Industrial Automation Knowledge Base

Issue An assembly in for Machine Expert Twin needs to follow a structure and implement several default members and an info class. How to easily create the frame for the implementation? Resolution Visual Studio offers the concept of item templates, that support easy creation of project items, based on a template. 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 Customers would like to monitor the power supply modules of the Modicon M580 controller and observe whether they function correctly. Diagnose and analyse with the information so as to find its root cause. Resolution The Modicon X80 Redundant Power Supply module beside providing power supply module redundancy coming from different power sources, it can also provide users monitoring and diagnostics information. The PWS_DIAG and PWS_CMD function function blocks provide users internal diagnostic (e.g. voltage and current) for each of the redundant power supply modules. 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.  

Want to communication with a Modicon M262 with EcoStruxure Machine SCADA Expert?  Review this article and find out how!

Issue The application needs to sync the robot movement with a linear movement (e.g. conveyor belt) to properly perform the material handling (e.g. pick&place) / material working (e.g. marking). Resolution Lexium Cobot offers linear belt tracking, with an physical encoder connected to the Cobot controller. 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.  

The following Knowledge Base article details the steps required to create a Faceplate and associate it with a CAT, using AVEVA Industrial Graphics in EcoStruxure Automation Expert and the Schneider Electric supplied OMI Layout.

Issue Before using AVEVA Industrial Graphics within Automation Expert, the AVEVA Industrial Graphics symbols need to be exported from AVEVA System Platform and then imported into Automation Expert.   Resolution The following Knowledge Base article details the steps required to install the required DLLs to export the AVEVA Industrial Graphics symbols and import them into Automation Expert.   Before exporting the AVEVA Industrial Graphics symbols, reference the AVEVA.IndustrialGraphicsLibrary Library and check that the symbols do not already exist.      Step 1 – Install DLLs   On the PC that AVEVA System Platform IDE is installed, ensure that the IDE Application is closed. Open the Services and stop the AVEVA.Watchdog   Navigate to the Automation Expert installation folder ” ArchestrA Extensions” and copy the DLLs.    Paste the three DLLs from “ArchestrA Extensions” folder to  "C:\Program Files (x86)\ArchestrA\Framework\Bin\IDEExtensions" folder  Restart the ArchestrA.Watchdog service  Relaunch the AVEVA System Platform IDE   Step 2 – Using AVEVA System Platform to Export the Symbols          Find the symbol that you wish to export right-click > Export > As Portable Object(s)         Save the zip file to a folder.   Step 3 – Import the Symbol into EcoStruxure Automation Expert          In the Solution Explorer navigate to the bottom of the tree and on OMI>MyContent right-click> New Folder, give the folder a name, e.g., Symbols         Select the newly created folder right-click>Import, select the exported zip file.         Click OK to the Import dialog box.         Give the Symbol a name.   Step 4 – Using the new Symbol within a CAT          Create the CAT function block network and HMI Interfaces, see example below:         Add the AVEVA Industrial Graphics.         Drag the new Symbol onto the Canvas.        Right click on the Symbol and select Custom Properties.         Highlight the three minus characters “---”,  click the three dots “…” and assign the OPC UA variable.         Save and Close the Graphics.       Prepare to create the template within AVEVA System Platform by using ASP Asset Mapping and the AutoMap feature.         Repeat using the ASP Attribute Mapping and Build.       Create the new template in AVEVA System Platform by using Sync AutoMapped .     Once the Template has been created in AVEVA System Platform, use the CAT in your applications and synchronize to System Platform via the normal method using the Deploy and Diagnostic 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.  

The purpose of this Knowledge Base Article is to demonstrate how to connect EcoStruxure Machine SCADA Expert to a Modicon M262 built-in OPC UA server.  

Objective Is it possible to return the current Date/Time from the an EcoStruxure Automation Expert Controller? Resolution The purpose of this article is to show how to get a current DateTime value from controller in EcoStruxure Automation Expert.  

Firewalls help protect network security zone perimeters by blocking unauthorized access and permitting authorized access. This article will help you to configure a firewall script using the dynamic mode with the dedicated function block.

This article shows, how you can safely connect to SLC Controller.  Attached file guides you step by step.

Issue Modicon Managed Switch has many different methods to set the IP Address. Resolution The aim of this document is to provide a step by step guide for setting the IP Address for a Modicon Managed Switch using various methods including Out of Band and command line configuration.. 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 BMENOR2200 can be easily configured to work in non-secure mode and many applications will use this. However, if a more secure connection is required, then this requires some additional configuration. Resolution This document describes the extended configuration required for the module to run and communicate in secure mode. 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 If the Local Network Interface is not configured, the connection to the Harmony HMIBSC Edge Box will be not established. Resolution This article describes the necessary steps how to configure the Local Network Interface on HMIBSC Edge Box. 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 The purpose of this article is to introduce the basics and necessary steps to use the Safe Force Off function with a Lexium Multicarrier in EcoStruxure Machine Expert. Resolution The attached document provides an overview and use of the Safe Force Off with a Lexium Multicarrier.  

Issue How do I utilise the new WWW Library released with EcoStruxure Automation Expert? Objective There is a new WWW Library released with the standard EAE installer. This library is rather user-friendly and allows us to engineer some specific processes in the water industry. The objective of this article is to, in the shortest time possible, teach you how to engineer an Aeration Process using objects from the Library. You will then run the Solution to see how it works.   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 To encrypt data exchanged between M262 Client and MQTT broker, a certificate is required. Without a valid certificate the communication between the two communicating parties is not secured. Resolution To create a valid certificate OpenSSL is used. OpenSSL is a widely-used open-source software library that provides cryptographic functions and protocols. It is designed to provide a toolkit for secure communication over computer networks and to implement encryption, decryption, digital signatures, and other cryptographic operations. 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 reading a string from the logic and displaying it in EcoStruxure Automation Expert, sometimes the user needs to change it from the HMI, it is not natively possible using drag & drop whilst creating a CAT. Resolution This knowledge base will show how to customize and do the C# code to not only read the string from the input, but to allow you to change the string from the HMI and update the output. 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.  

Article describes how to do Diagnostics with M262 Motion Controller.

Issue The aim of this article is to show how to monitor and check OT data files from Edge into EcoStruxure Plant Advisor – Core Foundation (formerly EcoStruxure Plant Advisor – Data Hub). Resolution Please see the attachment for further information. 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 needed to access a symlink of an equipment that is located inside a SubApp, the path that has to be declared is different than usual. This knowledge base will shoe how to declare and read it Resolution Enter resolution. 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.