B4L/cnx_vinyl
Private
Public Access
8
0 Fork 0
Code Issues Pull Requests Actions Packages Projects Releases Wiki Activity

Optical QC: EtherCAT control

Browse Source 
User, 18 Oct 2026: use an EtherCAT based system.

- Spindle and conveyor on the StepperOnline A6-EC100L2A1-M17 kit
  (100 W, A6-200EC drive, USD 123.29), spindle through a 1:6 belt in
  cyclic synchronous position, conveyor in cyclic synchronous velocity.
- The A6-EC drive has no divided encoder output, so an RS-422
  incremental encoder on the spindle shaft clocks both line-scans; its
  index goes to the drive touch probe for one angle reference.
- Station controller: fanless N100 mini PC with 2x Intel i226, NixOS
  PREEMPT_RT, EtherCAT master EtherCrab (Rust, MIT/Apache) first, IgH
  (nixpkgs, igc native driver on 6.12 LTS) as fallback; no PLC.
- EtherCAT I/O: EK1100, EL1809, EL2809, EL3102 (warp lasers sampled with
  the spindle position, ~1,000 points a turn at 1 ms).
- Safety stays hardwired (safety relay, contactor; no STO at 100 W).
- Edge PC with the GPU stays off the real-time loop.
- BOM: drives, encoder, controller and I/O lines with sources; total
  USD 16,112 to 32,938 (THB 0.53M to 1.09M). Next step: EtherCAT bench.
- Investor render: cabinet and outfeed labels.
This commit is contained in:
grabowski committed 2026-10-19 10:15:54 +07:00
1 parent cf900cf3a4
commit ba1f5fc3a9
4 files changed
+104 -54
Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

No files matched your search

docs/equipment/inline-optical-qc.md
+94 -46
View File
@@ -219,27 +219,23 @@ belt crosses that line:
underside at about 8°, true dark-field.
- **Warp lasers:** two lasers under the record trace circles at 90 and
130 mm radius during the turn.
- **Spindle drive:** the spindle servo's encoder clocks both line-scans
and the lasers.
- **Spindle drive:** an encoder on the spindle shaft clocks both
line-scans; the lasers are sampled with the servo position (see the
spindle servo below).
- **Lift drive:** the lift is a guided pneumatic cylinder, and the
spindle is belt-driven from a servo set to the side. That keeps the
bottom camera's view cone clear, which the elevation shows.
- **Thermal camera (option):** hangs at the tunnel entry. It only makes
sense at a press-side station; cooled records show no temperature
pattern, so the launch setup leaves it out.
**Spindle servo.** A 100 W AC servo kit is enough:
StepperOnline A6-RS100L2A1-M17, a 40 mm motor (0.32 N·m rated,
**Spindle servo and camera clock.** The spindle runs on a 100 W EtherCAT
servo kit, StepperOnline A6-EC100L2A1-M17: a 40 mm motor (0.32 N·m rated,
1.12 N·m peak, 17-bit magnetic encoder, 0.03 kg·cm² rotor) with the
A6-200RS drive for pulse, RS-485 or analog control. It costs USD 108.78
from the China warehouse
([StepperOnline](https://www.omc-stepperonline.com/a6-series-100w-rs485-ac-servo-motor-kit-3000rpm-0-32nm-17-bit-absolute-encoder-ip67-a6-rs100l2a1-m17),
October 2026).
A6-200EC drive. It costs USD 123.29 from the China warehouse
([StepperOnline](https://www.omc-stepperonline.com/a6-series-100w-ethercat-ac-servo-motor-kit-3000rpm-0-32nm-17-bit-absolute-encoder-ip67-a6-ec100l2a1-m17),
October 2026). The conveyor uses the same kit, so one spare covers both.
- **Camera clock:** the A6-RS drive puts the motor encoder out as divided
A/B/Z pulses, up to 4 Mpps
([A6-RS manual](https://www.omc-stepperonline.com/download/A6-RS_series_servo_drive_manual.pdf)).
They go straight to the encoder inputs of both line-scans (Basler racer
2 encoder control,
[Basler](https://docs.baslerweb.com/encoder-control)), and the PLC
drives it by pulse and direction.
- **Belt ratio 1:6** (for example 15 to 90 teeth). The record alone is
about 20.5 kg·cm² (180 g at 150.8 mm radius); with the spindle head the
load is about 25 to 35 kg·cm² (estimate). That is about 1,000 times the
@@ -249,26 +245,31 @@ October 2026).
- **Torque is no limit.** Reaching one turn a second in 0.15 s takes
about 0.13 N·m at the spindle and 0.02 N·m at the motor (our
arithmetic), well under the rating.
- **Not the EtherCAT twin.** The A6-EC100L2A1-M17 (USD 123.29) has the
same motor, but its drive has no divided encoder output: CN1 carries
five inputs, two of them touch probes, and three outputs (A6-EC
manual). It also needs an EtherCAT master, which the planned PLC is
not. It only fits if the whole station moves to EtherCAT, with a
separate spindle encoder for the cameras.
- **Thermal camera (option):** hangs at the tunnel entry. It only makes
sense at a press-side station; cooled records show no temperature
pattern, so the launch setup leaves it out.
- **Camera clock from a spindle encoder.** The A6-EC drive has no
divided encoder output: its CN1 port carries five inputs, two of them
touch probes, and three outputs
([A6-EC manual](https://www.omc-stepperonline.com/download/A6-EC_series_servo_drive_manual.pdf)).
So an incremental encoder (RS-422 line driver, 2,500 to 5,000 pulses a
turn) sits on the spindle shaft. Its A/B signals clock both line-scans
directly (Basler racer 2 encoder control,
[Basler](https://docs.baslerweb.com/encoder-control)), so line timing
never passes through software, and it measures the spindle itself
rather than the motor behind the belt. Its index pulse goes to the
drive's touch-probe input, which latches the servo position at the same
mark every turn. The scan, the laser traces and the servo then share
one angle reference.
**Sensor list.** Everything that measures the record, and everything the
PLC needs to run the station. Lights, drives and cylinders are in the
station controller needs to run the station. Lights, drives and cylinders are in the
[bill of materials](inline-qc-station/inline-qc-station-bom.csv).
| Sensor | Qty | Example | Where | What it measures | USD each |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4k monochrome line-scan camera, GigE, 50 mm lens | 2: top and bottom | Basler racer 2 r2L4096, Hikrobot MV-CL042-91GM | inspection zone, on opposite radii (top 330 mm above the record) | surface: non-fill, stitching, flow lines, specks, bubbles, under dark-field, bright-field and transmitted light on alternate lines; eccentricity from the groove spiral | 857 to 1,088 (Basler web shop); lens 300 to 800 (estimate) |
| 8 MP colour area camera, GigE, 16 mm lens, ring light | 2: top and bottom | Basler ace 2 a2A2840-14gcPRO | label gate, 520 mm from the infeed | right label on the right side, print, label centring; the top camera also reads the stamper number in the run-out | 1,119 (Basler web shop); lens and ring light 300 to 800 (estimate) |
| Laser distance sensor | 2 | Micro-Epsilon optoNCDT 1420 | under the record, at 90 and 130 mm radius | warp: height traced round two circles during the turn | from EUR 470 list; ILD1420-25 about 1,600 at a reseller |
| Encoder of the 100 W spindle servo (17-bit) | 1 | StepperOnline A6-RS100L2A1-M17 kit | motor, 1:6 belt to the spindle; divided A/B/Z output from the drive | angle of the turn; clocks both line-scans and the lasers | in the kit, 108.78 |
| Laser distance sensor | 2 | Micro-Epsilon optoNCDT 1420 | under the record, at 90 and 130 mm radius; analog output to the EtherCAT analog input | warp: height traced round two circles during the turn | from EUR 470 list; ILD1420-25 about 1,600 at a reseller |
| Servo encoder, 17-bit | 2: spindle and conveyor | StepperOnline A6-EC100L2A1-M17 kit | in each motor; position over EtherCAT | spindle angle for the sequence and the warp traces; conveyor travel | in the kit, 123.29 |
| Incremental encoder, RS-422 line driver, 2,500 to 5,000 pulses a turn | 1 | Omron E6B2-CWZ1X class | on the spindle shaft | A/B clock both line-scans; the index latches the servo position through the drive's touch probe | 60 to 300 (estimate) |
| Diffuse photoelectric sensor | 3 | any industrial make | looking up through the open centre: infeed, label trigger, outfeed | a record at the infeed starts the cycle; the trigger fires the label cameras; a full outfeed holds the next record | 50 to 150 (estimate) |
| Through-beam photoelectric sensor | 1 pair | any industrial make | across the conveyor at the inspection position | the record's leading edge; stops the belts over the chuck | 50 to 150 (estimate) |
| Cylinder position switch | 6 | SMC D-M9 class | lift (up, down), reject pusher (home, out), mandrel (open, clamped) | confirms each move before the next step | 25 to 60 (estimate) |
@@ -276,10 +277,11 @@ PLC needs to run the station. Lights, drives and cylinders are in the
| Thermal camera (option, not in the launch setup) | 0 or 1 | Optris Xi 400 | over the unload position, at a press-side station only | temperature map of a warm record, trended against warp | from EUR 1,950 |
| Laser line profiler (alternative to the two lasers) | 0 or 1 | Keyence LJ-X8000, LMI Gocator 2500, Micro-Epsilon scanCONTROL | across the radius | full height and thickness map | 8k to 20k (estimate) |
So the launch station carries four cameras, two lasers, the servo
encoder, four photoelectric sensors, six cylinder switches and the door
switch. The cameras and lasers go to the edge PC; the rest goes to the
PLC.
So the launch station carries four cameras, two lasers, two servo
encoders and the spindle encoder, four photoelectric sensors, six
cylinder switches and the door switch. The cameras go to the edge PC,
the spindle encoder straight to the line-scans, and everything else onto
EtherCAT.
**Cycle per record (estimate).**
@@ -297,14 +299,53 @@ every 28 s; together that is 5 to 6 records a minute, against the 10 to
12 the station can take. The PC finishes the verdict while the record is lowered and
carried to the pusher.
**Control.** A small PLC (Mitsubishi FX5U or Delta class, both common in
Thailand) runs the conveyor, lift, mandrel, spindle and pusher, plus the
safety circuit (e-stop, door switch, safety relay). The NixOS edge PC
under the outfeed takes the four GigE cameras on PoE, the lasers and the
light controllers. It sends pass or fail with a reason to the PLC, and
the result string and images to the factory system (see
[digital factory](../digital-factory.md)). Utilities are 230 V single
phase at about 1 kW and 6 bar compressed air (estimates).
**Control: EtherCAT** (decided October 2026; it replaces the small PLC
of the first draft).
- **Station controller:** a fanless mini PC, Intel N100 class with two
Intel i226 ports, from USD 162 on Alibaba to USD 279 to 469 at retail
([listing](https://cards.keenable.ai/w/01a15225-b50f-7e20-b3c2-e5fdaafae28c),
[plugpcs](https://plugpcs.com/mini)). It runs NixOS with the PREEMPT_RT
kernel, declared in the plant's clan like the edge PC. It is the
EtherCAT master and runs the station sequence, which we write
ourselves; there is no PLC.
- **Master software,** open source either way:
- **EtherCrab:** a pure Rust master (MIT or Apache-2.0) with
distributed clocks, CoE and basic CiA402 drive support
([GitHub](https://github.com/ethercrab-rs/ethercrab)). It fits the Rust
stack of the factory application, and is the first choice.
- **IgH EtherCAT Master:** the mature fallback (GPL-2.0, its library
LGPL-2.1), packaged in nixpkgs
([MyNixOS](https://mynixos.com/nixpkgs/package/linuxKernel.packages.linux_6_18.ethercat)).
Its native igc driver for the i226 is listed for the 6.12 kernel, so
with IgH, pin the 6.12 LTS kernel
([IgH device drivers](https://docs.etherlab.org/ethercat/1.6/doxygen/devicedrivers.html)).
- **On the bus, in one line:** the spindle drive, the conveyor drive, and
an EK1100 coupler with EL1809 (16 inputs: photoelectric sensors,
cylinder switches, door and e-stop status), EL2809 (16 outputs: valves,
stack light) and EL3102 (two analog inputs for the warp lasers;
[Beckhoff](https://www.beckhoff.com/en-us/products/i-o/ethercat-terminals/el-ed3xxx-analog-input/el3102.html)).
The cycle is 1 ms with distributed clocks. The spindle runs in cyclic
synchronous position mode, the conveyor in cyclic synchronous velocity.
- **Warp traces:** the lasers are sampled in the same cycle as the
spindle position, so each trace comes with its angles: about 1,000
points a turn at 1 ms (our arithmetic). The EL3102 takes ±10 V; if the
lasers are ordered with a current output, an EL3152 (4 to 20 mA) takes
its place.
- **Safety stays hardwired:** the e-stop and the door switch sit on a
safety relay that drops a contactor in the drive supply. The 100 W kit
has no STO input; in the A6-EC list, STO versions start at 400 W.
- **Edge PC:** the NixOS edge PC with the GPU, under the outfeed, takes
the four GigE cameras on PoE and the light controllers. It talks to the
station controller over plain Ethernet (record in place, turn done,
verdict with the reason) and sends the result string and images to the
factory system (see [digital factory](../digital-factory.md)). Keeping
the master off this PC keeps the GPU load away from the real-time loop.
- **HMI:** a browser page from the station controller on the 10 inch
touch panel.
Utilities are 230 V single phase at about 1 kW and 6 bar compressed air
(estimates).
![Front elevation, front panels removed](inline-qc-station/inline-qc-station-front.png)
@@ -320,12 +361,12 @@ By group, per station:
|---|---|---|
| Frame | 0.8k to 1.6k | 32 m of 40 × 40, 3.8 m of 40 × 80, angle brackets, feet |
| Enclosure and guards | 0.3k to 0.7k | black panels, polycarbonate, door switch |
| Conveyor | 0.5k to 1.4k | round belts, pulleys, slide strips, drive |
| Handling | 1.8k to 4.4k | guided lift cylinder, 100 W spindle servo kit, spindle head with mandrel, rodless cylinder, pneumatics |
| Conveyor | 0.4k to 1.1k | round belts, pulleys, slide strips, 100 W EtherCAT servo drive |
| Handling | 1.9k to 4.5k | guided lift cylinder, 100 W EtherCAT spindle servo, spindle head with mandrel, rodless cylinder, pneumatics |
| Vision | 7.7k to 12.5k | 2 line-scans, 2 colour cameras, lenses, 2 coaxial, 4 dark-field and 2 backlights, 2 ring lights, controllers |
| Sensors | 1.4k to 4.3k | 2 laser distance sensors, presence and stop sensors, cylinder switches |
| Control | 3.5k to 7.8k | PLC, edge PC with GPU, HMI, safety, cabinet and wiring |
| **Total** | **16k to 33k (0.53M to 1.08M THB)** | thermal camera (USD 2.1k to 3.0k) not included |
| Sensors | 1.5k to 4.6k | 2 laser distance sensors, presence and stop sensors, cylinder switches, spindle encoder |
| Control | 3.6k to 8.0k | EtherCAT controller and I/O, edge PC with GPU, HMI, safety, cabinet and wiring |
| **Total** | **16k to 33k (0.53M to 1.09M THB)** | thermal camera (USD 2.1k to 3.0k) not included |
**Open points for the machine builder.**
@@ -453,7 +494,7 @@ simulated.
| Item | Estimate |
|---|---|
| Hardware per station, from the [bill of materials](inline-qc-station/inline-qc-station-bom.csv) | USD 16k to 33k (0.53M to 1.08M THB) |
| Hardware per station, from the [bill of materials](inline-qc-station/inline-qc-station-bom.csv) | USD 16k to 33k (0.53M to 1.09M THB) |
| First station: frame build and machined parts, lighting trials, software, training data | 2 to 4 person-months, USD 15k to 40k (our own team with a local machine builder) |
| Launch plant: one station for both presses, after cooling | the hardware above, USD 16k to 33k, plus the first-station work (about USD 31k to 73k in all, 1.0M to 2.4M THB) |
@@ -487,7 +528,14 @@ vision share is not yet confirmed.
cycle, side; see [digital factory](../digital-factory.md)).
4. **Warp sensors.** Choose between two point lasers and a line profiler
once the trials show whether a thickness map is worth the extra cost.
5. **Acceptance test.** Write it before ordering. It should cover the
5. **EtherCAT bench.** Before the frame is built, run one A6-EC kit, an
EK1100 with the three terminals and the spindle encoder from the mini
PC with EtherCrab: distributed clocks at 1 ms, cyclic synchronous
position on the drive, the touch probe latching the encoder index, and
the cycle jitter measured under load. The drive's EtherCAT description
file is on the StepperOnline product page. If EtherCrab falls short on
the drive, repeat the test with the IgH master.
6. **Acceptance test.** Write it before ordering. It should cover the
detection rate per defect class on the trial set, the false-reject
rate on good records (black and specials apart), and every result
matched to its record key.