Whit

PLC Automation for Textile Printer

6 posts in this topic

I'm new to this language but had a machine malfunction that is using a PLC system from B&R. The parts have been discontinued but I've been able to find a new board on ebay but that hasn't helped so I am back to thinking it is a software issue. To describe it: when we run this machine in sample mode it will index and table up and then table down and index again as it should. When we try to run it in start/auto mode it hits a different input and will index then tables up but then table down and won't index again after. 

We also had the memory card sent off and had the software for our machine re-burned to the card but when we got it back there was no change. 

We really need this machine up and going so I'm desperate for some ideas as to what the issue might be. Could it be that there is a cache saved from the previous card that needs to be cleared? 

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Is this a new problem, or one that just crept up?  Do you have access to the code so you can see what the differences are between sample mode and start/auto mode?  If this is a new problem, there is probably a sensor that is either failed or not used in sample mode that is used in start/auto.  I don't think there would be an older version stored if the program was rewritten.  Are you able to connect to the PLC and view the code while it is running, or did the original programmer lock you from seeing it?  If you can get online and monitor the program that would be a good start.

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This just happened last month and we've been fighting to get it resolved since then.

I don't have access to viewing the code as the programmers are in Arizona and we're in Missouri. We sent our EE32 memory card to them for the re-write.

So the sensor that would be failing would be a hardware issue not a software so I'll go see if I can find an answer to the sensor that may have failed. I appreciate your time very much and the idea!

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I would also ask the programmers for a printout (in pdf form) of the machine code so you have at least some chance of narrowing down where the problem is. A printout won't identify which component is failing (if any...), but would help you see what devices may be used in the auto mode that aren't used in the sample mode.

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Great idea! Thank you!

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If it worked fine and now doesn't, chances are an input device is failed, not that there is a software issue.  The program is not seeing the same signals it was in the past.  If you have a schematic, look at the inputs and see what state they are in... I know without the logic it will be hard... But I have had to do this before when online monitoring was not possible, found a wire on a switch broke off a normally open contact and laid against the normally closed contact so the operation of the switch was backwards.

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