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Labview and Parker ACR-9000

Hi all,

 

I need to communicate with a Parker ACR-9000 motion controller. They have an OCX and .NET wrapper that can be used to communicate with their ComACRsrvr.dll. My question is has anyone created any LabVIEW wrappers / drivers for this OCX that they are willing to share? Or have any experiences, good or bad using this kit?

 

-Martin

Certified LabVIEW Architect
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Hi Martin,

I've got a similar project.  We're going to be experimenting with the ACR-9000 and potentially using it across a number of machines.  I was asked to investigate how feasible it would be to integrate labview - as thats becoming our automation standard around here.  Have you had any luck or found any good resources?
LV7.1, LV8.5, LV2014/15/16
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Hi Leachdor,

Thanks for posting on the discussion forums. I have had a look on our driver network but can't find much information on this particular device and we have no experience of using this particular wrapper. I would reccomend maybe giving it a try if possible and then getting back on the forums in development time.

Sorry I can't be of more help with this.
Rob L

NI Applications Engineer

UK & Ireland


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Thanks for checking rob.  I haven't gotten any information back from Parker yet, but from the documentation I can find on their website, they do provide active X drivers.  I've been using LV for about 3 years now and I'm getting pretty proficient but thats an area I've never explored.  To be honest I'm a bit concerned with claiming that provided those active X modules I could develop with them.

Does NI have any down and dirty tutorials for using active x?  Since they are provided libraries, its hard to test out posted code of other people without having their libraries (from the forums)

What exactly is possible with them?  I believe we just barely skimmed them in the intermediate I/II labview classes, but didn't actually use them for anything.  It seems like when we did use one, it created a block with pull down options that you could wire (Sort of like an unbundle by name) and you had your interface.
LV7.1, LV8.5, LV2014/15/16
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Hi,

 

In our system the main motion control has been written using Parker software (ACR view) and the GUI has been written in LabVIEW. The two systems communicate / handshake by setting / reading the values from a shared memory block in the ACR-9000. So in LabVIEW I do little more than make a connection with the ACR and then read and write to this memory block.

 

In LabVIEW I’m using Automation open to open the following 2 controls:

 

BOXBRIDGELib.Icontrol

BOXBRIDGELib.Istatus

 

I poll 1200 values from the ACR and it seems quite efficient at doing that.

 

Personally I would prefer to use NI motion control hardware, I've had much better experiences using NI controllers rather than Parker.

 

Good luck.

 

-Martin
Certified LabVIEW Architect
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Martin,

I'd love to switch to an NI controller....I don't have experiece with them though.  I was always told most controls engineers will get  very nervous when it comes to control with a PC, opposed to hardware controllers.  Though I think what they meant when I was told this was assuming, the input came in from a DAQ, control was done in software PID etc. and then output was fed back out.

I think the NI hardware your referencing, all control is done on the hardware, and the labview is just used as an interface to poll values like your doing with the parker controller?

LV7.1, LV8.5, LV2014/15/16
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Leachdore,

I found this tutorial which I think is pretty concise. It gives a good voerview of the theory and the programming equivalent. The general method is to invoke methods and modify properties returned by the active x reference in much the same way as you would modify controls and indicateors using VI server.

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/2983

For more indepth theoretical aspects about Active X and COM, check these two links

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/2981

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/2982

This tutorial gives good info. on OOP programing in general

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/3390

Other than that, I can't fins much other active x tutorials that are relevant. Your best bet is to probably go down the direction that Martin has taken.

I hope this info. helps anyway

Rob L

NI Applications Engineer

UK & Ireland


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Hi Martin,

I was able to get a sample program from Parker and it makes use of the IStatus class (I see the IControl Class also though its not used)

I take it you use all the properties/methods within status to read data (position, connection verification, and all those others)

It looks like in this example though they set values using the Istatus class as well as read.  For example, they set nPort using IStatus, and they read TestConnect....So what do the IControl class handle?
LV7.1, LV8.5, LV2014/15/16
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Hi again Martin,

Forgot I wanted to mention this - I was looking on Parkers website and came across the following link:
http://www.parkermotion.com/scripts/support_faq.asp?rowid=AAAH0UAAKAABbwNAAB&count=6&random_number=18768&create_date=5%2F29%2F2008+12%3A42%3A51+PM

Heres a link if that doesn't show up above HERE

A snippet: A common misconception is that MOTION TOOLBOX - a library of LabVIEW Virtual Instruments (also called "VI"s) for icon-based programming - can be used with all Compumotor motion controllers. However, MOTION TOOLBOX is available for use with 6000 Series motion controllers only, and is incompatible with all 6K motion controllers. No version of MOTION TOOLBOX is currently planned for the 6K product line.

I'm not familiar with the software packages, but it sounds like this isn't something I have to worry about to use the ACR-9000.  It would be though if I wanted to use Motion Toolbox.  Since they provide the Motion COMponents Active X controls....this isn't relevant correct?
LV7.1, LV8.5, LV2014/15/16
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Hi,

 

I use the IControl class for the “SetGlobal” and “SetFlag” methods. I also assumed that the MOTION TOOLBOX is of no use with the ACR9000.

 

-Martin
Certified LabVIEW Architect
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