Scribd
Upload
773 views2 pages

Scan Cycle Load From Communication

The document discusses the "Cycle load from communication" parameter which controls the duration of communication processes to prevent the scan cycle time from exceeding a specified length. It can increase the scan cycle time of OB1 by a factor calculated by a formula. Additional asynchronous events like hardware interrupts further increase the cycle time. The document provides recommendations to use the default value when possible and only increase it if communication is the main purpose or decrease it for most other cases.

Uploaded by

lindembm
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
773 views2 pages

Scan Cycle Load From Communication

The document discusses the "Cycle load from communication" parameter which controls the duration of communication processes to prevent the scan cycle time from exceeding a specified length. It can increase the scan cycle time of OB1 by a factor calculated by a formula. Additional asynchronous events like hardware interrupts further increase the cycle time. The document provides recommendations to use the default value when possible and only increase it if communication is the main purpose or decrease it for most other cases.

Uploaded by

lindembm
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Scan Cycle Load from Communication

Using the parameter "Cycle load from communication" you can control the duration of communication
processes which always extend the scan cycle time so it does not exceed a specified length.
Communication processes can be, for example, data transmission to another CPU via the MP or
loading blocks (triggered by means of a programming device).
Test functions with the programming device are hardly affected by this parameter and may greatly
extend the scan cycle time. The time available for test functions can be limited in process operation
(S7-300 only).

How the Parameter Works


The operating system of the CPU continuously provides the communication process with the
configured percentage of the total CPU processing capacity (time slice technology). If this processing
capacity is not needed for the communication, it is available to the rest of the processing.

Effect on the Actual Scan Cycle Time


If there are no additional asynchronous events, the scan cycle time of OB1 is increased by a factor
calculated according to the following formula:
100
100 - "cycle load from communication (%)"

Example 1 (no additional asynchronous events):


If the cycle load from communication is set to 50%, the scan cycle time of OB1 can be doubled.

At the same time, the scan cycle time of OB1 is still being influenced by asynchronous events as well
(for example, hardware interrupts or watchdog interrupts). The increase in the scan cycle time from
communication means that, statistically speaking, more asynchronous events occur in one cycle of
OB1. This additionally increases the OB1 cycle. The increase depends on how many events occur
per OB1 cycle and the length of time it takes to process each of these events.
Example 2 (taking additional asynchronous events into account):
A basic OB1 execution time of 500 ms may result in an actual scan cycle time of up to 1000 ms if
there is a communication load of 50% (assuming that the CPU always has enough communication
jobs to process). If a watchdog interrupt with a processing time of 20 ms is now triggered every
100 ms, this would increase the cycle by a total of 5*20 ms = 100 ms if there is no communication
load; that is, the actual scan cycle time would be 600 ms. Since a watchdog interrupt also interrupts
communication, it would increase the scan cycle time by 10*20 ms if there were a communication
load of 50%; in other words, in this case the actual scan cycle time would be 1200 ms and not
1000 ms.

Notes
• Check the effects on plant operation of changing the value for the "Cycle Load from
Communication" parameter.
• When setting the minimum scan cycle you must take into account the communication load,
otherwise time errors may occur.

Recommendations
• Use the default value whenever possible.
• Only increase the value if the CPU is mainly used for communication purposes and the user
program is not time-critical.
• In all other cases you should only decrease the value.
• Select process operation (S7-300 devices only) and limit the time required for test functions in
this mode.

See also:
Switching from Process to Test Operation (and Back)
Organization Block for Cyclic Program Processing (OB1)

You might also like