Maguire Blender MLAN Protocol

Has anyone ever written any PLC code to interface with a Maguire graviblender over Ethernet with the MLAN protocol that they use? These blenders are used particularly in the plastics industry and I have a customer that would like me to pull data from the blender controller into my PLC. The people at Maguire are no help, but they know of integrators who have done this. Their manual on the MLAN protocol is Greek to me in terms of making it work with a PLC. In particular I'm looking for ControlLogix examples.

Thanks in advance,
Dave

I recently installed a material handling control system that included a bunch of Maguire blenders (the ones with the touch screen). The customer wants to 'eventually' be able to remotely monitor/control the blenders from my touchscreen, so I did some research on the MLAN protocol. I decided to use a Red Lion G3 HMI on my control system, because they were the only manufacturer I found that actually supported the MLAN protocol.

It's not the most elegant solution, but you might want to consider sticking a Red Lion display between the blenders and your CLX. See THIS PDF about their protocol converter. Should do the trick.

I wish I could be of more help, but that's all I know about MLAN...



-Eric

Hi there,

I just add a visit from a guy from Maguire in UK . We made a solution for a Maguire blender and HMS Anybus communicator. The solution is to have the Anybus communicator acting as master for the blender over RS232, using the MLAN protocool. The Anybus communicator acts as slave on EtherNet/IP, DeviceNet, Profibus or what ever version of Anybus Communicator being used.
So, the Anybus Communicator is a gateway between serial and Fieldbus, for further information, go to:
http://www.anybus.com/support/support_home.asp press next and select what fieldbus type the gateway should have.

If you have any additional questions, you can send them to:
[email protected]


Br

/Patrick Lansdorf

Wow... I haven't seen a request for this in ages! I had a custom written IO Server for serial MLAN, but have since migrated to Software Toolbox Omniserver for the comms. Omniserver is a nice, configurable OPC server that can run with almost any device.

Thanks for the guidance! I'll give all these suggestions some further investigation. Each of your suggestions sound very viable.

Eric, my customer has the touch screen Maguire controllers on some of their newest Maguire units. The customer has standardized on Panelview Plus 1000 units for HMI's so I would probably rule out the Red Lion HMI. The customer has a lot of these Maguire units throughout their plant. I personally have put in 18 material handling systems at this facility, but they have a lot more Maguire's on older systems. If I can come up with something for the new lines they are installing, then maybe they will look at upgrading older lines as well.

The Anybus communicator sounds interesting, as does the Omniserver.

Thanks again guys,
Dave

We have written a profile project in our UCON driver to talk to the Maguire Blender. You can download it from our website.