AutomationDirect's REER Mosaic Safety Controller: Quick Start Part 4 (Simulation)

In the last video we uploaded our program to the Mosaic Safety Controller and tested it using the real time monitor. And while that worked fine, there were a couple issues with it. First, it was hard to watch the 2 second audible alarm because it went by so fast. Second, we were using our expensive hardware as a test platform. And while that wasn’t a big deal on this simple example, in a more complex real-world system that could be a very expensive an unsafe practice. And finally, it requires taking the machine off line while you test it – another expensive proposition. The good news is the Mosaic Safety Designer software has TWO built in simulators you can use to verify your program BEFORE uploading it to the real hardware. The Schematic Simulator looks a lot like the monitor we have been using, except it gives you control over the inputs. The Graphical simulator generates a graph of how all the signals respond to a script file you create. You will almost always want to use the Schematic Simulator because it is so quick and easy. I’m mentioning the graphic simulator here just you know it exists. Both simulators allow you to view signals no matter how fast they occur, avoid testing on hardware and don’t occupy your system while you are testing. In this video we’ll use the Schematic Simulation to simulate the system we developed in the previous video. So a quick re-cap – if any of these are used, then the output should turn off, and issue a 2 second signal to an audible alarm. And if either of these were used, then a 5 second signal is issued to an indicator. Once you have verified your program, skip over the connect and upload buttons and go here to the Schematic Simulator. This looks a lot like the monitor we have been using, but now there are red dots on everything we can manipulate. So, click on these to release the ESTOP, let go of the Light Curtain and step off of the safety mat. And click on this guy to reset the outputs. So far it looks like it is working exactly like the monitor. Except for one thing. All the functions that use timing are dimmed out. That’s because we haven’t started time yet. Hit this Green Arrow button to reset the simulation and start fresh. To run the simulation with timing, you just hit the green play button and you see all the time sensitive blocks are now active. Let’s clear all the devices and reset the output. Now if I press the ESTOP, I see the audible alarm signal reset after 2 seconds. Perfect. I’ll clear the ESTOP, reset the system and trip the light curtain. Again, we see the 2 second audible alarm and now we see the 5 second indicator. Let’s clear the Light Curtain and reset the outputs. It works exactly like the demo we did on the real hardware in the previous video doesn’t it? The only difference is we now control the inputs here and we’re not occupying the hardware. And look at this, you can single step through the timing. All we have to do is select how much time each click of the mouse represents. It defaults to 100ms. For our example, let’s have each click be one second, which is 10 times the default. Now if I click on the ESTOP everything that isn’t time dependent propagates through. I’m expecting this monostable to generate a 2 second pulse, so I’ll click the on single step button once – I see the time increment 1 second and the status output goes active for the duration of that one second click, click again, it stays active for the duration of second number two, click again and it turns off now that the two seconds has expired. Exactly what we expect. Let’s release the ESTOP and reset the output. Again, everything not dependent on time responds immediately. This is really important – when we reset the outputs the status signal turned on and normally the monostable would see that transition and reset itself. BUT, no time has elapsed yet, so the monostable hasn’t acted on the change. And if we went and triggered the light curtain right now, it would take the status back down so when we did increment time, the monostable would completely miss the positive transition and not reset itself. So, it’s really important that we increment time while the status is on so the monostable sees that transition. So, I’ll click on the single step button once so the monostable can reset itself. Now when we trigger the light curtain and increment time, the monostable sees the new status transition to off and can react accordingly. And we see the audible alarm output becomes active for the first second AND the indicator light signal becomes active for that second. Click again for second number two and click again to exit second number two and enter second number three. The Audible alarm is done, but the Indicator is still active. Click number 4, click number 5 and click number 6 sees the indicator signal turn off because 5 seconds has expired. That’s it. That’s all there is to running the Schematic Simulator. This is my favorite feature of the Mosaic Safety Designer because I can completely design and test my safety program before I buy any hardware. And since the Mosaic Safety Design Software is a free download at AutomationDirect.com, I can try it before I buy it which makes my buying decision risk free. Click here to earn more about Mosaic Safety Controllers. Click here to learn about AutomationDirect’s free award winning support options and click here to subscribe to our YouTube Channel so you will be notified when we publish new videos.