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Robotics, assembly & logistics

Intralogistics & Material Handling

Coordinated conveyor, transfer and storage motion in continuous duty.

  • Typical axes4
  • NetworkCANopen · EtherCAT · Modbus RTU
  • Control modeCSV · CSP · PP
  • Recommended seriesSD-LP · SM06 · SDU3 · SM13
01
The sector at a glance

Intralogistics & Material Handling

High duty cycle, positioning repeatability and energy efficiency.

Three things that decide it on the shop floor

  1. 01

    Continuous duty

    On axes that run around the clock the thermal limit decides.

  2. 02

    Vertical load

    On a lift, gravity is a constant load; brake and braking resistor are planned.

  3. 03

    Many nodes

    On long lines the network topology and cabling are designed up front.

02
Our advantages

Why SMB TECHNICS?

One set, controller to cable

Controller, drive, motor, cable and connector arrive checked against each other; interface problems are solved at the desk, not on the shop floor.

Open standards

EtherCAT, CANopen, Modbus RTU, CODESYS and CiA 402: your machine is not tied to a closed ecosystem.

Engineer-to-engineer support

The same team from sizing to commissioning, on site and remotely.

Documented products

Manuals, CAD, ESI/EDS and firmware in the Document Centre; every product you choose comes with its documents.

Our application know-how for this sector
  • Network topology for many-node lines
  • Brake and vertical-load handling on lifts
  • Accumulating conveyor and sorter logic
03
How we build the system

From control chain to commissioning, which product goes where

3.1

The control chain and the recommended products

How the machine is driven and the SMB products we choose for it.

Conveyor lines, transfer cars, stacker cranes and sortation systems need coordinated acceleration and synchronous flow to deliver high throughput without damaging product. For these continuously-running axes, positioning repeatability, smooth acceleration profiles and energy efficiency are decisive. Sensor feedback tracks product and regulates line flow dynamically.

From the perspective of an industrial group that manages its own production flow, SMB TECHNICS keeps material-handling axes coordinated and efficient in continuous duty.

The control chain

Warehouse motion is not difficult in any single axis; it is difficult because there are hundreds of them and they have to keep running without anybody standing next to them. That changes what matters: SD-LP and SD24-LP drives on SM06 and SM08 motors chosen for uniformity across the installation rather than for a peak, photoelectric and inductive sensors doing presence and position, and a MAT-LC CPU holding the sequence.

What decides the result

  • Uptime over performance. A shuttle that is 5% faster and fails monthly is slower than one that does not fail. Thermal margin and duty rating are the specification here.
  • Spares depth. Two hundred axes of one part number is a serviceable system; twenty part numbers across two hundred axes is not. This is a selection decision made once, at the start.
  • Recovery, not prevention. What the axis does after a stop — where it thinks it is, whether it must re-home — is what decides how long a stoppage lasts. Absolute feedback earns its cost here.

Sizing it

Bring the payload, the travel and the throughput per hour, plus the duty across a full shift. The selection guide narrows the drive; tell us the fieldbus and how many identical axes you expect, because that changes what we would recommend.

Select the products for this machine Enter power, torque and network; compare compatible drives and motors and add them to your basket. Selection guide
3.2

The architecture: which product goes where

The boxes show the real products; click one to open the series.

  • EtherCAT
  • Ethernet
  • Power and feedback
  • Safety
Where this machine sits on the full SMB system map
CPU / PLC & Motion Control 3 series Expansion Rack / IO 10 products Ethernet switch Ethernet Operator Panels 3 series Sensors 3 series EtherCAT Servo Drives 17 products CANopen Servo Drives 6 products Modbus RTU Servo Drives 4 products Servo Motors 6 series Power and Encoder Cables 2 series CODESYS IEC 61131-3 PLCopen Motion Control CiA 402 Drive profile
EtherCAT Ethernet CANopen Modbus RTU Digital I/O Power and feedback

CPU / PLC & Motion Control

Expansion Rack / IO

Ethernet switch

The industrial switch distributes Ethernet traffic between the controller, the operator panel and the engineering PC. It is part of the architecture, not part of the SMB catalogue.

Operator Panels

Sensors

EtherCAT Servo Drives

CANopen Servo Drives

Modbus RTU Servo Drives

Servo Motors

Power and Encoder Cables

CODESYS

SMB controllers are programmed in CODESYS: the IEC 61131-3 languages, integrated motion and a single project covering both machine logic and the axes.

PLCopen

PLCopen Motion Control function blocks give every axis the same standard interface, so proven machine code carries over from one project to the next.

CiA 402

SMB servo drives implement the CiA 402 drive profile: the same state machine and the same operating modes over EtherCAT and over CANopen.

3.3

Product placement, axis by axis

Each axis, its task, its control mode and the drive–motor pair on it.

  1. 01
    Conveyor zones Accumulating and synchronised conveying
    CSV · CANopen
  2. 02
    Lift / hoist Vertical positioning, motor with brake
    CSP · EtherCAT
  3. 03
    Shuttle Fast travel inside the rack
    CSP · EtherCAT
  4. 04
    Sorter Diverting the product
    PP · Modbus RTU

CSP: cyclic synchronous position · CSV: cyclic synchronous velocity · CST: cyclic synchronous torque · PP: profile position. The series is confirmed by load and supply voltage.

3.4

The build, step by step

From requirement to support; the SMB products and tools each step uses.

  1. 1

    Requirements and sizing

    The motion profile, load and cycle time of every axis are collected; torque, speed and inertia ratio are calculated per axis.

    • Peak and RMS torque, top speed
    • Load-to-motor inertia ratio and gearing
    • Supply: 220 V AC, 380 V AC or 24–70 V DC
  2. 2

    Architecture and product choice

    The network (EtherCAT, CANopen, Modbus RTU), the controller and the drive–motor pair per axis are chosen; the safety and power side is drawn at this step.

    • EtherCAT for synchronised axes, CANopen for independent ones
    • Drive current covers the motor peak current
    • STO and braked motors come from the risk assessment
  3. 3

    Cabinet, cabling and EMC

    Power and encoder cables run in separate ducts with their shields bonded 360°; an EMI filter goes at the drive input and a braking resistor where the load regenerates.

    • Flexible cable for the cable chain
    • Shields are earthed at both ends
    • The braking resistor is sized from the braking energy
  4. 4

    Software and network

    In the CODESYS project the axes are defined with PLCopen blocks; the drives join the network through their ESI/EDS files and run the CiA 402 state machine.

    • IEC 61131-3 languages and PLCopen Motion Control
    • ESI (EtherCAT) and EDS (CANopen) in the Document Centre
    • EtherCAT coupler for remote I/O
  5. 5

    Commissioning and tuning

    After wiring and direction checks the gains are tuned and the axes homed; the operator panel carries the machine recipes.

    • Direction, limit and emergency-stop tests
    • Speed and position loop gain tuning
    • Backing up the parameter sets
  6. 6

    Support and lifecycle

    Alarm codes, spare parts, firmware and training, from the same engineering team.

    • Alarm-code and troubleshooting guides
    • Manual, CAD and firmware downloads
    • Remote and on-site support
3.5

The solution package: what comes with the product

Hardware, software, engineering and lifecycle.

02

Software and know-how

The CODESYS project, PLCopen motion blocks and know-how specific to this machine.

  • Network topology for many-node lines
  • Brake and vertical-load handling on lifts
  • Accumulating conveyor and sorter logic
03

Engineering support

Sizing, architecture, commissioning and tuning, on site and remotely.

  • Motor and drive sizing per axis
  • System architecture and network choice
  • Commissioning, gain tuning and homing
04

Lifecycle

Manuals, ESI/EDS files, spare parts and training.

  • Document Centre: manuals, CAD, firmware
  • ESI and EDS files, parameter backups
  • Spare parts and user training
Engineering knowledge base

Commissioning this application

The topics engineers in this industry ask about most, each with answers, checklists and troubleshooting steps.

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