September 2010
PAC sends Email/Text Messages
Alarms, machine/system status, logged data, and more can
be sent from a SoftPLC
Controller/RTU to an email account, cell phone,
pager, or fax. SoftPLC's easy-to-use and comprehensive SendEmail
function provides a rich set of features - without the limits of most other
controller based email solutions:
Flexible
Triggering - SendEmail is a ladder logic instruction, allowing
users to send messages based on any set of conditions.
Variable
Message Body - Message text can be dynamically selected
via ladder logic from any ASCII or HTML file on a disk available to the
SoftPLC. Message size is limited only by the SMTP server.
Attachments
in text or binary format can be optionally attached to each message
(eg: a data file created with SoftPLC's LOGDATA function).
Message
Status - Control bits provide message status and error
codes. Errors are also reported in an easily read text format to
the data table.
Multiple
Recipients can be identified and Sender
Identity can be set to a meaningful name.
Multiple
SMTP servers are supported.
Message
queueing allows multiple messages to be triggered within a short
time frame.
Comprehensive
Communication Options - Every Smart SoftPLC includes a managed
Ethernet switch for easy
connection to Ethernet modems and 5 serial ports for use with serial
modems. An internal phone modem is also available as an option.
Click here for more
information.
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Frequency Input Module
SoftPLC's Tealware™ High Speed Counter Module (Cat No HSC11)
can be used as a Frequency Input Module with a Smart SoftPLC. The
module maintains counts, not frequency, but with a new ladder
instruction, called "HZ", accurate timing information is applied to the
counts to calculate
frequency.
To use this instruction, each of the module's 3 high
speed counter
channels is put into "continuous count up" mode. The instruction
converts each of the increasing counts into a separate frequency, 3
separate
frequencies per module.
The calculated frequencies are stored as floating point
numbers in units of Hz (counts/second). A channel's frequency is
an average within a sliding time window, calculated by subtracting the
oldest sliding
window count sample from the newest (higher count) and dividing by the
elapsed
time between the two. By using only
these two points the calculation is fast and allows dividing by a
larger delta
time, leading to less signal noise. The sliding window average is a
digital
filter, and you have the ability to tune how it works based on a) the
window size and b) the rate at which you energize the instruction. This
algorithm works as long as the change in counts between oldest and
newest samples does not exceed 2 billion.
Click here for more details.
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