TECHNICAL SUPPORT NOTICE

990000719 Rev. A
MMI-AT022A-EN-P

APPLICATION NOTE
Methods to Disable MMI Control of a Vehicle

Purpose
This document describes ways to release control of a vehicle for the purpose of allowing
interaction between the vehicle and third party hardware.

Introduction
There are certain occasions where it is required that third party hardware interacts with or limits
the motion of vehicle on a MagneMotion transport system. These include:

• Locating a vehicle to a high precision.

• Supporting the vehicle for a vertical or horizontal force.
• Mechanically gearing the vehicle to match third party hardware.
• Interfacing with a process station that locates the payload relative to itself.

During these processes, MagneMotion control of the vehicle’s position should be released to
allow movement without the control system attempting to correct. This will prevent the control
system from attempting to hold the vehicle in the current position thus putting a force against the
device constraining it, which can result in unpredictable motion or trigger the overheating
protection on the motor.

There are two methods to disable control of a vehicle, both outlined in this document.

Control Off Position Tolerance

Control off position tolerance is a parameter that can be set in the node controller configuration
file of MagneMover LITE systems. It specifies a distance from the current target (furthest
position the vehicle has permission to reach) at which the system will stop attempting to control
the vehicle. This can be set per path or per motor, but will apply to any vehicles stopping on that
path or motor. Be sure to set the arrival tolerance (as described in the MagneMover LITE
Configurator User’s Manual, section 5) to be greater than or equal to the control off position
tolerance, or the vehicle will stop driving before it arrives.

The control off position tolerance can be found in the advanced parameters section of the Motor
Defaults page or a specific Motor's page in the MagneMover LITE Configurator. This section is
normally hidden, but can be displayed by selecting Show Advanced Parameters from the
Options menu.

139 Barnum Road, Devens, MA 01434 Page 1 of 6 FM-752-012 Rev. A

© MagneMotion, Inc. – All Rights Reserved. Information included in this document is MagneMotion proprietary information and is provided for
the use of MMI customers only and cannot be distributed, reproduced, or sold without the express written permission of MagneMotion, Inc. In
no event will MMI be responsible or liable for indirect or consequential damages resulting from the use or application of this information.
 TECHNICAL SUPPORT NOTICE
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Figure 1: Location of the Control Off Positon Tolerance Field in the Configuration Utility

This is most useful for stations where the vehicle is being located, pinned, or gripped at a single
location. If the station location is set for the nominal position the vehicle will be located to by the
process station and the control off position tolerance is set to the tolerance of the locating device,
then MagneMotion control of the vehicle will be released when it is gripped by the third party
hardware.

The process for using the control off position tolerance is as follows.

1) Order vehicle to a position

2) Wait for arrival
3) Grip vehicle and perform process
4) Release vehicle
5) Send vehicle order to next position

Once the vehicle receives a new order, it is given a new target and control will resume.

Another use for the control off position tolerance is to disable control of the vehicle while it is
waiting in queue. Setting a small control off position tolerance (0.5mm for example) will cause

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© MagneMotion, Inc. – All Rights Reserved. Information included in this document is MagneMotion proprietary information and is provided for
the use of MMI customers only and cannot be distributed, reproduced, or sold without the express written permission of MagneMotion, Inc. In
no event will MMI be responsible or liable for indirect or consequential damages resulting from the use or application of this information.
 TECHNICAL SUPPORT NOTICE
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the vehicle to stop trying to drive exactly to position while it is waiting in queue, which will
reduce power consumption and noise.

Disabling PID Control

One of up to 16 different sets of PID values can be selected when executing a move command. It
is possible to use this functionality to disable the PID control loop as well. When a move
command uses a PID control loop set in which all of the PID parameters are zero, the system will
release control of the vehicle.

Figure 2: PID Set 1 Configured to Release Control of the Vehicle

The motor will still track the position of the vehicle, but will not attempt to control it in any way.
If the vehicle is ordered to a different location using the all zero PID parameter set, it will set that
as its new destination but, because it is unable to drive, will report a jam.

The procedure to follow when using this method is as follows:

1) Order vehicle to destination position using a set of non-zero PID values.
2) Wait for vehicle to arrive.
3) Order vehicle to same destination using PID set with all parameters set to zero.
4) Vehicle should immediately report arrived.
5) Grip vehicle and perform process.
6) Release vehicle.
7) Order vehicle to next destination using a set of non-zero PID values.

Moving a Vehicle while PID Control is Disabled

If the vehicle will be moved to a different location than where PID control was disabled while
not controlled by the MMI system, give the vehicle an order with the all zero PID coefficient set
to the final destination before beginning movement. This will ensure the vehicle is tracked
cleanly and recovers smoothly when normal control is reengaged at the final location.

139 Barnum Road, Devens, MA 01434 Page 3 of 6 FM-752-012 Rev. A

© MagneMotion, Inc. – All Rights Reserved. Information included in this document is MagneMotion proprietary information and is provided for
the use of MMI customers only and cannot be distributed, reproduced, or sold without the express written permission of MagneMotion, Inc. In
no event will MMI be responsible or liable for indirect or consequential damages resulting from the use or application of this information.
 TECHNICAL SUPPORT NOTICE
990000719 Rev. A
MMI-AT022A-EN-P

139 Barnum Road, Devens, MA 01434 Page 4 of 6 FM-752-012 Rev. A

© MagneMotion, Inc. – All Rights Reserved. Information included in this document is MagneMotion proprietary information and is provided for
the use of MMI customers only and cannot be distributed, reproduced, or sold without the express written permission of MagneMotion, Inc. In
no event will MMI be responsible or liable for indirect or consequential damages resulting from the use or application of this information.
 TECHNICAL SUPPORT NOTICE
990000719 Rev. A
MMI-AT022A-EN-P

Summary
Depending on the application and the task being performed, different methods may be applied.
The system selected, type of station or process, vehicle density, throughput, and station locations
will all factor in to this determination. In many cases, there will be multiple methods that can be
used and which one is selected is at the discretion of the user.

For any questions related to the content of this document, please contact MagneMotion Customer
Support.
Phone: +1 978-757-9102 (9am – 5pm EST)

Email: [email protected]

Related Documents:
990000436 - Host Controller TCP/IP Communication Protocol User’s Manual

990000437 - Host Controller EtherNet/IP Communication Protocol User’s Manual

990000628 - Mitsubishi PLC TCP/IP Library User’s Manual

990000558 - MagneMover LITE Configurator User’s Manual

990000559 - QuickStick Configurator User’s Manual

More Information
MagneMotion Website: www.magnemotion.com

Questions & Comments: www.magnemotion.com/about-magnemotion/contact.cfm

Revision History
Rev. Change Description
A Initial release

139 Barnum Road, Devens, MA 01434 Page 5 of 6 FM-752-012 Rev. A

© MagneMotion, Inc. – All Rights Reserved. Information included in this document is MagneMotion proprietary information and is provided for
the use of MMI customers only and cannot be distributed, reproduced, or sold without the express written permission of MagneMotion, Inc. In
no event will MMI be responsible or liable for indirect or consequential damages resulting from the use or application of this information.
 TECHNICAL SUPPORT NOTICE
990000719 Rev. A
MMI-AT022A-EN-P

139 Barnum Road, Devens, MA 01434 Page 6 of 6 FM-752-012 Rev. A

© MagneMotion, Inc. – All Rights Reserved. Information included in this document is MagneMotion proprietary information and is provided for
the use of MMI customers only and cannot be distributed, reproduced, or sold without the express written permission of MagneMotion, Inc. In
no event will MMI be responsible or liable for indirect or consequential damages resulting from the use or application of this information.