PowerFlex 4 Class Multi-Drive Control On EtherNetIP PDF
PowerFlex 4 Class Multi-Drive Control On EtherNetIP PDF
PowerFlex 4 Class Multi-Drive Control On EtherNetIP PDF
General Setup
This hands-on lab details the use of EtherNet multi-drive control of PowerFlex40 Class drives. However a similar mechanism exists
for multi-drive control on ControlNet. The equipment used in this application note is detailed below, but a ControlLogix processor
could be used, or a combination of PowerFlex 4, 4M, 40, 40P or 400 drives.
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Setup the IP address on the EtherNet/IP adapter on the PoweFlex40 drive
A PowerFlex 40, 40P or 400 type drive is required to act as the host drive, that will be used to connect the 22-COMM-E EtherNet/IP
adapter. i.e. the PowerFlex 4, 4M don’t have the ribbon cable to connect the 22-COMM-E.
Setting up the drive parameters, so each drive can be controlled via the network.
In order that the drives can be controlled on a network, all the drives in the multi-drive controll, need to be
setup for network control:
All the above parameters can be put into each of the drives using the keypad or the DriveExplorer software
tool.
It is important to identify which PowerFlex drive is the host, and which drives are the slaves, so that the
correct Modbus RTU addresses can be put into the correct drives. Note that each drive needs a unique
Modbus RTU address. When all drives have their paras set, then turn off the power to all the drives.
IMPORTANT: The drive node addresses and Modbus RTU settings are only updated in the drive when the
drive is reset using a power cycle.
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Now you can connect the twisted pair serial cable to each drive using the AK-U0-RJ45-TB2P plugs. Make
sure that there is a terminating resistor (120Ω) at each end. i.e. the host drive, and the last slave.
Now expand the Drives group and select PowerFlex 4 Class Multi Drive via 22-COMM-E
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Now click the Change button and click the Match Drive button
An RSLinx Connect to Drive screen will appear, so you then need to select the multi drive hardware. Multi drive is shown as a DSI
device at address 192.168.100.8.
This will create any databases needed for your drive combination, and
then upload all the parameters for the drives.
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Click OK and then your Module Definition will be created and should look like this:
Each drive type has been identified and added into the definition. As
each drive was setup to be controlled by the network, the Network Start
and Reference control has been checked. It is possible to rename each
drive by clicking on the browse button next to each drive. Click OK to
accept the definition and then OK to accept the new module. The I/O
configuration now shows:
Now your project can be downloaded to the processor. Go online and put your processor into RUN mode.
Once connceted to your processor, double click the drive in the I/O tree, and select the Drive tab on the properties screen. Now click
the Connect to Drive button
This will correlate and verify the connection to the drive, and then bring up the following:
As the parameters have already been setup in the drive, we should select
the Upload button.
When all the parameters of all the drives have been uploaded, we get the
following screen.
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Expanding any of the drives in the tree and double clicking
on Parameter List, will open the parameter list and allow the
values of parameters to be seen or changed if shown in
white.
You can Close each Parameter List after you have viewed
them.
As all the parameters for each drive is visible within RSLogix5000, saving the RSLogix5000 project also saves all the drive
parameters. So if a drive failed and needed to be replaced the RSLogix5000 acd file can be used to download the drive parameters.
i.e. One file contains all setup parameters for all the drives.
Clear all the drive faults by pressing the red stop button on each drive.
Double click on the Controller Tags on the I/O Configuration tree of the controller, and expand Pump_GroupA:O by clicking the + .
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PowerFlex40 Drv0
PowerFlex4 Drv1
As you scroll down through the tags, each of the drives’ tags are visible.. Double click inside the value box of the FreqCommand, and
enter a value from 0 to 600. (say 250 in the above example). Now enter a value of 1 in the Start command. The drive should now
start and goto the reference specified (25.0Hz). To stop the drive, remove the 1 in the Start command, and put a 1 in the Stop
command. Try the same for each drive.
Although we are directly acting on the tags to control the drives, normally you would write an user program that would control the
above tags.
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The web browser can see all the drives that form part of the multi drive, so you can see what each drive is doing. Also you can
Browse DSI Devices and look at the Fault Queue for each drive.
Each of the drive parameters can be viewed and changed from DriveExplorer:
Notes
Please note the following:
PowerFlex 4, 4M can be used as the host drive, if housed in the 22-XCOMM-DC-BASE option.
The full version of DriveExplorer is required to access drive parameters across EtherNet/IP. Only DE Lite is supplied with
the 1203-USB
Although we are controlling drives across EtherNet/IP, all the slave drives are connected via a twisted pair cable on
Modbus RTU. This cable is more susceptible to noise pickup, so when using this multi-drive connection, good
installation practices are required. i.e.
Keep the twisted pair cable short and well away from motor cables.
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