July 2018

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PLCopen Newsletter - July 2018

1. PLCopen Safety Part 1, version 2.0 now released
2. Software Construction Guidelines, SFC: do’s & don’ts, version 1.0 official release
3. Changes PLCopen Board of Management
4. PLCopen Base Level FBD & IL certifications for Hangzhou Dianzi University
5. PLCopen Privacy Statement  

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1. PLCopen Safety Part 1, version 2.0 now released

In February 2006 PLCopen published their Safety Specification Part 1 - Concepts and Function Blocks for Safety Functions, followed by user guidelines and additional parts.

The original document describes the functionalities as well as extensive state diagrams which add to the understanding, references to the applicable standards, description of error behavior, functional checks, and error codes, and identifies different programming levels. As such it is an ideal platform for implementers. For users, additional information on safety devices, connections and wiring is of course needed.

After so many years, an update was needed resulting now in Version 2.0 of this document. This version contains many changes:

  • Incorporates the original Part 3, especially the section on diagnostics and the additional 5 function blocks.
  • In addition, the Structured Text language ST is added, as well as additional datatypes and functionalities.
  • All the original function blocks have been updated w.r.t. diagnostic codes, the outputs safety demand and reset requested, and the reset functionality has been extended to trailing edge via the definition of a new function block.
  • Also there are 3 motion related function blocks removed and added to a separate document on SafeMotion.

The document can be downloaded from the PLCopen website.

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2. Software Construction Guidelines, SFC: do’s & don’ts, version 1.0 official release

This document explains the advantages of Sequential Function Chart, SFC. This is a very expressive graphic formalism of the IEC 61131-3 standard. It is not considered a programming language as it needs other languages to express transition conditions and actions.

SFC provides a means for partitioning a programmable controller program organization unit into a set of steps and transitions interconnected by directed links. Associated with each step is a set of actions, and with each transition is associated a transition condition. Since SFC elements require storage of state information, the only POUs which can be structured using these elements are function blocks and programs (not functions).

If any part of a program organization unit is partitioned into SFC elements, the entire program organization unit shall be so partitioned. If no SFC partitioning is given for a program organization unit, the entire program organization unit shall be considered to be a single action which executes under the control of the calling entity.
Whenever a sequential process shall be controlled, SFC shall be considered as most suitable for structuring the internal organization of a POU especially in the Functional Description:

  • When the process consists of several steps to be executed sequentially in a time flow, for example an assembly process, SFC can be used to map the different phases of assembly as steps and structure the process as sequence of steps.
  • When the process can be modelled as a state machine, these states can be mapped to steps and changing from one state to another can be structured by transitions.
  • SFC structures the internal organization of a program, and helps to decompose a control problem into manageable parts, while maintaining the overview.

The document can be downloaded from the PLCopen website.

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3. Changes PLCopen Board of Management

On June 8, PLCopen had a very successful annual General Meeting in Amsterdam. Part of the meeting related to changes in the Board of Management.

Naoki Seno of Omron Corporation in Japan proposed to transfer his Board membership to his colleague Atsushi Tominaga.

Atsushi Tominaga is the General Manager of the Controller Product Management Group (Controller Division) within Omron Corporation and based in Kyoto, Japan. He joined Omron in 1992 as a hardware developer of HMI and PLC. In 2008 he moved to the planning division. After a manager position for the Inverter product management group, he is since 2017 responsible for Controller business planning.

“It is an honor to join the PLCopen Board of Management and I hope to contribute to accelerate automation innovation within PLCopen”, says Atsushi Tominaga.

We are glad to announce that Atsushi Tominaga joins the Board of Management as a new member.

We wish him a good start in his new role and a successful period with our Board of Management.

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4. PLCopen Base Level FBD & IL certifications for Hangzhou Dianzi University

From the start of PLCopen one of the activities was the certification of the IEC 61131-3 editors. Subject of testing and certification are software tools, which are implemented according to the standard IEC 61131-3 and additional requirements of PLCopen.

PLCopen is pleased to announce that Hangzhou Dianzi University in China has successfully passed the tests performed by the test laboratory of Shenyang Institute of Automation in China, for the Certification of a system according to PLCopen Base Level for FBD (Function Block Diagram) and for IL (Instruction List). The certifications are for their product CASS.

For more information visit www.PLCopen.org.

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5. PLCopen Privacy Statement

PLCopen respects the privacy of its website visitors and ezine subscribers and acts in compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

When you contact PLCopen your personal data will only be recorded to be able to communicate with you. These data will not be shared with third parties without your consent.

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When using one of our website forms to request for information about PLCopen activities, your name and email address will only be recorded and used for the issues related to your request in order to communicate with you.

PLCopen is not using any cookies on its website.

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