What products are involved?

SRV, SRD, DVP and DVM. Hence it can be used for any of these Rheonics sensors.

What is the purpose of this article?

To guide the integration of SME with a controller based on TwinCAT 3 using a Profinet communication protocol.

1. General Concepts

1.1 PROFINET Overview

PROFINET is one of the most commonly used industrial communication protocols, it enables data exchange between controllers and devices based on international standards. To link all the components in its network, PROFINET requires standard Ethernet as the communication medium. It can operate on higher transmission speeds than other protocols.

Figure 1. Rheonics sensor integration with PROFINET and with Beckhoff PLC.

1.2. Prerequisite:

· TwinCAT 3 software installed https://www.beckhoff.com/en-en/support/download-finder/software-and-tools/

· Rheonics Sensor Electronics (SME) with Ethernet and PROFINET enabled.

· Rheonics GSD files - TwinCAT 3 compatible GSDML File.

· IP address of the Rheonics SME - this can be read/written out from the SME using RCP software

· TwinCAT 3-compatible controller.

1.3. SME PROFINET connection

The Smart Module Electronics from Rheonics is PROFINET-ready if ordered. For that, the Ethernet RJ45 port is used. It can be connected directly to the client’s PC or through a router, switch, or hub.

Figure 2. Profinet communication diagram.

2. Installing GSDML file

2.1. Download the GSDML files from Rheonics Support Page, the file that you need is called GSDML-V2.4-Rheonics-SMET-TwinCAT-20220321.

2.2. Add the newly downloaded file to the path “C:\TwinCAT\3.1\Config\Io\Profinet”, so the device can be detected within the TwinCAT 3 software.

Figure 3. GSDML files must be installed directly on the installation folder from TwinCAT.

3. Configuration steps for PROFINET on TwinCAT

3.1. Open a TwinCAT project

Figure 4. Empty TwinCAT project.

3.2. On the device tree, go to “I/O” and right-click on the “Devices” option, select Add a new item.

Figure 5. Opening the I/O tree and adding a new device.

3.3. Select the option “Profinet I/O Controller(RT)”. A new Profinet controller will be added to the project.

Figure 6. A New Profinet I/O controller(RT) was added to the project tree.

3.4. Select the new Profinet controller and go to the “Adapter” tab and click on the “Search button” select the ethernet card that would be used by the controller.

Figure 7. Selection of the network card for the valid components from the PC.

Figure 8. Network card selected for the Profinet application.

3.5. Go to the “Profinet” Tab and click on the “Scan PNIO Devices…” button, on the new window select the device to be added.

Figure 9. Scanning and selecting the Profinet I/O devices to be added to the project.

3.6. On the settings tab, it can be visualized a different IP configuration when compared to the one set on the Adapter tab, this is normal as the Profinet controller will create its own network.

Figure 10. Setting the IP address for the Profinet network

3.7. New Profinet device will include the 3 modules that are available in our Rheonics Sensors.

Figure 11. Modules and submodules are contained in Rheonics Sensor with Profinet protocol enabled.

3.8. All parameters from the Rheonics sensor are available if the selected “Device Parameters” module.

Figure 12. Parameter list from Rheonics sensor.

3.9. Create an additional task to link the variables from the Rheonics sensor.

Figure 13. Linked variable to the TwinCAT software.

3.10. Add a new item which would be our new variable.

Figure 14. Adding the viscosity parameter as an input for a cyclic task

3.11. Select the new variable as a Data Type Real or a different one if necessary.

Figure 15. Setting data type and name to the linked variable.

3.12. Link the variables from the task to the one created in the module “Device Parameters”

Figure 16. Variable selection.

3.13. It is necessary to also set the cyclic time to a power of 2 and sync the new task with the Profinet Controller. Go to Device 1->Synch Task and select the “Special Sync Task” option to be synchronized with the newly created task, the cycle ticks must be a power of 2.