Domains Configuration Panel
4 minute read
Domains Configuration Panel
On the left of the Motorcortex-ECAT screen you will find the Domains Configuration Panel. In this panel you can configure the domains of your EtherCAT devices.
Ethercat devices have to be placed inside of Domains. A Domain is an group of EtherCAT slaves (physical cluster of EtherCAT modules). For your project you can make use of one single domain, or multiple domains. An advantage multiple domains, is that every domain is separate and can (if configured properly) be disconnected and reconnected (hot-plug), while other devices in other domains that remain connected are still operational. Beside hot-plug capability domains also keep your structure more clear.
Adding devices
To add a new device you can click the + add your first devices button or add devices from the Top Menu Bar dropdown. After this the Add devices menu will pop up. From the + Add device menu you can add Ethercat devices in several ways:
In the From scan tab when connected to a Motorcortex controller with Ethercat devices connected, you can scan the EtherCAT bus for devices that are connected by pressing the Scan Bus (1) button. The connected devices will be become visuable in (2), from this menu you can select the checkbox of the devices that you want to add to your Domains Panel. With the correct devices selected press Add Devices (3).
In the From configuration tab when connected to a Motorcortex controller with Ethercat devices connected, you can scan the configuration file master.xml from the controller by pressing the Scan Config (1) button or upload a locally stored configuration file by pressing the Upload File (1). The scanned/uploaded devices will become visable in (2), from this menu you can select the checkbox of the devices that you want to add to your Domains Panel. With the correct devices selected press Add Devices (3).
In the From description file tab, you can upload device information from a description ESI file from you local computer by pressing Upload files (1). For exemple upload the following ESI file: Beckhoff EP4xxx.xml. This discription file is used in a range of beckhoff EP4xxx device series so you should select the device that matches the hardware in the Select Device menu. Mark the checkbox that matches your device and press the button select (2).
After adding the selected device it is visable in From discription file (3) tab. The added device can be edited by pressing Edit (4) button, this will pop-up a edit device menu changes can be applied and saved by means of pressing save (5).
The uploaded devices will become visable in (3), from this menu you can select the checkbox of the devices that you want to add to your Domains Panel. With the correct devices selected press Add Devices (6) button. It is also possible to delete selected device by pressing Delete Selected (6) button or Delete (4) button .
In the Manually tab, you can add devices manually by pressing + Device (1), this pops-up a device menu where you can fill in your device information For example: Test Device. After adding the device information press save (2) to make it visable in the manully (3) tab. The added device can be edited by pressing Edit (4) button, this will pop-up a edit device menu. Changes can be applied and saved by means of pressing save.
From the menu (3) you can select the checkbox of the devices that you want to add to your Domains Panel. With the correct devices selected press Add Devices (6) button. It is also possible to delete selected device by pressing Delete Selected (6) button or Delete (4) button .
Devices
After having devices added the Domains Configuration Panel should look like this.
Domains
In the Domain Configuration Panel you can add domains by pressing
button, this will automatically genarate a new domain. The name of the new domain is changed by means of selecting the Domain, popping up a domain settings panel. In this panel the domain name can be changed to for example: Test Domain 1. Also the mode of operation can be changed which is per default in production mode, switch Simulation to on will activate simulation mode and gives a activation notification in the Domain Configuration Panel as visable in Test Domain 2.
By pressing the
Checkbox after each domain you can include or exclude the domain from the EtherCAT message, this means that this domain will not be used for your application. By Pressing the
More Actions button, you will get a drop-down list with the options to Add, Clone or Delete a domain.