IPFusion PLC Devices

The IPFusion PLC Devices integrated system provides door control via programmable logic controllers.

Definitions

PLC — Programmable Logic Controller.

Setup

See the Data Servers page for information on configuring driver communication.

Compatibility

The IPFusion PLC Devices integrated system is compatible with devices through these communication protocols:
  • Omron FINS Ethernet
  • Modbus
  • Allen-Bradley

Prerequisites

Software Minimum Version
.NET Framework 4.7.2

Communication Configuration

In the integrated system configuration panel, you will find the Communication Settings. The below information is required under Device Settings.

You can add multiple PLC devices to the communication configuration. For each device, you must set:

Table 1. Omron FINS Ethernet
Name A name to describe the device being connected to.
Device Type The type of device being connected to.
Network Address The address of the device on the network you wish to connect to.
Network Port The port on used to connect to the PLC device.
Source Network Address Number Specifies the address number of the source network. The valid range is 0 to 127.
Source Node Number Specifies the number of the source node. The valid range is 0 to 254.
Note: Setting the Source Node Number to 0 automatically assigns the node number of the Omron device based on the 4th octet of its own IP address.
Destination Network Address Number Specifies the address number of the destination device. The valid range is 0 to 127.
Destination Node Number Specifies the node number of the destination device. The valid range is 0 to 254.
Note: When a Destination Node Number of 0 is entered, it will take the 4th octet of the target IP address.
Destination Unit Number Specifies the number of the destination device unit number. The valid range is 0 to 255.
Table 2. Modbus
Name A name to describe the device being connected to.
Device Type The type of device being connected to.
Network Address The address of the device on the network you wish to connect to.
Network Port The port used for the connection to the device.
Slave Address The address for the specific slave device to be connected to.
Table 3. Allen-Bradley
Name A name to describe the device being connected to.
Device Type The type of device being connected to.
Network Address The address of the device on the network you wish to connect to.
Network Port The port used for the connection to the device.
Path The route a message takes through the network to reach its destination.
Timeout Interval (msec) The time the system waits for a device response.
Heartbeat Interval (msec) The frequency at which the system sends a heartbeat message to verify communication with the device.
Note: PLC Devices operates differently from other integrated systems in concerns to alarm behaviour with Acknowledge and Reset:
User presses Acknowledge:
  • All unacknowledged element alarms are acknowledged.
  • If a new element alarm comes in, the existing alarms remain acknowledged, the new alarm is unacknowledged.
User presses Reset:
  • All element alarms are reset.
  • If the underlying visibility expression is still true, the alarm is re-triggered.

Assets

Custom Assets

In the PLC Devices integrated system, custom asset types are created in the integrated system settings. These settings define the visuals for the asset based on different conditions, and how its icon appears. Once these icons are created, they can be dragged from the Toolbox to a Map.

By default, there are three elements which are automatically created for a custom asset:
  • Masked — This element shows when the asset's true state has been masked over.
  • No Communication — This element shows when Runtime cannot get status for the asset's status tag. This element cannot be deleted.
  • Selected — This element shows when the asset is currently selected to provide visual feedback for the Runtime operator.
Note: Default elements will automatically be logged and appear in the Activity Report.
Note: Each asset type is automatically grouped by asset type in the Project Explorer once added to a Map.

You can see how to create asset types here.

Required Property Grid Fields

Asset Type The type of asset as defined in the integrated system settings.
Associated Assets The assets associated with the PLC device.
Command Address The address of the tag on the PLC device that commands from this asset are written to.
Device The PLC device this asset and its tags are located on.
Polling Interval The frequency of which Runtime polls the device for this asset's status.
Status Address The address of the tag on the PLC device that the status for this asset is read from.

View all properties

Asset Type Settings

Property Description
Asset Type ID The unique identifier of the asset type.
Asset Type Name The name of the asset type.
Background Color The background color of the asset.
Caption Color Select Edit Caption Colors to configure the color settings of the asset.
Caption blinks when asset is in Alarm Check this option to have the caption text blink when the asset is in an alarmed status. If caption text flashing is also enabled, this will override it and the text will blink instead.
Icon Size The size of the asset.
Note: When Scale Elements with Icon Size is enabled, all elements in the icon scale proportionally when the asset icon size changes. When disabled, elements keep their original size and are not affected by asset icon size changes.

Edit Caption Colors

  1. To configure the color of the caption on the icon, click on the Edit Caption Colors button.
  2. Click Add and create a new Caption Mode. Fill in the chart according to the different fields:
    Property Description
    Bind Caption Color to Highest Priority Alarm Text Color When enabled, the caption color is determined by the highest-priority active alarm type across all currently visible layers. The asset's caption will use the Text Color of the alarm as defined in Alarm Management. Active alarms will override any expressions defined below regardless of priority.
    Priority The priority of the color expression. A lower number indicates a higher priority (1 is highest, 99 is lowest).
    Note: If multiple expressions are true in Runtime, the higher priority color will display.
    Friendly Name A name used to identify or describe the expression.
    Color The color that the caption will show in Runtime.
    Flash Color A checkbox that determines whether the Flash Color is used.
    Expression The expression that must evaluate to true for the specified color to be displayed.
    Note: If the expression is blank, it will always evaluate to true.
  3. After creating the Caption Mode, adjust its priority using the arrows to set its placement.

  4. Find the new Caption Mode under Caption in the Properties grid.

Element Alarms

Each element can optionally be bound to an alarm. The alarm is triggered when the element is visible. The settings for this are in the element properties:

Alarm Type The type of alarm which is fired when this element becomes visible.
Note: When alarm type is None, the element will be visible.
Bind to Alarm Check this to bind this element to an alarm when it is visible.
Is Latched Check this so that the Runtime operator must acknowledge and reset the alarm before it is cleared from the asset.
Include in Activity Log The reporting logs show all of the visible elements in the status string for the asset. Check this box to include the symbol while visible.
Note: Checking the Include in Activity Log box will write the element's Logging Description to the Activity Log. If the Logging Description is left blank, the Friendly Name will be used instead.
Note: When the alarm is active, the element will flash between being visible and invisible. When acknowledged, it remains visible and no longer flashes.

Element Appearance

An element can have its appearance modified for how it is displayed on the asset icon.

Property Description
Fill Color The color which fills the shape/symbol.
Flash Fill Color If Flash is enabled, the symbol will flash between its default Color and this one.
Line Color The color of the shape outline.
Flash Line Color If Flash is enabled, the symbol's outline will flash between its default Color and this one.
Text Color The color of the text.
Flash Text Color If Flash is enabled, the text will flash between its default Color and this one.
Is Bound to Alarm Colors When enabled, the symbol or text will use the color scheme defined by its associated alarm state.
Note: This can only be enabled if Bind to Alarm is checked.
Is Flash Enabled When enabled, the symbol, image, or text will alternate between its default color and the Flash settings to create a flashing effect.

Element Identification

Elements have two main identifiers:

Friendly Name A name you can define to easily identify this element. This is the name which appears in both the Elements pane and in Workflow browsers.
ID The unique identifier for this element.
Note: ID is read only.
Logging Description The description of the element that will be written to the activity log if Include in Activity Log is checked.

Element Layout

The general layout of a specific element can be configured in its settings.

Height The height of this element in pixels.
Width The width of this element in pixels.
X The X position of the left of the element.
Y The Y position of the top of the element.

Required Element Settings

When creating a custom asset type, the elements which are displayed can be any of the below types. Multiple elements of varying types can be added to a single asset type. They can each have their visibility changed separately to indicate status to the Runtime operator. See the Element Visibility section for further information.

Element Type Required Properties Description
Image

 Choose Image — Select an image resource from the project to be displayed within this element.
Note: Choose Image Flash is available for elements that are images. When enabled, the element will alternate between the default image and the selected flash image whenever the element is in an alarm state.
 An image resource to be displayed on the asset icon.
Text

 Text — The text to be displayed. Some text to be displayed on the asset icon.
SVG (Advanced)

 SVG Image — The image to be imported from the File Explorer. An SVG image to be displayed on the asset icon.
Symbol (Recommended)

 Select a symbol to be displayed from the symbols included in Designer. A symbol to be displayed on the asset icon.
Note: Expressions that are deemed invalid will cause the element to be highlighted with a red error icon. Additionally, a red X icon will appear beside the Visibility Expression Text until the Expression is fixed to help avoid a potential misconfiguration.

Element Visibility

Each element added to an asset type can be set to visible/invisible based on a set of conditions. For more information, go to the Visibility Expression Editor page.

Interlock

Required Property Grid Fields

Command Address The tag address used to send commands.
Status Address The tag address used to receive a status.
Device The PLC Device this interlock is connected to.
Polling Interval How frequently in milliseconds this interlock is polled for updates.

View all properties

Supported States

Fault An issue has been detected in a connected asset.
Masked The asset has been masked over its true state.
No Communication Communication has been lost with the driver or asset. This status can also occur if the communication configuration for the system or asset is invalid.
Note: This status is required in all status tables.
Normal The asset is online and in its default state.
Word The asset contains a specific word value.
  • Word — The word required to display the status.
Word Range The asset contains a specific word value.
  • Lower Threshold — The word a value is required to be at or above to display the status.
  • Upper Threshold — The word a value is required to be at or below to display the status.
Bitwise The asset word value matches a configured bit mask.
  • Profile — The profile the bit mask is from.
  • Bit Mask — The specific bit mask to match.
Note: If the value provided by the interlock device does not match a status in the Status Table, the asset will go into a fault state.

See the Configure a Status Table page for more information on configuring status tables.

Supported Commands

Mask Mask the asset's true state.
Acknowledge Acknowledge an asset alarm.
Reset Resets the asset to its true hardware state.
Cancel Deselects all selected assets.
New Note Adding the New Note Command to your Command Table subscribes this asset to Notes, allowing an operator to attach Notes to this asset in Runtime.
Workflow Trigger Allows users to trigger Workflows to create custom commands.
Write Word Sets the asset to a specified word value.
  • Word — The word value the asset will be set to.

See the Command Tables page for more information on configuring command tables.

Workflow Integration

System Commands

System commands are commands executed through Workflows at the system level. For more information about Workflows see the Workflows section.

Set Custom Attribute Value

This command sets the value of a custom attribute for a PLC device asset. This can only be used with custom assets.

Table 4. Parameters
Asset(s) The IDs of the assets which are having a value written to them.
Attribute Name The name of the custom attribute which is being written to.
New Value The value being written.

Write Word to Command Address

This command writes a word to a PLC device asset.

Note: If Audit Command Execution is enabled, this command will also be logged.
Table 5. Parameters
Asset ID The ID of the asset which is getting a value written to it.
Value The value being written.

Asset Events

Asset events are events used to trigger Workflow actions on an asset level. For more information about Workflows, see the Workflows section.

Layer Changed

Triggered when the layer on an asset updates. Only one trigger will fire for Layer Changed even if multiple layers are changed at once.

Note: The trigger will not fire when:
  • A layer is defined with no visibility expression.
  • A layer is defined with a visibility expression that yields to false at startup.
  • Asset has no layers at all.

Status Word Changed

Triggered when the PLC Status Word changes regardless of whether it creates an element change.