YRC1000 arc welding applications are equipped with a feature known as Simple Connect. Simple Connect is a combination of hardware and software allowing for easy installation and configuration of common robotic devices and accessories with minimal effort and time. This document will guide you through enabling a PLC map VIA the Simple Connect Interface. This option allows for an easy experience configuring a PLC as a master to the Yaskawa YRC1000 Controller acting as the slave. This also will provide standard signaling without the hassle of remapping the Concurrent IO.

1. If the FSU function is enabled ensure you are in-SAFETY mode and the CRC check is set to INVALID. Then navigate to the Simple Connect icon.
   
2. Once the application has launched, select the robot configuration tab.
   
3. Within the robot configuration tab select enable options and enable the YAI Standard PLC Map and select the set options tab. This sets an activation bit VIA the Concurrent IO.
   
4. Select the adapter settings tab. Within the settings tab, the only thing that is configurable is the IO byte size. Your PLC must match the instance configuration. *Set accordingly: robot’s input are the PLC’s outputs, robot’s outputs are the PLC’s Inputs.*
   
   NOTE: Up to 72 bytes could be allocated in the EtherNet/IP adapter setting. This guide will utilize 20 bytes for all examples. The techniques to increase the PLC allocation beyond 20 bytes are left to the user. Change the PLC connection and expanding the UDT would be easy following the examples provided.
5. After accepting the adapter settings, select return to pendant. This will accept and save changes, then prompts for a controller reboot. Also remember to set the CRC check back to valid upon reboot.
   

Settings for Rockwell PLC

Obtain the file [YRC1000_ArcWorld_PLC_Map_Example_rev0.ACD] from Yaskawa, typically the file will be packaged along with this guide. The file will have the correct settings to match the YRC1000 controller settings established earlier. Additionally, this file will include user defined data types (UDTs) which will provide fully commented data and data with friendly names. The steps below can be skipped if the file was provided. The steps below provide an overview of the functionality in this PLC project.

Both data types are used to define Controller scoped Tags (variables):

Next, this solution maps the generic adapter data into these variables by ladder logic.

The ladder logic is simple, two Copy statements. These must be executed all the time or at a rate corresponding to the RPI.

The UDT structures provide mapping which correspond to the Excel spreadsheet [YRC_Master_resource-2021-03-12-Standard_PLC.xlsm] which is also available with this guide.

Testing PLC and YRC1000 Communication

A Task/Ladder is included in the PLC project file [YRC1000_ArcWorld_PLC_Map_Example_rev0.ACD]. The following screenshots use this logic.

NOTE: This Task/Ladder should be deactivated when actual cell logic is ready to be written.

To see the correlation of the robot output to the PLC usage, use the “mouse over” to get the dialog to show up. In this dialog we see the comment displays Output Group (OG) #135.

These are specific control signals which are pre-mapped in the concurrent IO ladder. Your system may not have NAME’s entered in these fields. Use the Excel data to review the correlation. The intent of this is to show output status from the robot mapped into the PLC. Using the signals at the PLC side is very intuitive due to the UDT structure and naming.

The comment in the PLC shows that this byte maps to the Input Group (IG) #136. Looking to the left we can immediately see this correlation. The total value is also 15.

The comment in the PLC shows that this byte maps to the Input Group (IG) #137. Since this is a negative number, we need extra consideration. The PLC represents the 8-bit number as a SINT – signed integer. However, the YRC1000 represents the 8-bit number as a bit INT (no negative). A negative number uses “2s complement” formatting. Below shows the PLC’s bit-wise representation. This value directly matches the 8 bits in the YRC1000, although the total value is different due to “signing”.

Troubleshooting Tips

If establishing communication has failed, please follow troubleshooting tips below.

• Check the communication status of the PLC VIA the Communication Monitor residing under the IN/OUT tab. Note the General Status *STS* column there will be an error code refer to section 4.8.2 of the YRC1000 Ethernet IP manual for the error code explanation.

• Try pinging the PLC using the YRC1000 controller ping function. If the ping is unsuccessful verify ethernet cable is properly terminated and PLC ethernet settings are correct.

• If communication status is OK and specific control bits are not properly working. Verify the PLC enable bit is active: Network Bit 28200. Also, the robot will need to reside in Remote mode for the use of the robots control functions like EXT Start, Servos On, Call Master Job Etc.

NOTE: The PLC File for Studio5000 and Excel allocation file are attached.