Diagnostics
During commissioning, maintenance, or in the case of a fault, it is necessary to gain an overview of the state of the system or machinery within the shortest possible time. The consistent diagnostics of PROFINET makes it possible to retrieve system and machinery information in a quick and precise manner – even without any engineering tool. This ensures high availability at all times.
PROFINET diagnostics are based on the proven concepts of PROFIBUS and have been extended by Ethernet specific functionalities, especially for network diagnostics. With the new possibilities of Ethernet based networks, diagnostics also get accessible via web tools. Thus no engineering system is necessary anymore for trouble-shooting. By means of topology information, errors can be detected fast and easily. Device replacement can be carried out without engineering or memory cards. This saves time and money.
Safety
Functional safety has become in today’s machinery and plant concepts an integral part that has to fulfill particular requirements. PROFIsafe with its comprehensive product portfolio is the worldwide standard for failsafe communication. This is how safe applications can be inexpensively created in combination with PROFINET. Standard communication and safety-related communication are both covered by a single cable, which significantly reduces wiring and engineering effort. As the only Ethernet standard PROFINET allows even the wireless transmission of safety data via Industrial WLAN. Thereby safety can be integrated in an even more flexible and versatile way.
Performance
PROFINET uniquely combines the highest performance with the highest degree of openness.In the specification V2.3 the mechanisms ‚Fast Forwarding’, ‚Dynamic Frame Packing’ and ‚Fragmentation’ have been defined as a performance upgrade for PROFINET, enabling cycle times down to 31.25µs – with unrestricted transfer of standard data in parallel. PROFINET thus provides the necessary performance to meet even future application requirements.
PROFINET - best in performance - best in speed!
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Security
In an increasingly networked automation environment the importance of security is growing more and more. Suitable measures must be taken to protect machinery and systems. PI is making an important contribution, by having devices undergo rigorous security testing during the certification process, for example. Guidelines support the users to build up securely protected plants.
Wireless
Conventional solutions for the integration of mobile equipment often entail wear and high costs. With PROFINET, contact lines and trailing cables have become a thing of the past. The seamless integration of Industrial WLAN makes mobile real-time communication possible, even for failsafe applications. Besides the application for moving parts PROFINET also paves the way for new concepts in plant operation and commissioning by means of mobile operator devices. This increases significantly the flexibility of machines and its operation.
Energy Management
PI has been the first organization to create a profile for energy management: PROFIenergy. Along with energy data acquisition, PROFIenergy stands out by the possibility to easily shut down machinery and system parts during pauses in a controlled manner. The network itself remains available at any time and also the run-up in time is always ensured. Especially in production units not running 24h per day, this allows energy savings of up to 60 percent.
