HOW IT WORKS

The Problem: Our Client had 100+ Robot End of Arm Tools (EOATs), and needed their Serial Numbers available to the Programmable Logic Controller for tracking Tooling Counts and for Product Birth History.

The Analysis: Barcoding or RF Tagging would require installation of many prohibitively expensive readers. The EOATs were connected to the Robot through Quick Changers that provided only discrete 24VDC I/O inputs on the EOAT itself. The hardware path from the EOATs and the PLC included several serial transfers and the scan time of the Robot and the PLC itself, making typical serial communications impossible.

The Solution: By simply adding the SlowBAUD to an unused M12 plug on the EOAT, and importing and linking the provided UDT, the EOAT serial number is available in the PLC as a string.

Plug the SlowBAUD into an available 2-input M12 connection.

In the robot, map the two inputs from the EOAT to the outputs being sent to the PLC.

Import the UDT and map the 2 inputs to it (as detailed in “Implementation Document” found on the Downloads Page).

And the serial number String is accumulated in the *.SERIAL tag for use in recording counts and birth history.

Also, you can select a default string for indicating no SlowBAUD is detected by filling *.NUL

For troubleshooting assistance, the SlowBAUD-M12 Test Display is useful in verifying proper Operation, and proper Serial String on the SlowBAUD units.