Conveyor control

From PlcWiki

In case of defined situations (e.g. a sequence error or a not-finished product) the request for stop of a conveyor of a production line is sent to the conveyor controller. It is a software module, which is running on a computer connected to a conveyor PLC with a serial line or via Ethernet network.

The conveyor can be stopped in these cases:

1. Sequence error
2. Not-completed product and the next one is scanned
3. NOK result of any operation (settable for each operation separately)
4. Timeout for a product on a workstation expired (the product was not finished on a station within the time limit). The settings for a timeout timer is described here: Timeout timer
5. Timeout for an inactivity on workstation expired (no action taken on a station within the time limit while the product was not finished)

Contents 1 PLC Client parameters 2 Delayed conveyor stop 3 Conveyor state displaying 4 Conveyor server settings

PLC Client parameters

• line.ConveyorServer = plcgntcs
• line.ConveyorServerPort = 6779
• # workplace.LampToSwitch = 6 // An old and depricated parameter
• workplace.ConveyorID = 21 // ID of the conveyor which is controlled by the workstation
• workplace.ConveyorWSAddr = 0000000000000010 // Workstation address used by the controller to identify a workstation

• WorkPlace.SendConveyorRelease = No | Yes
• WorkPlace.SequenceConveyorControl = No | Yes
• Workplace.Conveyor.SendPID = No | Yes
• Workplace.Conveyor.ReleaseWhenProductFinished = No | Yes
• Workplace.Conveyor.StopWhenIncompleteProduct = No | Yes
• Workplace.Conveyor.StopWhenSequenceError = No | Yes
• Workplace.Conveyor.StopWhenProductTimeout = No | Yes
• Workplace.Conveyor.StopWhenActivityTimeout = No | Yes
• WorkPlace.Conveyor.SendMailNotification = No | Yes (revision v. 10.45.69 1101111624 or above)

• operation.name.SendConveyorStopWhenNOk = No | Yes

Values in bold are the default values.

Delayed conveyor stop

It is possible to set a time delay(s) for the conveyor stop in different situations. Then the conveyor is not stopped immediately, but the defined delay is applied. It prevets the short conveyor stops caused by operator mistakes which can be corrected almost immediately. To define the timers, you can use the following parameters:

WorkPlace.Conveyor.SequenceStopTimer.Expiration = 10 # Time in seconds, the default value is 0
WorkPlace.Conveyor.IncompleteStopTimer.Expiration = 10 # Time in seconds, the default value is 0

There are available the following parameters (not needed if you don’t want to define different values than the default ones):

WorkPlace.Conveyor.SequenceStopTimer.Warning = 10 # Time in seconds, the default value is 10
WorkPlace.Conveyor.SequenceStopTimer.WarningWav = wav_file_name #Default value is /usr/local/plc/lib/ding.wav

WorkPlace.Conveyor.IncompleteStopTimer.Warning = 10 # Time in seconds, the default value is 10
WorkPlace.Conveyor.IncompleteStopTimer.WarningWav = wav_file_name #Default value is /usr/local/plc/lib/ding.wav

Conveyor state displaying

The state of all stations using the conveyor control can be displayed at the bottom of the client screen. If more screen rows should be used, it is necessary to define the Workplace.ConveyorStateDisplay[x].Row parameter for the zone.

Simple example:

WorkPlace.ConveyorStateDisplay = Yes

#include "/usr/local/plc/etc/drivers/RADIO.drv"
WorkPlace.device.plc_radio = yes
WorkPlace.device.plc_radio.driver = RADIO
WorkPlace.device.plc_radio.settings.host = plcgntkrnl
WorkPlace.device.plc_radio.settings.port = 1025
WorkPlace.device.plc_radio.settings.debug_mode = no

Complex example

WorkPlace.ConveyorStateDisplay = Yes
Workplace.ConveyorStateDisplay[0].ConveyorID = 2 // Only the conveyor 2 will be displayed here
Workplace.ConveyorStateDisplay[0].LastColumn = 30 // The value is a percentage of the screen width
Workplace.ConveyorStateDisplay[0].Row = 1

Workplace.ConveyorStateDisplay[1].ConveyorID = 3
Workplace.ConveyorStateDisplay[1].FirstColumn = 30
Workplace.ConveyorStateDisplay[1].LastColumn = 75
Workplace.ConveyorStateDisplay[1].Row = 1

Workplace.ConveyorStateDisplay[2].ConveyorID = 6
Workplace.ConveyorStateDisplay[2].LastColumn = 30
Workplace.ConveyorStateDisplay[2].Row = 0

Workplace.ConveyorStateDisplay[3].ConveyorID = 4
Workplace.ConveyorStateDisplay[3].FirstColumn = 30
Workplace.ConveyorStateDisplay[3].LastColumn = 75
Workplace.ConveyorStateDisplay[3].Row = 0

#include "/usr/local/plc/etc/drivers/RADIO.drv"
WorkPlace.device.plc_radio = yes
WorkPlace.device.plc_radio.driver = RADIO
WorkPlace.device.plc_radio.settings.host = plcgntkrnl
WorkPlace.device.plc_radio.settings.port = 1025
WorkPlace.device.plc_radio.settings.debug_mode = no

Conveyor server settings

Parameters workplace.ConveyorID and workplace.ConveyorWSAddr can be left empty and their values can be defined in one configuration file on the conveyor server. This file is specified in the server configuration file as a parameter:

WSAddrDefinitionFile = /usr/local/plc/etc/plc_conveyor_wsaddr.cfg

and has the following format: WPID: WSAddr @ ConveyorID as for example

M6: 8 @ 4
M7: 7 @ 4
M8: 6 @ 4
M4: 5 @ 4
M3: 4 @ 4
M2: 3 @ 4
M1: 2 @ 4
M5: 1 @ 4
M0: 0 @ 4
I1: 9 @ 5
E0: 10 @ 6
E1: 11 @ 6
E5: 12 @ 6
E2: 13 @ 6
E3: 14 @ 6
E4: 15 @ 6
V1: 16 @ 7
V2: 17 @ 8
EA: 18 @ 9
V3: 19 @ 10
V4: 20 @ 11
EC: 21 @ 12

It enables to send the conveyor state information to client stations (using plc_radio).