Managing Slave Devices Operating Modes

Overview

The operating modes of slave devices are managed by the protocol manager with the following scanners and their dedicated libraries:

oEtherNet/IP Scanner:

oEtherNet/IP Scanner library

oEtherNet/IP Explicit Messaging library

These libraries contain function blocks that allow you to:

oControl the EtherNet/IP Scanner,

oManage cyclic data exchanges (implicit messages),

oManage the status variables,

oSend non-cyclic data exchange requests (explicit messages).

Other libraries can be used depending on the devices.

 

Status Variables of the EtherNet/IP Scanner

There are no pre-configured status variables of the EtherNet/IP Scanner.

To visualize the health bit of the EtherNet/IP targets, you must use:

oEipGetHealth function block

oEIPGetHealthBit function block

I/O Image Variables

The scanners collect and write data from/to the devices. These variables constitutes the I/O image.

Variables Addresses

Each variable gets its own address:

Function Blocks to Control the EtherNet/IP Scanner

EtherNet/IP Scanner library contains function blocks used by the application to communicate with the controller and the EtherNet/IP target devices:

oEipDataExch: Send an explicit message to a device

oEipControl: Start/Stop the connections of the EtherNet/IP Scanner

oEipGetHealth: Read the health bit value

For more details, refer to EtherNet/IP Scanner.

Function Blocks for EtherNet/IP Explicit Messaging

EtherNet/IP Explicit Messaging library contains function blocks used by the application to send EtherNet/IP Explicit Messages:

oGet_Attribute_All: Get All Attributes of an Object

oSet_Attribute_All: Set All Attributes of an Instance or Class

oGet_Attribute_Single: Get an Attribute of an Object

oSet_Attribute_Single: Set a Class Attribute

oEIPStartConnection: Start a Connection

oEIPStartAllConnection: Start All Connections

oEIPStopConnection: Stop a Connection

oEIPStopAllConnections: Stop All Connections

oEipGetHealth: Read the health bit value

For more details, refer to EtherNet/IP Explicit Messaging library.

Function Blocks to Control ATV and Lexium Devices

Use the PLC Open and other function blocks dedicated to drives to control ATV and Lexium devices. These function blocks can be accessed in the GMC Independent PLCopen MC library, GMC Independent Altivar library, and GMC Independent Lexium library. For more information, refer to the Motion Control Library Guide.

Bus Cycle Task

The protocol manager and the slave devices exchange data at each cycle of an application task.

The Bus Cycle Task parameter allows you to select the application task that manages the scanner:

oUse parent bus cycle setting: associate the scanner with the application task that manages the controller.

oMAST: associate the scanner with the MAST task.

oAnother existing task: you can select an existing task and associate it to the scanner.

For more information about the application tasks, refer to the EcoStruxure Machine Expert Programming Guide.