emulation mode: encoder sensor?

[craig_dickson]

[ FlexSim 19.1.1 ]

I am building an emulation for our PLC programmers to use. One of the sensors they use is an encoder that measures distance travelled on a conveyor. The encoder changes a bit every 2" travelled. I don't think just time is an adequate proxy, since the conveyor has a VFD and changes speed fairly often (with accel and decel of course).

Any suggestions?

[benjamin_w2 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Craig DIckson,

If I understand you correctly, you are trying to use FlexSim's emulation module to model how far a flow item has traveled on the conveyor. However, since your conveyor is on a VFD, you cant use normal kinematics to model the flow item.

Have you considered dynamically changing the conveyor speed based on your servers instead of using the distance sensor? Then you could use something like:

Model.find("Conveyor1").as(Conveyor).targetSpeed = ConveyorSpeed

Where "ConveyorSpeed" is a global variable updated by your servers.

If you still want to use the distance sensor, you might want to consider using something other than the conveyor module, since the conveyor module is heavily based in acceleration, speed, and deceleration.

[joerg_vogel_HsH]

here is an example

conveyor-sensor-distance.fsm

[braydn_t]

@Craig DIckson

Did Ben's Answer help you? If so, could you please click the accept button? Thanks!