Integrating the Beckhoff CX5140 with FANUC R30iBP

    I am looking for some additional information to help determine the best way to integrate the R30iBP controller on a production machine that has a Beckhoff CX5140 PLC. The PLC will communicate with several IO-Link master blocks using EtherCAT and with a Red Lion HMI using modbus TCP.

    EtherCAT/Modbus TCP Options:

    FANUC offers the EtherCAT Function (J753 EtherCAT Slave option) but from what I have read in the manual, I don't think it will provide the access to certain information that I want such as PR() information. The modbus TCP option is also available form FANUC but the information available is also restricted to DI, DO, GI, GO, UI, and UO.

    IO-Link Option?:

    I'm not familiar with using racks 72 and 73 for IO-LINK II master/slave capabilities and I'm not sure what data is available but I have a feeling that it is the same information available with Modbus TCP and EtherCAT.

    EIP Option:

    The EIP option looks to be about the most flexible solution available but this also means that I would be adding a protocol to the machine so I want to investigate the previous mentioned methods as much as possible first. Otherwise, using the FANUC Advanced EIP Scanner option with a Beckhoff EIP slave module is possibly the best setup I can come up with and it would give me access to PR() data using HMI with the HMI option (or explicit messaging with the PLC?). I could use FANUC EIP Adapter option but the Beckhoff EIP Scanner is a fairly new product and possibly not as robust as I would need.

    Also, if anybody has experience using a Beckhoff controller to access and change point data using the SNPX functionality or any other method I would most certainly be interested in learning how to accomplish that.

    SOLUTION:

    With HandleTool version 9.10P/19 and up, the SNPX HMI option will come with OPC UA functionality and there is no need for a 3rd party option like Kepware. So right now the solution is pretty clear and that is to use option R553 with an OPC UA connection set up in TwinCAT to utilize the internal registry capabilities of the SNPX assignments.

    I know Beckhoff isn't very popular in US but I'm sure that this will help somebody other then myself.

    Hello.

    I'm using EtherCAT to communicate a TwinCAT program with a R-30iB controller.

    The the data is avaliable in your DO and DI slots. The slave board I'm using

    In the controller TP you must choose the data configuration. The default config. I'm using is 32 variables of 16 bits, totalizing 512 boolean inputs and 512 boolean outputs. You must then map your DIs and DOs to the slave I/Os address as you wish. For integer and real/float variables I use GI and GO mapping.

    In the TwinCAT/Beckhoff side you must upload the .xml file of the FANUC that contains all information for the integration. It will automatically read the configuration of the EtherCAT variables. In my case it identified 4 groups of 8 UINT varaibles (32 variables of 16 bits). Now you just have to link the EtherCAT I/O with the Beckhoff variables.

    Right now I'm trying to map this variables to UOP variables in the controller! Cross your fingers for me.

    Hello Luiz!

    Thanks for your reply! If you are able to map integer and real/float variable to GI and GO mappings then you should be able to modify PR and R data using those mappings but I still don't know how you would gain access to the fault information. If this comes up on your project and you find a solution using the EtherCAT option I would be very interested in your findings.

    The fault informations are BOOL variables and can be acessed via UOP output signals or directly in the System > Variables (they are there somewhere, need to check the manual to know exactly where they are).

    In TwinCAT I mapped this inputs (outputs in FANUC point of view) in arrays. For example I used DO00[0] as my digital flags array (totalizing 16 flags). So I have 16 digital slots where I can map bool variables. Once you can map the DI and DO freely in the rack and slot that you wish, it becames easy to map a binary variable into a numeric variable.

    Still in TwinCAT you should do something like this to access the inputs:

    Hope that is usefull for you!

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