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Honeywell Experion Controllers with PM I/O

By
Brandon Cooper
-

Many Distributed Control Systems (DCS) that were created in the 1970s and 1980s were developed with proprietary hardware and software.

These Distributed Control Systems were very robust, and many are continuing to operate until this day. One of those would be the Honeywell TDC 3000 system.

I have no idea how many are still operating equipment across the world today as they have for the last 30+ years and many companies are hesitant to upgrade because they have such high reliability.

Honeywell has now been producing their Experion line of Controllers for a couple of decades and they are a completely different line of controller that is configured from a more open platform using Microsoft Windows.

Honeywell has done a great job of maintaining legacy hardware when upgrading from the TDC system to an Experion System. I believe the current support for TDC 3000 I/O (PM I/O) is out to at least 2035, so it is not going anywhere for a while.

If you wish to convert a system from a PM (Process Manager) or HPM (High Performance Process Manager) to an Experion Controller, you can essentially remove the HPM controller, Install a C300 Controller and make the PM I/O a part of the Experion System.

This is the basics of how to add PM I/O to an Experion Controller and it would be done during a planned system downtime.

Hardware Configuration

1) As part of the C300 “Violet” I/O Link, you will need a pair of redundant I/O Link extenders to extend the I/O Link via fiber to the PMI/O Cabinet:

2) Remove the PM or HPM and the ComCtl module.

3) Add a PM I/O Extender and I/O Link Coupler to the PM I/O Cabinet in the same slots as the HPM and ComCtl Module was located as shown below. These redundant IO links will be in the same slots as the redundant HPMs were in, usually in separate card files:

4) Now the HPM Addressing must be removed and all the jumpers set to the UP Position for remote I/O:

Old Address

New Address

Software Configuration

1) In Control Builder, you will set the I/O Link up as a “PM_IO_TYPE” as shown below:

2) When adding your PM I/O Modules, you will give them an IOP number the same as they had in the TDC Configuration. You will also give them the File and Card number the same as in the TDC Configuration. The Tag Name can be anything meaningful to you. I added them here with the file and slot location and module type:

3) When you build a control module and wish to use a PMIO channel, you will select a block from the PMIO Library and assign it to the PMIO Module:

Conclusion

If you are looking to upgrade your Legacy TDC 3000 System Controllers to Experion C300 Controllers, then hopefully this will give you some insight to what that looks like from a hardware and software perspective.

The configuration differences between a TDC System and an Experion System are many as they are built on completely different platforms, however, Honeywell has done a great job to integrate their latest and greatest with the legacy systems that they still support and the PM I/O modules run reliably for many years.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)
 

Control System Power Supplies: Run to Failure or Preventive Maintenance?

By
Brandon Cooper
-

“Has it really been ten years since that was installed?”, is a question that comes to my mind quite often.  I look around sometimes and wonder where the time has gone.

We install control systems and they run without failure for many years, most of the time, and it is easy to become complacent with the reliability of our control systems.

When systems do decide to fail, many times it can be in a power supply component of the system. Through many a year of 24/7 operation, power cycles, power surges, extreme temperatures or other reasons, power supplies will tend to fail after some time.

So how can we know or predict when that will be? Should we run the system to failure or attempt to be predictive in our approach to the power supplies of the control system?

ControlLogix 1756-PA75

This goes for any of the line of ControlLogix Power Supplies, but based on my experiences alone, they can generally fail between ten and fifteen years.

Some run longer, but if I were setting up preventive maintenance on any important system, I would replace after ten years.

If this is a critical system with redundancy, then I would implement a redundant power supply configuration as well.

A-B 1606-XXX 24VDC Power Supplies

From my experience, most of the time when a 24 VDC power supply fails and control system analog signals are lost, I have no idea how old the supply is and when it was installed.

No label is usually present on the power supply. I did some checking in the manuals and the life expectancy for one of these is greater than fifteen years, although, it shows that it can be less at higher temperatures and/or higher output current.

For instance, the failure is greater than fifteen years at 25 deg C (77 deg F) but could be less than 15 years at higher temperatures than 40 deg C (104 deg F).

So, we must take into consideration the atmosphere, temperature and overall conditions of the installed power supply to make an educated guess at when to replace the power supply before failure.

Based on this data, in a good operating atmosphere, I would change the power supply after fourteen years to prevent system downtime and after ten years if in a harsher atmosphere.

Conclusion

There can be a fine line between spending money that is not needed and replacing systems before they fail to ensure that we get the most out of the money that we have spent towards our control systems to perform the desired automation.

Having the forethought to be proactive and implement a preventive maintenance approach to our control systems is, in my mind, an important mindset to have to keep systems reliable and that can only be measured by the fact that you don’t get called in the middle of the night.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)
 

First Look: MOXA Ethernet Switch, EDS-2005-EL (M5E07)

By
Shawn Tierney
-

We take a first look at the EDS-2005-EL Ethernet Switch from MOXA in this episode of The Automation Minute.

The Automation Minute, Season 5 Episode 7 Show Notes:

Special thanks to Moxa for sending us a sample of their EDS-2005-EL Ethernet Switch. To learn more, see the follow product links:

Join our new community at TheAutomationBlog.com/join!

Become part of our community to take part in the Q&A as well as get early access to many of our Podcasts and Shows with a one-time or monthly pledge of $5

Vendors: Would you like your product featured on the Podcast, Show or Blog? If you would, please contact me at: https://theautomationblog.com/contact

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)

Dealing with Extreme Temperatures in Automation

By
Brandon Cooper
-

More than likely in the last year you have dealt with extreme weather conditions. If you are anywhere in the southern United States, you have probably dealt with some effects from the many hurricanes that came through the Gulf of Mexico.

Almost anywhere in the south or middle of the United States, you probably dealt with tornadoes as well. Extreme heat and cold are also difficult to deal with and some areas are better suited to deal with each than others.

Texas has certainly been in the news as I heard numbers of around four and a half million people were without power during the snow and ice that covered nearly every county in the state.

Most of these southern areas do not see this kind of weather and are not prepared to operate in such conditions. Most facilities do not have enough winterization in place to continue to operate, even the power companies.

In fact, this recent arctic weather affected over one hundred million or about a third of America’s population in some form or another.

Preparation for Severe Weather

It is always important, but especially important, to prepare your control systems for what may happen when inclement weather arrives.

  • Do you have system backups of everything up to date? During power loss/restart, the possibility of hardware failure increases. Make sure all systems like Servers, Workstations, Programmable Controllers, Distributed Control Systems, Network Devices and any other peripheral devices that need configuration are backed up in case recovery is necessary.
  • Staff preparation – Deciding ahead of time, of the staff available, who supports on site and who supports remotely, and these kinds of details can help a team work together to provide the needed support for a manufacturing facility.
  • Documentation – Being ready for restarting or power loss also means that documentation should be up to date and accurate as possible, drawings and needed system documentation will help tremendously when restarting a facility, so the more you have it readily available, organized and up to date, the better off you will be when it is needed.

How can a programmer help with freezing instrumentation?

Something I have found very helpful over the years is to have programming in place for important or critical control processes to detect a signal “freeze”.

This could be from instrument failure, signal line failure or control system failure, but this programming will provide notification if a signal does not change from an instrument in a certain time frame.

This alerts personnel to address the problem and try to regain the signal before equipment shutdown. Things like this can make a big difference when battling freezing temperatures.

Here is an example (ControlLogix) in bringing the signal in and comparing to itself at a later time. If the value does not change, then set an alarm:

Conclusion

It really does not matter where you live or operate, at some point, you will face some adversity when it comes to mother nature. Extreme temperatures, wind, precipitation or all the above can and will test your diligence and your systems that are in place.

Being ready is half of the battle and the other half is just picking up the pieces and recovering as quickly and safely as possible

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)
 

Converting a VMware VMX file for use in VirtualBox

By
Brandon Cooper
-

In the previous article we created a virtual machine from a legacy windows 2000 computer to be able to run it on a newer PC using VMWare Workstation.

This allowed us to support this system for many years to come, instead of relying on the older hardware to keep performing.

In this article, I want to present another option to VMware Workstation – running the Virtual Machine using free software called VirtualBox.

The first step we must take to use the VMware .vmx file created in the last article is to convert it into a Open Virtual Appliance file, or .ova file.

To do this, you’ll first have to download and install the VMware Open Virtualization Format Tool (aka ovftool, VMware-ovftool-4.1.0-2459827-win.i386.msi) onto the system you plan to convert the .vmx on.

Once you have that tool downloaded and installed the OVFTool, open a Command Line Window an “Administrator.”

This can be accomplished by searching Windows 10 for “cmd,” and then right clicking on “Command Prompt” and choosing “Run as administrator”

Next change the path in your command prompt to that of where the OVFTool was installed.

In the below example, it was done by entering in “CD\program files (x86)\vmware\vmware ovf tool”

Next, type in the OVFTool command along with the name and full path of the .vmx file to convert, followed by the location and name of the OVA file you desire to create:

Once you enter the command the conversion process will begin:

When it’s finished, you should see a message similar to the below, and you will now have an OVA file that can be used with VirtualBox:

The next step open that OVA file with VirtualBox. If you don’t already have VirtualBox installed, you can download it for free from:

Once downloaded, run the installer and follow the Prompts as shown below:

Now you are ready to import your OVA file into VirtualBox. To do so, run VirtualBox, and then under the “File” menu choose “Import Appliance” as shown below:

When your OVA file has imported, you can then run the virtual machine (in our case a virtual version of our Windows 2000 PC) in VirtualBox just like we did with VMware Workstation in the previous article.

At this point if you run into any stability issues with your new VM, like issues with keyboard, mouse or display, you’ll want to run the VirtualBox Extension Pack which can solve many “driver” issues like these:

Conclusion

Once a VMware Virtual Machine file is converted to the Open Virtual Appliance format, it can be imported and used in other hypervisors which support that open format.

The end-result we showed in this article was that we were able to run a virtual machine created for WMware inside of the free hypervisor VirtualBox, which can be very helpful when you need to run a .vmx but don’t have a license for VMware.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)
 

Creating a Virtual Machine out of a Windows 2000 system

By
Brandon Cooper
-

Everyone still has that needed legacy software or software platform that was used on Windows NT, 2000, XP etc. and it is still needed to configure a legacy support system that you are still hoping to maintain.

Maybe you’re even hoping that the twenty-year old computer, that is barely running, keeps on running another few years, until you can get the money for an upgrade.

One option that can be of use is to turn that legacy system into a virtual machine that can be run on newer hardware.

In this way, you can still operate or configure your legacy system for many more years while not having to pray that the hardware doesn’t fail.

Here’s an example of a case scenario that I am talking about:

You have a Windows 2000 machine that you wish to virtualize. You can use google and find a procedure to turn this into a virtual machine, but I’ll give you a condensed version without a lot of extra to weed through.

Step 1) Install the VMware Converter Tool

Download and Install the VMware Converter Tool on the Windows 2000 machine that you wish to virtualize (VMware-Converter-4.01-161434.exe)

This tool allows you to capture an virtual image of the Windows 2000 machine.

After installing, Do Not Run the Converter Tool yet – Windows 2000 needs some preparation work.

Step 2) Prepare Windows 2000

First, download and install Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (W2kSP4_EN.EXE)

Then in control panel, open the “System” applet and go to the “Advanced” tab, click “Performance Options,” and then click “change” and change the Maximum Registry size to 128.

Next, download and install the Windows 2000 SP4 “Sysprep” Tools (q257813_w2k_spl_x86_en.exe)

Finally, run q257813_w2k_spl_x86_en.exe from the VMWare folder, C:\documents and settings\all users\app data\vmware\vmware conversion\2k

Step 3) Run the VMware Converter Tool

You are now ready to Run the VMware Converter Tool on your Windows 2000 operating system.

After launching it, follow the prompts and it will create an .vmx file you can use inside of VMware Workstation and other VMWare products.

Step 4) Opening in VMware Workstation

You can now run the file converted legacy system as a virtual machine in your VMWare Workstation or ESXi server.

In VMWare Workstation, you can simply select File>Open and then browse to the .vmx file that was created with your VMWare Converter Tool.

Then selection the “Power On this Virtual Machine” to start your Windows 2000 VM up:

Conclusion

As you can see, there are a lot of steps in doing something like this. But the end-result is that you can support a legacy operating system on newer hardware until other arrangements can be made to upgrade the system.

That said, while VMWare is not a free solution it is the most widely used and a great solution to keep your legacy system running for years to come.

For those users on a budget, in my next article I’ll cover a free alternative, Virtual Box, including how to convert an existing .vmx file into an OVA file (Open Virtual Appliance) so it can be used in Virtual Box.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)
 

PLC Training: Free and Trial Programming Software

By
Shawn Tierney
-

Learning to use PLCs can be frustrating if you don’t know how to get your hands on the actual PLC Programming Software.

So in today’s article I’ll walk through several free options to get various PLC Programming Software packages so you can learn to use and program PLCs right away.

Note: I expect the below list to grow and change over time. If you’d like me to add a vendor to the list, please contact me directly using the Submit A News Tip link.

Article Index:

Rockwell Automation (Allen-Bradley, Rockwell Software)

Today there are three different Programmable Controller lines from Rockwell that you can learn by getting a trial copy of the programming software, and I’ll detail each below:

PLC-5, SLC-500, MicroLogix

If you work in a plant with a lot of legacy products and want to learn how to use them, then you’ll be happy to know that for several years Rockwell has made RSLogix Micro Starter Lite, RSEmulate 500, and RSLinx Classic Lite available as free downloads.

While the free RSLogix Micro Starter Lite can only program the MicroLogix 1000 and 1100 controllers, they program almost identically to the rest of the MicroLogix family, as well as the SLC-500 and PLC-5. So in learning RSLogix Micro you’ll also be learning key aspects of the SLC-500 and PLC-5.

Also, most people don’t grasp that with a free copy of RSEmulate 500, you don’t even need a physical PLC as it will emulate your programs right on your PC.

I even include lessons on all three of these free packages (as well on using them with the MicroLogix 1000 and 1100) in my budget friendly course, PLC Basics, which you can pickup a lifetime copy of right now for just $49 here.

You’ll also find my step-by-step article on how to get all three of the above software packages here.

Micro800 (810, 820, 830, 850, 870)

If you’re looking for the newest and most modern “low-cost” Programmable Controller from Rockwell Automation, then what you’re looking for is the Micro800 line.

This small and cost effective PLC shouldn’t be confused with “smart relays,” as not only are all the Micro800s full fledged PLCs, they also all support Ladder Logic, Function Blocks, and Structured Text programming languages.

One thing that has held back experienced A-B users from using these PLCs is something I actually think is an advantage to new users: The Micro800 programming software doesn’t look or act very much like RSLogix.

While many long time users don’t want to learn a new software package, the simple “standards based” Micro800 programming environment supports three of the IEC-61131 languages, and is in my opinion is a great place to start before going on to more complex development environments like Studio 5000 and TIA Portal.

Best of all, the Micro800’s programming software, Connected Components Workbench (CCW,) is completely free, with the latest versions also including a free Micro850 simulator so users can test out their programs without having to purchase a physical PLC.

Now if you’d like some help getting up to speed with the Micro800 and CCW, I created a low cost course just on this product line, in which I cover programming examples based on real world industrial applications. You can grab a lifetime copy of the course here for just $49, and you can learn how to get a free copy of CCW in my previous article here.

ControlLogix, CompactLogix, RSLogix/Studio 5000

Learning Rockwell’s premiere line of Programmable Automation Controllers is the goal of many who are looking for PLC Training.

But unlike other PLC vendors, Rockwell doesn’t make getting a trial copy of their Studio 5000 Programming and Emulation software as easy as just downloading it from their website.

To get a trial copy you have two options:

First, you can call your local Rockwell distributor (find them here) and ask them for a Thirty Day Temporary Activation (learn more about that here.)

The problem is, while this program has been around for over a dozen years, most distributors don’t know it exists.

If you run into that situation, or you’re located overseas and don’t have a local Rockwell representative, the other option is to contact Rockwell’s Online Activation Support Chat as per Rockwell’s advice to me on social media when I asked them about Temporary Activations:

That said, since I started TheAutomationSchool.com back in 2014, I’ve run into a few challenges actually getting Rockwell to send out a Trial License, and below I’ll cover the four most common:

1) Ask specifically for a “30 Day Temporary Activation” of Studio 5000 Full & Emulate 5000

Studio 5000 Full Edition not only supports all CompactLogix and ControlLogix controllers, it also includes all the programming languages these PACs support, including Ladder, Function Block, Structured Text and Sequential Function Charts.

And if you don’t have CompactLogix or ControlLogix hardware, Emulate 5000 will give you a way to test run your code.

2) Do not tell them you’re a student or “in training”

Sadly, if you tell them this they will typically assume you’re a college student and will refer you to your instructor to buy a 6 month Student toolkit for $200.

That said, just tell them you are requesting a demo copy of the software so you can try it out without going into the details about your goal to become a proficient user of it.

3) Use your name as your company name

Since the folks at Rockwell have to fill in a form which requires a company name be provided, if you tell them you don’t have a company to fill in that spot they will not be able to process your request.

That said, if you don’t feel comfortable using your current employer’s name, keep in mind it’s your right in the USA to use your legal name as your business name. In fact, every US citizen has the right to do business in their own name without the need to register as a business with anyone (we’re also required to report any and all income to the IRS, just like big companies 😉

4) It’s a one time option

The purpose of Rockwell’s Temporary Activations is ostensibly to give new users an opportunity to try their software out, and like other companies that offer trial software, the Rockwell temporary activation will enable the software to work for just thirty calendar days, after which you’ll need to purchase a copy to keep using it.

So if you want to learn how to use Rockwell’s Logix PLCs, given that you’ll only get access to the software for 30 days, you might want to pair it up with my PAC Basics course here which starts at $99. It covers everything you need to know to setup, program, and debug ControlLogix programs used in real world applications.

Siemens:

S7-1200, S7-1500, PLCSim, TIA Portal

Another premiere Programmable Controller that is quite possibly the most popular PLC world-wide is the Siemens S7 series.

But unlike Rockwell, Siemens makes it super easy to get a copy of their TIA Portal to try for 21 days.

Just follow the steps in my article here and you’ll not only get 21 Days to try our the Siemens Step 7 programming software, but the TIA Portal trial also includes the S7 PLC Simulator, PLCSim, and the HMI programming software, WinCC.

I’m currently working on courses covering both the S7-1200 and S7-1500, but until they’re released you can check out my past coverage here, including how to write your first program for each PLC using TIA Portal.

Before I move on to the next category, I just wanted to send out a special thanks to the good folks at Siemens for all their support!

Not only have the samples that’ve sent in allowed us to cover their products, their advertising support of TheAutomationBlog.com has helped keep us online through some very trying times.

Mitsubishi:

iQ-R, iQ-F, GXWorks3

Another world leader in Programmable Controllers is Mitsubishi.

If you’re not familiar with their PLCs, you can get up to speed in episode 48A and 48B of The Automation Podcast where I sit down with them to get a complete overview of their PLC product lines.

As far as getting a trial of their GX Works3 PLC Programming Software, this link brings you to a webpage where you can download a 20 day trial copy of the English version.

And thanks to the samples they sent in, you can learn how to use a Mitsubishi controller for the first time (and more) in our previous Mitsubishi coverage here.

Special thanks to Mitsubishi for donating an FX5 and HMI for use on TheAutomationBlog.com.

Wago

PFC100, PFC200, e!Cockpit

Another company known for it’s industrial automation products is Wago, who offers a range of products including a popular line of distributed I/O and PLCs.

Wago also offers a thirty day trial license of their e!Cockpit PLC programming software which can be downloaded here.

With it, users can program in Ladder Diagram (LD), Function Block Diagram (FBD), Structured Text (ST), Instruction List (IL), Sequential Function Chart (SFC) and Continuous Function Chart (CFC).

If you need a jump start using e!Cockpit, thanks to a donation from Wago I’ve been able to put together the following content covering their PLCs and I/O here.

Additional PLC Vendors

Several of my connections on LinkedIn commented on my last PLC Training article about additional PLC Vendors including Schneider Electric, B&R, Beckoff, Omron, CodeSys, Automation Direct, EZ Automation, and others.

I’ve reached out to these vendors and invited them to come on my podcast to bring us up to speed on their PLC product lines, as well as to let us know of any trial programming software and/or starter packs they may offer.

If any take me up on the offer I’ll be sure to come back and update this article with the new information.

Until then, I want to invite you to become part of our new community at TheAutomationBlog.com/join, as well as wish you all a safe, healthy, and prosperous week!

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)

ControlLogix – v33 Redundancy: Six Things You Need To Know

By
Brandon Cooper
-

You might be very happy with NOT touching your Logix 5561 redundant controllers running at firmware version sixteen, and I don’t wish to persuade you otherwise.

But if you are thinking about upgrading to something a little more recent, then hopefully this article will provide some insight into what to expect in your upgrade path to the latest and greatest, version 33.

Here are some key takeaways that I have noted and hopefully they will be of help to you as well.

1) 5570 & 5580 Controllers Have Different Redundancy Firmware Kits

Although, the L7x line of controllers and the L8x line of controllers are very similar in appearance and configuration, they are different generations of controllers.

The L8x controller for instance, contains separate CPU’s for logic, communications, I/O etc. while the L7x line of controllers uses the traditional configuration with a single processor and overhead time slice for communications etc.

For redundant controller configuration with the L7x line of controllers, you will need to use the “33.051 Enhanced_Kit1”

For redundant controller configuration with the L8x line of controllers, you will need to use the “33.011 Enhanced_Kit1”

2) On-Process Updates Have a Very Specific Order

If you wish to perform an “on-process” redundancy update (upgrading controller and other module firmware without taking the process controllers down) you must go in a specific order of firmware through the upgrade process.

The revision order is 20.05x – 24.053 – 30.051 – 31.052 – 32.051 – 33.051(L7x).

You cannot skip revisions. So, if you are at version twenty or twenty four and want to go to version thirty three, on process, it will take you most of the day.

3) View the Release Notes for Communication Module Revisions

The first step before your upgrade should be to view the release notes for each release before going to that release.

First, determine if every communication module (ControlNet, EtherNet etc.) and Redundancy Module in your controller chassis is compatible with the next release and what each module firmware should be flashed to in that release.

Having this mapped out with a plan will help to make the upgrade go smoothly.

4) View the “ControlLogix 5570/5580 Redundancy Update and Module Replacement Guidelines” Document from Rockwell

This publication will give you the prerequisites for your upgrade, considerations and the steps to follow to perform the on-process upgrades.

5) The Redundancy Module Configuration Tool (RMCT) must be uninstalled before the newest version can be installed

The latest RMCT for version 33 redundancy is 8.5.1.0 and you must uninstall the previous version before installing this version.

If you have performed upgrades before, you likely know this is important, but in case you have not run into this before, you will need to note this in the Redundancy Update and Module Replacement Guidelines book.

6) If Using Redundancy with L8x Controllers, see Product Notice 2021-02-002:

Product Notice 2021-02-002 – ControlLogix 5580 Redundancy Unexpected Power-Up Handler Fault (Type 1 Code 1) with V33.011 – gives notice of a particular anomaly when using a fault handler program in a ControlLogix 5580 redundancy system.

References:

Conclusion

Sometimes, we must wade through the waters of documentation to find all the pieces that we need to complete the puzzles in automation.

If you are looking at upgrading your ControlLogix Redundancy System to the latest and greatest, hopefully you picked up some good points here today.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)
 

Industrial Raspberry Pi Project, Part 1:

By
Paul Hunt
-


Editor’s Note: Paul, a senior automation engineer and experienced PLC programmer, reached out to me to ask if we’d be interested in publishing a series of articles about his side-project to build a simple system for temperature monitoring and process control. Since I have a number of home projects I’d love an excuse to automate, I took him up on his offer, and below is the first article in his series:

 

In hindsight, it was a little ambitious of me to decide that for my final project I was going to create something useful from scratch, and promise to follow it through implementation in an actual industrial process.

Honestly, I’m not sure how it will all turn out, but in this series I hope to take you through the journey with me.

If you work in industrial automation you’re likely aware that there are well documented and established procedures and concepts of project management which should be followed when designing or planning upgrades for industrial applications.

But when you’re working on a project after hours, and your goal is to build something quickly and application specific, it can make more sense to just work your way through the project as you go.

Of course, this often leads you to making quick decisions before thinking them all the way through, as well as having to jump through hurdles in an attempt to get the project to actually work.

In the end, sometimes you just have to do the best you can do to bring your idea to life, even if it means flying by the seat of your pants.

In this case, my lofty goal was to not only build something that would result in a good grade, but to also build something that was actually useful in the real world.

And in this series I’ll share my experience building a small process monitoring system, which hopefully will help if you have your own project to do.

My current project started as an idea to design and build a functioning (and cheap) color detection system.

Why?  Because I wanted to…why else?

Joking aside, this was an idea I had from a previous course, and combined with some recent “work experiences” it’s what I decided to build for my senior design project (#donein21, #operationgraduate).

The idea was to take a few standard components (color sensor or camera) that could interface easily to a cheap processor, and make a go of making a working prototype with a side goal of seeing how many different processes it could be used in.

The concept was quickly changed by faculty after questions regarding targeted problems.

I myself saw no problems… so I had to invent one and went full force into how many sensors could I pack in small box in order to help with… ummm… well I wasn’t sure yet.

Instead of doing it “just because”, I had to get serious. So I found a process at work that could use temperature monitoring of process tooling.

I thought I could even tie in the monitoring of ambient temperature and humidity, as well as add the ability to view the process as well as store some images and data.

The result would be my custom system would provide the user with the ability to monitor a process that could help extend tool life and maybe even increase material quality.

That said, here’s what I ended up submitting in my project charter:

There has always been a need for continuous improvement in industrial processes, such as improving product quality or improving the efficiency of the equipment.

The problem I have observed many times is the availability of a single unit for measuring the missing connection between process operations, environment, and part quality.

This project will be to build a system targeted to be capable of imaging (image capture and live video feedback), surface temperature measurement using IR, and monitoring of ambient temperature and humidity.

This prototype intends to monitor the processing of metal wire, rod, and equipment tooling for the possibility of finding that connection for process improvement.

This system can be used for material presence and quality as well as process or tooling monitor for efficiency and cost savings…issues that could be corrected before causing costly re-work or reject material being shipped to a customer.

The main goal and purpose of this prototype system is to output values to an existing controller to assist in tool monitoring and checking continuous running surface temps (correlating to ambient) for efficient running speeds and possibly for defects on material caused by tooling failure.

Sounds impressive, right?.  Now… what’s next?!?

First, to begin the build I’d need an enclosure for this system, but can’t chose one until I get all the components nailed down (assuming they have reliable size and mounting information) as well as what the environment conditions will be.

Finding out the environment conditions was easy enough… the area is temperature controlled and only occasionally gets slightly warmer in the summer. So just to be safe I decided to include a cooling fan.

Moving on to choosing the components, I realized I needed a scope-oriented to-do list to stay focused while still moving forward since I’m taking this project on solo with no teammates to share or delegate work to.

My initial list looked like this:

  • Select Components based on needed functionality
  • Design housing at targeted size
    • Size of a mobile phone or handheld digital camera
  • Purchase components
  • Assemble, verify mounting and fit of components

There are several more steps beyond those first few, but Ill get into those as we go.

When it comes to component selection, I’m purposely choosing to use components that will make the system more modular (my hope is it will also be easier to design and build,) however this means I have to wait for some of the parts to arrive before I can confirm dimensions and mounting clearances.

In the next article, we’ll pick up with the arrival of the first batch of parts, and if there is interest continue the story through the building of two working prototypes before my final submission.

Written by Paul Hunt
Senior Automation Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
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Virtual Machine Overview and Options

By
Brandon Cooper
-

If you maintained hardware for a Distributed Control System in the 1970’s through 2000’s, and yes some are still running to this day, you were accustomed to maintaining power supplies as well as proprietary custom boards that ran proprietary operating systems.

In the early 2000’s (late 80’s / early 90’s for A-B users, Ed.) when systems began to move to more open platforms, there came new challenges from hardware to software especially when it came to compatibility.

Instead of maintaining the same hardware for twenty or thirty years, we had to shift to upgrading both hardware and software every few years to keep up with a supported operating system and platform.

It did not take long until the constant upgrades came with a very large price tag as well as difficulty maintaining systems that were obsolete.

Then came a the shift to Virtual Machines (VMs)

In this way, a single hardware platform can run all types of virtual machines that can be transferred from one platform to another without the reinstallations of all the software.

Virtual platforms can range from simple to very complex, with features like triple redundancy, high availability, load balance and automated backups.

I believe while many of these systems are already installed, we are still on the cutting edge of where this shift is going. In a decade, I believe almost all IT/OT systems will be virtual.

Enter the Hypervisor

Virtual Systems run on what is called a Hypervisor, and below I’ll provide a brief overview of each type:

  • Type I Hypervisor – Also called a Bare Metal Hypervisor

This type of Hypervisor is installed directly on top of physical hardware, and is the most efficient as it interacts directly with the hardware. It’s also the most secure as it allows each VM to run independently on its own operating system so if a security breach occurs, it lies within a VM.

This is the type of Hypervisor you would use for large deployments where you could have anywhere from five to fifty-five virtual machines running on one hardware cluster.

  • Type II Hypervisor – Also called a Hosted Hypervisor

This type of Hypervisor is installed on top of an operating system. It is the least efficient as everything between hardware and software must run through the operating system that the host is on.

Normally, this is what you would use for a single VM that is running an older, legacy Operating System on new hardware. Most of the time you’d only have one or two VMs running at the same time with a Type II Hypervisor.

Virtual Networking Too

One aspect of Hypervisors that many users find extremely usefuly, especially with Type I Hypervisors, is virtual networking.

This feature allows you to configure many different “virtual” networks, configured through virtual network adaptors, virtual switches etc…within the Hypervisor configuration.

Popular Hypervisors by Type:

Type I Hypervisors

  • VMware vSphere
  • Microsoft Hyper-V
  • KVM
  • Oracle VM
  • Citrix Hypervisor
  • Xen Hypervisor

Type II Hypervisors

  • VMware Workstation Pro
  • VMware Fusion
  • Oracle Virtual Box
  • Parallels Desktop
  • QEMU

Conclusion

In any kind of support role today, you will probably need to support many different decades of technology, from proprietary DCS hardware and software, to single server and workstation support, to virtual machines running on a redundant platform.

In the same day you may even have to run a DOS Virtual Machine like DOSbox while also working on a legacy system which you hope you can continue to support a few more years.

That said, it’s quite likely that if you’re not already using Virtual Machines today, it’s very likely you will be in the next few years.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
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PLC Training: What is the Best PLC to Learn With?

By
Shawn Tierney
-

During my years in the field one of the most common questions I was asked by Electricians and Engineers alike was where they could go to get affordable training on Programmable Logic Controllers?

As our long-time readers know, that question was the impetuous for my PLC Basics Training Kickstarter launched back in 2014, which eventually lead me to leave my job to become a full time online instructor and blogger.

Kickstarter How to Pledge Step 2

The Best PLC To Learn With?

Now as I begin the process of creating a while new series of affordable PLC Courses a new question arises:

If you could only afford to learn how to setup, debug and program one PLC, which would be the best one to learn on

For most electricians, technicians, and engineers who already work with systems that have PLCs, the obvious answer might be to learn about the PLCs that are actually installed in the systems they’re working on.

However, in some cases the PLCs being used where they work may not be the predominate brand is the area where they live.

And in other cases the user may not want to get PLC Training on the PLC used where they work now, but instead learn the Programmable Controller brand used at another company where they’d prefer to work.

Hardware and Software Costs

Another consideration on which PLC you should learn with is the actual cost of the hardware and software.

While I’m able to produce affordable training courses by maintaining low overhead, the cost of the actual PLC and Programming software is obviously set buy the vendors themselves.

In some cases, like with Rockwell’s ControlLogix hardware and Studio 5000 programming software, buying a demo system to learn on is out of the reach of the average at home learner, with a typical system costing as much as a new car.

That’s why it’s important to consider each programmable controller line, as many vendors offer both a “premier” and “lower cost” line that utilized the same programming software.

On the Rockwell side, the premier ControlLogix line is programmed with the same software as the “lower cost” version, the CompactLogix.

On the Siemens side, the premier S7-1500 line is programmed with the same software as the lower cost S7-1200 series.

And on the Mitsubishi side, the premier iQ-R line is programmed with the same software and the lower cost FX5 series.

Now some may argue that the hardware differences between the premier and lower cost platforms results in programming differences when the user needs to access hardware specific features, and some may conclude because of this that programming premiere and lower cost systems can be quite different.

While that can be true in some  more advanced applications, in my thirty years I’ve found that the majority of the code you’ll find in lower cost systems, also runs in premiere systems, making lower cost systems a valid option for new users to learn on.

It should also be pointed out that it’s not just the price of hardware that you need to look at when considering a PLC to learn on, as the cost of the programming software can also be substantial.

The programming software for premier systems, even for home learning without a support contract, can still cost more than a ten day all-inclusive trip for two to the Caribbean.

So another advantage of learning on the lower cost siblings can be a reduce cost software somewhere in the range of a Game Console or Smart Phone.

To see this price difference in action, contact your local supplier and ask them to quote both the premier software as well as the lower cost line’s version. From Rockwell that would be Studio5000 Standard versus Mini, and for Siemens it would be TIA Portal Advanced versus Basic.

The Truly Low Cost Option

Above we discussed above, learning with the lower cost lines like Rockwell’s CompactLogix, Siemens’ S7-1200, and Mitsubishi’s FX5, will position you well for also using their premiere lines.

That said, even those PLCs and associated Software can be out of the range of some users who want to learn at home.

In those instances you may want to consider learning with a Nano or Pico PLC. These small controllers often start around $100 AND quite often program with completely free software.

Micro 810Take for instance the Micro800 line from Rockwell. It starts around $125 (2080-LC10-12QWB + 2080-USBADAPTER,) programs with the free CCW software, and supports three of the IEC-61131-3 programming languages (RLD, FBD, and ST.)

And while nobody will confuse its code with a Logix, S7, or iQ program, since the structure and instruction set is based on the industry standard (61131-3,) learning to a Nano PLC like the Micro810 will time teach you how to general PLCs concepts at an unbeatable price.

Additional Options:

In my next article I’ll detail some of the available hardware and software PLC bundles vendors offer that are especially helpful for those looking to learn PLCs at home.

I’ll also cover my thoughts on using recycled hardware for training, as well as what options are available for demo or trial versions of programming software.

Until then, why not check out my affordable ControlLogix, CompactLogix, MicroLogix, and Micro800 courses over at TheAutomationSchool.com?

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)

Telnet or SSH?

By
Brandon Cooper
-

Does it Matter whether I use Telnet or SSH?

When we begin a career in industrial automation, we basically just dive in right where we have the opportunity. That can mean we start with the latest and greatest or legacy equipment as well as the practices that we follow.

The first Ethernet switches that I configured were in the age that you could buy a laptop with a serial port built in and the normal operating system was Windows XP, so I learned to configure with HyperTerminal software.

Image by Brandon Cooper

At some point, I started to learn to manage switches remotely with Windows PowerShell and Putty Software using Telnet.

Telnet worked great for me and I didn’t know much about it, except that it worked and I could manage all of my network switches without leaving my desk.

However, as I’ve learned more about security, I learned that while it works great, it probably isn’t best practice.

Unfortunately, not everyone in the world is looking out for our best interests and the way we do things must be centered around the safest and most secure methods.

TELNET

Telnet is a client-server protocol that works with a virtual terminal connection emulator and allows you to communicate and configure a remote device the same as you are connected to it.

The problem is, that Telnet is not secure and the data is unencrypted. Anyone that gets access to monitor a user’s connection will gain access to the username, password and any other information because it will be collected in plain text.

SSH

Secure Shell (SSH) is also a client-server protocol, but it provides a secure channel over even an unsecure network.

SSH uses public-key cryptography to authenticate to the remote device or computer and allow it to authenticate the user.

Besides management of your network devices, it supports tunneling, forwarding TCP ports and X11 connection as well as file transfer and secure copy protocols.

Setting up SSH on your Cisco or Allen Bradley Stratix Switch

Setup password encryption, a username and password, set the remote line connection to SSH only as shown below.

Image by Brandon Cooper

Set the Domain Name and generate the crypto keys as shown below. You are now set up for SSH Login.

Image by Brandon Cooper 

Login with SSH Using PUTTY

In a PUTTY session, put the IP address of the device you are connecting to and select SSH as the connection type.

Image by Brandon Cooper

Login with the username (here we used: user) and password (here we used pwtest) and then you can begin your session with encrypted data.

You can see examples of the differences in data in Wireshark, but maybe that will be a topic for another time.

Image by Brandon Cooper

Conclusion

While an IT or OT environment should be behind a firewall and secure, every practice that we can implement to be more secure makes us better than we were before.

Making changes to a network device always comes with a risk and using SSH is one way to minimize risk and that is what makes it a best practice when performing device configuration.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
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Remote Connectivity Devices

By
Brandon Cooper
-

If you were a control system technician twenty or more years ago, you have likely spent hours with a laptop in front of a piece of machinery troubleshooting and correcting issues as they were conveyed to you.

There was not much of a choice in the matter as network connectivity and remote connections were somewhat available, but not widely adopted.

Image by Brandon Cooper

Fast forward to 2021, we troubleshoot as many issues in our living rooms as we do next to the machinery we are manipulating. Certainly, this great privilege comes with great responsibility.

A little disclaimer, but the safety and responsibility piece of remote connectivity is a piece of itself that must be handled with extreme caution and care.

The person or persons troubleshooting the system or making any kind of system changes must have the experience and discretion necessary to make remote changes and know exactly what they are doing.

VPN Access

What allows a control system technician to remotely and securely troubleshoot from a remote location is a VPN (Virtual Private Network).

This allows a private network to send and receive data over a public network from the remote location as though the remote location was directly connected.

This VPN is created by establishing a virtual point to point connection through the use of tunneling protocols or dedicated circuits over existing public networks.

Image from Ewon Website  

VPN Devices

A VPN Box is a generic term for a device that can be installed at a machine location and accept a VPN connection through existing networks.

There are many devices and doing a quick internet search will reveal all sorts of options from many vendors.

I device that I found interesting was from EWON and they have a line of different WAN (Wide Area Network) as well as cellular devices. This device when configured can provide a VPN connection for remote users to securely gain access to a machine when needed.

Another similar device in the Remote Connect gateways from MOXA, and who will be coming on you new Automation Tech Tips show to demonstrate it’s use (ed.):

Image from Moxa Website 

VPN Network

One thing remote connectivity products likes Moxa and Ewon offer are VPN servers spread out across the globe.

This type of network infrastructure, as well as features aimed specifically at industrial automation systems, make products like these a good fit for many facilities:

Image from Ewon Website

Image from Moxa Website

Conclusion

Every company and every site will have different needs and will accomplish their remote access in different ways.

A VPN device is one way to allow a control systems technician or OEM vendor to access needed equipment from elsewhere in the world.

With the current pandemic and no end in sight, the need for remote access is as important as it has ever been.

More people are working remotely than ever before and if it has to be done, it has to be done securely and as safe as possible.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
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Ethernet Radios in Control Systems

By
Brandon Cooper
-

In some industrial control system applications, logistics can become a difficult aspect of planning and implementing a control system without having to install expensive fiberoptic infrastructure.

Take for instance, you have a need to monitor or control a water level in a remote tank that is hundreds of meters from the nearest installed control system.

One option is to run fiberoptic cable to the site and install a control system there to monitor or control the water level. Another option is to install an outdoor industrial ethernet wireless radio system.

Criticality

Before installing a radio system, I would evaluate the criticality of the system.

Is a radio signal that could be temporarily lost if something happens to the signal acceptable?

If the criticality is high enough, then I would definitely want to stick with Fiberoptic communication, but if this system is controlling locally and simply monitored and receives interaction remotely, then the radio may be a great option.

Example

In this example, a Micrologix PLC is used to monitor a few digital and analog signals and communicate over an EtherNet Radio signal back to a centralized control system.

Brands

The list of vendors for this is virtually endless. I will name a few from a quick search, but you can find Wireless Ethernet Radio Systems available from Cisco, Antaira, Banner Engineering, Phoenix Contact, Prosoft, Advantech, Allied Electronics and countless others.

Most of them are simple to configure and are Industrial IEEE 802.11b/g/n compliant and have all kinds of built in monitoring and configuration features as well as security.

Software

Software can allow you to configure devices as well as monitor them. In this screenshot of a radio system, you can monitor the signal strength and connectivity of radio devices. Each vendor will likely have their own software for their line of devices.

Other Considerations

Radio Systems require an unobstructed path. The radio master antennae are usually placed at a point at the top of the tallest building and receiver antennae are at the highest location available so that they have no obstructions such as trees or other buildings to stop communication.

Radios will need power (110vac or 24vdc) at the remote location so keep this in mind as well.

Conclusion

There is never a one size fits all approach to control systems. Some things need triple redundancy, others need dual redundancy and others can have communication downtime if it isn’t excessive.

These types of options are great for some applications and not for others, but they are options.

In a remote application that needs redundant communications, it can also be a great option to have a fiberoptic connection and a radio.

That way if the fiber gets cut, you can still fall on the radio. Just some food for thought next time you have a project that needs another option for communication at a distance.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
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Preventive Maintenance Checks for Control System Components

By
Brandon Cooper
-

In the last year, we have probably all worked remotely from our control system equipment more than in previous years.  Putting our eyes on our control equipment may have been little or none for many months now.

Maybe you have systems in place for monitoring your control system equipment and maybe you do not, but hopefully this will help you begin to identify places that could be lacking.

Walk it Down

Today we can do almost anything remotely to our control systems. We can troubleshoot, program, configure and monitor systems from miles away in the comfort of our home, however, there is still an imperative need to put our eyes on our systems. We cannot take it for granted that simply because the system doesn’t show a problem, that there is not one.

Here is a scenario for you. You go online with a PLC and everything is fine, controller synchronization with the backup, I/O has no faults and you cannot see any issue with this system.

Image by Brandon Cooper

Upon a walkdown of your control equipment, you observe this: A remote I/O chassis has fallen from its mount on the front of conversion hardware. The only thing holding the I/O rack up is a cable that provides power to the remote chassis and a relay that will shutdown the equipment if it comes loose. This is definitely a problem that a few more days of vibration will bring to a machine shutdown around 3AM this Saturday morning while you would rather be asleep.

Image by Brandon Cooper

Because you took the time and effort to put your eyes on this control system equipment, the problem could be resolved, and the machine will no longer see downtime in the next few days because of lack of awareness of the control system.

Image by Brandon Cooper

I would suggest that checking all your system components physically and visually on a regular schedule is a preventive maintenance measure that absolutely cannot be dismissed during these times of work that may be different than before the pandemic. Following good safety protocols, make this a priority and you will be glad that you did.

Automatic Monitoring

Many times, there are monitoring features that we fail to utilize. Here are a couple:

  • PLC Redundant Power Supply

A redundant Power Supply contains an alarm contact that can be wired to a control system input to monitor that the power supply is functioning without alarm.

Image by Brandon Cooper

  • Secondary Power Source of a Switch

Most industrial switches have the option of using two power sources in case one power source is lost, however, many times we do not install and wire both power sources. And don’t forget to check on the switch regularly and see that both power sources are available. There is also an alarm contact here that can be wired in as well for remote alarming.

Image by Brandon Cooper

Conclusion

The list here could go on for miles of examples of things that need to be monitored. The status display on your servers and workstations, the lights on your network cards and network equipment, physical mounting of hardware and I/O modules, making sure cabinet doors are closed and facilities are clean, making sure cabinet cooling fans are running and filters are clean.

These types of checks will make us world class or cost us production, the choice is up to us as to which road we take.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
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Using Fiberoptic cabling for Ethernet Networks

By
Brandon Cooper
-

If you are working with Ethernet networks in your facility, whether IT or OT networks, chances are that all the network equipment is not located in the same room or even building.

Systems that need to communicate with one another are often located hundreds of feet apart. Since copper is usually good up to about 300 ft, it becomes necessary to use fiberoptic cable to make communications happen from one system to the next.

Knowing your Connectors – Knowing your basic connectors is important for specking, ordering, installing and troubleshooting fiberoptic patch cables. There are literally dozens of different connectors that have been created and used at different times. The ones I’ve listed below are some of the common ones that you will see in IT/OT environments.

  • ST – Straight Tip – Can also be called BFOC – Bayonet Fiber Optic Connector – Are one of the most common connectors, especially connecting to fiber patch panels.

Image by Brandon Cooper – ST.JPG

  • SC – Subscriber Connector, Standard Connector, Square Connector – I have seen each of these used. Older switches and routers such as a Cisco 2950 had built in SC connector type inserts for the fiber uplink. They are also widely used in media converters that convert back and forth from fiber to copper.

Image by Brandon Cooper – SC.JPG

  • LC – Local or Lucent Connector – This has become a widely used connector, especially with switches and media converters that use an SFP (small form-factor pluggable) transceiver

Image by Brandon Cooper – LC.JPG

  • MTRJ – Mechanical Transfer Registered Jack / Media Termination Recommended Jack – This is a snap-type connector that usually plugs directly into an onboard network adapter. While not the most common, I run into them regularly.

Image by Brandon Cooper – MTRJ.JPG

  • MPO – Multi-fiber Push On Connectors – This is what I would consider cutting edge technology in fiber connectors. Essentially, they bring twelve or twenty-four strand fiber (or other variations) to a single connector for high bandwidth applications. For example, with 100 GB EtherNet applications, it can take eight fibers (four transmitting at 25GB each and four receiving at 25 GB each) to accomplish these speeds. Speeds of 200 GB and 400 GB have also been supported with these connectors, so this will be the future at least for a while.

By Reichle De-Massari, CC BY-SA 3.0 de

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21333380

Types of Fiber

There are two types of fiber (with different grades) that you will see in networking. Single Mode and Multimode. You cannot use the two together and patch to the same signal because they use completely different light signals and wavelengths.

  • Single Mode – Laser light, small core diameter, used for longer distances and higher bandwidths. For instance, at 5 km, you can achieve 1 GB speed with SM fiber. The fiber, transceivers and all aspects are more expensive than Multimode fiber.
  • Multi-Mode – multiple rays of light that bounces off glass in cable – less expensive – less distance. Also has five different grades that can determine how much distance you can achieve (OM1-OM5). Generally, under four hundred meters, depending on the speed needed, MM fiber is a good choice.

The below picture is a patch panel for single mode fiber with ST connectors

Image by Brandon Cooper – FiberPanel.PNG

Conclusion

If you work with any type of electrical systems, control and automation systems or even telecommunications, you likely are working with or will be working with fiber-optics in the future.

Simply knowing the terminology and being familiar with what you are working with can be most of the battle when “making systems talk” so hopefully you picked up some beneficial tips here today. Good luck with your long distance (control system) relationships!

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)
 

GuardLogix – Writing Logic in your Safety PLC

By
Brandon Cooper
-

In a previous article, we discussed some safety options from Rockwell for a safety PLC as well as industry standards such as IEC 61508 and SIL ratings.

In this article, I want to venture into the software side and take a look at a couple of the safety instructions you will find in a safety plc.

Image by Brandon Cooper

DCS – Dual Channel Input Stop:

The Dual-channel input stop instruction monitors dual-input safety devices whose main function is to stop a machine safely. This could be an emergency stop, light curtain or safety gate that is monitored for a safe position.

This instruction can only energize output 1 when both safety inputs (Channel A and Channel B) are in the active state as determined by the input type parameter and the correct reset actions are carried out.

Image by Brandon Cooper

DCS Parameters:

  • Safety Function – text name for how this instruction is being used. This parameter is for information only and does not affect the operation of the instruction.
  • Input Type – there are two options  – Equivalent – Active High: Inputs are in the active state when Channel A and Channel B inputs are 1. Complementary: Inputs are in the active state when Channel A is 1 and Channel B is 0.
  • Discrepancy Time(ms) – the amount of time that the inputs can be in an inconsistent state before an instruction fault is generated. The inconsistent state depends on the Input Type. The range is 5 – 3000ms.
  • Restart Type – This input configures Output 1 for either Manual or Automatic Restart. Manual: A transition of the Reset input from OFF (0) to ON (1), while all of the Output 1 enabling conditions are met, is required to energize Output 1 Automatic: Output 1 is energized 50 ms after all enabling conditions are met.
  • Cold Start Type – Specifies the Output 1 behavior when applying controller power or mode change to “Run”. Manual – Output 1 is not energized until the device is tested. Automatic – Output 1 is energized when the input status is valid and in active state.
  • Channel A, Channel B – These are the two safety inputs to the instruction
  • Input Status – If instruction inputs are from a safety I/O module, this is the status from the I/O module (Connection Status or Combined Status). If instruction inputs are derived from internal logic, it is the application programmer’s responsibility to determine the conditions. ON (1): The inputs to this instruction are valid. OFF (0): The inputs to this instruction are invalid.
  • Reset – If Restart Type = Manual, this input is used to energize Output 1 once Channel A and Channel B are both in the active state. If Restart Type = Automatic, this input is not used to energize Output 1. OFF (0) -> ON (1): The FP (Fault Present) and Fault Code outputs are reset.

CROUT – Configurable Redundant Output:

The Configurable Redundant Output instruction controls and monitors redundant outputs. The reaction time for output feedback is configurable. The instruction supports positive and negative feedback signals.

Image by Brandon Cooper

CROUT Parameters:

  • Feedback Type – defines the feedback ON and OFF states. Positive: – ON (1): Feedbacks ON / Outputs ON OFF (0): Feedbacks OFF / Outputs OFF Negative: -ON (1): Feedbacks OFF / Outputs ON OFF (0): Feedbacks ON / Outputs OFF
  • Feedback Reaction Time – Specifies the amount of time the instruction waits for feedback 1 & 2 to reflect the state of Output 1 & 2 as specified by the feedback type. Valid range 5 – 1000ms
  • Actuate – This input energizes or de-energizes Output 1 and Output 2. ON (1): Output 1 and Output 2 are energized if no faults exist. OFF (0): Output 1 and Output 2 are de-energized.
  • Feedback 1 & Feedback 2 – Inputs are constantly monitored to make sure that they reflect the state of Output 1 & Output 2. When Output 1 & 2 transitions, these inputs must detect the transition within the Feedback Reaction Time.
  • Input Status – If the instruction inputs are from safety I/O module, this is the status from the I/O module. If the inputs are from internal logic, then it is the application programmer’s responsibility to determine the conditions ON (1): The inputs to this instruction are valid. OFF (0): The inputs to this instruction are invalid.
  • Output Status – This input indicates the output status of the I/O module or modules used by this instruction. ON (1): The I/O connection and the I/O module are operational. OFF (0): The module has a fault or the connection to the module has been lost.
  • Reset – This input clears the instruction faults provided the fault condition is not present. OFF (0) -> ON (1): The FP and Fault Code outputs are reset.
  • Outputs 1 & 2 – These outputs are typically used to control channel A & B of the output device. Outputs are de-energized when 1 or more of the following occurs: l A feedback fault occurs. l Input Status or Output Status inputs become invalid (OFF = 0). l The Actuate input turns OFF (0).

Conclusion

Industry has moved a long way, from the days with unguarded machinery and little engineering of safety into projects, to making safety the forefront of a project.

Machine-guarding, stops and prevention of entry into unsafe areas are now commonplace in industry and the need for automation of these systems is steady increasing.

If you have been previously unaware of or inexperienced with a safety plc, chances are, you will become acquainted with one in the future.

Hopefully, this article can be a piece of familiarity should you find yourself involved with a safety plc.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

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GuardLogix – Getting Started

By
Brandon Cooper
-

For a machine application that involves a safety system, guarding or other needed safety equipment, Rockwell, as well as other vendors, provide safety solutions that meet the requirements to replace safety relays and hard-wired safety controls up to SIL 3 applications.

In this article, I will hopefully explain what some of the standards and requirements mean, as well as, outline the basics around the different controllers that Rockwell offers.

Image by Brandon Cooper

International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Standard 61508:

IEC 61508 is a basic functional safety standard applicable to all industries. It defines functional safety as: “part of the overall safety relating to the EUC (Equipment Under Control) and the EUC control system which depends on the correct functioning of the E/E/PE safety-related systems, other technology safety-related systems and external risk reduction facilities.”

The fundamental concept is that any safety-related system must work correctly or fail in a predictable (safe) way.

The standard has two fundamental principles:

  • An engineering process called the safety life cycle is defined based on best practices in order to discover and eliminate design errors and omissions.
  • A probabilistic failure approach to account for the safety impact of device failures.

Safety Integrity Level (SIL):

SIL is a relative level of risk reduction provided by a safety function. SIL ratings correlate to frequency and severity of hazards and determine the performance required to maintain and achieve safety as well as the probability of failure.

There are four SILs and the higher the SIL, the greater the risk of failure. The greater the risk of failure, the higher the safety requirements are.

Rockwell Safety Programmable Controllers:

  • SmartGuard 600 Controllers with Safety
    • For small applications, features 16 digital inputs, 8 digital outputs, 4 test pulse sources and connections for USB and DeviceNet communication
    • Programmed with Logic Editor in RSNetworx for DeviceNet software
    • Certified for use in safety applications up to and including SIL 3, according to IEC 61508, PL(e) according to ISO 13849-1, and CAT 4, according to EN 954-1
  • CompactLogix 5370, CompactLogix and Compact GuardLogix 5380 Controllers
    • For medium sized applications
    • Certified for use in safety applications up to and including SIL 3, according to IEC 61508, SIL CL3 per IEC 62061, Performance level PLe Cat 4 per ISO 13849-1
    • Programmed with Studio 5000 Logix Designer Application
    • Ideal for applications with high performance communications and motion up to 32 axes
  • ControlLogix 5570 & ControlLogix 5580 Controllers
    • For the largest and highest performance applications
    • Programmed with Studio 5000 Logix Designer Application
    • Certified for use in safety applications up to and including SIL 3, according to IEC 61508, SIL CL3 per IEC 62061, Performance level PLe Cat 4 per ISO 13849-1
    • The 5580 provides motion control up to 256 axes

References:

Conclusion

Hopefully, this overview will give you some insight as to what a safety integrity level is and what the Safety PLC offerings from Rockwell are certified for. Each of these offerings would most likely come down to the size of the project as to what is needed.

If you have a safety gate and a light curtain and just a few I/O points, then a SmartGuard 600 might be all that is needed. However, if the project contains high performance needs and motion control, you may want to go with the latest and greatest 5580.

In part two of this series, I plan to go into safety logic and instructions that are in the safety processor.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
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What is PRP?

By
Brandon Cooper
-

Parallel Redundancy Protocol (PRP) is a standard defined in IEC 62439-3 and is adopted in the ODVA, Inc. EtherNet /IP specification, and is used to create network redundancy by allowing PRP enabled devices to send duplicate Ethernet frames over two independent Local Area Networks (LANs).

The beauty of this architecture is that PRP devices send and receive duplicate frames from both networks and discard the frame that was received last, so when failure on one LAN occurs, there is zero recovery time.

Image by Brandon Cooper

This is different from other resiliency protocols such as Device Level Ring or Spanning Tree that must reconfigure after a fault.

Rockwell Automation, working with Cisco and Panduit have designed, tested and approved network scenarios to provide a network solution for OT networks that is scalable and provides high availability and uptime potential.

As legacy communication protocols such as Data Highway or ControlNet give way to EtherNet protocols, the demand for robust networks has grown tremendously over the last couple of decades.

The number of connected devices will only continue to increase as we progress into the future of Industrial Automation Control Systems.

PRP Network Components

  • LAN A & LAN B – Redundant, active EtherNet networks that operate in parallel and provide fault independence
  • DAN – Double Attached Node – This is an IACS device that contains PRP technology and connects to both LAN A and LAN B. This device sends and receives duplicate EtherNet frames on both ports. Devices that are DANs can be a 1756-EN2TP (ControlLogix EtherNet Module) or a 5094-AENTR (Flex 5000 I/O Module)
  • SAN – Single Attached Node – This is an IACS device that does not contain PRP technology and can only connect to LAN A or LAN B. SAN devices can ignore the PRP trailer on the end of the PRP EtherNet frames.
  • Redbox – Redundancy Box – This is an industrial EtherNet Switch with PRP technology that connects Non-PRP IACS devices or a Non-PRP part of the network to both LAN A and LAN B. The Stratix model 5400 (one PRP channel) or 5410 (two PRP channels) can be used as a Redbox switch by setting two Gigabit ports as a PRP channel. The lowered number port connects to LAN A and the higher numbered port connects to LAN B.
  • VDAN – Virtual Double Attached Node – This is an IACS device that does not contain PRP technology, but connects to both LAN A and LAN B through a Redbox, gives the device redundancy and appears to other nodes on the network as a DAN.
  • Infrastructure Switches – Switches in LAN A & LAN B that are not configured as a Redbox. This can be any managed Stratix switch

PRP Network Topology

  • Parallel Paths – Industrial EtherNet Switches can be implemented in a fashion where they are linked together in a “daisy-chained” fashion with LAN A and LAN B operating physically separate, independent networks.
  • Dual Rings – Industrial EtherNet Switches can be implemented similar to a DLR configuration, but with two independent rings.
  • Star – Industrial EtherNet Switches can be implemented in a star configuration, with two IES switches at each location, on the separate LAN A and LAN B networks.

Figure 2-5 from enet-td021_-en-p.pdf

Figure 2-6 from enet-td021_-en-p.pdf

PRP Network Monitoring

Redundant networks can provide wonderful potential for high availability and uptime, but an important piece of the puzzle is monitoring of your network.

Using a network monitoring tool that uses Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), EtherNet/IP diagnostic tools and the diagnostics in PRP capable devices, you can keep an eye on your network for potential problems.

If you don’t, failure can occur and you will never know it. In fact, multiple failures could occur and it would not be evident by the performance of the network.

Monitoring your network and repairing failures when they occur is the key to making this type of network run at 100% uptime for many years to come.

 References:

Conclusion

Hopefully, this very brief overview will give you some insight as to what PRP is, the terminology and even the available topologies that are used in this redundant network configuration.

In many cases a DLR configuration or even a single network configuration is adequate for an OT application, but in an application where guaranteed uptime is needed, then this might just be what we have been looking for.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
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CompactLogix – 5380: Why Are My 5069-IF8 Analog Inputs Updating Slowly? (Q&A)

By
Shawn Tierney
-
CompactLogix 5380 Fi

One of our community members recently asked what would cause his 5380 analog inputs updating so slow?

His application required that each 5380 analog inputs updated every 10ms, but what he was seeing in the field was a much slower.

When working with analog inputs and Logix PACs, two settings will effect the update rate:

1) RPI (Requested Packet Interval)

RPI is how often you’d like the controller to read the values from the Input modules.

It is named “Requested” because it’s a target the controller uses, but guaranteed update rate.

Because of this, Rockwell suggestions setting this rate at twice as fast as you actually need the data.

So in our Member’s case, to insure his Analog Inputs update no slower than 10ms, he should set it to a 5ms RPI.

2) Filters

Many PLC Input Modules have a built-in feature which allows the user to “Filter” the input signals.

A side effect of these filters is that the input which is being filtered updates at a slower rate.

In the case of the 5069-IF, the manual has a table which helps users understand how the RPI and Notch filter interact:

Table Eleven in the above manual shows the Notch Rate filter on the left, and then the suggested RPI on the right.

In this member’s case, I pointed out that with the 5000 Hz Notch Filter for all channels, the table recommends a 4ms RPI for faster updates.

In the field he actually used slightly faster settings, and was very happy with updates coming in reliably at under 4ms.

If you have a related question or comment please post it as a reply to this post, or if you have a different question for our community, please post it as a new topic.

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Brandon Cooper
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