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80954E_MHW_GF_LOOPER_01-2012_ENG
1 • PRELIMINARY INSTRUCTIONS
This section contains information and warnings of a general nature which should be read before procee-
ding with controller installation, configuration and use.
General description
GF_Looper is an advanced series of multichannel con-
trollers, offered in configurations of up to 16 channels and
structured for simple use and complete functionality for
managing a wide range of applications.
GRAPHIC INTERFACE
The operator interface, based on LCD TFT color touch
screen (3.5” and 5.7”) offers maximum simplicity of use.
A series of graphic pages structured with different details
provide complete monitoring of GF_Looper operation.
Icons facilitate access to the graphic pages, making navi-
gation immediate and reliable.
Group pages offer an overview of enabled zones, with
display of principal data such as PV, SP, output power,
state of main alarms.
To simplify a few repetitive operations, the group page
offers a control to activate/deactivate control actions for
all configured zones, a control (Up/Down) for synchroni-
zed change of all work Set Points in control zones, and
selection between SP and SP2 for immediate production
change.
Detail pages of single control zones provide a complete
view of the state of all standard control parameters, such
as PID and alarm thresholds.
Any fault conditions, such as broken or short-circuited
sensor, or partial or total load interrupt, are displayed
both as alarms and graphically with dedicated icons.
ALARM AND RECIPE MANAGEMENT
Integrated alarms management combined with an alarm
notice on all pages provides an immediate check of work
conditions of the controlled process.
An acknowledgement and deletion command is provided
for all alarms.
For recipes, the work parameters of all configured zones
can be saved to file.
This management simplifies machine setup operations in
case of production changes and guarantees error-proof
operation.
USER LEVEL AND MULTI-LANGUAGE MANAGEMENT
So that the GF_Looper may be used by operators of
different nationalities, multi-language management provi-
des simple and intuitive video messages translated into
the selected language.
Pre-set password levels guarantee controlled access to
the various functions according to the authorization assi-
gned to each operator.
DATA STORAGE
Trend pages with variable selection and sampling time
configuration (min/sec) offer paperless recording fun-
ctions.
Storage of sampled Trend data on file also provides inte-
grated DataLogging functions.
DataLogging values can be exported to .CSV file and
transferred to PC on a USB drive. Start/Stop recording
commands let you optimize the number of stored data
for better analysis.
REMOTE ACCESS
An Ethernet connection with Modbus TCP protocol provi-
des an efficient tool to link GF_Looper to HMI acquisition
or supervision systems.
A complete map of variables with all general information
on GF_Looper operation and configuration is provided for
data exchange with a Modbus TCP master.
For remote diagnostics or machine setup functions,
there is a simple solution based on the graphic part of
GF_Looper that uses a Windows PC with Ethernet con-
nection to the field instrument.
CONTROLLER
Advanced control algorithms provide excellent manage-
ment of process variables.
Various types of control are possible: ON/OFF, P, PI,
PID, both heat or cool only and heat+cool.
In addition, cooling can be set by specifying the fluid
used: air, oil, water.
Calculation of the best process parameters is extremely
rapid and efficient thanks to the use of sophisticated
automatic tuning processes.
The use of advanced tuning lets you check the best PID
parameters under all conditions.
ALARMS
Two alarm thresholds (minimum and maximum) for
each zone.
For each alarm, you can select:
- the control variable to be assigned
- the threshold value
- the hysteresis value
- 5 properties (with latch, disable at power-on, deviation/
symmetrical, absolute/relative, direct/inverse).
LBA, HB, SBR alarms can be set; the presence of the
alarm is displayed on the screen via LEDs.
