Powerflex 755 parameter changing in Studio 5000 vs Drive executive

[ControlFreakGirl]

I am in my freshmen year of college and just started interning at an industrial manufacturing company that uses Powerflex 755 drives for many of their control systems.

When navigating through studio 5000 today I noticed that I could access all of the parameter settings for the VFD from the IO tree. If I wanted to make a change to a few parameters what would those steps involve? I noticed that when I go offline with the program and attempt to access the VFD parameters it brings me to a “merge” screen where it details the differences between the project and physical device. How do I make sure the parameters are actually being loaded into the VFD?

I have a similar question for Drive executive. If I wanted to change parameters of the VFD what do those steps include? Do I have to use a physical connection?

Are there pros to using studio 5000 vs drive executive for changing parameters? IÂ’ve went through some forums and noticed people mentioning an HIM but these drives donÂ’t have any.

I am just curious because I would like to start experimenting with these drives soon and donÂ’t want to make simple mistakes. Sorry for the beginner level questions I know this question might upset some just want to learn.
Thanks in advance

 

[Robobob]

Here are links to a couple of manuals that you may want to familiarize yourself with.
PowerFlex 750-Series AC Drives

https://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/rm/1756-rm006_-en-p.pdf

Logix 5000 Advanced Process Control and Drives Instructions

https://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/rm/750-rm002_-en-p.pdf

 

[Clatchet]

In order to access the VFD parameters from your project you'll need to make sure your project and VFD are synchronized - meaning, the parameters in the project must match the parameters that are stored in the VFD. When you first connect to a VFD from the project it will check to see if they match, and if there are any differences you will get that merge screen you saw. At that point you are able to choose whether you set the VFD to the parameters you have in your project, or set the project to the parameters in the VFD. Once it is happy you should be able to make any changes to the parameters and it will update to both the project and VFD.

Since you mentioned you are at an industrial manufacturing company and not a controls integrator, I imagine most of the 755s you're working with are already installed and operating. Typically this would mean that the project for the machine is already synchronized with the VFD, but if anyone were to make changes to the VFD with other software such as Drive Executive or CCW then you will have to upload from the drive to view and modify the parameters in the project.

When you use Drive Executive you will always be uploading all parameters from the VFD into the software, so you will not have to deal with this merge process. Any changes you make will immediately be stored in the VFD. In terms of connection you would use the same IP address as the VFD in the IO tree of your project.

Now when it comes to preference they both get the job done...however there is one scenario I have run into where having Drive Executive is helpful. If you have a VFD configured for CIP Motion, you cannot use the same window in Studio 5000 to look at drive parameters as it is replaced with a different one. At that point the only options to view parameters is through the HIM on the VFD or other software like Drive Executive.

 

[RonJohn]

Welcome to the forum, ControlFreakGirl! You'll find a wealth of information on this site and the search feature is quite helpful.

The steps involved to change drive parameters would depend on what parameters you're changing. Some can be done while running while others require the drive to be stopped and some others require a on/off/on power cycle to the drive before taking effect. The PowerFlex 750 drive reference manual Robobob linked to will provide some help but there's other ones that focus more on different aspects & components of the drive.

Here's a link for the PowerFlex 750 drives Programming Manual which may be of some additional help. The section on parameters could be a good resource.

Not sure if Drive Executive will work with your particular drive, as it's older software and I haven't used it in years. CCW is what replaced it and can be downloaded from the Rockwell site. Regardless of software used, you'll need to be connected to/online with the drive for any changes to be effective in the drive.

Don't sweat mistakes - they happen (better on the text bench than in production though). Questions are always welcome but be sure to provide enough information to help us help you. Everyone's busy, right? Hope this helps. All the best to you in your controls adventures!

 

[ControlFreakGirl]

I really appreciate you all being so supportive and informative! Super excited about my journey and will make contributions to the community ��

 

[JeremyM]

You can also check out my GitHub. I just uploaded my 755 AOI that performs parameter management in code. The manual linked above is very handy.

https://github.com/JeremyMedders/LogixLibraries/tree/main/src/Device/Rockwell/PowerFlex 755

I can help with the initial setup since I don’t have a sample program demonstrating it (yet).