GE Fanuc Field Control

BigAl

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Nov 2002
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I am hoping that someone with more experience might be able to help me. We are currently in the process of upgrading one of our manufacturing facilities. We have a very old GE Fanuc Field Control system in place that utilizes a 90-30 PLC as the main controller. We have the Genius bus run through conduit from one BIU to the next. This actually goes into three separate manufacturing rooms.

We would like to strip the system out of one of the rooms so that new sheet rock can be installed. All of the I/O has been disconnected, but the field stations are still in place as we have automation in other rooms that is still hooked into the system. I have found the BIU with the terminating resistor at the start of the loop and would like to strip out this BIU along with the four units following it.

I worked on this years ago and know that it can be tricky. We have the old hand held configuration unit, but it barely holds a charge. Would anyone know if this could be as simple as powering the whole system down, disconnecting the BIU's that are no longer needed and moving the terminating resistor to the next BIU that we want to keep active. Then powering the system back on changing the I/O configuration in the 90-30 CPU? I am also curious to know if the BIU has already been configured with the handheld programmer, does it retain all the information if the BIU next in line has been removed?

Keep in mind this is not a critical application, no harm will come if the whole system goes down for a day. I am just hoping to avoid a really late night. The attached work document shows a picture of the field unit and the last unit in line that has the terminating resistor in place.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
We have the old hand held configuration unit, but it barely holds a charge. Would anyone know if this could be as simple as powering the whole system down, disconnecting the BIU's that are no longer needed and moving the terminating resistor to the next BIU that we want to keep active. Then powering the system back on changing the I/O configuration in the 90-30 CPU? I am also curious to know if the BIU has already been configured with the handheld programmer, does it retain all the information if the BIU next in line has been removed?

This should work. Any IO in the logic that is assigned to the removed units would just be ignored, unless the IO is needed for the logic using the remaining units, or the core logic.

You do not have a copy of GE LM90 Software (DOS based) or GE Proficy Machine Edition? It will make the program changes easier.
But the handled unit (i assume this is the Genius Bus programming unit) will help in deleting the removed blocks, but I do not know how the PLC configuration will be handled. If you also have the "Series 90 Handheld Programmer", Logimaster90 (LN90) software, or GE Proficy Machine Edition software you can edit the PLC configuration.

IS the Genius Bus controller a standalone unit or is it a module in a 90-30 or 90-70 PLC rack?



Genius Bus Programmer:
http://www.cimtecautomation.com/documents/techsupport/Genius/Manuals/gfk-0121eGeniusHand-HeldMonitorUser'sGuide.pdf


Genius BUS Interface with some info on using handheld:
http://www.cimtecautomation.com/documents/techsupport/FieldControl/Manuals/GeniusBusInterfaceUnit(BIU)User'sManual.pdf


Series 90 Handheld Programmer info:
https://www.logic-control.com/datasheets/3/90-30/Hand-Held%20Pgmr%20for%20Series%2090-30_20_Micro%20Programmable%20Controllers%20User's%20Manual,%20GFK-0402Ggfk0402g.pdf
 
Last edited:
Thank you

Hi Nathan.

Thank you for the fast response. The Genius module is in a slot on the 90-30 rack. I have a working copy of the Logicmaster LM90 software on an older laptop with a serial port that makes it easier to communicate with this PLC.

I also appreciate the links to the manuals.
 
The terminating resistors need to be at the physical ends of the network. One end is usually, but not always the Genius Bus Controller.

You can remove any of the drops as long as you maintain the integrity of the Genius bus cable. Be careful about the connections to the "Shield In" and Shield Out" terminals. To avoid the possibility of ground loops, follow the practice described in the Genius system manual GEK-90486-1.

You don't have to modify the PLC's hardware configuration to accommodate your changes. If a drop that exists in the PLC's hardware configuration is removed, the bit in the bus controller's status word will be zero instead of 1 and all inputs coming from that drop will show a value of zero. You won't need to do anything else except to account for input devices that might be used in logic. Those points will always be off, so any NO contact instructions in ladder logic associated with them will always be false.

You won't need the Genius handheld for anything you're doing. The configuration of each BIU only defines the mixture of I/O modules in the drop. In fact, if the modules are just discrete inputs and outputs (no analogs or mixed I/O modules) you don't even need a BIU configuration.

The Genius Bus controller is a module in the 90-30 rack.
 
There was a card that you could install in a PC's ISA bus. It was called a PCIM card. Personal Computer Interface Module.

I played around with few of those. Fun to setup. Actually have a few old WW Intouch installations talking Genius Bus (once upon a time... there was GE Cimplicity Intouch).
Did a multi-furnace system, 16 vacuum furnaces (upgraded Series 6 to 90-70), all talking across Genius Bus to 2 computers running Intouch.
I still have a lot of troubleshooting information on the card.
Now...if I can just remember the name of the tech support fellow in North Carolina, that knew so much about that card. He wrote a few tech notes on setting up the PCIM . Guy was smart...
He also helped me a lot on "fine-tuning" the LM90 PID block to work with my process.
 
Last edited:
All done

I came in early connected to the 90-30 PLC and made sure I had the current copy of the program and configuration file. Powered the system down and moved the terminating resistor and disconnected the unneeded BIU's. Powered the system back up and everything is now back on line. No I/O errors and all the remaining addresses remained the same and functional.

I really appreciate everyone's input.

Have a happy New Year.
 

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