ClearPath test bench - Quick and Easy

[Richards]

Yesterday I spent two hours redoing the main test bench. I wanted to see how quickly I could rebuild the test bench for a minimal Teknic ClearPath servo application. On the system, I have three SDSK-2321S-RLN servos, an IPC5 power supply, a Power4 Hub, and a C86ACCP board from CNC4PC. Starting at the top left of the photo, 120VAC power comes in through a circuit breaker and is distributed to the 24VDC power supply and to the IPC-5 power supply. The main circuit break is 10 Amps, so I used 16 gauge wire between the main circuit breaker and the two power supplies. The 24VDC power supply puts out 100Watts (about 4 Amps), so I used a 4 Amp circuit breaker on the output side of the 24VDC power supply. 20 gauge wire from AutomationDirect can easily handle 4 Amps at 24VDC. You'll note that I used Blue wire for +24VDC and White/Blue wire for 24VDC return. Those colors are recommended for 24VDC. A contactor with a 24VDC coil controls power to the IPC-5 power supply. The contactor is activated when the Acorn's NoFaultOut ouput turns on. I used another 10 Amp circuit breaker on the input side of the IPC-5 power supply. One the right side of the DIN rail are some terminals for homing proximity sensors.

The Acorn uses Output 1 as the NoFaultOut signal, Input 8 as the EStopOk input, and Input 5 as the DriveOk input. The C86ACCP board controls the DriveOk signal.

When I power on the test bench and press Cycle Start, the NoFaultOut signal turns on the IPC-5 power supply, The C86ACCP board activates the three ClearPath servos and issues a DriveOK signal to the Acorn. If I push the E-Stop button, the Acorn turns off the NoFaultOut signal and the contactor turns off the IPC-5 power supply.

Tear down took about an hour. Rebuild time was just over an hour, including the time it took to add ferrules to each wire.

The only additions that I would make if I put this system in an enclosure would be to add a disconnect to the enclosure, and three LED indicators, one to show 24VDC, one to show that the IPC-5 is on, and one that shows when the E-Stop switch is pressed. The 24VDC indicator could be wired to +24VDC and Ground. The IPC-5 indicator would use a set of contacts on the contactor and feed 24VDC to the indicator when the contactor is on. The E-Stop indicator would use a N/O module on the E-Stop switch. When the E-stop switch is pressed, the N/O module would close and the indicator lamp would turn on. (Remember that a properly wired E-Stop switch is N/C. The switches that I use have room for two modules, one can be N/C and the other can be N/O.)

[cnckeith]

cool thanks for posting.