With the rapid development of the domestic and international logistics industry, the traditional warehousing and distribution field is facing a technological revolution. Due to historical issues, many storage facilities still rely on the old CAN bus protocol for communication between devices. However, with the advancement of technology, modern devices prefer to use the advanced Profinet protocol. Luckily, thanks to the CAN-to-Profinet gateway technology, these obsolete machines can be seamlessly integrated with modern technology to create a more efficient and flexible automated warehouse transport control system.
This innovative solution enables the host and other related equipment to track the operation of the conveyor in real time, accurately knowing the position, movement speed and load information of the goods. The CAN to PROFINET gateway not only simplifies remote monitoring and maintenance, but also allows users to monitor the status of their equipment anytime and anywhere via the PROFINET protocol and respond quickly to potential malfunctions. This immediate response mechanism greatly reduces the time cost and improves the stability and reliability of the equipment.
At the operational level, the control instructions from the PLC are transmitted to the conveyor controller via CAN and PROFINET gateways. After receiving these commands, the conveyor controller generates corresponding action commands to drive the conveyor to perform a specific task. Users only need to set the number of input and output bytes, CAN communication mode and baud rate in the gateway configuration software, and complete the corresponding configuration in the configuration software of Siemens PLC, so that the two-way flow of data between different buses can be easily realized.
It is worth mentioning that the CAN protocol supports two different formats of frame structures, and the main difference is the design of the confirmation area. One is a standard CAN frame with a confirmation area length of 11 bits, which is in CAN 20 is specified in Part A of the protocol; The other is an extended CAN frame, with a confirmation area length of 29 bits, defined in CAN20 in Part B of the protocol.
When it comes to system integration, automated warehouse conveyors are often a key component in larger-scale automation systems and require close collaboration with peripheral equipment and systems. By connecting the CAN bus to other devices on the conveyor, such as stackers, pickers, etc., the CAN to PROFINET gateway transmits data from these devices to the PROFINET network, enabling information sharing and unified control of the entire automation system. In this way, the various equipment in the automated warehouse can work together, significantly improving the speed and accuracy of logistics processing.
To sum up, the application of CAN to Profinet gateway in the field of automated warehouse conveyors has realized many important functions such as data acquisition, monitoring, control instruction transmission, and system integration and expansion. By effectively integrating the CAN bus and the PROFINET network, the communication between the automated warehouse conveyor and the host computer or other equipment is ensured, thus promoting the intelligent upgrade of the entire logistics system.