August 2017System Integration & Control Systems Design
Architects Integrating Industry (Ai2SA) was recently contracted to resolve the integration of Process Automation UniPro 4 weighing units with a Mitsubishi Q-series PLC. The company was called to site to commission units already installed, however values received from the weighing unit were deemed to be ‘garbled’. The client agreed with a proposal that offsite testing should be done in order to uncover the reasons for the communication errors.
Ai2SA proceeded to set up a test rig provided by Process Automation in order to simulate the plant configuration. Ian Thornton of Process Automation assisted with the setup and simulation of transmission of values to the PLC. Then, a driver was successfully written to interpret the values communicated from UniPro 4 weighing system via Profibus DP.
While it is normal to assume that using open standards should work, it is always recommended to make provision for pre-testing off-site as it simply is a lot more cost-effective and less time consuming overall. Ai2SA would like to thank Process Automation, and especially Ian Thornton, for the excellent support. It is not often that one gets to work directly with the engineers who developed the products, but it does make sorting out these types of problems much easier.
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