May 2021

SIEMENS HAS announced a software tool which, it claims, for the first time, allows drive installations and their behaviour in machines and plants to be simulated, adapted and optimised. Called Sinamics DriveSim Basic, the tool is said to bridge the gap between logical and mechanical simulation. The software offers quick and easy entry into the simulation of drive technologies and allows machine and plant manufacturers to accelerate their development programmes. It focuses on simulating user applications including components that interact with a drive. The simulations can answer questions even before the drive products have been chosen. The models provide detailed representations of drive systems, allowing virtual commissioning of PLCs with known Profidrive telegrams or complex mechanics on virtual driveshafts. One potential application is the coupling of PLCs and mechanical models. The calculated load profiles can be loaded into Siemens’TIA Selection Tool or Sizer software to help choose an appropriate drive. The simulation can access drive parameters and interfaces. Users only need to configure the part of the drive required for simulation purposes. Time-consuming virtual commissioning of the complete drive system is not needed, saving time and costs. The models in the simulation link to drive documentation and have been validated against actual Sinamics drives using the same test vectors. The Sinamics DriveSim Basic tool is available as a standardised FMU (functional mockup unit) model, and offers the same FMU file for every Sinamics drive. Initially, it can be used to represent Siemens’ Sinamics S120 and G120 drives, including attached motors. Siemens plans to extend it to include other drives. The FMU model can be imported into commercial simulation programs such as Simit, Simcenter Amesim, NX Motion or Matlab Simulink. Together with other Siemens virtual tools – such as Simatic S7 PLCSIM Advanced or NX Mechatronics Concept Designer – this allows consistent model- based development processes to be implemented. www.siemens.com/drive- virtualization TECHNOLOGY n n Software is ‘first’ to simulate and optimise drive installations Siemens says that its Sinamics DriveSimBasic simulation tool bridges the gap between logical andmechanical simulation