Profibus Question

Hello All,

I tried searching for this information first, but didn't find anything that helped me out.

I'm 99% sure I know the answer, but would like confirmation as the shop I'm with is new to Profibus.

We recently were asked to retrofit some robot loaded CNC lathes. The robot is integrated into the machine.

These robot controls are now becoming obsolete so we will be retrofitting new controls on them as well.

The CNC will be a Siemens 840D with an S7317-2DP. The robot is going to be a Motoman control.

We have been asked to communicate everything we can on Profibus and/or Profinet.

Here is where I'm running into confusion. The CNC will be the master. The robot has Profibus capability but only as a slave.

The robot also has onboard IO. Am I correct in thinking that the robot will only be able to control its onboard IO, but not anything else on the Profibus network without communicating back to the master?

Hi Codyst,

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, the robot won't be able to control other than its own I/O, the controls elements on the master have to be controlled from the master. But certain decision can be made by the robot and feedback to the master thru Profibus.

Regards
_______

chavak,

Thank you for your response. I was fairly certain that was how it would operate, but wanted to verify.