Filter stick forming machine real-time electric control system based on TwinCAT3 and modular architecture

Abstract

The invention provides a filter stick forming machine real-time electric control system based on TwinCAT3 and a modular architecture. The filter stick forming machine real-time electric control system comprises a main control layer, a data interaction layer, an NC motion control layer, a man-machine interaction layer and a pneumatic execution layer. The main control layer comprises a multi-core embedded controller, a hard real-time core division scheduling unit is configured in the multi-core embedded controller, and the hard real-time core division scheduling unit divides processor cores into at least a first core group, a second core group and a third core group, and distributes a first calculation period, a second calculation period and a third calculation period for the first core group, the second core group and the third core group respectively; the data interaction layer comprises a distributed I / O network constructed based on an EtherCAT bus, and the distributed I / O network has a fixed basic communication period; and the real-time performance of the system is ensured by the cooperative matching of the hard real-time core division scheduling unit and the data interaction layer.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of tobacco machinery technology, and more specifically, to a real-time electronic control system for a filter rod forming machine based on TwinCAT3 and a modular architecture. Background Technology

[0002] The electrical control system of a filter rod forming machine is a key piece of equipment in the tobacco machinery manufacturing industry, and its performance directly affects the quality of filter rod products. Traditional filter rod forming machine electrical control systems employ a multi-brand heterogeneous equipment integration architecture. The communication protocol stacks of various components are incompatible, requiring the installation of converters, leading to communication efficiency degradation and low effective bandwidth utilization. When configuring cross-brand equipment, module conversion is required, which can cause problems such as unstable collaborative control, synchronization signal transmission jitter exceeding standard allowable ranges, and delays during multi-tasking, resulting in inconvenient operation, system lag, and time-consuming start-up and shutdown. The heterogeneous system topology is limited, requiring manual troubleshooting when faults occur, which is time-consuming.

[0003] The root cause of the above problems lies in the technical defects of the traditional filter rod forming machine's electrical control system, which has a multi-level redundant architecture, nonlinear decay of control accuracy, and low collaborative efficiency of heterogeneous equipment.

[0004] In order to solve the above problems, people have been seeking an ideal technological solution. Summary of the Invention

[0005] Therefore, it is necessary to provide a real-time electrical control system for filter rod forming machines based on TwinCAT3 and a modular architecture to address the aforementioned technical problems.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the first aspect of the present invention provides a real-time electronic control system for a filter rod forming machine based on TwinCAT3 and a modular architecture, including a main control layer, a data interaction layer, an NC motion control layer, a human-machine interaction layer, and a pneumatic execution layer. The main control layer includes a multi-core embedded controller, which is internally configured with a hard real-time core-splitting scheduling unit. The hard real-time core-splitting scheduling unit divides the processor cores into at least a first core group, a second core group, and a third core group, and allocates a first computing cycle, a second computing cycle, and a third computing cycle to each group. The data interaction layer includes a distributed I / O network built on the EtherCAT bus, which has a fixed basic communication cycle. The real-time performance of the system is guaranteed by the coordinated matching between the hard real-time core scheduling unit and the data interaction layer, wherein: A) The first calculation cycle, the second calculation cycle, and the third calculation cycle are integer multiples of the basic communication cycle; B) The first core group is configured to perform bidirectional data exchange with the NC motion control layer through the data interaction layer during the first calculation cycle in order to complete the closed-loop motion control task. C) The second core group is configured to acquire process sensor data through the data interaction layer during the second calculation cycle, and exchange data with the human-machine interaction layer through the ADS protocol; D) The third core group is configured to exchange data with the pneumatic actuation layer through the data interaction layer during the third calculation cycle in order to control the operation of pneumatic components.

[0007] A second aspect of the present invention provides a method for constructing a real-time electrical control system for a filter rod forming machine based on TwinCAT3 and a modular architecture as described in the first aspect, comprising the steps of: S1. Based on the TwinCAT3 platform and EtherCAT network, select and connect hardware according to a five-layer architecture; S2. Configure a hard real-time core-splitting scheduling strategy on the CX2040 controller to align the task cycle with an integer multiple of the EtherCAT communication cycle; S3. Use TwinCAT AdsSync to achieve inter-core synchronization and configure the FSoE secure channel to achieve deterministic integrated transmission of motion control, I / O and security signals on the network.

[0008] The beneficial effects of this invention are as follows: This invention proposes a method for constructing an electrical control system for a filter rod forming machine based on the TwinCAT3 platform, which has the following beneficial effects: By building a five-layer modular architecture and adopting a unified TwinCAT3 platform and EtherCAT communication protocol, communication barriers between heterogeneous devices are eliminated, effectively improving the system's communication efficiency and effective bandwidth utilization. By adopting a hard real-time core-splitting scheduling strategy, the processor is divided into multiple core groups, each executing different tasks, which greatly improves CPU utilization and reduces problems such as system sluggishness and program crashes. By constructing a deterministic communication topology based on the EtherCAT bus, the transmission delay between different protocols is reduced, the data transmission speed is improved, and the reliability and safety of the whole machine's electronic control system are enhanced. The system topology can be customized, making the topology structure more flexible, reducing the complexity of topology configuration, lowering the TCI value, shortening the production line changeover time, and reducing the failure downtime rate caused by topology conflicts. By adopting a unified electronic control platform, system failures can be resolved without manual troubleshooting, which greatly improves the maintainability and fault repair efficiency of the system.

[0009] The servo synchronization signal error is improved by 50% compared with the traditional electronic control architecture, the overall efficiency of the equipment is increased by 35.4%, the stability and reliability of the whole machine operation are greatly improved, and the human-machine interaction system is smoother. In summary, the reliability of the filter rod forming machine's electronic control system throughout its entire life cycle has been significantly improved. Attached Figure Description

[0010] Figure 1 This is a logic diagram of the real-time electrical control system for a filter rod forming machine. Figure 2 This is an example diagram of the topology of the electrical control system for the filter rod forming machine according to this method. Detailed Implementation

[0011] To address this issue, an integrated electronic control system solution based on modular decoupling, hard real-time computing, and adaptive collaborative control is proposed. By constructing a modular system, adopting a unified electronic control platform, and using multi-core isolation, the solution reduces the debugging cycle, communication latency, CPU utilization, and system failure rate, thereby achieving a leap in the reliability of the filter rod forming machine's electronic control system throughout its entire lifecycle.

[0012] The technical solution of the present invention will be further described in detail below through specific embodiments.

[0013] Example 1 This embodiment provides a real-time electrical control system for a filter rod forming machine based on the TwinCAT3 platform. The system achieves high-performance control through deep collaboration of a five-layer modular hardware architecture, a hard real-time core-based scheduling strategy, and a deterministic communication network. For example... Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, the specific implementation method is as follows: The system comprises the following five levels: Main control layer: The Beckhoff CX2040 embedded controller is the core, which is equipped with an Intel Core i7 2715QE quad-core processor, runs the TwinCAT3 Runtime real-time kernel, uses the IEC 61131-3 ST language to develop control logic, and supports online hot code replacement function.

[0014] Data Interaction Layer: A deterministic EtherCAT network is constructed using EL series I / O modules, with a fixed basic communication cycle of 100μs. It includes EL1008 analog inputs, EL2008 analog outputs, EL1819 digital inputs, EL2819 digital outputs, and EL5101 encoder interface modules, connected via EK1122, EK1310, and EK1100 couplers, and integrates the FSoE security protocol.

[0015] NC Motion Control Layer: Integrates AX5000 series multi-axis servo drives, which support the CiA402 protocol and communicate with the main controller through the SERCOS III synchronous interface. It uses an S-curve acceleration and deceleration algorithm to achieve precise control of the virtual axis.

[0016] Human-Machine Interaction Layer: An HMI redundancy verification system was developed based on the C6930 industrial computer, configured with an Intel Core i5 6500 processor and 8GB of memory, and exchanged data with the main control layer through the ADS protocol.

[0017] Pneumatic actuator layer: Equipped with EP7041-0002 EtherCAT bus valve island, with a response delay of <0.8ms, providing 16 digital inputs and 16 digital outputs, and integrating sensor power supply.

[0018] The system achieves optimized operation through a hard real-time core-based scheduling and communication coordination mechanism: Hard real-time core-based scheduling: The main control layer processor is divided into three dedicated core groups: Core group A executes high real-time tasks such as servo closed-loop control, high-speed sampling and rejection of filter rods with a cycle of 100μs; Core group B processes filter rod quality inspection, HMI data interaction and fault diagnosis with a cycle of 1ms; Core group C controls the pneumatic valve island, processes sensor communication and predicts equipment health status with a cycle of 10ms. Each core group is synchronized using TwinCAT AdsSync technology, with a clock deviation ≤50ns.

[0019] Deterministic Communication Network Optimization: The system constructs a unified communication network based on the EtherCAT bus, maintaining a strict integer multiple synchronization relationship between the basic communication cycle (100μs) and the task cycles of each core group (100μs / 1ms / 10ms). Within each EtherCAT communication frame, the data area is fixedly divided according to priority: motion commands (core group A) → safety and detection data (core group B) → pneumatic control data (core group C). The network cycle synchronization accuracy is ≤1μs, and the transmission error rate is ≤10⁻. 9 Topology reconfiguration time <50ms, supports online device hot-swapping.

[0020] The five-layer architecture achieves deep collaboration in the following ways: The task triggering time of each core group is strictly aligned with the communication cycle of EtherCAT, forming a deterministic control-communication timing chain; high real-time data is transmitted first within the communication frame and directly mapped to the output buffer of the corresponding core group to achieve minimum latency; core-based scheduling isolates tasks with different real-time requirements for execution, ensuring that high-priority motion control tasks are not interfered with by low-priority tasks.

[0021] This system embodiment achieves high-speed and high-precision control required for the filter rod forming process: the motion control closed-loop cycle is stable at the 100μs level, and the communication cycle jitter is ≤1μs; the system supports functional safety (SIL 3) and hot-swappable equipment; compared with traditional control schemes, the stability of the motion control cycle is improved by about 2 times, and the overall system response delay is reduced by more than 60%.

[0022] Example 2 Based on the same inventive concept, this application also provides a method for constructing a real-time electrical control system for a filter rod forming machine based on the TwinCAT3 platform and modular architecture. This method achieves high-precision control through hardware layering, task core division, and deterministic coordination of communication cycles.

[0023] Specifically, the following steps are included: Step 1: Construct a five-layer modular hardware architecture; A five-layer system consisting of a main control layer, a data interaction layer, an NC motion control layer, a human-machine interaction layer, and a pneumatic actuation layer is constructed, with deterministic data exchange between the layers via an EtherCAT bus.

[0024] Step 1.1, Main Control Layer: The Beckhoff CX2040 embedded controller is used as the core. This controller is equipped with an Intel Core i7 2715QE quad-core processor and runs the TwinCAT3 Runtime real-time kernel. The control logic is developed based on the IEC 61131-3ST language and supports online hot code replacement.

[0025] Step 1.2, Data Interaction Layer: A deterministic EtherCAT network is constructed using EL series I / O modules. The main modules include EL1008 analog input, EL2008 analog output, EL1819 digital input, EL2819 digital output, and EL5101 incremental encoder interface module, with a fixed basic communication cycle of 100μs. Modules are connected via couplers such as EK1122, EK1310, and EK1100, and the FSoE (FailSafe over EtherCAT) safety protocol is integrated.

[0026] Step 1.3, NC Motion Control Layer: Integrates AX5000 series multi-axis servo drives. These drives support the CiA402 protocol, communicate with the main controller via the SERCOS III synchronous interface, and employ an S-curve acceleration / deceleration algorithm to achieve precise trajectory control of the virtual axis.

[0027] Step 1.4, Human-Machine Interface Layer: Develop an HMI system with redundancy verification mechanism based on the C6930 industrial PC. This industrial PC is equipped with an Intel Core i5 6500 processor, 8GB of memory, and a 15.6-inch full HD touchscreen, and exchanges data with the main control layer via the ADS protocol.

[0028] Step 1.5, Pneumatic Actuation Layer: Configure the EP7041-0002 EtherCAT bus valve island. This valve island has a response delay of less than 0.8ms, provides 16 digital inputs and 16 digital outputs, integrates sensor power supplies, supports flexible sensor layout, and reduces field wiring.

[0029] Step 2: Implement a hard real-time core-based scheduling strategy; The CX2040 controller's multi-core processor is divided into three independent real-time core groups. Each core group executes tasks with different cycles and priorities. The cores are synchronized through TwinCAT AdsSync technology with a clock deviation of ≤50ns.

[0030] Core A: The calculation cycle is 100μs, and it is dedicated to performing high real-time motion tasks such as servo closed-loop control, high-speed sampling and rejection of filter rods.

[0031] Core Group B: With a calculation cycle of 1ms, it is responsible for online quality detection of filter rods, HMI data interaction, and system fault diagnosis.

[0032] Core group C: The calculation cycle is 10ms, and it handles pneumatic valve island control, general sensor communication, equipment health status prediction model and general logic operations.

[0033] This strategy significantly improves CPU utilization and avoids task blocking and system lag through task isolation and periodic matching.

[0034] Step 3: Optimize deterministic real-time communication; A unified deterministic communication network is built based on the EtherCAT bus to achieve integrated transmission of motion control, I / O data and safety signals.

[0035] Communication cycle synchronization: The system's basic communication cycle is 100μs, and the task cycles of each core group (100μs, 1ms, 10ms) are kept as integer multiples of it to ensure that the control tasks and bus communication are strictly aligned in the time domain.

[0036] Topology and Performance: The communication topology supports flexible daisy-chain or tree structures (see example topology). Figure 2 Network cycle synchronization accuracy ≤1μs, an improvement of two orders of magnitude compared to traditional buses; transmission error rate ≤10⁻ 9It complies with the IEC 61784-3 standard; the topology reconfiguration time is <50ms, and it supports hot-swapping of online devices without affecting real-time communication.

[0037] Frame structure mapping: In each 100μs EtherCAT frame, the data area is allocated according to priority: the header contains motion command packets for core group A, the middle contains sensor and safety data for core group B, and the tail contains pneumatic control words for core group C. This structure ensures low-latency transmission of high-real-time data.

[0038] Taking a certain type of filter rod forming machine as an example, the electrical control system constructed using this method achieves the following optimizations: Improved real-time performance: The motion control closed-loop cycle is stabilized at 100μs, and the EtherCAT communication cycle jitter is less than 1μs, meeting the requirements of high-speed and high-precision synchronization.

[0039] Enhanced reliability: By avoiding task interference through core-based scheduling and combining the FSoE security protocol with HMI redundancy verification, the system's fault-free uptime is significantly extended.

[0040] Improved maintenance and scalability: Modular architecture and hot-swappable support make system debugging, maintenance and function expansion more convenient, with topology reconfiguration time of less than 50ms, without affecting continuous production.

[0041] This method deeply integrates a five-layer hardware architecture, hard real-time multi-core scheduling, and EtherCAT deterministic communication to construct a high-performance, highly reliable, and easy-to-maintain real-time electrical control system for filter rod forming machines.

[0042] Compared with traditional architectures, this invention achieves breakthroughs in the following technical indicators: servo synchronization signal error is improved by 50% compared with traditional electronic control architectures, and overall equipment efficiency is increased by 35.4%. System fault repair time is significantly improved, overall machine operation stability and reliability are greatly enhanced, and the human-machine interaction system is smoother.

[0043] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention and not to limit them; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications can still be made to the specific implementation of the present invention or equivalent substitutions can be made to some technical features without departing from the spirit of the technical solutions of the present invention, and all such modifications and substitutions should be covered within the scope of the technical solutions claimed in the present invention.

Claims

1. A real-time electrical control system for a filter rod forming machine based on TwinCAT3 and a modular architecture, characterized in that, It includes the main control layer, data interaction layer, NC motion control layer, human-machine interaction layer, and pneumatic actuation layer; The main control layer includes a multi-core embedded controller, which is internally configured with a hard real-time core-splitting scheduling unit. The hard real-time core-splitting scheduling unit divides the processor cores into at least a first core group, a second core group, and a third core group, and allocates a first computing cycle, a second computing cycle, and a third computing cycle to each group. The data interaction layer includes a distributed I / O network built on the EtherCAT bus, which has a fixed basic communication cycle. The real-time performance of the system is guaranteed by the coordinated matching between the hard real-time core scheduling unit and the data interaction layer, wherein: A) The first calculation cycle, the second calculation cycle, and the third calculation cycle are integer multiples of the basic communication cycle; B) The first core group is configured to perform bidirectional data exchange with the NC motion control layer through the data interaction layer during the first calculation cycle in order to complete the closed-loop motion control task. C) The second core group is configured to acquire process sensor data through the data interaction layer during the second calculation cycle, and exchange data with the human-machine interaction layer through the ADS protocol; D) The third core group is configured to exchange data with the pneumatic actuation layer through the data interaction layer during the third calculation cycle in order to control the movement of pneumatic components.

2. The real-time electrical control system for a filter rod forming machine based on TwinCAT3 and modular architecture as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The basic communication period is 100μs; the first calculation period is 100μs, the second calculation period is 1ms, and the third calculation period is 10ms.

3. The real-time electrical control system for a filter rod forming machine based on TwinCAT3 and modular architecture according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The data exchange between the first core group and the NC motion control layer includes sending servo motion command packets and receiving encoder feedback packets in each of the first calculation cycles, wherein the servo motion command packets are preferentially transmitted in each of the basic communication cycles.

4. The real-time electrical control system for a filter rod forming machine based on TwinCAT3 and modular architecture according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The data exchange between the second core group and the data interaction layer includes acquiring filter rod quality detection data sampled by the high-speed analog input module and the digital input module at the basic communication cycle or an integer multiple thereof.

5. The real-time electrical control system for a filter rod forming machine based on TwinCAT3 and modular architecture according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The length of the third calculation cycle of the third core group is configured to be greater than or equal to the mechanical action time constant of the pneumatic element in the pneumatic actuation layer.

6. The real-time electrical control system for a filter rod forming machine based on TwinCAT3 and modular architecture according to claim 1, characterized in that, The multi-core embedded controller is a Beckhoff CX2040 controller, running the TwinCAT 3 Runtime system. The hard real-time core scheduling unit is configured and implemented by the TwinCAT 3 system, and the first core group, the second core group and the third core group are synchronized in time through TwinCAT AdsSync technology.

7. The real-time electrical control system for a filter rod forming machine based on TwinCAT3 and modular architecture according to claim 1, characterized in that, The data interaction layer includes EL series I / O modules that integrate the FSoE security protocol, and the transmission of FSoE security protocol data in EtherCAT frames is monitored by the second core group.

8. The real-time electrical control system for a filter rod forming machine based on TwinCAT3 and modular architecture according to claim 1, characterized in that, The NC motion control layer includes the AX5000 series servo drive that supports the CiA402 protocol and SERCOS III interface, and the pneumatic actuation layer includes the EP7041-0002 EtherCAT bus valve island.

9. The real-time electrical control system for a filter rod forming machine based on TwinCAT3 and modular architecture according to claim 1, characterized in that, In each EtherCAT communication frame of the data interaction layer, a fixed relative position or priority identifier is assigned to the data corresponding to the first core group, the second core group, and the third core group.

10. A method for constructing a real-time electrical control system for a filter rod forming machine based on TwinCAT3 and a modular architecture as described in any one of claims 1-9, characterized in that, Including the following steps: S1. Based on the TwinCAT3 platform and EtherCAT network, select and connect hardware according to a five-layer architecture; S2. Configure a hard real-time core-splitting scheduling strategy on the CX2040 controller to align the task cycle with an integer multiple of the EtherCAT communication cycle; S3. Use TwinCAT AdsSync to achieve inter-core synchronization and configure the FSoE secure channel to achieve deterministic integrated transmission of motion control, I / O and security signals on the network.

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