Factory Talk ME - PVP 1500 - Login Application

[jvjr]

I have a Panel View Plus 1500 series HMI unit and Rockwell Factory Talk View Studio ME programming software.

I am trying to create a function where each machine operator would login to a PM screen using their own unique ID number.

This number , the date and time must be stored in the PVP unit memory for recall up to a month.

The local distributor isn't sure this can be down in a Panel View Plus 1500. Anyone have any success with this type of application?

 

[Ken Roach]

My instinct is to just build this into the Alarming subsystem.

Use PLC logic to set an alarm bit each time somebody goes to the PM screen, and make the PIN number they enter an embedded variable in the Alarm message.

The main drawback is that the Alarm Log isn't easy to print or extract. You can display it with a filter that will only show those PM Logins, but that's just for onscreen display. To get this as an electronic record, you have to use FTP or a batch file to extract the Alarm Log, then run it through a converter utility.

Another drawback is that the alarm log might be heavily used for other stuff, and therefor might roll over and get erased more frequently than a month. Most of my machines can easily hold a year's worth of alarms.

 

[Ken Roach]

The other main option is the DataStore Plus ActiveX control.

That's really meant to be a data logger; it stores data periodically every X seconds, rather than on-demand or on-change.

The benefit is that it logs Float and String data. You can make your PIN number either type.

And it can log to a plain old CSV file, on removable media (SD card or USB).

I've never experimented with it as a event logger like this. It has an Enable tag that starts data logging, so I've used it to log temperatures and pressures during individual machine batches.

I don't know if it responds to the Enable tag by making one record immediately then waits the logging interval to make the next, or if it waits the logging interval before making the first record.

One drawback I'm aware of with any ActiveX on PanelView Plus is that it only runs when the display containing it is open. I have worked around this by placing it offscreen in the non-viewable area, and by placing it on an on-top display like a navigation tab bar or alarm banner. If you only need it when the PM screen is open, that might not be a problem for you.

 

[Ken Roach]

I couldn't resist experimenting just a little at lunchtime.

I set up the DataStore ActiveX to log every 30 seconds, and connected the "Trigger" connection to a Boolean HMI tag controlled by a mantained pushbutton on my test display.

The first 8 rows are the times I "logged in" by putting a value into a Numeric Entry object connected to a Float type HMI Tag, then pressed the "Trigger" pushbutton and toggled it back to zero a second later.

Rows 9, 10, and 11 are when I left the Trigger tag true for a couple of minutes.

Based on this quick test, I think the DataStore ActiveX might work well for your application.

;RowNum,LocalDate,LocalTime,Alg 1
1,11/27/2013,12:59:30,12
2,11/27/2013,12:59:35,34
3,11/27/2013,12:59:40,56
4,11/27/2013,12:59:44,78
5,11/27/2013,12:59:49,910
6,11/27/2013,12:59:55,1112
7,11/27/2013,13:00:01,1314
8,11/27/2013,13:00:07,1516
9,11/27/2013,13:00:37,1516
10,11/27/2013,13:01:07,1516
11,11/27/2013,13:01:37,1516