Our motion solution involves camming, controlling non-linear proportional valves, and interfacing with 3^rd party motion controllers. This has required us to customize how we work with the Motion Technology Objects in Portal, including the use of PreServo and PostServo interrupts and linking Technology Objects to Data Blocks.

Our failsafe solution involves three safety zones and a KTP700F Mobile panel that allows us to easily move between zones. This system can become 1 linked zone, or it can separate to allow each zone to function independently.

In the diagram within System 1 above, Zone 1 has 5 axes of motion and both Zones 2 and 3 have Siemens drives.

Zone 1 includes 5 axes of motion with gear 2 axes and cam 2 axes. These non-linear proportional valves are cammed to a virtual axis. All zones need to be failsafe, and each zone must be able to operate apart from the others. All systems require Safety.

System 2 – 6 G120 Axes

System 3 – 24 G120 Axes: 6 Axes Geared

System 4 – 4 Non-linear Proportional Valve Axes: 2 Axes geared, 2 Axes cammed

System Controls – S7-1517TF

Systems 1 and 4 have coordinated motion, while System 2 has positioning control allowing us to use a normal PLC. Finally, System 3 has 24 axes of positioning control, which requires additional motion resources. This could be done using SIMOTION controllers and PLCs based on the Zone or System requirements. However, all systems are simplified using the S7-1517TF, because the code is more consistent using technology objects in all PLCs.

System 1 Analysis 

Looking at System 1 as the most complicated system for both safety and motion:

For visualization and control, we needed to be mobile, so we added in the KTP700F that can connect to any of the PLCs through any of the PLCs.

Safety Integration

System 1 acts as 1 safety area by default. Zones 2 and 3 connect to Zone 1 by ProfiSafe I-Device. An E-Stop in any zone will cause an E-Stop in all zones. The Mobile HMI is also connected to Zone 1 with Profisafe.

It is important to note that the Mobile HMI can only be connected by profisafe to 1 PLC, so its E-Stop is only accessed in the Zone 1 PLC; however, it can be physically connected to any zone.

If the Mobile HMI is reconnected after disconnection, it will automatically re-integrate with the safety system. When the Mobile HMI is unplugged from any PLC, it will cause an E-Stop. Each zone has a keyswitch to allow it to act independently from the other zones, which allows for operation if other controllers are powered down or communications are cut; thus, if Zone 3 is isolated and Zones 1 and 2 are E-Stopped, Zone 3 can continue functioning. When Zone 3 is reconnected to the system and the keyswitch is back to normal it will re-integrate with the safety system automatically.

Motion Integration

• Concepts
  • Servo OBs
  • Datablocks for Motion Tech Object Axes
• Practical
  • 3^rd Party Controller
  • Proportional Valve Control

When only using Siemens Drives, these concepts are generally unnecessary; however, our applications integrated a 3^rd party controller and proportional valves, which required additional programming.

MC-Servo is a Cyclic Interrupt that the PLC automatically includes for motion control. If inserted by the programmer, Pre-Servo is always called before MC-Servo and Post-Servo is always called after MC-Servo. Both of these programmer-added Cyclic Interrupts allow for custom programming to tightly integrate with Motion Technology Objects.

When creating a Positioning or Synchronous Tech Object (TO) you can select a Datablock (DB) connection. The DB must not have optimized memory, and it must have a tag with type PD_TEL3.

First, an example where the S7-1517TF talks to the 3^rd Party controller over Profinet, and that controller is what drives the motor. The PLC sends commands to the 3^rd Party Controller and receives motion status back. In Pre-Servo the Profinet Data is read from the 3^rd Party controller into our TO Axis DB. In MC-Servo, the PLC updates the Motion to calculate speed, position, and changes to the output commands as well as speed and updates the DB. In Post-Servo the DB output data is mapped to the 3^rd Party Controller over profinet. It is important to have the profinet data for the 3^rd party controller update with MC-Servo instead of the normal process image.

Next, an example when we have 2 proportional valves that control an axis with analog outputs and we get encoder feedback externally. In Pre-Servo the PLC populates the DB with encoder information. In MC-Servo the PLC updates the DB with the TO data (change speed, stop, etc.). In Post-Servo the DB output data is interpolated with the built-in Siemens Interpolate function and then mapped to the analog outputs for the proportional valves. It is important to have the Analog Outputs updated with MC-Servo instead of the normal process image.

Learn more about DMC’s Siemens partnership and contact us today for your next project.

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This blog highlights some of our favorite Allen-Bradley hardware and how to use it. 

ControlLogix

When working with ControlLogix, remember there are different communication modules depending on the model. The latest ControlLogix PLCs (5800 series) have embedded EtherNet/IP Ports where the previous designs (5700 series) did not. Because of this, an older model may need additional communication cards added, which could lead to losing a slot where you would want an additional module.

It is important to consider future expansions when choosing the rack/chassis size. Expanding to additional chasses will require another power supply, communication module, and chassis.

Further, always remember to check all IO or communication modules to make sure they are close enough to a power supply. In our designs, we try to place communication modules closest to the PLC and Power supply.

CompactLogix

L16 through L27 CompactLogix PLCs have some embedded IO which makes them ideal for replacing MicroLogix PLCs. They also allow you to add expand their IO with additional modules. However, the L16, L18, and L19 series require 1734 IO Modules, which are POINT I/O.

The L30 and above use the standard CompactLogix 1769 series IO modules, and do not include any embedded IO.

IO Selections

POINT I/O modules are our favorite to use for remote IO and for PLC panel IO because of their simplicity. It is important to remember to put both the modules themselves and the base modules, in the BOM. You will wire devices into the base modules, and since they are separate items, making changes can be very easy.

It is good practice to be aware of the power consumption and the number of cards. This will help determine if you need to add a 24V power extension to your rack. I talk about similar concepts in the ET200SP IO section of my Siemens control panel design blog.

Whatever you choose to select for IO options, I would recommend using Rockwell’s Integrated Architecture Builder and ProposalWorks to help you choose your equipment. It helps us choose IO modules, and helps make sure I included the terminal bases.

Upgrading from MicroLogix or SLC500

If you are considering upgrading from MicroLogix or SLC500, there are many different things to evaluate prior to making the decision. These metrics include the number of tags, amount of programming (rungs and routines), amount of IO, type of IO, the amount of networking and networked devices, and software requirements.

Some recommendations for upgrading include:

• The Micro800 series PLCs are a great option for replacing smaller MicroLogix PLCs
• The CompactLogix smaller series with embedded IO are a great option for replacing larger MicroLogix PLCs
• The CompactLogix larger series are a great option for replacing smaller SLC500 PLCs
• ControlLogix should be used to replace large SLC500 PLCs

Learn more about DMC’s Allen-Bradley PLC Programming Services and Contact Us with any project inquiries.

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I am writing this blog to highlight some of our favorite hardware and how to use it.

S7-1200 PLCS

There is a wide range of S7-1200 PLC options. Each model of S7-1200 has different embedded IO with the ability to expand its IO, so small machine control is a common use case for these PLCs. They also function well as a Remote IO devices for a master PLC, which can be a very cost-effective method for adding IO to your system.

When it comes to selecting these PLCs you also need to pay attention to their full name: S7-1200-XC/XC/XXX. The three designations are AC, DC, or RLY (Relay), and this is what they mean:

• Part 1: Source power: Will the PLC be powered by 120VAC or 24VDC?
• Part 2: Input selection: Are the Digital Inputs 120VAC or 24VDC?
• Part 3: Output selection: Are the Outputs 24VDC or Relays?

It is important to note that additional IO modules may have comparable costs to the PLC itself. Therefore, it is good practice to keep in mind the amount of expansion IO modules you may need, because it might be more cost effective to look at a different IO setup from the start.

Writing Diagrams
While working with these PLCs, we have come across multiple incorrect writing diagrams from designers or builders who have not worked with them before. That being said, it is important to pay attention to the diagrams that Siemens provides.

Below are some features that you may come across in these diagrams and what they mean:

• L+ means source power (24VDC or 120VAC)
• M means common
• The arrow pointing towards the PLC is where the PLC gets its power
• The arrow pointing away from the PLC is where the PLC can source its power to

The way S7-1200 PLC s are wired allows each section of IO to have its own common. This is a great feature, but it can be missed. Often, we see all the M’s (commons) wired to the same 24VDC common, which also works fine. However, if all the digital inputs are coming from another panel that has its own common, you could write the digital input’s common to that panel’s common and use that instead.

S7-1500 PLCs

The smallest S7-1500 PLC is close in performance to the largest S7-1200 PLC and often has some software features that do not work for the S7-1200s. Each S7-1500 PLC features a display for diagnostics and commissioning, which allows technicians and engineers to start and stop the PLC, troubleshoot hardware, view and change the IP Address, and much more!

The easy IO option for S7-1500 PLCs is the ET200MP IO, which are mounted and attached directly to the S7-1500 PLCs through side connections, or they can be attached as Remote IO through an interface module. This IO is very dense, which is great for some applications, but I often find I have a lot of spare channels, bordering on inefficient engineering.

So, one of my favorite options is to use the ET200SP IO, which uses an interface module to connect to the PLC over PROFINET or PROFIBUS. This IO has a smaller footprint and therefore has fewer channels per module and requires more modules. However, the modules are less expensive making spare parts easier. Their best feature is their hot-swap capability, which makes maintenance and swaps very fast and easy.

ET200SP IO

For remote IO and for PLC panel IO, we love to use ET200SP IO modules. They are easy to use but you must remember to put both the modules themselves, and their base modules, in the BOM.

The base modules are what you will wire devices into and they come in a couple of different varieties, so remember to review them before choosing. The pass-through potential base modules are gray, and they use the control power fed through from the start of the potential group. There are also extended base modules that have extra terminals for power, common, or extra ground, which can be helpful for wiring devices that require power. It is also important to remember that you will need at least one new potential group module (the white one). The only difference in wiring new potential groups is wiring in the control power at the bottom.

Lastly, make sure you look at the power consumption and number of cards to determine if, and when, you may need to add new potential group base modules. I use the TIA Selection Tool for this.

Learn more about DMC’s partnership with Siemens. 

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Why are we doing this?

DMC has been providing panel design services to our customers for years. Our project process has always involved:

• Selecting and validating controls equipment
• Reviewing panel designs
• Reviewing device drawings
• Testing built controls panels
• Updating drawings with field changes

So, it makes all the sense in the world for us to perform the design and deliver drawings in-house.

What is different?

DMC has worked with partners across the U.S. to engineer, design, and build control panels. We will continue to work with our trusted partners to build and test the panels, while we take on the full scope of engineering and designing.

What is DMC offering?

DMC is now offering the following design services:

• Control panel design drawings
  • Panel layout
  • Networking
  • BOM
  • Power distribution
  • I/O card wiring
• Field device loop drawings
  • Panel terminations
  • Junction Box terminations
  • Instrument wiring
  • Instrument settings
• Network Drawings

Learn more about DMC’s Control Panel Design expertise. 

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This blog shows some practical examples of using HMI Styling in projects. Specifically, it focuses on how styling can work with the Siemens Open Library. Siemens has released all the documentation you need to get started.

Part 1: The Basics

When you create a Comfort Panel in TIA Portal, it has a default style selected in its Runtime Settings.

You can change Runtime Settings to several default styles that Siemens includes for free.

I think WinCC Dark is great, but I suggest trying some of the others so that you are familiar with all your options in the future.

Usually, you want all HMIs to have the same style, so keep the “Default style of the project” checked, and instead modify the Portal Project’s default style.

I bet you changed the default style to WinCC Light and started pulling items onto your first HMI screen, but you’re surprised that they look like the WinCC Dark style. That’s because you need to update the Toolbox style to use the device style! Updating the Toolbox style makes it easy to mix and match Dark, Light, Classic, and custom HMI Styles.

When bringing in objects with “Use device style,” you will notice the object is now linked to the style by default. However, when bringing in any objects with Dark, Light, or Classic, it will not be by default.

Checking "Style/Design settings" sets many of the properties in the style library preventing modification to Appearance, Fill Pattern, Design, and Text Format.

Part 2: Basic Style

Let’s say you want to have only green buttons on our HMI. A great way of doing that will be to create a new HMI style.

Clicking on the Button, you can modify its Text and Background to match the way you want the green buttons to look.

Now let's say you want to use the Open Library Faceplates, but you want them to conform to your styles. Notice that the VFD control does not have a Style check box. So, we're going to need to modify the faceplate.

By checking the “Style/Design settings” and typing in the “Style item appearance," you can modify any part of the Faceplate to allow it to use our style. The "Style item appearance" is case-sensitive, so make sure to type it correctly.

Set the default style of the project to our new GreenStyle.

The Faceplate now looks like this!

Note that the text for several buttons doesn't fit. With another few Library edits, you can adjust the size, and while you're are at it, jazz up the styling too.

Part 3: Advanced Style

First, create a new button style that has smaller text. Speed up the process and duplicate the Button that currently exists by clicking on the "+".

Rename it “Button Small Text” and decrease the font size.

While you're making library changes, create a gradient style button.

I will demonstrate the use of Style sheets while doing this. I have not found Style sheets necessary when creating custom styles for projects yet. There are a lot of types of style sheets, and in this example, I am only creating a button style sheet.

The plan is to use this Style sheet with a green button, so modify the style here for green colors.

​​​​​​

Going back to the GreenStyle editor, create another duplicate of the Button and rename it “Button Gradient.”

You may notice the Style sheets on the right side of TIA Portal. If you select the Button category, there are now four styles to choose from instead of three in all other categories. To apply our new gradient style to the “Button Gradient,” click and drag.

Let's put the new style buttons to work. You'll need to change the styles in the Faceplate. Make the Auto Mode and Manual Mode buttons the “Button Small Text” style and the Start and Stop buttons the “Button Gradient” style. Remember, the style item appearance is case sensitive, so make sure you name them appropriately. See the end-result below.

Another method you can use is adding the Style to the Faceplate’s interface. I've dragged the Style item appearance of both the Auto Mode button and the Manual Mode button to the Properties_Faceplate, which allows you to choose the style you want when you use this Faceplate. I also removed the gradient from the Start and Stop buttons because I didn’t like how it looked.

Now when you open the Interface to the Faceplate, “Button” is selected.

When you change the style to “Button Small Text”, you'll see the difference.

I hope you found this helpful for your TIA Portal HMI programming and that it makes the Siemens Open Library more fun to use!

Learn more about DMC's partnership with Siemens.

Contact us for help getting your project off the ground today.

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After a slow start to the game, Colorado scored two goals in the 2nd period only to have Winnipeg tie up the game in the 3rd period and send the game to overtime.

Overtime was especially interesting because the Avalanche had to score two more goals to win. You might be asking, doesn’t NHL overtime end as soon as one team scores a single goal? Well, when the Avalanche scored the first goal within the first 15 seconds of overtime everyone celebrated until the referees announced the goal was under review of a player being offsides. So, once they started the game again it took another couple of minutes for the Avalanche to score their second and final goal.

Everyone had a lot of fun at the game.

Especially the gentleman behind us.

His daughter was not too pleased with his photobomb…

There were no fights during the game, so here is a picture of Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey on N64. It's a lot of fun, and DMC engineers are pretty good at it!

Find out what other fun things are going on at DMC.

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We can also offload the motion control to the drive control unit using Siemens’ library motion blocks such as SINA_POS and allow the PLC to control more drives. The Siemens library motion blocks are also available for S7-300 PLCs, which do not support the same Technology Objects as S7-1500 PLCs.

How to Do Motion Control with SINA_POS

1. Add the DO Servo Module to the control unit.

   

2. Add Telegram 111. 

   

3. For a 1200 or 1500 CPU note the HW identifier in the System Constants when Telegram 111 is selected. For a 300 or 400 CPU note the I address and Q address.

   1200/1500

   

   300/400

   

4. In the Global Libraries find the EPOS function blocks.

   

5. Pull the desired motion block into your code. In this case, we created fbPositionAxis and we pulled in SINA_POS. We made SINA_POS a Multiple instance block so that it will be static memory in fbPositionAxis.

   

6. I added a few inputs to the fbPositionAxis function block to simplify the Axis control. I chose to include basic jogging, absolute moves, setting a zero home position, and interrupting a move with the fast stop.

   

7. Based on the inputs to fbPositionAxis I set the ModePos input of SINA_POS. You can see how I use the other inputs and the axis status to control the axis.

   

A few important points:

• The Velocity input of SINA_POS affects the absolute position move, but it does not change the speeds of Jog1 or Jog2. Those parameters must be changed in the STARTER/SCOUT configuration or by using the SINA_PARA or SINA_PARA_S function blocks.
• My example above only uses 3 of the 8 SINA_POS operating modes, so there are functions that this example does not demonstrate.
• SINA_POS uses Telegram 111 whereas SINA_SPEED uses Telegram 1.

Learn more about DMC’s Siemens PLC programming services. 

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The test project I created uses an S7-300 PLC and a Comfort Panel HMI.

The HMI control that I created is a Start-Stop HMI pushbutton control as seen below. After bringing the two buttons onto the HMI, I created a Faceplate based on them called “StartStopFaceplate”.

My desire was to connect this control to the datatype “udtStartStopPB” that I use in the “dbStartStop” datablock. So, I dragged the datatype over to the Project Library.

I created a StartStop property for the StartStopFaceplate and I wanted to assign the datatype of that property as “udtStartStop”. However, the datatype was not available. Perhaps this is where you found yourself during a project and lost all hope, so I hope you read on.

When I ran into this, I noticed that there were other datatypes that I had manually created in the Project Library that were showing up as potential types for StartStop. Intrigued, I created an identical (in all but its name udt_StartStop300) datatype to udtStartStop, and then I was in business.

I wasted no time in making the necessary connections for the desired usage of my Start-Stop control.

Once I released the latest version of my Faceplate it was time to map its Interface to the PLC. Again, I screeched to a halt right before I thought I would finish.

The solution was to use HMI tags that have the same data type as the Faceplate (udt_StartStop300). It is important to look up the absolute addresses of the data in the datablock and enter them correctly for the HMI tags.

My finished result looks like this when running:

I would not have run into this if we had been using an S7-1500 or S7-1200 PLC, and I think I would have used an S7-1500 on my project if I could do it again.

Learn more about DMC's Siemens PLC Programming services.

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The creation and maintenance of data records for machines is a very important part of keeping machines running efficiently. For example, tracking downtime and uptime is crucial to provide proper maintenance on the machine, while logging stoppages and other events can help provide insight into troubleshooting any system. Maintaining these data logs sometimes requires purchasing additional software and hardware, as well as some programming to integrate everything together.

Siemens has been providing new ways of logging data that come packed with their PLCs and HMIs, which is great because it allows us to implement these features without needing to purchase anything additional.

Logging comes as a feature in both Basic and Comfort Panels, as seen below.

Basic Panel Logging:

Comfort Panel Logging:

The Comfort Panel logging is nicer because you can store the logs in CSV files, which are easily opened in Excel, whereas the Basic Panels require the logs to be stored as TXT files.

Siemens has now also created a group of instructions just for Data Logging so that we can create custom data logs using lower cost processors.

Each of these instructions is very easy to use, and they can be packaged into a single Function Block like the one I created below.

This Function Block allows the user to write values to a data log on “Command Log”, using the data in “Data_block_1”.Logs[0].

The result of this code will be to add the values of “Int1” and “Real1” to the end of the “Data0” data log with a time stamp. “Int1” lines up with the “Var1” header and “Real1” is under the “Var2” header. If the “Data0” data log doesn’t exist yet, the code will create it.

Once the data log is open I can write the values to it, and after every write I close the data log. I used a simple state machine to move through each step of the data logging process, part of which can be seen below.

After writing to data logs I can then download, rename, and delete them easily through the webserver.

There are many different ways to log data with the S7-1200 and S7-1500 PLCs. For faster or more extensive data logging I recommend keeping the logs open while writing takes place. However, we may only have 10 logs open at a time. Also, there are limits to the lengths of data logs, so you may need to programmatically add new data logs, clear data logs, or delete them.

Contact DMC regarding Siemens S7 PLC Programming Projects.

Learn more about DMC’s Siemens S7 PLC Programming services.

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The Arcade Bar (or “Beercade”, if you will) was the very first of its kind in Denver and has over 45 classic arcade games. A lot of them are multiplayer games, which made it a lot of fun for us to compete against each other.We played classic games like Mortal Kombat, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Frogger, and Pinball. We also played my favorite modern game: Pac Man Battle Royale, which is 4-player twist on the original that requires each player to bulk up on white dots and eat the other Pac Men on the board to advance (or leave them to the ghosts).

The gaming ended with a Skee-Ball competition that was well contested by all.

Learn more about DMC’s company culture.

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