Industrial Automation Knowledge Base

Issue Show the integration of our EcoStruxure Automation Expert with our IIOT softwares at the application layer Resolution This technical article will help you during the process to connect EcoStruxure Automation Expert with our platform of IIOT products like EcoStruxure Augmented Operator Advisor and EcoStruxure Machine Advisor.  You can use this document as a proof of concept of our solutions and as a demonstration of the integration of different platforms. Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Schneider Electric.  

Issue The aim of this document is to provide a step by step guide for the installation and setup of EcoStruxure Automation Expert Soft dPAC into a Raspberry PI 4 and deploy a solution from the Buildtime software. Resolution Download the pdf document  Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Schneider Electric.  

Issue  EcoStruxure Automation Expert V21.1 introduces the possibility of using adapters in the basic Function Blocks. Resolution The purpose of this document is to describe, using a simple example, how to use these as adapters. Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Schneider Electric.  

Objective   This article describes how to unpack a 16-Bit Analog value acquired via MODBUS communication, into its individual bit components that can then be used as an Array of 16 Digital states. This is a common practice in many industry automation implementations to optimize the traffic between devices and as a strategy to reduce the number of variables read in from a device. Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Schneider Electric.  

Create Hotspot for Canvas navigation in EcoStruxure Automation Expert HMI.

Issue By default you can only acknowledge one Alarm at a time using the three exclamation marks !!!   Resolution The following knowledge base article details the steps required to Acknowledge either All Alarms or All Visible Alarms. Acknowledgement of Visible Alarms is particularly useful for Alarm banners.   Step 1 – Identify the Alarm Control Name Open the Canvas that contains the Alarm Control and select the Alarm Control. In the following example the name is alarmGrid1, record for later.     Step 2 – Acknowledgment Buttons   Place two buttons on the Canvas, one for Ack All Alarms and the other for Ack Visible Alarms. In this example the button names are AckAllAlarms and AckVisableAlarms.      Step 3 – Acknowledge All Alarms Button Code Select the Ack All Alarms Button and in the properties window, click the lightning symbol (events).     Double-click in the column right of the Click event and the Code Window will open with the function event name automatically created (AckAckAlarmsClick).     Start to type in the Alarm Control Name, e.g. alarmGrid1 and the IntelliSense will offer suggestions; select the Alarm Control Name or select Enter.   Once the Alarm Control has been created enter a Full Stop and a second IntelliSense box will appear, select AckAllAlarms     Finish with ():  so the following is displayed:   Return to the canvas by clicking the following icon:   Step 4 – Acknowledge All Visible Alarms Button Code Repeat Step 3 for the AckVisableAlarms button and create the following code:   Step 5 – HMI Test Start the HMI and test that the buttons work.   Disclaimer   The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Schneider Electric.  

Issue I need to know if a device in my EcoStruxure Automation Expert architecture is Online. Resolution The aim of this document is to show a way to detect if a device is functioning and identify that device. Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Schneider Electric.  

Issue When using EcoStruxure Automation Expert V22.1 and AVEVA System Platform the Galaxy project needs to contain all the templates associated with EcoStruxure Automation Expert AppCommonProcess Library, by default the Galaxy backup supplied by EcoStruxure Automation Expert V22.1 is for AVEVA System Platform 2020 R2 SP1. To use a newer version of AVEVA System Platform requires migration. Resolution The following knowledge base article details how to migrate the Galaxy backup supplied by EcoStruxure Automation Expert V22.1 to AVEVA System Platform 2023. The first time EcoStruxure Automation Expert is used to create a AVEVA System Platform Galaxy, it will copy the Galaxy project supplied as part of the installation (called CFLBlankGalaxy) from the ASP Library folder to the AVEVA System Platform BackupGalaxies folder.   Once the Galaxy backup has been copied, it will then create all other projects based upon this backup. The aim is to replace this backup file with a fully migrated version.     Step 1 – Create a temporary EcoStruxure Automation Expert Solution Create a temporary solution and right click on the solution and select Configuration>AVEVA SP Configuration      Give the new Galaxy project any name and click Create   After some time you will notice a message in the Output window saying ‘Galaxy needs to be migrated manually’.   Cancel the System Platform Configuration form.   Step 2 – Migrate the Galaxy project  Open System Platform IDE and select On Server and double click on the project created by EcoStruxure Automation Expert.   A message will be displayed asking if you want to migrate, select Yes   The migration will start and will take some time (around 45 minutes), once the migration is complete click the Close button.   Once the Close button has been clicked you will be asked to log in. The default username and password is Administrator and password left blank.   When the AVEVA System Platform IDE opens, close without making any changes.   Step 3 – Create a Galaxy Backup from the Migrate project  Open the Operations Control Management Console   Navigate to the newly created Galaxy project and right click and select Backup.   Confirm that you want to create a Backup by clicking Yes   Save the backup to a known folder, e.g., Downloads and name it CFLBlankGalaxy     Step 4 – Copy the new CFLBlankGalaxy over the old Copy and Replace the newly-created Backup to the BackupGalaxies Folder     From this point on Automation Expert will create any new Galaxy projects using the migrated CFLBlankGalaxy backup. . Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Schneider Electric.  

Issue I want to create a simple timed sequence in EcoStruxure Automation Expert. Resolution The aim of this document is to show how to create linear timed sequences in EcoStruxure Automation Expert. Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Schneider Electric.  

Issue EcoStruxure Automation Expert V22.0 implements a new menu and navigation system. Resolution The aim of this document is to give an overview of the new navigation system and show how to use it. Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Schneider Electric.  

Issue EcoStruxure Automation Expert provides alarm controls to view realtime and archived alarms. Currently, it does not provide a method to export the alarms. Resolution This document guides users to implement this feature in the HMI. Users will be able to export alarms to CSV format files, and they can adapt the code to implement other formats if required. Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Schneider Electric.  

Issue & Resolution AVEVA Reports for Operations (Dream Report) provides a code-free configurable reporting solution preferred by many System Integrator's and End-users. This article guides the readers towards configuring the EcoStruxure Automation Expert Archive database as a data source for it. Steps are also provided to generate sample reports based on the archived data (values and alarms). Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Schneider Electric.  

Issue & Resolution Having multiple monitors for the HMI enables users to have better monitoring & control over the process. This article guides readers to configure this in their solutions. Two use cases are covered- 1. Single topology, wherein navigation to all the canvases is possible from each monitor. 2. Multiple topologies, wherein navigation is restricted to canvases within the respective topology. Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Schneider Electric.  

Issue For the public not familiarized with Aveva System Platform 2020 and how to configure a setup of one GR node and one EAE client so that the EAE can connect to the Galaxy Repository.  Resolution Explain all the required AVEVA System Platform Components in both machines together with the DCOM settings Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Schneider Electric.  

Issue How to communicate with an M580 dPAC over OPC UA using EcoStruxure Automation Expert. Resolution Tutorial video Attached in BOX folder. https://schneider-electric.box.com/s/g9wneg4u2iaa0ipdn5o6pinzv32vhcg4 Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Schneider Electric.  

Issue Having an agnostic approach when it comes to automation and decoupling the software from the hardware have been on the mind of many customers and a clear requirement from the industry.  Resolution With the latest technology and thanks to a container approach, this is today possible with EcoStruxure Automation Expert runtime. Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Schneider Electric.