n TECHNOLOGY June 2026 www.drivesncontrols.com 18 SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC HAS LAUNCHED a nextgeneration motor management system designed to reduce equipment failures, cut energy costs and extend the lives of assets in demanding industrial environments. The TeSys Tera system combines protection, control and monitoring functions in a single modular device, suitable for either retrofits or new installations. By combining connectivity with predictive maintenance, TeSys Tera is claimed to cut unplanned motor downtime by up to 80%. Its reduced reliance on PLC programming is said to make diagnostics twice as fast. It supports up to 32 digital inputs. The system monitors key parameters continuously, including current, voltage, power and power factor, delivering real-time data to automation systems. Analogue I/O capabilities allow the system to be integrated with sensors to detect abnormal conditions, supporting predictive maintenance, and preventing failures without needing extra hardware. “Industrial operators are under pressure from ageing equipment, workforce shortages and rising uptime demands,”explains Marta Asack, Schneider’s senior vice-president for power products. “TeSys Tera provides the insight and flexibility needed to anticipate issues, maintain reliability and improve energy efficiency across industrial applications. It’s designed to help customers stay ahead of emerging challenges – and it demonstrates how Schneider Electric is shaping the future of industrial motor management.” The system’s key capabilities include: n Load shedding and auto-restart to keep pumps and blowers running during power disruptions, and to reduce manual intervention n Predictive diagnostics with pre-fault alarms, trip logging and trend analysis to identify overheating, imbalance, electrical faults and mechanical degradation, before outages occur n On-board programming using Schneider’s SoMove software, which reduces reliance on PLC programming, simplifying technician training n Motor-level energy monitoring of active and reactive power, consumption and power factor, giving operators data to target inefficiencies in motor-driven processes – often the largest contributor to electricity costs n Multi-protocol connectivity – including EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP/IP, Modbus RTU, Profibus DP and Profinet – allowing integration with Scada and DCS environments. The Tesys Tera system supersedes Schneider’s earlier TeSys T platform, which it plans to discontinue in third quarter of 2026 . www.se.com/uk/en/work/products/ product-launch/tesys-tera p EtherCat has passed the 100million-node milestone, with more than 105m nodes now installed – 16.9 million of which were added in 2025. The figures, released by the EtherCat Technology Group (ETG), are based on reports from chip-makers and are said to be “conservative” – multiprotocol chips are only counted proportionally, FPGA implementations account for just 10% of the total, and modular I/O modules are not included. The figures are said to reflect the actual EtherCat market and to avoid overestimates. ETG predicts accelerating growth for its protocol, driven by the increasing importance of cybersecurity and new applications in robotics, manufacturing and intralogistics. p At the recent Hannover Messe, Beckhoff demonstrated how large language models can influence real motion sequences via standard interfaces. It showed an Atro industrial robot being programmed and controlled using voice commands via its TwinCat CoAgent for Operations. The control system was acting as an intelligent agent translating speech into machine commands, orchestrating path planning, and performing diagnostics. The exhibit was intended to how easy collaboration between humans and machines will be in the future, allowing users who are not programming specialists to perform complex automation tasks. p Siemens has entered into a strategic partnership with Xometry, a global marketplace connecting buyers and suppliers of custom manufacturing. The partnership will allow Siemens to embed pricing, manufacturability, sourcing and lifecycle intelligence into digital design threads in its Xcelerator platform. Siemens is also investing around $50m in Xometry, underscoring its belief that AI-powered intelligence will define the next generation of industrial software. p A German cybersecurity company Onekey has developed a digital twin technology that performs automated scans to monitor firmware around the clock in control systems, IoT devices and other applications. Its system reanalyses the firmware daily to ensure continuous security throughout its lifecycle. If new vulnerabilities arise, the constantly updated database and enhanced detection capabilities alert users to developments that could compromise a product’s security. Such monitoring is a critical element of the Cyber Resilience Act, with manufacturers of digital products having to monitor security risks throughout the lives of their products. TECHNOLOGY BRIEFS Motor management system cuts downtime by up to 80% The modular motor-monitoring system delivers predictive diagnostics, energy monitoring and connectivity BECKHOFF HAS UNVEILED a Web-based engineering tool for planning its controlcabinet-free automation systems. The MXSystem Designer tool can be used to configure actuators, I/O modules, drives and power supplies in a structured manner and to evaluate key aspects of the electrical system design at the planning stage. It is designed to be used with Beckhoff’s MX-System technology, which redefines machine automation architectures by avoiding the need for traditional control cabinets. The tool will help machine-builders to model and validate the electrification of modular systems – from energy supplies to peripherals. Beckhoff emphasises that the tool is not a conventional product configurator. It is not designed to help choose components, but to facilitate structured planning of a machine’s electrical architecture. It first defines actuators, motors and sensors, based on the machine function. It uses this to define drive module, I/O module, and communications interface needs. After this, the tool determines how these functions are distributed to baseplates and how the energy supply is structured. Rather than designing a control cabinet, the tool plans a machine’s electrification system, from its energy supply and I/O levels, to peripherals. A key element in the planning process is the structured cable layout. The software helps to choose suitable pre-assembled cables. It takes cable lengths, electrical properties, and topological relationships within the machine into account, as early as the concept phase. In addition to structural planning, the tool can carry out automatic checks of key aspects of the electrical system design, at the planning stage. For more on cabinet-free automation, see page 26 Web tool helps to plan cabinet-free automation systems
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