OPC UA as a Key Technology for Industry 4.0 Electric Drives - A Proof of Concept

To implement Industry 4.0 functionality, seamless communication across the value chain is vital. This extends to electric drives, one key component in industrial production.Even so, while the current plurality of (vendor-specific) fieldbus protocols enable real-time communication within a domain, general communication methods and protocols are needed. This paper investigates the vendor-independent OPC UA protocol, which is a potential universal solution based on the standardized and omnipresent Ethernet/IP/TCP network protocols.While highlighting challenges and potential solutions, this study presents the practical application of OPC UA on electric drives in a demonstrator environment. The results show that fully manufacturer-independent operations faced challenges due to proprietary systems even though a standard communication protocol is in use. Further, the results emphasize the need for standardized workflows, automated tools, and detailed requirements for scalability.