Max Ethernet/IP

Hi

I saw a presentation in RA site (http://www.ab.com/networks/ethernet/get/EtherNetIPCustomerPresentation.ppt)


There was a largest reported application with Eternet/IP in one network that included:
8 CLX
495 PF drives
120 IO nodes
5 HMI
Total 628 nodes


Does anyone have any information about the application and what is your biggest number of nodes in Enet network


BR
Lauri

Tumbarumba in the foothills of the Snowy mountains, NSW Australia is about 70% that size, though there is a lot more HMIs and RSViews installed.
Regards Alan Case

I worked on that site Alan mentions for a short while last year. It was fantastic. There are five main switch rooms with their own Level 2 switches connected to a 1Ghz fibre backbone to a Level 3 switch that manages the entire system.

Some effort was put in (by others than me) to ensure the switches were all correctly spec'ed and configured, and this was the key to getting to the very impressive end result. Bear in mind the application is a sawmill, and that the main primary line CLX was running one single continuous task with a scan time in the order of 13msec. Most IO devices were running RPI's in the order of 10msec.

Each CLX chassis had four 1756-ENBT's, one for the HMI, one for the Drives (lots of Powerflex's and SMCFlex's with 20-COMME's), one for the Flex IO and PanelView Plus's and another to the Delta System's RMC Motion controllers being used for the hydraulics. For example the total Ethernet count for just the Primary line CLX is:

1756-ENBT's 10 off
1794-AENT's 7 off
Drives 24 off
RMC 8 axis controllers 6 off

This is just part of the project, but I cannot tell you the total site node count because I left site when only 2/3 of the complete system was online, but it was quite something to arrive on site, turn on the Wireless connection in my PC, attach to the nearest WAP, configure the RSLinx EthernetIP driver, and watch literally hundreds of nodes populate RSWho within seconds.

The AB presentation says "Ethernet first used in industrial applications in the 1970's". I find that hard to believe since the first ethernet standard wasn't created until September of 1980. Perhaps they got their facts from Al Gore.

Tark, does September 1980 refer to the adoption of the standard and not the creation of the technology? I honestly don't know either way, it just occured to me as a possibility.

Alaric, your right

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet#History

Alaric..i do believe you are on the right track..For some reson 1968-1969 jumps into my head when i think of ethernet....Yes it wasd the 80's when a "Standard" was introduced..but it was around before then for sure..

From dim and unreliable memory I think Measurex was using Ethernet networks in the late 70's in their Paper Machine measurement and control systems.

Yes, Ethernet was invented between 1973 and 1976. The standard was created in 1980. I guess it’s more that sales presentations really bother me. From a salesman’s point of view, he could have found that some industrial application started using Ethernet on December 31, 1979. So he puts on his presentations that Ethernet has been in use since the 1970s. Then the people who see the sales presentation start thinking that Ethernet has been in use in industrial applications since maybe 1970 or 1971. Regardless, I think the statement is misleading to say the least.