In order to control your pellet extruder trough profinet or ethernetIP, you require a .gsd file and a .udt file. In this article we give answers on what it is, and how to get your files.
Why do you need these files?
When you are setting up profinet control for your pellet extruder, you might have chosen the option called profinet control. This allows for the most advanced control of your pellet extruder for large format 3D printing. However it also requires some set up, in order to let your "master" plc, correctly control our "slave" extruder system. Basically, you need to give them instructions on how they can talk to each other.
To simplify this process, we prepared you 2 files. 1 .GSD file and 1 .UDT file, these files will make your life a lot easier when connecting the pellet extruder to your system. If you want to learn more about profinet control, you can read this article: Profinet control for your pellet extruder.
.GSD file
A .GSD file stands for General Station Description file. It is used in industrial control systems, particularly in conjunction with the PROFIBUS (Process Field Bus) network standard, which is a fieldbus standard for industrial automation systems. The GSD file format is standardized by PROFIBUS & PROFINET International (PI). These files contain information about the capabilities and characteristics of a field device (like sensors, actuaries, and controllers). This includes information such as the device's identity, communication settings, and operational parameters. Engineers and system integrators use GSD files to ensure that devices from different manufacturers will operate correctly within a PROFIBUS network.
.UDT file
.UDT file will contain the definition of the user-defined type, including the names, data types, and possibly initial values of each element within the type. This file can then be imported into a PLC programming environment, where it can be instantiated and used to map I/O addresses to the structured data type defined by the UDT.
In the context of I/O (Input/Output) mapping, a UDT is used used to represent the structure of input data from or output data to pellet extruder connected to the PLC in the base unit, like sensors, heaters, actuaries, or other field devices. Each attribute in the UDT is mapped to specific I/O addresses in the PLC memory of the slave plc inside the base unit. This mapping ensures that when the master PLC reads from or writes to these addresses, through our slave plc, it is interacting with the corresponding physical inputs or outputs on the extruder.
Get your files
Upon the delivery of your extruder system from CEAD, when you bought the profinet option as well. You will receive the required files and documentation. If you have not! Do not hesitate to reach out to our customer support department, they will send it right away.