers high computing power in a compact form factor with Intel Core i U series processors. Compared to the C6025 IPC already on the market, this model adds a second circuit board level for customization with a variety of optional interfaces…

The new EL5072 EtherCAT Terminal from Beckhoff enables direct connection of up to two inductive displacement sensors, including transducers in LVDT and half-bridge designs or inductive angular position sensors in the RVDT version. This means that precise position and distance measurements, such as in-process control or the control of joining processes, are possible in a […]

Expanding the toolbox of available HMI controls, Beckhoff has released the new TwinCAT HMI Control. In combination with the Beckhoff image processing software, TwinCAT Vision, the new control gives users the option of directly integrating image processing into the TwinCAT HMI operator interface. TwinCAT Vision can transmit live video and images from machine vision systems…

TwinCAT/BSD provides an alternative operating system for all of the latest Beckhoff Industrial PC (IPC) platforms. TwinCAT/BSD combines the TwinCAT runtime with FreeBSD, an industrial-proven and reliable open-source operating system. FreeBSD is Unix-compatible and is continually being further developed, improved and optimized as an open-source project by a large group of developers. The FreeBSD system […]

Scalable PC-based automation, robust network solutions and open camera standards allow machine vision to ditch black boxes and increase throughput. Daymon Thompson U.S. Software Product Manager Beckhoff Automation LLC Machine vision has become indispensable for many tasks in quality inspection, track-and-trace and more. As costs decrease and capabilities increase, practically any machine in any industry […]

In a recent podcast interview, we got the chance to talk with Jeff Johnson of Beckhoff Automation about linear-motor conveyors (also called intelligent transport systems) as well as the planar-motor system from Beckhoff called the XPlanar. Listen in:  Design World · Planar motors and linear transfer systems in action! Beckhoff engineer Jeff Johnson explains […]

MindSphere, the Industrial IoT as a service solution from Siemens, is now one of the latest solutions that can integrate with TwinCAT. Beckhoff has offered diverse IoT communication capabilities with its TwinCAT IoT product family since 2015. Transmitting data to the cloud or between networked machines in this way creates enormous potential for increasing production […]

The new ELM72xx EtherCAT Terminals from Beckhoff are fully functional servo drives in a robust metal housing that deliver an output current (Irms) of up to 16 A at 48 V dc for the power supply. They expand the company’s portfolio of compact drive technology in I/O terminal format and offer all of the current […]

The new AMI812x series of integrated servo drives expands the Beckhoff compact drive technology portfolio (up to 48 V dc) with devices for distributed installation in the field. The integration of servomotor, output stage and fieldbus connection in a space-saving design makes the drives suitable for automation outside of control cabinets in the motion power […]

Backed by its wealth of expertise in the development of rotary servomotors, Beckhoff has added an innovative product to its portfolio in the area of drive technology. The AL8000 series, a new generation of high‐performance and modular linear motors, was developed in cooperation with Fertig Motors, the dynamically growing Beckhoff subsidiary. The new AL8000 product […]

Beckhoff is unlocking entirely new possibilities in machine design with the introduction of XPlanar. In this innovative system for flying motion control, planar movers float freely above planar tiles arranged in customizable layouts and enable extremely flexible, precise and highly dynamic positioning. For machine builders and manufacturers, this results in maximum flexibility and simplification in […]

XTS Hygienic, the stainless steel version of the eXtended Transport System from Beckhoff, is now available in the U.S. The IP69K-rated linear transport solution opens up a wide spectrum of new applications, primarily in food and pharmaceutical industries and for processing and filling liquids. With optimal cleanability, high chemical resistance and no hidden corners, edges […]

Beckhoff Automation has introduced new EL51xx EtherCAT Terminals with built-in incremental signal analysis functionality. Incremental encoders have become indispensable in many applications due to their compactness and low price points. Beckhoff meets this important need with the comprehensive EL51xx series for analysis of 5 V incremental encoders via RS422 and TTL signals. These four new high-performance […]

The AX8000 multi-axis servo system from Beckhoff now offers oversampling technology in addition to extremely high dynamics and μsec cycle times. Oversampling technology via EtherCAT enables process data scans several times within a communication cycle. This significantly boosts performance for precision processing machines and other systems that require evaluation of high-resolution measured values. With the […]

The EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) issued its 3,000th EtherCAT vendor ID in July 2020. Beckhoff introduced the EtherCAT real-time Ethernet system to the market in 2003 and disclosed its details within the ETG the same year. This recent milestone underscores how the ultra-fast communication system has taken the automation world by storm since its release, […]

As mentioned in Part 5 and at the top of this series, software that unifies various aspects of automation development is key to IIoT connectivity. Such software typically provides what’s called a universal engineering environment or more commonly an integrated development environment (IDE) to let engineers connect machinery with IT and other facility architectures. In […]

In Part 1 of this series, we alluded to the increased adoption of wireless technologies for automation. In fact, the market for wireless technologies, one permutation of IIoT connectivity, has exceeded $1B annually … and will grow as global competition in manufacturing pushes organizations to optimize facilities for minimized cost of ownership. Consider the input […]

Conveyors and their subsystems such as in-line weigh stations and complementary inspection systems are seeing increased use. Many of these are run by motors that are more efficient than ever. The latest designs also include new forms of wiring and connectivity that satisfy the latest standards. Motor-driven roller or MDR conveying systems remain crucial in […]

Researchers at the Czech Technical University in Prague have developed a prototype of the cost-effective CoronaVent lung ventilator. The team — called the Nonconventional Ventilatory Team (NVT) — is led by Prof. Karel Roubík. Roubík is a member of the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering at the university. The CoronaVent intended to help prevent the collapse of […]

As a globally active company with subsidiaries in 39 countries, Beckhoff became aware of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic early. Particularly in China, the local Beckhoff subsidiary gained experience in how the safety of employees can be guaranteed and the company’s function can be maintained during the effects of the corona pandemic. Transfer of…

The overall trend in drives is for more powerful, capable, and feature-rich products to handle the challenges of automation and control over a range of industries and applications. We asked some top drive manufacturers what they’re seeing and here’s what they told us. In what industries or application areas has your company seen increased activity […]

Beckhoff has moved its regional office in Charlotte, North Carolina, to a larger location to meet constant growth in customer base and market share in the area. Boasting nearly 4,400 square feet, the new office offers exciting advantages compared to the previous Charlotte location that Beckhoff opened in 2012. The office enhances workspaces for local […]

Beckhoff Automation’s new TwinCAT Cloud Engineering software is designed for IoT and Industry 4.0 applications. With this feature-filled addition to the TwinCAT 3 platform, users can instantiate and use existing TwinCAT engineering and runtime products directly in the cloud. The solution is easy to access from the Beckhoff website with a web browser and requires […]