Omni flow computer reports...

We released a new version of the HMI yesterday. It adds support for retrieving the reports from an Omni flow computer. All of the report types can be retrieved. This release was for RS-232 support. TCP/IP support is in process and should be available very soon.

Here is a screen shot of the report viewer calendar selection. The green dot on the calendar indicates one or more reports for that day have been retrieved and stored on disk.

Analog board released...

We released the 13 channel analog input card. A link to the data sheet is here: Data sheet

Work continues on report collection from the Omni flow computer.

A new feature was added in configuration mode to allow for easier checking for software updates. A menu was added that will check for a new installer. If one is detected the user can elect to download and run the installer or select manual mode to download and save the installer to disk.

Support for Mitsubishi Q series protocol is now on the list to be added. The hardware is in transit and should be here later this week.

For graphics we added a new image list animation. A value is associated with a file name and when the tagname value equals one of the values in the list, the image is displayed.

We also added the ability to import icons into the button images.

New protocol supported...

This morning we had a new release that includes support for the K-Sequence Ethernet protocol. The K-Sequence Ethernet protocol is used by Koyo, Automation Direct, etc. Now you have a choice between serial or Ethernet when using the K-Sequence protocol.

In the graphic engine lines, can now be configured with an arrow at the beginning or end. The arrow can be opened or closed.

New HMI release...

Today we had a new release for the HMI. We corrected a couple of issues with the graphic editor. One was when a group element contained other grouped elements and the top layer group was copied/pasted, the layering order of the elements would sometimes get reordered. The second issue was when selecting a group element and then selecting to change the tagnames of the element animations, only the top level group tagnames would be displayed.

A new feature we added was an easier to configure and use report generator. Here is a picture of the report editor.

It is like a spreadsheet. You enter static data or using one of the commands collect the value of a tagname, global string or the data/time.

Here are the supported formats.

The report filename is the report name and the current date/time if an optional file name is not specified. The report can be generated at runtime via a user button/command, a script command or via the task scheduler.

Two releases...

Yesterday we had two releases.  Both releases are Enron MODBUS related.

PeakHMI now supports Enron MODBUS (serial). Support was added to include the protocol in the suite and to add support for Omni Flow computers. We will be adding additional support for alarm and event collection from the flow computers as a built in routine.

We also released a free serial slave simulator for the protocol.

Both programs support the following addresses and data types:

Register                     Data type

1001 - 1999             Booleans

2001 - 2999             Booleans

3001 - 3999             16 bit short integers

4001 - 4999             8 character strings

5001 - 5999             32 bit long integers

6001 - 6999             32 bit floats

7001 - 7999             32 bit floats

8001 - 8999             32 bit floats

13001 - 13999        16 bit short integers

14001 - 14999        16 character strings

15001 - 15999        32 bit long integers

17001 - 17999        32 bit floats

On the analog input card front, the first production card blanks are back and the cards are in production.

PCCCOPC program...

This morning we released a new software product. The PCCCOPC program is an OPC DA server used to communicate with devices that support the PCCC protocol . We tested the software with:

PLC5 (Ethernet)

Micrologix 1400

Micrologix 1000 with NET-ENI

SLC 5/04 with NET-ENI

SLC 5/05 (Ethernet)

SLC 5/05 with NET-ENI

All the atomic data types are supported for reading and writing. The number of connections to PLCs and the amount of data to monitor is unlimited. And the price is only $49.

Development of the 13 channel AI board is moving along. We added some additional hardware filtering and adjustable software filtering. Testing is complete and the first release board blanks are due soon.

Here is a screen shot of the configuration program:

ODBC additional support...

PeakHMI has support for external databases via ODBC (Open DataBase Connectivity). This allows any database that supports ODBC to be used for importing and exporting data. All the databases we evaluated provide ODBC drivers, including Excel which is not a database.

The table format was fixed to provide for maximum speed. While that goal was met it was not very friendly for recipe support or other ad hoc access requirements.

We added a new 'port' which allows for reading and writing to any table's row and field, on demand. The port can be configured to read/write data to the database continuously or under script control. The data to access in the database is also under script control. Reading and writing are separate and under script control.

 While the fixed access type continues to exist the flexible access type might be more suitable for some applications.

Testing on the analog board is in progress. The target list price is $400.00, shipping included.

Work on the report generation unit for PeakHMI is in progress.