Development of a smart extruder as a demonstrator for an industrial 4.0 component with EtherCAT and MQTT connection

According to the objectives of industry 4.0 (I4.0) and the associated demands on the communication capability of the participating entities, the smart extruder represents a demonstrator using a two-part communication structure consisting of a real-time interface and an IoT protocol. An application example of the I4.0 context offers the implementation of a force sensor for monitoring the required feed force as a function of the feed speed, which is generated by a stepper motor. The exchange of the sensor data as extended functionality of the smart extruder is done by MQTT, while the control is realized via EtherCAT; the central element is the microcontroller, which realizes both a real-time interface and a non-real-time interface via a Y-structure. Thus the data exchange in the sense of I4.0 can be illustrated.