BeckHoff Embedded PC

Hello,

Does anybody knows that Beckhoff embedded PC, for example CX9020 or CX5120 can drive how many motions. now want to chose one controller to dive 10 axes, which one should I select. Thanks.

I recently did a project with a CX9020 running 7 axis. It was pushing the CPU usage to about 40%, so 10 axis may be a bit too much for it. It will also depend on what rate you will run the PLC scan time. If you run the PLC at less than 5ms, it will start to load the CPU. Which also depends on how big the program is.

Hi Archie,
Thanks for your reply, my drives are Yaskawa, and the PLC scan time is 10ms, but the NC task time is 2ms.
do you any formula to calculate how many axes can run in the IPCs, because I do not have so many drives with me now. can very hard to test it. and without the testing, also difficult to make the decision. Thanks.

Hi

anybody knows about it?

I'm not aware of any kind of formula. If I were to run 10 axes, I would consider the CX50xx series or even the CX10xx series.

Hi
thanks for your information, and it is difficult that without any formula or testing result, then we buy the products, sometimes it is under or much over the spec, and wasting money.

I agree w/ Archie. We have several CX50xx (Intel Atom CPU) and they work fine down to 1 ms cycle time. Below that, they start to show slight timing errors (we use CX20xx for < 1ms). I have used a CX80xx for 10 ms cycle time and wouldn't try pushing it faster. It seems more like a traditional PLC CPU. The CX90xx is in between the CX80xx and CX50xx in performance, so "might work". The CX50xx can run full Windows (instead of CE), which might be a big advantage.

If your company expects you to decide on paper, and order 10+, without first testing a prototype, they put you in a difficult position. That would be very poor management. If you can first try a prototype, I would buy a CX90xx for testing. If it doesn't have sufficient performance, you will surely find later tasks for it. Otherwise, you are best to buy qty xx CX50xx. Your company's product may cost more, but your personal career will be safer. Companies rarely appreciate the risk decisions employees are forced to make and that often don't align with the company's best interest. Some engineers drilling in the Gulf of Mexico were pushed to complete a well ($1M/day cost managers screamed), so they took a risk and rushed the job. Minimal risk for them, other than their day job, but cost the company billions when the rush caused a major incident.