The CC-Link Open Automation Networks Family are a group of open industrial networks that enable devices from numerous manufacturers to communicate. They are used in a wide variety of industrial automation applications at the machine, cell and line levels.

History

The CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) offers a family of

open-architecture Open architecture is a type of computer architecture or software architecture intended to make adding, upgrading, and swapping components with other computers easy. For example, the IBM PC, Amiga 500 and Apple IIe have an open architecture supp ...

networks. These originated with the CC-Link (Control & Communication) fieldbus in 1996, developed by

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation , established on 15 January 1921, is a Japanese multinational electronics and electrical equipment manufacturing company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the core companies of Mitsubishi. The products from MELCO include elevators a ...

. In 2000, this was released as an “Open” network so that independent automation equipment manufacturers could incorporate CLPA network compatibility into their products. In the same year, the CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) was formed to manage and oversee the network technology and support manufacturer members. In 2007, the CLPA was the first organisation to introduce open gigabit Ethernet for automation with CC-Link IE (Industrial Ethernet). In 2018, the CLPA was the first organisation to combine open gigabit Ethernet with

Time-Sensitive Networking Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) is a set of standards under development by the Time-Sensitive Networking task group of the IEEE 802.1 working group. The TSN task group was formed in November 2012 by renaming the existing Audio Video Bridging T ...

(TSN) as CC-Link IE TSN. As of May 2020, over 2,100 CLPA compatible products from more than 340 automation manufacturers were available. CLPA offers a variety of open automation network technologies. These are the CC-Link fieldbus, CC-Link Safety fieldbus, CC-Link IE and CC-Link IE TSN. Compatible products include industrial PCs, PLCs, robots, servos, drives, valve manifolds, digital & analogue I/O modules, temperature controllers, mass flow controllers and others. As of May 2020, there was approximately 30 million devices installed worldwide.

Structure of the CLPA

The CLPA is a global organisation with branches in 11 locations worldwide (Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, China, South Korea, India, Turkey, Germany, USA and Mexico). The headquarters are in Nagoya, Japan. Some branches offer conformance testing facilities (see below). The CLPA is controlled by a board of ten companies, who are 3M,

Analog Devices Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI), also known simply as Analog, is an American multinational semiconductor company specializing in data conversion, signal processing and power management technology, headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts. The c ...

, Balluff,

Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develo ...

Cognex Corporation Cognex Corporation is an American manufacturer of machine vision systems, software and sensors used in automated manufacturing to inspect and identify parts, detect defects, verify product assembly, and guide assembly robots. Cognex is headquar ...

IDEC Corporation IDEC Corporation, formerly IDEC Izumi Corporation, is a manufacturer of Automation and Control products. The company was founded in Osaka, Japan in 1945. IDEC was founded by Tsuneo Funaki in 1945 and it became a company organization in 1947. ...

Mitsubishi Electric , established on 15 January 1921, is a Japanese multinational electronics and electrical equipment manufacturing company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the core companies of Mitsubishi. The products from MELCO include elevators a ...

Molex Molex LLC is a manufacturer of electronic, electrical, and fiber optic connectivity systems. Molex offers over 100,000 products across a variety of industries, including data communications, medical, industrial, automotive and consumer electroni ...

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

and Pro-face. The board controls the strategic direction of the organisation and oversees its operations, including the activities of the technical and marketing task forces and the global branches.

Industry Cooperation

The CLPA has been involved in strategic cooperation with other open technology associations in the industrial automation space. These include PROFIBUS & PROFINET International (PI), the

OPC Foundation The OPC Foundation (Open Platform Communications, formerly Object Linking and Embedding for Process Control) is an industry consortium that creates and maintains standards for open connectivity of industrial automation devices and systems, such a ...

and AutomationML. The cooperation with PI resulted in a standard for interoperability between CC-Link IE and PROFINET. The OPC Foundation activity created an OPC UA companion specification for the CLPA's "CSP+ (Control & Communication System Profile) For Machine" technology. Cooperation with AutomationML involved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to incorporate the "CSP+" and "CSP+ For Machine" device profile technologies into AutomationML models.

Standardization

CLPA has obtained the following certifications for its open network technologies: *

ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Is ...

standards: ISO15745-5 (CC-Link, January 2007) *

IEC The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC; in French: ''Commission électrotechnique internationale'') is an international standards organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and ...

standards: IEC61158 (CC-Link IE, August 2014), IEC61784 (CC-Link & CC-Link IE, August 2014), IEC61784-3-8 (CC-Link Safety, August 2016) *

SEMI SEMI is an industry association comprising companies involved in the electronics design and manufacturing supply chain. They provide equipment, materials and services for the manufacture of semiconductors, photovoltaic panels, LED and flat p ...

standards: SEMI E54.12 (CC-Link, December 20010, SEMI E54.23-0513 (CC-Link IE Field, May 20130 *

Chinese National Standards The National Standards of the Republic of China (CNS, ) is the national standard of Taiwan, officially the Republic of China. These standards were established in 1946, and administered by the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection ("BSMI") ...

: GB/Z 19760-2005 (CC-Link, December 2005), GB/T 20229.4-6 (CC-Link, December 2006), GB/Z 19760-2008 (CC-Link, June 2009), GB/Z 29496.1.2.3-2013, GB/T 33537.1~3-2017 (CC-Link IE, April 2017), GB/Z 37085-2018 (CC-Link IE Safety, December 2018) *

Japanese Industrial Standards are the standards used for industrial activities in Japan, coordinated by the Japanese Industrial Standards Committee (JISC) and published by the Japanese Standards Association (JSA). The JISC is composed of many nationwide committees and p ...

: JIS TR B0031 (CC-Link Safety, certified May 2013) * Korean National Standards: KBS ISO 15745-5 (CC-Link, March 2008) * Taiwan Standard: CNS 15252X6068 (CC-Link, May 2009)

Technical overview of the CC-Link open network family

CC-Link (V2.0): * RS485 based fieldbus * Max.10 Mbit/s network transmission * Based on RS485 with networks up to 1.2 km, or extended to 13.2 km with repeaters * 64 stations per network * Refresh time of 4-16 msecs for 64 stations * Master/Slave network with Floating Masters and hot swap of stations * Hardware implementation CC-Link Safety: * RS485 based functional safety fieldbus * Max.10 Mbit/s network transmission * Based on CC-Link * Can combine Safety devices with standard devices on the same network * Compliance with IEC 61508 SIL3 and ISO13849-1 Category 4 * Hardware implementation CC-Link IE Control: * Gigabit Ethernet optical network intended for "backbone" communications through a factory or along a production line * Dual redundant 1 Gbit/s 1000base-SX Ethernet optical fibre based network * 120 stations per network (Master station: 1, slave station: 119) * 550 meters between stations * Ring configuration (no switches required) * Deterministic real-time performance * Hardware implementation CC-Link IE Field: * Gigabit Ethernet network intended for communication between controllers and field devices * 1 Gbit/s 1000base-T (Category 5e or better) Ethernet based network * 121 stations per network (Master station: 1, slave station: 120) * Star, line & ring configurations (networks can be built without switches) * Up to 239 networks can be connected together * 100 meters between stations * Deterministic real-time performance * Hardware implementation CC-Link IE Field Basic: * Software based version of CC-Link IE intended for general performance devices * 100Mbit 100base-T (Category 5e or better) Ethernet based network * 64 stations per network * Star configuration (using network switch) * Software implementation CC-Link IE TSN: * Based on CC-Link IE with

(TSN) capabilities added * Software or hardware implementation * 1Gbit or 100Mbit physical layers (Category 5e or better) * 64,770 stations per network * Line, star, ring and mesh configurations * Deterministic real-time performance Seamless Messaging Protocol (SLMP) * Client/server protocol for point to point communications between standard TCP/IP Ethernet devices and CC-Link IE networks * Supports 100Mbit physical layer * Software implementation Control & Communication System Profile (CSP+) * Device profiles intended to simplify the configuration and maintenance of CC-Link family networks * Required for device certification

Conformance Testing

All certification testing for CLPA networks is carried out by the CLPA and is compulsory in order to ensure that devices manufactured by suppliers meet the strict technical performance standards. These include noise resistance and correct communication functionality. To declare a product as CLPA certified, a vendor needs to successfully test their product at one of the CLPA test laboratories situated in the US, China, Korea, Japan or Germany.

References

External links

CLPA Global Site

CLPA Europe Site

SEMI E54.12-0701E (Reapproved 1106) - Specification for Sensor/Actuator Network Communications for CC-Link
{{List of automation protocols Industrial automation Industrial computing