Complete solution for communication with charging infrastructure and electric vehicles
Beckhoff‘s TwinCAT IoT product line adds WebSocket-based IoT communication, supporting the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP). OCPP specifies the communication between electric vehicle charging stations and the corresponding central management system. It can be combined with the new EL6761 EtherCAT communication interface terminal module, which complies with IEC 61851 and ISO 15118 standards, to form a universal communication solution for charging infrastructure.
With the launch of the latest TwinCAT 3 IoT OCPP (TF6771) functionality, OCPP can be implemented through C++ drivers and encapsulated as a PLC function library. Considering market demand, Beckhoff initially released versions OCPP 1.6 and 2.0.1. The focus is on the following two use cases:
⚫ TwinCAT, together with the new EL6761 terminal module, forms a charging station control platform, which then connects as an OCPP client to the central management system.
⚫ When connecting other charging stations via the OCPP protocol, TwinCAT acts as part of the central management system, for example, providing local load management for a charging station network. At the same time, TwinCAT can connect to another management system, such as implementing authentication or billing mechanisms.
The EL6761 single-channel communication interface also provides two options: The EtherCAT terminal module can be used to facilitate communication between the charging infrastructure and electric vehicles, as well as between upper-level charging management systems. This terminal module supports two completely independent communication standards: PWM communication compliant with IEC 61851 and power line communication compliant with ISO 15118. The latter has flexible communication channels for data transfer between vehicles and charging stations.
EL6761 EtherCAT terminal module combined with TwinCAT 3 IoT OCPP forms a complete communication system suitable for charging infrastructure applications.
