Scalability made easy with Logix Designer SDK

Pairing Logix Designer Software Development Kit (SDK) with Studio 5000 Logix Designer® allows users to automate many UI functions. Logix Designer SDK unlocks efficiency potential that was previously limited by manual workflows, resulting in reduced labor efforts, while improving speed of design, testing, and deployment. This includes supported file system operations, SD Card store and load capabilities, controller setting changes, and change tag values online and offline. Take a closer look at one use case that benefits from using the Logix Designer SDK.

ScenarioAn engineer is leading an improvement project to perform an area-wide controller upgrade in their facility. The area contains 30 cells, each with six different Logix controllers. The new install base will feature ControlLogix® 5580 processors at major revision 35. A copy of the upgraded project must be stored on all their SD cards. The controllers must also be set to Remote Run mode, in the proper order, to avoid interlock trips.

The Challenge

This migration is simple to perform on one controller, but at scale, could take quite a long time. Human error can be introduced by downloading the wrong project file, forgetting to load the project to the SD card, or enabling Remote Run mode in the incorrect sequence.

The Logix Designer SDK Solution

Figures 1 illustrates the time savings from the example scenario. With six controllers, the engineer saves 50 minutes leveraging the Logix Designer SDK (an estimated 20 minutes per upgrade per controller). The engineer also avoids having to correct for two errors in their work, for instance, downloading the wrong project file to the controller.

While six controllers can seem minor, the time savings are now multiplied for all 30 cells. The total labor would be 140 x 30, equaling 4200 minutes using the traditional Studio 5000 Logix Designer UI. The labor is now limited to the initial investment of 90 minutes for creating the script, as it can be executed the same on each cell.

Note: Results will vary depending on the complexity and scale of the operations to be performed.

The Result

By creating a script that iterates through a list of controllers and executes all required operations, the initial time investment can be longer, but afterward provide a significant time savings. Moreover, the Logix Designer SDK delivers consistency by limiting human error to the script's initial programming, rather than individual action instances. The real power of the Logix Designer SDK is scaling these benefits over dozens or hundreds of controllers, where the script can be reused. The return on investment for a small amount of up-front coding is evident immediately.

This use case demonstrates how the Logix Designer SDK brings a popular software engineering practice to industrial automation. Studio 5000 Logix Designer software configuration tasks are traditionally accomplished manually. The tools available in the Logix Designer SDK give the user possibilities and capabilities to transform manual, repetitive tasks into automated workflows, with the use of the software’s Application Programming Interface (API). As this use case showed, the time savings were immediate and vast. Logix Designer SDK functions such as example code, standard libraries, documentation, and debugging tools are available to help entry-level programmers take Studio 5000 Logix Designer functionality to the next level.