Standards: wiring and plumbing efficiently
Original article date: November 1999
A new standard for electrical and fluid power installations on machines seems to be emerging. Tommy Miller investigates
Desina is described as a fully comprehensive system to bring standardisation and decentralisation to the field of fluid power and electrical installations on machinery and equipment; the word itself is an abbreviation of Decentralised and Standardised Installation technology. Backed by the VDW (the Association of German Machine Tool Manufacturers), Desina is expected to become widely accepted in the machine tool, automotive manufacturing and wider engineering markets. Already there are well known manufacturers – such as Igus, Siemens and Balluff – who have introduced Desina-compatible product ranges.
One of the main advantages of Desina is that it builds on current standards for communications and connections, rather than starting from scratch; so, for example, Profibus-DP and Canbus and Interbus-S are all supported. Furthermore, by defining standard components, interfaces and connection elements, different fieldbus systems can be made compatible on a common physical basis.
Through developing Desina, the intention is to encourage machine builders and system integrators to implement decentralised installation techniques and to use standard components. There should therefore be savings to be made in planning, installing and operating the equipment.
Standards have been proposed by Desina for components such as inductive proximity switches, hydraulic valves, I/O modules motor feeders and cabling (including plugs and sockets). It is then down to individual manufacturers to check the compatibility of their existing products or to develop new or enhanced products if necessary.
One company that has taken the Desina approach on board is Igus. This company, well-known for its ‘energy chain’ cable conduits and compatible Chainflex flexible cables, has developed a range of cables that are recognised as conforming to the Desina standard. These recently introduced products are:
- Servo cables, shielded (orange)
- Measuring system cables, shielded (green)
- Fieldbus cable (violet)
- Sensor/actuator cable, unshielded (yellow)
- Control cable, unshielded (grey)
- Power cable, unshielded (black)
The violet fieldbus cable is particularly noteworthy because, to make it compatible with the relevant fieldbus standards, it carries four copper conductors and two optical fibres.
The Desina web site can be found athttp:// desina.arkaden.net/english/flyer_e.htm
- D esina
November 1999