Productivity3000 HSI Module Part 2: Proximity Sensors from AutomationDirect

Setting up the HSI card is easy. Here we have a new project and we are online with the controller. STEP1: Auto-discover the Hardware ñ click on Hardware Configuration, then read the configuration. Remember, you have to be in STOP mode to read the configuration. The software is now going to tell us all the new modules it found- we know that so weíll just say YES to all. We now have a fully populated system with a local base and a remote base with our HSI and HSO cards. STEP2: Configure the HSI module. Double click on the HSI Module, Give it a name ñ how about ìHSI Demo.î We have out tooth counting prox sensor connected to channel 2A ñ letís make a note of that. And our Index Proximity sensor is connected to 2Z - Index Prox. Note that you canít use 2B for counting pulses. It is strictly used for direction like when we use encoders, for example. Weíre not going to use direction in this example so it is ok to just leave it blank and unconnected. We also want to use Output2 to drive our strobe light, so letís call it ìProx Strobe.î Weíre not using Channel 1 yet, the encoder is connected to that one, so letís go straight to Channel 2. The software is telling me I defined some new tags and is asking me if I want to create them. Sure. I really like that it does that for me so I donít have to fool with it later. Letís name this channel ìTooth Counter.î And since we want to count teeth ñ letís change our units to ìTeethî and weíll get one pulse per tooth, so we donít need to change that Even though that didnít change anything, the cool part is now all of our units going forward will be in ìteeth!î I love that feature ñ it makes things so much easier. Plus it is really going to help us in our second example when we use the encoder. Our current position is really a count of the teeth, so weíll call that ìTooth Countî-note the units are all setup for us - and our velocity will be ìTooth Velocityî again the units are all setup. Finally ìTooth Statusî is our status. We are counting pulses (this isnít an encoder), so we want to make sure pulse and direction are selected. And we are done! So all we did was name the channel, change our units, define some tags, and make sure we are counting some pulses. Hit OK. Let the Productivity 3000 create the TAGs for us. And close the hardware dialog. Well, thatís all there is to setting up the HSI. Step 3: Itís time to use it! Letís bring up a registration instruction from our high speed instruction palette here. Right there ñ Iím going to drop him on rung 1. And fill in the blanks. We want our tooth counter channel. Weíll use trigger group 1. We want to trigger everything on that index proximity sensor. Rising Edge is fine. Since each index hit is one rotation of the sprocket, weíll create a sprocket count TAG that will keep track of the number of rotations of that sprocket. When we see that index hole, we are going to delay that registration by the number in this TAG. Note that our custom units are in place already. Then after that delay, we want to pulse our strobe light, letís say for 1 millisecond. Letís do one more thing ñ letís create a tooth progress ñ that will tell us whether the process is enabled or not. And letís go ahead and create a tooth status ñ so if we get any errors weíll know immediately. Thatís all we need for now. We chose the correct channel, weíre triggering on the proximity index sensor, weíre keeping track of how many hits we get, weíre going to delay the registration action by the number in this TAG, and after we do the delay, we are going to pulse our LED strobe. Weíll say OK. Weíll add the new TAGs to our database. And all we have to do now is enable our instruction. Iíve already added a normally open contact here which is connected to switch 16 on my input simulator. That way I reach over to the P3 and enable this instruction manually. Letís transfer that to the controller. And we are ready to go. Before we get started, letís do one more thing. Iím going to go back into this instruction, and say monitor. Thatís going to create a Dataview for me that is going to monitor all of those TAGs we created. Letís bring up the Dataview so we can see all of those TAGs. Now we know we canít have a delay of zero, Iím going to put in a delay of 30 teeth. Write that out. Iím going to reach down and flip switch 16 on my input simulator. And now I see my instruction is running because my In Progress flag went to a 1. Iím going to reach over with my hand and move the sprocket. And sure enough, I can see the registration input toggle and my sprocket count is increasing as I rotate the sprocket. Letís go ahead and fire up the VFD. And Iíll bring our strobe light up, and sure enough we can see the little smiley face frozen in time. If I change the tooth delay, to letís say, 24 and I write that out. Then Boom, instantly the smiley face moves and we are now monitoring a different tooth in the process. So remember whatís happening here. The index hole was detected by this prox sensor. But then the registration activity was delayed by in his case ñ 24 teeth. And we are now seeing that index hole rotated all the way around over here with this green strobe light. And note that this is completely independent of motor speed. If I reach down and change the speed, we can see that smiley face stays right there. The best part is, even though all of this is going on, the Productivity3000 CPU doesnít have to worry about keeping up with all of this registration and counting and velocity stuff ñ the values are just sitting there ready for it to use however it wants just like any other TAG in the system. Even if it is happening on a remote base like we have here. Thatís really cool because you donít have to go fetch the data or manipulate it or anything. Itís just sitting there ready to use. Could we have done the same thing using the encoder instead of the prox sensor? Sure! Check out Part 3 to see the exact same example but using an encoder instead of the Prox sensors to do the sensing. Be sure to check out the other videos in this series for more ways to get up and running quickly with this controller. And as always, please send us any comments you may have, we appreciate the feedback. Performance plus Value Ö Thatís Productivity. From AutomationDirect.