Project Design Matters!

I recently read an article online about HMI project design and its impact on the workplace. Many ideas were floated around in the article. But something that always puzzles me is that articles like this rarely consider good project ideas that have been around for years. Ideas that make Operator Interfaces easy and intuitive to operators. 

Simply go to the Internet and see how websites are designed. They are slick and easy to navigate. They are eye catching and present information in immediate and simple fashion. They are made for the everyday person including children!

The article is followed by a series of advertisements for various HMI manufacturers. If you would like to read it yourself, follow the link below....
Operator Interfaces Show the 'Big Picture'

Taking the Initiative

There has been some talk around the HMI industry about Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and Total Effective Equipment Productivity (TEEP). HMI's are a way to take the initiave in making advancements in these areas. I could blither on about some ideas to accomplish this, but, the good folks at Pro-face have already released a white paper about doing just that. 

The paper describes several ways to make operators more efficient through proper HMI screen design and functionality. These ideas will work for just about any HMI with the capabilities to implement them. I recommend that you give the White paper a read. It is available at ...
http://www.profaceamerica.com/cms/site/61f8b68edd47621b/index.html

MODBUS use with Motor Drives

Using Interfaces with motor drives gives setup personnel an easy way to change drive parameters. This usually happens when machines are required to run several different jobs. Their configuration, tooling and drive parameters need changing. Many motor drives use MODBUS protocols for communications to a PC. The PC is used to configure the drive before installation. Once installed, configuration changes can be made from a laptop or something more dedicated like a handheld device provided by the drive manufacturer or an HMI with appropriate protocol capabilites.

You would think this would be an easy HMI project. But you might want to check some things out. Be sure you can get the proper documentation; such as a list of drive parameters and their equivalent MODBUS register assignments. Sometimes the MODBUS assignments are in Hexadecimal, other times they are in Decimal notation. Be sure you are using the correct addresses, converting hexadecimal to decimal as needed. Another thing to check is the starting address of the MODBUS registers. Some drives start with register 400000, others start with 400001. This one word offset can throw things off and strange values appear on the HMI. Also watch out for the register order of double words or floating point values. Again, if drive data seems out of place or strange behavior is happening check if the data is low order or high order sequenced.

I had a call from a developer designing a system using Kollmorgen Drives. This drive communicates MODBUS TCP/IP. Some values were not appearing as they should and the customer and I had a tough time figuring things out. Eventually, the problems were resolved. The drive registers started at word 400000 and the register word order was reversed (high order sequence). Once this was realized, project development proceeded normally.

Who's Driving? (Where's my USB driver?)

Recently, I received an email from a new Windows 8 user. He was frustrated because Windows 8 would not let him install the USB driver for downloading to his Operator interface.
The culprit? ... NO DIGITAL SIGNATURE!
Eeep! What to do? 
Well, he eventually found a work around for Windows 8 on the web for another product. I have modified it and posted it below. Caution! Some Windows savvy is needed.

Missing digital signature for driver on Windows 8

1. Windows Key + R
2. Enter shutdown.exe /r /o /f /t 00
3. Click the "OK" button
4. System will restart to a "Choose an option" screen
5. Select "Troubleshoot" from "Choose an option" screen
6. Select "Advanced options" from "Troubleshoot" screen
7. Select "Windows Startup Settings" from "Advanced options" screen
8. Click "Restart" button
9. System will restart to "Advanced Boot Options" screen
10. Select "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement"
11. Once the system starts, install the Weintek USB drivers as you would on Windows 7

Steps to install driver after Driver Signature Enforcement has been disabled:
1. Right click the Unknown Device in Device Manager
2. Select Update Driver Software
3. Select Browse my computer for software
4. Click Browse button
5. Select the \usbdriver folder under the location of your EasyBuilder software installation. (Do not select the folders inside the Drivers folder)
6. Click OK
7. Click Next

Note:
If you have a new system that came with Win 8 pre-installed, Secure Boot has probably been enabled in the BIOS.
The steps above, probably will not work unless Secure Boot has been disabled in the BIOS before performing these steps.

I personally have not tried this as I do not have a Windows 8 machine yet.
Any feedback about compatibility between Windows8 and EasyBuilder8000 or EasyBuilderPro is welcome.