read data from TWINCAT system

[rrajarat]

i am not sure if anybody here can help me with this but I have an injection moulder running proprietary software on a TWINCAT system. I spoke with rep at twincat and he said that I can potential write a program to read the I/O from the twincat and do as I please with it in my program.

i looked at the TWINCAT System Manager and have no idea how to go about reading the IO. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[rvnguy]

rrajarat,

write a program to read the I/O from the twincat

Is it the "TwinCat" that you need to interface to or your proprietary program. Does the TC get the data from this program?

The TC archeticture is fairly roubust and is capable of interfacing to many bus types including the winxx platforms. I am not sure of what data you are attempting to capture.

You can look at this link and maybe find your answer or post back with a bit more detail.

TwinCat I/O

http://www.beckhoff.com/english/default.htm?twincat/iomang.htm

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[rrajarat]

I need to interface with the "TwinCat". The Proprietary program controls the Inj. Moulder through the 'TwinCat' and also displays info (pressure, cycle time, etc...) on an HMI. I want to send data to my server (sql 2000 DB ideal) everytime the inj. mld. cycles. i would like to start of with just counting the cycles and then I will look at the various I/O and see what they represent.

In the end i want to write small apps in VB to display this data on PCs on the network. I don't know how ti interface with 'TwinCat' using VB. I am not sure if this is making sense to anyone. I think i am over my head but I am reluctant to admit defeat.

 

[rvnguy]

rrajarat,

Did you look at the link that I provided?

It really is all there

"TwinCAT I/O - I/O connection to Windows programs"

On their site in the left panel go to twincat and find connectivity.

As I do not have access to the installation that you have I can not determine which bus type that has been used to connect to your twincat. You must first determine how the equip is talking before you can attempt to capture any of the information.

Your molder is probably controlled by some PLC and that is interfaced to the twincat via some bus archeticture, once in the twin cat they provide all the hooks to move it to a Windows PC and application.

From the TwinCat Site

TwinCAT I/O is a real-time driver for Windows programs running under Windows NT/2000/XP. Program variables, the I/O devices present in the system and the connected I/O channels are brought into the proper relationship with one another.

Many of the com protocols are IEEE based and if you find that you are using say IEEE RS-488 or any other you can get the info on decipheiring the bit stream at their site.

IEEE

http://www.ieee.org/portal/site

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all