Injection Mold and recipes

averellen

Member
Join Date
Jan 2004
Location
Guelph
Posts
112
I am working on retrofitting some of our older injection molding machines. And I have a question about using Panelview Plus and saving recipes to some kind of media to transfer between IMM's.
Is it possible? I'm thinking USB would be the way to go being they are cheap and easy to get.
RSview32 on an industrial PC is an option as well.

Thanks

Adam
 
IMM Recipes

I know of (3) methods of Recipes, (there probably are more).

1. Use PLC on board memmory. Copy Setpoints to storage data table during a save, and then back from storage data table to setpoints during a restore.
Advantage = Bulletproof
Disadvantage = Consumes PLC memory

2. There is a Recipe Plus Function built into FactoryTalk View ME that runs on a Panelview Plus. We tried this function a few years ago, and abandonded it as it does not support USB.

3. Rockwell Automation has an "add-on" Active-X utility called "Recipe 2 Enhanced Active X". It is a simple entity that you add to a Screen Application. It can read values from the PLC and write them to a CSV file on a Compact Flash Card in the Panelview, or out to the USB port onto a thumb drive.
It can handle 512 setpoints, any more than that, and you would need more than one Recipe Object.
Advantage = Can use USB Thumbdrive Memory
Disadvantage = OK, but not as Determinisitc as ladder only solution.
 
1. Use PLC on board memmory. Copy Setpoints to storage data table during a save, and then back from storage data table to setpoints during a restore.
Advantage = Bulletproof
Disadvantage = Consumes PLC memory
Not exactly bulletproof if you're using a PLC that doesn't let you download the program files without downloading data files also (like AB SLC/Micro). If Bubba goes out and makes some program changes without doing an upload first, you've just lost all your recipe information.
 
I'm sticking with a contrologix based processor and plan to store recipes on the processor. As well as on the panelview, possibly in a database. Using a database would be easiy to transfer between machines.
I guess I could have a tag that determines which recipe is newer, plc or panelview and use the newest one. That should fix the downloading problem.
Our guys are pretty good at following instructions, so uploading, saving, changing, downloading would be something fairly easy for us to implement.
I will look at that active-x and see what I can do.

Thanks
 
Recipe 2 Enhanced ActiveX for ME Machine Edition

Earlier, it was noted that PLC based recipe storage is not "Bulletproof". My intent of the statment was that ladder programs are deterministic, and when a value is moved or copied within the PLC itself it is bulletproof. When working with serial or ethernet and reading PLC values and writing csv files to compact flash or USB memory, things can, and will go wrong. If the user decides to name the recipe file 25" Pipe, there will be an error as " is not valid in a file name.

Bubba will always **** in your sandbox. It does not matter if it is an Injection Molding Machine, or press-side secondary operation.

Even if you write your recipes to any electronic media, Buuba will show up there too.

All of our injection molding customers ALWAYS docuument thier process via some other hard copy method as a back up. They may have screen shots, or other hard documentation of pressures, temperatures, positions, velocities, etc.


I don't know what the catalog number of the Rockwell Automation ActiveX Recipe utility is but attached is a revision history that you can show your RA vendor, as a possible lead to it's source.


Recipe 2 Enhanced ActiveX control for RSView Machine Edition
ver 2.2.0.7 July-27-2006

Changes
-------------
ver 2.2.0.7 July-27-2006
(1) Fixed Delete GUI and added Cancel Option
(2) Added new Status Connection
ver 2.2.0.5 July-07-2006
(1) Updated Delete dialogue to incorporate a cancel option.
ver 2.2.0.4 Jun-03-2006
(1) Added Chinese CSV support
(2) Added Status tag
ver 2.2.0.1 Jan-13-2005
(1) Fixed Active X Enhanced Floats issue
ver 2.2.0.1 Dec-21-2004
Enhanced Features
(1) Increased Floats to 500
(2) Increased Strings to 100
(3) Optimized writes (Load) to tags
ver 2.1.0.21 Jul-10-2004
(1) Added Delete confirmation message box property.
ver 2.1.0.20 Jun-28-2004
(1) Fixed visibility issue
ver 2.1.0.19 May-28-2004
(1) Fixed enable issue when multiple copies of control existed on same display.
Ver 2.1.0.18 Apr-29-2004
(1) Fixed issue of RecipeName properties not being updated when activex is loaded.
Ver 2.1.0.17 Jan-27-2004
(1) Added support for the VVCE WinCE 4.1 terminal
Ver 2.1.0.17 Jun-06-2003
(1) Combined Save and Load controls into a single activeX control
(2) Added RecipeNumber,FolderName,FileName,DeleteEnable, and RecipeName properties
(3) Added support for the VVCE WinCE 3.0 terminal
Ver 1.1.3.5 Oct-24-2002
(1) Fixed problem with reading strings on WinCE (Load)
(2) Fixed memory leak issue (Load and Save)
(3) Changed save format for WinCE version (Save). Now Saves are in ASCII (not unicode). Recipe files saved with previous versions on the WinCE must be manually converted to ASCII format files.
Ver 1.0.3.1 Dec-12-2001
(1) Created ActiveX controls

About the ActiveX Control
-------------------------
The activeX control has the same functionality on the Win32 and WinCE platforms. There are only two differences to note:
(1) The value of the File Location property on the WinCE terminal should begin with "\Storage Card\" or "\Storage Card2\", etc.
(2) Recipe files created on Win32 or the WinCE can be opened on either platform (ver. 1.1.3.4 or higher)

RecipeNumber
This is used to update the FileName property. The RecipeNumber property can be used to reference a recipe by number within the specified folder (alphabetically sorted). Entering a value of 0 indicates the first alphabetically sorted recipe. This is an analog property that is read-only and is optional.

FolderName
This is the complete folder path containing the recipe files (ex. "C:\Recipes" or "\Storage Card\Recipes). This can be a string or a string tag. This property is read-only and is not optional.

FileName
This is the complete recipe name that exists in the specified folder (ex. "Recipe1.csv"). When the RecipeNumber property changes value, the FileName property will update according to the selected recipe number (in alphabetical order). All Save/Load/Delete actions will use this property to determine which recipe will be used. This is a string property that is read and write. This property is not optional.
Version 2.2.0.4 and above support Chinese language CSV files,Note: User must make sure to set the regional setting to Chinese on CE terminal.

SaveEnable / LoadEnable
Although the ActiveX control is a button, you may want to trigger it from a tag instead. These properties will trigger the ActiveX control when the tag goes from a zero to non-zero transition. These are digital properties that are read-only and are optional.

Delete Enable
A zero to non-zero transition will delete the recipe as specified by the FileName property. A warning dialog will appear before the recipe is deleted. This a digital property that is read-only and is optional.

Float001 - Float500
These are the parameters that make up the recipe. Assign analog tags of the float type to these properties. It is recommended that these be memory tags, then use a macro to copy the memory tags to the controller tags.

String01 - String50
These are available to store string up to 82 characters in length. Assign string tags to these properties. It is recommended that these be memory tags, then use a macro to copy the memory tags to the controller tags.

RecipeName001-254
These properties can be used to list the available recipes in a string tag. When updated, the activeX control will search the specified folder for all *.csv files and list them alphabetically into these properties. The update occurs when the activeX control is loaded (display load), after a Save and after a Delete. These are string properties that are read-only and are optional.

Status
This Connection returns the following values: 0x01 - Downloading; 0x02 - Download succeed; 0x04 - Download with errors.
0x11 - Uploading; 0x12 - Upload succeed; 0x14 - Upload with errors.

Note:
It is recommended to use a unique tag for each of the enablers (i.e. SaveEnable / LoadEnable / Delete Enable).
This enables the ActiveX control to be triggered in sequence.

Install on VVCE
---------------
To install the Recipe control, follow the instructions below. For each platform, there is a different OCX file to install.
Once installed, the activeX control will use ~32 KB of Storage Card space.
(1) Copy the entire content from the "recipe" folder (from the VVCE folder) to the root of an empty compact flash card.
(2) Rename the Install.bat file to Batch.bat.
(2) Put the compact flash card to the terminal.
(3) The autorun.exe will call the install batch file to install the necessary files, and register the activex control.

Uninstall from WinCE
--------------------
Method 1:
(1) Copy the following files from the "recipe" folder (from the VVCE folder) to the root of an empty compact flash card:
* AutoRun.exe
* Uninstall.bat
* del.bat
(2) Rename the Uninstall.bat file to Batch.bat.
(2) Put the compact flash card to the terminal.
(3) The autorun.exe will call the uninstall and del batch files to delete the necessary files, and unregister the activex control. However, the following installed files are not deleted:
\Storage Card\Rockwell Software\ActiveX (this folder is not deleted)

Method 2:
The uninstall.bat file is copied into the directory "Storage Card\Rockwell Software\RSViewME\ActiveX\Recipe" during install. You can also uninstall the activeX control manually.
(1) On the terminal, from the "Start Menu>Run..." run the command "cmd".
(2) At the command prompt, type in:
call "storage card\rockwell software\Recipe\uninstall.bat"
(3) The batch file will delete the installed activex files, and then unregister them. However, the following installed files are not deleted:
\Storage Card\Rockwell Software\ActiveX (this folder is not deleted)

Win32
-------
To install the Recipe control, follow the instructions below.
(1) Extract the file "ME_Recipe2_Enhanced.ocx" to a location on your hard drive (ex. "C:\ActiveX")
(2) Once the file has been extracted, run RSView Studio ME and open a project.
(3) Open a new display for editing, and add an ActiveX object to the display.
(4) From the ActiveX dialog box, click the Register button and select the ME Recipe2 Enhanced ActiveX file (*.ocx).
Uninstall
---------
(1) Run RSView Studio ME and open a project.
(2) Open a new display for editing, and add and ActiveX object to the display.
(3) From the ActiveX dialog box, select the "ME Recipe2 Enhanced" activeX in the list.
(4) Click the UnRegister button to remove it from the list.
(4) Once the activeX has been unregistered, you may delete the "ME_Recipe2_Enhanced.ocx" file using Windows Explorer.
 
Thanks Plastic.

Of course, you are correct. All parameters should be documented on paper. I believe that is necessary for QS9000 and the sort anyway.

Thanks again.
 

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