Against the backdrop of the rapid development of today's logistics industry, the application of automation technology has become the key to enhancing efficiency and competitiveness.

The application of the Decowell EX series card-type remote I/O in the crossbelt sorting system brings innovation and breakthroughs to the industry by solving the problems of signal transmission and control system complexity on the spot.

1. Industry Analysis

With its unique advantages, the crossbelt sorting system has been widely used in e-commerce, express delivery, airports, distribution centers, and many other industries. It can efficiently and accurately handle a variety of small items and meet the market demand for rapid sorting. With technological progress and market expansion, crossbelt sorting systems are becoming increasingly important in the field of automated logistics.

It mainly includes a piece supply system, a sorting host system, information recognition, a motion control system, a lower piece system, a control system with a sorting port, and an indication system.

2 Field Pain Points

In the operation process of the crossbelt sorting system, it often faces the difficulties of signal acquisition and transmission, which may affect the accuracy and efficiency of sorting, and increase the operation cost and management difficulty.

Pain point 1: Signal interference

In complex logistics environments, electromagnetic interference may lead to signal distortion or loss, affecting the accuracy of data.

The EMC protection performance of the Decowell EX module reaches Class A with strong anti-interference capability, which can effectively resist external electromagnetic interference and ensure the accuracy and stability of signals. It can still work stably under the electromagnetic interference environment generated by the operation of motors, frequency converters, and other equipment in the crossbelt sorting system.

Pain point 2: Signal acquisition synchronization is difficult

The sorting system involves many conveyors and sorting ports; signal acquisition needs to be synchronized between different nodes, otherwise sorting errors will occur.

EX series card-type remote I/O can guarantee the synchronization and stable transmission of on-site signals in all aspects:

1. Supporting a variety of communication protocols, it ensures efficient communication with various master devices, reduces signal transmission problems caused by incompatible protocols, and realizes stable data interaction.

2. Supporting a variety of signal types, such as in the crossbelt sorting system, it can connect a variety of different devices, such as position sensors, speed sensors, cylinders, etc., to fully meet the system's signal acquisition needs.

3. Adopting direct-plug terminals and tool-free installation not only simplifies the installation process and improves the installation efficiency, but also reduces signal transmission failures due to poor wiring and other problems.

4. Fast response time of 5~10ms allows timely acquisition and transmission of on-site signals to meet the high real-time requirements of cross-belt sorting systems and other application scenarios, and improve the overall operational efficiency of the system.

5. With an efficient diagnostic function, it can monitor the status of the signal acquisition and transmission process in real time. When there is a signal abnormality or failure, it can quickly locate the problem, which is convenient for maintenance personnel to carry out a timely investigation and repair, reduce the impact of faults on system operation, and improve the reliability and maintainability of the system.

Pain point 3: Signal attenuation

When transmitting signals over long distances, attenuation may occur, resulting in signal quality degradation.

The 

Decowell EX series module adopts a distributed installation mode, which can disperse multiple remote I/O modules to be installed near the signal source or actuator to reduce the signal transmission distance and the risk of signal attenuation. Meanwhile, the module is small in size, which makes it easy to be installed and laid out on the site of the crossbelt sorting system with limited space without occupying too much space, and is convenient to be integrated with other equipment.

3 Decowell Program

In this crossbelt sorting project, the industrial control machine is used to establish communication with EX series I/O through a self-developed control system using Modbus TCP protocol, collecting signals from each conveyor and interacting with the upper computer to realize the control of the crossbelt sorter's various actions.

Master station: industrial control machine.

Applicable process section: automated logistics sorting project.

I/O configuration: ModBus-TCP+3*16DI+3*16DO.

4 Decowell Remote I/O

EX series card type I/O consists of an adapter module, an I/O module, a power module, and a terminal module. After more stringent EMC and high and low temperature tests, they are stable and reliable, and are an excellent choice for automation solutions.

Product features:

1. Stable communication, fast response, convenient operation, and high efficiency.

2. rich bus protocols, support for a variety of communication protocols, such as EtherCAT, PROFINET, DeviceNet, CC-Link, EtherNET/IP, Modbus-RTU, CC-Link IEF Basic, and so on.

3. Signal types are abundant, which can meet factory automation and process automation control. Support digital, analog, temperature module, encoder module, and free communication module.

4. compact structure, small module size, a single I/O module supports a maximum of 32 digital signal points.

5. strong expansion capability, a single adapter can be expanded up to 32 pieces of I / O module, adapter scanning speed.

6. simple and easy to use, standard DIN35 rail mounting, direct plug-in terminals, and tool-free installation.