drforsythe

I use PF40 drives with the ethernet module in our operations. I have also used the PF70 drive with 'Safe Off' feature. I have stopped cycling power to our VFD and servo drives during a safety circuit interuption. The circuits I set up utilize a safety relay with both immediate outputs as well as time-delayed outputs. When the interuption occurs, the immediate output from the safety relay will issue a stop command. This allows the drive to try to stop the load as quickly as possible. Then, after the time delay (usually 1/4 to 1/2 second) one set of time-delayed contacts will remove the "enable" signal to the drive and a second set of contacts will remove power to a contactor (safety-rated and monitored motor starter). The safety-rated motor starter is connected between the drive and the motor. It is important that you set the deceleration time of the drive to a value LESS than the time-delayed contacts in your safety system. If you break the connection between the drive and motor while the drive is powering the motor, you will damage the IGBTs on the output of the drive. This may not happen the first time, but over time your drive will prematurely fail. The above setup will increase the uptime of your machine because you will not have to wait for communication to resume. Also, it is safer because your motor will be physically disconnected from the drive (regardless of the charge state of the drive's capacitors). This method is recommended by most drive manufacturers to prevent premature failure of the input power circuit. A-B's website has examples of wiring on their website. Hope this helps.

After seeing the new Kinetix product, I too was suspicious of it being a Lenze product. When I asked the guys from Rockwell specifically about Lenze, they admitted it was a 'joint venture'. They assured me that Rockwell drove the spec and it was much more reliable than previous Lenze products I have used. Of course, they are going to say that. As far as the motion goes, IF you were able to change PLC platforms, I would seriously consider a CompactLogix with the SERCOS card. I have done several apps with ControlLogix and they have worked well and were not too bad to integrate.

If you are using SERCOS, you must also do a software enable (MSO) in your plc code. The hardware enable will not be enough. You will also have to ensure that the hardware enable is on before you do the software enable. I control the hardware enable in my safety chain and wait 100mS after my safety relay is enabled before I activate the MSO command.

Bob: Can you let us know the complete part number from the manuacturer's tag? Some Shihlin equipment is actually licensed Mitsubishi plcs. If I have the complete part number, I can possibly do the conversion and suggest a software/cable to use. Prog-E / CPU-E lights are usually programming errors (or possibly a dead back-up battery and therefore no program. A local Mitsubishi distributor or integrator may be able to help you (with the thought they might get the replacement business).

Sorry if this is too basic, but I notice that the two devices are on different subnets. Is your subnet mask set to 255.255.0.0 in all devices? If not, you may have difficulty communicating across different subnets.

It has been a few years, but... I believe BMOV copies one group of words to another group of words. I believe the original code you listed is correct (mov d0 k4y0), however, it is entered differently depending on the software being used. In the days of MEDOC, you would enter no space between K4 and Y0, but in the windows software, I thought you had to hit the ENTER key in between the K4 and the Y0. Again, it has been several years, so I'm not sure if my memory serves me correctly. What software are you using?

It is not quite a full screen, but if you right click on the Medoc shortcut and open the Properties, you can select RUN MAXIMIZED under the SHORTCUT tab, then select FULL SCREEN under the OPTIONS tab. It is not pretty, but what can be expected of a DOS-based program that has been added to, but not upgraded over the years? Back when I used this program on a regular basis, I had a laptop that had an old version of Windows (Win 95 or 98) that I could start it applications in DOS mode. Good luck. I would look into the windows software if possible, it costs $, but is MUCH better than MEDOC.