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Industrial Automation Knowledge Base

Issue It is often a puzzle to many on where C# comes into play in EAE. Well, C# “lives” in the HMI and are found beneath Symbols that we create as part of a CAT. The next question then comes on how does the C# Codes get called to execute, where exactly is the entry point? And after, how do we debug our codes, or at least know what our codes are doing? Resolution This Knowledge Base article is meant to “demystify” the questions raised by letting us operate on a sample Solution provided. By the end of the lesson, we will: Understand the structure of C# Codes in EAE and how it interacts with HMI. Learn a quick and dirty way of Debugging our C# Codes using .NET MessageBox method. Snapshots from article: 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 can I obtain data values from any Modbus devices utilizing the State RAM topological objects (%MW, %M, %S, %SW, %KW, %I, and %IW) via EcoStruxure OPC UA Server Expert without having to install the EcoStruxure Control Expert programming software? Resolution Using the EcoStruxure OPC UA Server Expert Configuration Tool, enable the Populate option, we can use topological addressing to retrieve data values from the EcoStruxure OPC UA Server Expert without the requirement to create located and unlocated variables in EcoSruxure Control 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 A security database was created with the Security Editor tool on a PC where an old version of EcoStruxure Control Expert is installed (i.e. version 15.0). Then, a newer version of EcoStruxure Control Expert is installed (i. e. version 16.0) on the same PC. How to avoid creating the entire security database from scratch after installing a newer version of EcoStruxure Control Expert. Resolution Use the Security Database Migration Tool to migrate the previous security database to the one that is automatically created as part of the installation process of EcoStruxure Control Expert V16.0.

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 SE.IoModbus Library is suitable when the number of Registers on the Slave are limited. This is because building up the hardware configuration that is required for bulk communication will require too much time trying to instantiate many CATs and configuring them individually. Resolution With the use of SE.ModbusGateway Library, large number of Registers can be easily created. This article serves to guide us on how to use the Library for the purpose of bulk creating Registers on a large MODBUS distributed IO. 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 use Transitions and Branches in an EcoStruxure Automation Expert sequence. Resolution This knowledgebase article describes how to use the sequence library transition and branching function blocks to create a managed sequence. It describes how they work and interact to create sequences that can be controlled by jumping to specific steps, rather than simply stepping through using the inbuilt monitoring timers. Although EcoStruxure Automation Expert V23.0 will bring the new Procedural Library, this will only be a front-end to enable users to more easily create sequences that will be built using these sequence library function blocks. Understanding how they work will still be important for troubleshooting. 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.

Resolution The purpose of this document is to explain how to use the gauge symbol in a CAT and the parameters for customizing its graphic representation. The library is delivered as an archive file to allow full access to the source code of the graphic symbol. 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.

Resolution This graphic adds the ability to display date and time in different formats in the EcoStruxure Automation Expert HMI. It relies solely on C# code using standard Windows functions to display the current date and time using the Windows installation language. What's more, if the multilingual dictionary is used, the date and time will be automatically displayed in the selected language. 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 Modicon M580 Hot Standby System is a redundant control system designed for high availability and reliability in industrial applications. It consists of two M580 Programmable Automation Controllers (PACs) configured in a Hot Standby configuration, where one PAC operates as the active controller and the other as the standby controller. It is possible to have the other standby controller to run program sections while in Wait or Standby state. Resolution Any program sections of the application can be executed by defining the condition of execution in the Properties window of the Section screen under the Condition tab. 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 Historically, picking a date in Citect has always been achieved using the Microsoft Date and Time Picker Control 6.0 Active X object that comes along with most Windows installation. However, as time progresses on, this Active X is no longer as popular as it used to be. Often, projects which uses the Active X, which are migrated from older systems into a new Windows 10 or above environment will fail on Compile. And installing the Active X is often difficult because it may require installing a whole bunch of un-related software just to get it. And many times, even with the Active X already in the environment, the project still does not Compile, or fail to run properly. Resolution There is an alternative to using Date and Time Picker Control 6.0 Active X and this article is to introduce how to use the Calendar Genie in lib_controls Library to do that. It will involve the implementation of a Callback Function, and this article explains how this is to be created and used. 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 One of the biggest challenges in the industrial automation and control field is how to get machines to talk to each other. Exchanging data from machine to machine, or a machine to PC, machine integration between vendors of different types can be complex, laborious, and difficult, requiring expensive engineers and incurring significant expense. When you integrate systems of multiple vendors to provide total solutions to your customers, you want to use standardized, reliable, secure, scalable and platform independent technology. Resolution This is where we can leverage the OPC UA (Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture) to solve these strategic issues faced by most manufacturers. It is a standardized protocol that allows for seamless and secure communication between different systems and devices, regardless of the vendor or platform. The document here describes one of the methods of exchanging data between different machines. By implementing OPC UA client function blocks in a controller, the controller can directly access data from any other OPC UA servers. As an example, a demo architecture is shown: A virtual machine or PC is used here as the OPC-UA server and the Modicon M580 ePAC as the OPC UA client, should be on the same network and should have the correct network settings configured. The virtual machine's network adapter should be set to bridged mode, and the virtual machine PC's firewall settings should allow communication with the M580 CPU (Firmware ≥ 4.10). See attached document on how to implement the Modicon M580 OPC-UA Client Read/Write function blocks. 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.

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