TwinCAT MTP: modular automation with Module Type Package

One of the emerging challenges for many sectors in the process industry, such as the pharmaceutical sector, is increasing fluctuation across sales markets. This is accompanied by the need for a shorter time-to-market due to accelerated development cycles. Product life cycles are shortened accordingly, and these in particular require economically profitable and simultaneously individualized production of small batches.

An increasingly popular solution is designing plants to be modular, which provides the option to reuse the modules for different purposes. This involves breaking down the plant’s entire process into individual sub-processes and mapping them using modules. Full plant modularity can then be achieved with a separate, decentralized controller for each module. The entire process can be remapped by subsequently integrating the individual modules into a higher-level control system (e.g., a DCS). As a result, the development work shifts from plant engineering to module engineering, enabling the plant to be flexibly modified with little effort, depending on current requirements. Additional modules can be added to the plant and modules that have already been integrated can be rearranged or removed. Complete reprogramming is not required, as most of the logic is in the individual modules. The higher-level controller only handles the orchestration of the modules and the services they offer, and is therefore referred to as the process orchestration layer (POL).

In practice, the concept is implemented by means of a manufacturer-independent standard for the description of process modules: the NAMUR Module Type Package (MTP). The MTP, which is defined in accordance with VDI/VDE/NAMUR 2658, contains all the information necessary to integrate a process module into a modular plant, including functions in the form of services, communication, and an HMI template. Interfaces defined in the MTP guideline enable plug-and-produce behavior, eliminating the work and costs associated with restructuring a plant. This means modules are only developed once and can then be integrated into plants independently of the controller manufacturer and POL.

TwinCAT allows for straightforward MTP programming without requiring in-depth knowledge of the relevant guidelines: It starts with the definition of the MTP interface, which results in the MTP file. This is then used for automatic code generation for the PLC and the HMI, allowing developers to concentrate primarily on the actual process logic and leave a large part of the programming to TwinCAT.

No, this is not necessary with PC-based control technology. It is also possible to run several MTP modules simultaneously on high-performance Beckhoff Industrial PCs. The resulting MTP hub makes the individual modules available to the control level independently of each other.

Yes, this is possible due to the integrated engineering features in TwinCAT. In addition to the MTP import, it is also possible to read the DEXPI format or proprietary data sources into TwinCAT. This means information from upstream planning steps can be used directly in the engineering environment and passed on to the control level.