NI SoftMotion 2009 Axis Interface and 3rd Party EtherCAT Drive Motion Control

[MarcoPolo5]

Introduction

NI SoftMotion is a very flexible motion control program, especially when using the Axis Interface nodes available in the Premium edition. Using Axis Interface, motion control information can be sent to any device. This example shows how to connect to 3rd party EtherCAT drives and provides examples for Danaher AKD and Yaskawa Sigma-V EtherCAT Drives.

Steps to Complete

The attached zip file contains the LabVIEW Project. The EtherCAT master and drives must be setup through the project. Once these are setup, deployed, and the Scan Engine is able to transition to active mode without any errors, the SoftMotion Axis Interface VI can be run and will send the drives interpolated position information that will allow all EtherCAT drives to be tightly synchronized.

While the Axis Interface VI is running, standard SoftMotion Function Blocks or Property / Invoke node commands can be executed. The Axis Interface will automatically pull the control information from the SoftMotion engine process that runs in the background and will update the EtherCAT drives every Scan Engine Cycle.

This example is for Advanced LabVIEW users who understand the concepts of SoftMotion, Axis Interface, and EtherCAT.

Additional Notes

Readme File:

Requirements / Setup:

LabVIEW 2009.1 or later

NI SoftMotion 2009.1 Premium or later

NI-RIO 3.4 or later

NI Indicom Driver for EtherCAT 1.2 or later

RT controller that supports EtherCAT (i.e. - NI-9022/3, NI-9024/5, NI-31x0, RT PXI etc)

SoftMotion Axis

     Unbound

     Set Limit / Home Active State settings

     Optionally set:

          "Enable Drive on Transition to Active Mode"

          Software Limits

     All other axis settings ignored / not implemented (control loop, analog input, digital inputs/outputs, encoder, capture/compare, etc)

Danaher AKD Drive option:

Use modified EDS file for Danaher AKD eCAT Drive located in EDS folder of the zip file (use this file and not the default EDS file)

Import this file in the LabVIEW Project:

Right-click EtherCAT Master in project; Utilities -> Import Device Profiles . . .

Set cRIO Scan Engine Rate set to 8ms or less

EtherCAT Settings:

EtherCAT Slace Device Properties -> EtherCAT:Advanced:Initial Commands

Data for Object Indes x60C2 Subindex 0x1 needs to equal scan time in millisecods (ex: if scan rate set to 4mSec, Data set to 04) - double click data field to change EtherCAT Slace Device Properties -> EtherCAT:Advanced:Distributed Clock

     Distribued Clock Enabled

     Cycle Time: 1

     Shift Time: 0 uSec

All settings must be deployed

After settings are deployed and drive is powered - set scan engine to active.

Run "Axis Interface.vi"

Use SoftMotion Interactive Test Panel to test enabling and running motor. (Note - Standard AKM motors have very high resolution encoders - small moves may not be noticable).

Yaskawa Drive Option:

Modified EDS file for Yaskawa eCAT Drive (SGDV-xxxxExx Firmware vs 1.0) located in EDS folder (use this file and not the default EDS file)

     Right-click EtherCAT Master in project; Utilities -> Import Device Profiles . . .

Scan Rate set to 4ms or less

EtherCAT Master Properties -> EtherCAT:Advanced:Distributed Clock

     Additional Correction for Synchronized IO: 50 uSec

EtherCAT Slace Device Properties -> EtherCAT:Advanced:Initial Commands

     Data for Object Indes x60C2 Subindex 0x1 needs to equal scan time in millisecods (ex: if scan rate set to 4mSec, Data set to 04) - double click data field to change

EtherCAT Slace Device Properties -> EtherCAT:Advanced:Distributed Clock

     Distribued Clock Enabled

     Cycle Time: 1

     Shift Time: 125 uSec

All settings must be deployed

After settings are deployed and drive is powered - set scan engine to active.

Run "Axis Interface.vi"

Use SoftMotion Interactive Test Panel to test enabling and running motor. (Note - Standard Yaskawa motors have very high resolution encoders - small moves may not be noticable).