This section shows you how to quickly create a fully functioning control network using the LonMaker tool and the LonPoint Plug-in. The LonPoint Plug-in, included with the LonMaker tool, provides LonPoint-specific user interfaces for configuring properties on LonPoint devices. The LonPoint Plug-in must be installed on your computer for this quick-start exercise, but you do not have to any physical devices.
In this quick-start exercise, you will configure the following two LonPoint I/O devices and their associated functional blocks to build a network that measures and controls temperature in a system:
• Analog input device that monitors the temperature of a system by measuring the resistance of a thermistor
• Digital output device that controls an exhaust fan
Using these devices and their associated functional blocks that represent a temperature sensor and a thermostat, you will define the analog control to start the exhaust fan if the temperature exceeds a certain set point, as shown in the following figure. This example is an operation commonly required in many control systems, and the LonMaker tool simplifies this capability with its network design and installation features.
To create the quick-start example network, you may provide the following devices. If you do not have the optional items listed below, you can still design this network in engineering mode by following the steps without commissioning the devices in step 2 or monitoring the devices in step 7.
• 1 - Computer with the LonMaker software installed
• 1 - LNS or IP Network Interface (optional)
• 1 - LonPoint Analog Input Device (optional)
• 1 - LonPoint Digital Output Device (optional)
• 1 – i.LON 1000 Internet Server (optional; required only if an IP network interface is used for the network connection)
If you plan on working with a live network, you must define and configure your network interface before you start the LonMaker portion of the Quick Start. If you are using an LNS network interface such as the i.LON 10, i.LON 100, PCC-10, PCLTA-10, PCLTA-20, PCNSI, SLTA-10, or PL-SLTA, install the network interface hardware and configure the network driver as described in the documentation for the network interface. This documentation is available in an Echelon i.LON 10, Echelon i.LON 100, or Echelon Drivers program folder on you Windows Start menu (point to Programs, then select the appropriate Echelon folder). If you are using an i.LON 1000 server, follow these steps to set-up your LonWorks/IP interface and create your LonWorks/IP channel:
1. Ensure that all of you have static IP addresses for your LonMaker computer and i.LON 1000 server. A static IP address is an address that is not dynamically assigned by a DHCP server. If you need clarification on your IP addresses, see you information systems representative. They can assign you the required static IP addresses for your LONWORKS/IP devices. 2. Create a LONWORKS/IP interface on your LonMaker computer. To create a LONWORKS/IP
interface, follow these steps:
a. Open the Windows Start menu, point to Settings, then choose Control Panel. The Windows control panel opens.
b. Double-click the LNS IP Configuration control panel application in the Windows control panel.
c. Click Add. The Add an IP Device dialog opens.
d. Enter a unique name for the LonMaker computer and verify that the displayed IP address is correct.
e. Click OK. The Add an IP Device dialog closes.
f. Click OK. the LNS IP Configuration control panel application closes.
See the LNS IP Configuration control panel application help file for more information. 3. Define the LONWORKS/IP channel and devices in the i.LON Configuration Server. To do
this, follow these steps:
a. Open the Windows Start menu, point to Programs, then point to Echelon i.LON, then choose i.LON Configuration Server.
b. Open the Channel menu and select New Channel. Enter a name for the new LONWORKS/IP channel.
c. Right-click the channel you just created and select New Device from the shortcut menu. Enter a name for your LonMaker computer device on the LONWORKS/IP channel. d. Right-click the new device and select Device Properties from the shortcut menu. Enter
the IP address for the device.
The LonMaker computer will not be fully commissioned on the LONWORKS/IP channel until you run the LonMaker tool. For more information, see the i.LON Configuration Server Help file or the i.LON Configuration Server User's Guide.
LonMaker credits are required to commission devices (free credits are provided with the LonMaker tool; additional free credits are available for training purposes). You can also decommission the devices after you complete the Quick-Start exercise, and the LonMaker tool will return the credits.
Creating the quick-start network in the figure shown below takes approximately 20 minutes to complete and includes the following steps:
1. Create a new LonMaker network
2. If you are using an i.LON 1000 Internet Server, define and commission it. 3. Define and commission the LonPoint devices
4. Assign functional blocks to the LonPoint devices 5. Connect the functional blocks
6. Configure the temperature input/output of the analog input functional block 7. Configure the analog functional block
8. Verify operation
TP FT 10 - Channel AI-10v3
Analog Input -1
Analog
AI- 1 Temperature Sensor
A1 A2 Digital A_Out Digital_Out AFB- 1 Thermostat DO-10v3 Digital Output -1 Feedback Digital Enable Mode
DO- 1 Exhaust Fan Start Stop 26.2378
100.0 1
Figure 1 Quick-Start Example Network
Note: The quick-start example provides the most basic method to create a network design and is a good introduction to the LonMaker tool. However, depending on your situation, you may use other methods provided by the LonMaker tool that will save you time, particularly with large networks. For example, the LonMaker tool can:
Create a LonMaker network design, both a database and a drawing, by recovering an existing network
Create a LonMaker drawing from an existing database, if the network was created with an LNS tool
Find devices to commission on a physical network using the Discover Devices command (see Chapter 5, Installing Networks)
Read information from barcode readers to identify devices (see Chapter 5, Installing Networks)
Specifics on how to use these methods and others will be provided as you learn to use the
LonMaker tool. For now, create the quick-start example network and begin to experience the ease and power built into the LonMaker tool.
To create the quick-start example network, select LonMaker for Windows from the Windows Start menu and follow these steps:
1. Create a New LonMaker Network Design. A LonMaker network design consists of a LonMaker drawing and an LNS network database. To create a new LonMaker network design, click New Network on the LonMaker Design ManagerGeneral tab. Visio starts and the New Network Wizard initializes. The Naming window of the Network Wizard appears.
If you are connected to a network with the required physical devices, set Network Attached, and then enter a network interface name in Network Interface Name.
If you are not connected to a network with the required physical devices, leave the checkbox clear.
Click Next.
If you are not connected to a network, the Plug-in Registration window appears. Skip the following description of the Management Mode window and proceed to the Plug-in Registration window.
You have the following two choices:
OnNet— Any changes that you make are propagated across the network immediately (after devices have been commissioned or functional blocks added, connected, or configured). OffNet—Changes to application and network configuration properties are saved in the LNS database and propagated across the network when you next go OnNet. After you have been OnNet once, network variables, such as temperature or enable/disable, can be changed on the network while working in OffNet mode (after devices have been commissioned and
functional blocks added, connected, and configured). See Appendix D, Glossary or Chapter 1, Introduction for more information on configuration properties and network variables. Select OnNet and then click Next. The Plug-In Registration window appears.
Register all plug-ins and then click Finish. The LonMaker main window appears.
Open the LonMaker menu and select Network Properties. Select the LonMaker Options tab. Select Functional Blocks for the Optional Category. Set Include Device Name in Default FB Name.
2. Define and Commission the LonPoint Devices. A device, represented in the LonMaker drawing by a device shape, corresponds to a physical device on the network. A device is defined in the LonMaker tool by dragging a Device shape from a stencil to the drawing, and entering the relevant information when prompted by the Device Wizard. All LonPoint Device shapes are available on the LonPoint Shapes 3.0 stencil on the left side of the Visio window (if the stencil is minimized, click its title bar to display it). When a device is commissioned, the device shape is associated with the physical device on the network.
To define and commission the two LonPoint devices, drop an Analog Input Device shape
from the LonPoint stencil to the drawing as shown in the following diagram. Select a
Digital Output Device shape and drag it to the drawing. When prompted, enter the device name, set Commission Device, and then click Next. If you do not have the physical devices, clear Commission Device. Accept the default values on the next four windows. Configure the device state as Online and click Finish. When prompted, push the service pin to install the device.
Optionally, assign a descriptive name for the channel as in the following diagram. To change the channel name, right-click the channel shape, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu, and enter the new channel name in the Name field of the Channel Properties dialog.
TP FT 10 - Channel AI-10v3
Analog Input -1
DO-10v3
Digital Output -1
Figure 2 Quick-Start Example Channel
3. Assign Functional Blocks to the LonPoint Devices. A functional block represents a collection of network variables and configuration properties on a device that perform a related function. The quick-start network uses three functional blocks to represent the functions needed to control the room temperature.
Drag the following functional blocks to the drawing:
When prompted, assign the Analog Input and Analog Fn Block to the Analog Input device, and the Digital Output to the Digital Output device. Enter a descriptive name for each functional block, as shown in Figure 1 above (for example, Temperature Sensor, Thermostat, and Exhaust Fan Start Stop).
Click Finish.
4. Connect the Functional Blocks. A connection allows two or more functional blocks to share information using a network variable (of the same type) on each block. The functional blocks in the quick-start network are connected to send the temperature sensor’s network variable value to the thermostat and, in turn, to send a network variable value to the device controlling the fan.
To connect the functional block representing the temperature sensor to the functional block representing the thermostat, drag a Connection shape to the drawing. Position one end of the connection on top of the Analog network variable on the AI-1 Temperature Sensor functional block. A small red box appears when you have correctly placed the connection point on the network variable. Position the other end to the A1 network variable on the AFB-1 Thermostat functional block.
Drag a Connection shape to the drawing to connect the functional block representing the thermostat to the functional block representing the fan. Connect the Digital_Out network variable on the AFB-1 Thermostat functional block to the Digital input network variable on the DO-1 Exhaust Fan Start Stop functional block. Refer to Figure 1.
5. Configure the Temperature Input/Output of the Analog Input Functional Block. This step uses a translation table to map the raw input values from the analog to digital converter on the AI-10 device to temperature output values.
To configure the translation table, right-click the AI-1 Temperature Sensor shape and select Configure. From the AI-1 Temperature Sensor plug-in dialog, select the Analog Input tab, and set Translation Enabled as shown in the following dialog. The device Offset displays degrees F if you are measuring in Fahrenheit or degrees C if you are measuring in Celsius. Celsius or Fahrenheit is determined by the Regional
Settings selected for Windows. In Device Offset, enter 32 for Fahrenheit and 0 for Celsius.
Click the Translation tab and enter the values into the translation table as shown in the dialog below (these are Fahrenheit values; Celsius values are shown below).
The raw measured data representing the resistance of the thermistor is translated into the output values representing temperatures. The temperature values are sent to the analog output network variable. The translation table provides a means for mapping the thermistor’s set of input values into a different set of temperature output values via pairs of input/output values. The Analog Input software automatically linearly interpolates to determine translation values that lie between defined input/output pairs. Fahrenheit values are shown above; the values for Celsius are shown below:
Measured Value Output Value Measured Value Output Value
0 0 0 30 3000 7.5 0 30 7000 15 0 30 25000 22.5 0 30 50000 30 0 30 0 30 0 30 0 30 0 30 0 30 0 30 0 30 0 30 0 30 0 30 If you do not have a thermister, you can send a value onto the network by setting the override option and value. To set the override option and value, click the Output Parameters tab and enter the value that you wish to send in Override Value. Click the Status tab and select Override On.
6. Configure the Analog Functional Block. The analog functional block representing the thermostat provides a means to define the hysteresis and setpoint that the temperature must reach before an action is taken. In this quick-start exercise, the action is turning on or shutting off the fan.
To configure the analog functional block, right-click the AFB-1 Thermostat functional block and then click Configure on the shortcut menu. The AFB-1 Thermostat LonPoint Object Properties dialog appears.
Click the Inputs tab and select the Analog Input 2, Input Select, Use Constants checkbox as shown in the following dialog. Enter 72.5 (the setpoint) in Degrees F (or 22.5 Degrees C).
For the Logic Function, select Greater Than as shown in the above dialog. For Hysteresis, enter 4.5 in degrees F (or 2.5 degrees C).
The Digital Output network variable will be set to On if the value from Operand 1
(temperature) is greater than the value from Operand 2 (setpoint). Otherwise, an Off value will be sent. Changes to the output value are affected by the Hysteresis value. The Hysteresis value determines how great a difference, as a floating point number, must exist between the analog values for the Greater Than logic function to change the digital output. In this example, if the temperature increases 2.5° above 22.5° C, the fan turns on. Conversely, if the temperature falls 2.5° under 22.5° C, the fan shuts off.
Click Apply and minimize the dialog.
7. Verify Operation. If you have physical LonPoint devices, you can verify network operation by monitoring the network variables. You can do this by double-clicking each Connector shape to enable monitoring of the network variables. Raise or lower the temperature to view a temperature change. As the temperature rises, the fan (represented by a LED on the DO-10 device) should illuminate. As the room cools down, the fan (LED) should turn off.
The LonMaker tool includes the LonMaker Browser, a plug-in that allows you to view and modify network variables and configuration properties on one or more functional blocks or on all functional blocks and variables on a device. To start the LonMaker Browser, select one or more functional blocks, right-click one of them, and then click Browse on the shortcut menu. The Browser window appears and displays all the configuration properties and network variables in the selected functional block or blocks. For more information about the Browser, see Using the LonMaker Browser in Chapter 10, Monitoring and Controlling Devices.