I was wondering if you could explain how it works and what I can adjust to match it to our model. I don't understand how you did the counting for the loading to know when to start the ride.
Bob, not knowing how many seats there were, I could not use a Counter to count them. However that could be done with the addition of an additional limit switch input to a Counter (CTU instrtuction) in the program.
I will try to explain it the best I can. The Ferris wheel is controlled by program ladder Rungs 11, 12, and 13. It simply has two timers. The first Timer 6 (rung 11) sets the overall cycle time of the Ferris wheel: 30 seconds for Loading, 31 Seconds Run time. Timer 6 is set up to be self-resetting: When it gets to 61 seconds, the timer Done bit goes on. This bit placed on Rung 11 in front of Timer 6 causes the timer to reset to 0 and start timing again (repeats cycle).
The second Timer 7 is a 4-second self-resetting timer that controls the Loading. It waits 3 seconds for unload/load, then moves for 1 second to the next seat. Not knowing how many seats there were, I simply let Timer T4:7 run INSIDE the T6 loop, until Timer 6 reaches 30 seconds (end of Loading). If you want to let T7 run until all seats are unloaded & loaded, then count the number of seats and multiply by 4 seconds to get the total Loading time needed. Then change Timer 6 so that it has a Loading time of L plus a 31-second Run time = Timer 6 Preset time. In other words, if there were really 12 seats, 12 X 4 seconds = 48 seconds. 48 Loading + 31 Run = Preset time for Timer 6 of 79 seconds. For this case, set Timer 6 to 7900 (timer base of 0.01 seconds) instead of the 6100 in it now. Also, on Rung 13, change the "Source B" in the GEQ instruction from 3000 to 4800, so that it allows 48 seconds for Loading, before going to continuous Run.
Another way to change the Loading is to adjust Timer 7. Instead of a 4-second loading time, you could have a 3-second cycle, with 2 seconds unload/load, and 1 second to move car. This would reduce the total loading time. Timers 6 and 7 are related, so that if you change T7, you probably need to adjust T6 also.
On a real Double Ferris Wheel, the rotation of each wheel can be controlled separately from rotation of the whole (Double Wheel). This is necessary to allow for stopping each wheel on the bottom to unload and load each seat. I suspected that your wheel has both motions tied together. Because of that, you may want to remove the Double Ferris Loading Timer. Simply Delete Rung 15, and delete the second GEQ instruction on the bottom branch of Rung 16.
I can do these changes for you, and upload a new Revision, if you want. If you will tell me how many seats you have on the Ferris Wheel, I can make it work nearly perfect.
