LabVIEW, Ethernet/IP comms

Hi all,

Has anyone had experience with LabVIEW software (by National instruments) before?

More specifically I am planning to control an SEW Movidrive MDX61B with via Ethernet/IP fieldbus card (DFE33B) from a PC running LabVIEW 2019 software (my labVIEW has Ethernet/IP capability although my understanding so far is that labview doesn’t utilise the EDS file that is available for this drive (an EDS file being the device configuration file used by Rockwell’s Logix5000 software) SEW also only give examples using logix5000.
I can’t say I understand exactly how an EDS file works or if there’s useful information contained within it for controllers other than logix5000 PLC’s??) or whether I need to set up explicit messaging or something else??
If anyone knows the steps I need to take to set up communication with a drive using LabVIEW then I’d be very pleased to hear from you!

Did you purchase LabView with a safety add-on library?

The company I work for are national instruments’ alliance partners which basically means they have access to all add-on modules. So yes more than likely.
I know we have the Ethernet/IP modules but no one here has used them or SEW drives for that matter. I’m a complete novice when it comes to labview so am floundering somewhat! Just want to read/write parameters to a drive.

Safety Add-on does not apply to PC applications. Have done lots of LabVIEW, but sorry, never EIP.

According to this (https://knowledge.ni.com/KnowledgeArticleDetails?id=kA00Z0000019SX5SAM&l=en-GB), you can't setup cyclic IO to an SEW Eurodrive, ie LabVIEW as implicit scanner.

Explicit messaging is more for Controller-Controller Comms.

This feels very much a square peg round hole. I won't completely rule out you getting explicit messaging to work, but...

Hi udtwmc

It is possible to control an MDX drive from SEW Eurodrive with Labview.
I have done this in many projects this past 2 years.
We developed an Ethernet/IP driver that can act as IP-scanner. We use a custom Ipos program coupled with an addon to our driver that is free to download from NI's VI package manager. Driver download here
http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/de/nid/218031 .
If you need more assistance you can DM me.

Hello udtwmc:

In order to successfully communicate any actuator or sensor with a non-Rockwell scanner, you need to properly configure the IO assemblies supported by the device in your scanner's configuration. I think this is not obvious for complex devices, unless the product has a really good documentation. An easier way of figuring this out is to get the product's EDS file and use an EtherNet/IP scanner engineering tool, such as Rockwell's Studio 5000, and see from the configuration tool how the IO assemblies are configured. Then you have to hard-code that configuration to the LabView scanner's configuration that you are trying to use. if you do not have this software Studio 5000, if you give me the EDS file I will show you how the Rockwell scanner would configure the assemblies, so you can attempt to do the same with the LabView scanner you have.

The post below discuss issues similar to yours, and they may be of interest yo you.

http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?t=126406
http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?t=125564
http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?t=126205

Hi udtwmc

Most the comments above are valid. You do need to have an EDS file (it is free to download from SEW-Eurodrives' website) to be able to know which assemblies are used.
These assemblies are used to configure the forward open command to the drive. I do not agree that you need an engineering tool like Rockwells' Studio 5000, nor do you need a PLC to communicate to the drive.

There is a fully functional configuration tool to assist with this complex task.
Below is a link to a video that demonstrates how it works.



MDX61B LabVIEW Integration

LestatZA said:

Hi udtwmc

I do not agree that you need an engineering tool like Rockwells' Studio 5000, nor do you need a PLC to communicate to the drive.

Click to expand...

Sorry if my comment caused confusion. I did not mean you need a PLC or LogixStudio to communicate LabView EtherNet/IP scanner with this particular device.

If you know the assembly instances where the IO data is mapped on the EtherNet/IP adapter and know how to create the CIP path, then a tool like Logix5000 is not needed. You just configure the LabView with the configuration tool provided by the scanner vendor. If the device is a more or less complex one, with not-so straight forward IO assembly structure, if you create a configuration with Logix and then export the logix ACD program into LK5 project, you can see the full CIP path for the connection and then use that as the basis for the configuration of whatever scanner software you are using in LabView. Also Codesys is perhaps a better tool for this specific purpose (apart from the fact that you can download for free, unlike LogixStudio), because Codesys supports EDS file and the engineering tool lets you see directly the CIP configuration, as shown below: