Parker’s Electromechanical Automation Division  is pleased to announce the release of its EtherCAT fieldbus option. EtherCAT is an open, real-time, high-speed motion-bus network that operates over fast Ethernet at 100 Mbit. It is a fast-growing industrial network and, similar to other Ethernet-based motion-bus networks, it offers speeds that are faster than DeviceNet, ModbusTCP and Profibus.

Parker’s Compax3 servo drives utilize EtherCAT as a controlled node and implement the standard CAN over EtherCAT DS402 object library. This standardized implementation improves the ability to work directly with third-party EtherCAT managing nodes on the market.

The Compax3 with EtherCAT has already been successfully employed in tube bending, pharmaceutical automation, life science and packaging applications.