PLCopen has extended its suite of motion control specifications into new areas, including homing procedures and fluid power – specifically, hydraulics.

A new Part 5 of the specifications allows users to create dedicated homing procedures by combining harmonised functions. “This is like a set of Lego building blocks with which machine-builders can easily create their own dedicated homing procedures”, explains PLCopen’s managing director, Eelco van der Wal.

A new Part 6 covers fluid power, extending PLCopen Motion Control specifications to hydraulics, where there was previously no harmonisation in the development environment. It allows software environments for electrical and hydraulic systems to be merged to provide a harmonised look and feel.

“This extension of the application area to fluid power – in practice, hydraulics – is showing that the ease of use of PLCopen Motion Control is appreciated by users even beyond electrical drives”, says van der Wal. Pneumatics may be added at a later stage.

The new specifications can be downloaded from PLCopen’s Web site.