vfs11_vfd(1)

✨ vfs11_vfd ✨

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, because we're about to talk about a man page from the LinuxCNC Documentation collection and honestly? it's giving industrial realness. this is vfs11_vfd, a HAL non-realtime component for the Toshiba-Schneider VF-S11 Variable Frequency Drives. yes the actual hardware. yes the big spinny kind. let's go 💅

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

vfs11_vfd [OPTIONS]

short, sweet, iconic. that's the whole vibe.

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so this manual page is here to explain the vfs11_vfd component, and what it does is it reads and writes to the vfs11 via a Modbus connection. that's the whole thing. that's the job. 🫶

and just to be clear: vfs11_vfd is for use with LinuxCNC. periodt.

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

every single one, no skipping, we do not skip in this house:

• -n, --name <halname> — sets the HAL component name. name your child, bestie 🎀
• -d, --debug — turns on debugging messages. you can also toggle this by sending a USR1 signal to the vfs11_vfd process. two ways, same slay.
• -m, --modbus-debug — turns on Modbus debugging messages, which means all Modbus messages get printed in hex on the terminal. also toggled by sending a USR2 signal to the vfs11_vfd process. hexadecimal girlies rise 🙈
• -I, --ini <INI file> — takes configuration from this INI file. defaults to the environment variable INI_FILE_NAME.
• -S, --section <section name> — take configuration from this section in the INI file. defaults to 'VFS11'.
• -r, --report-device — report device propertiers on console at startup. (yes, "propertiers". the man page said it, we keep it, we love it, no cap.) 💖

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👑 PINS 👑

these are the pins, and there are a lot of them, and each one matters:

• <name>.acceleration-pattern (bit, in) — when true, set acceleration and deceleration times as defined in registers F500 and F501 respectively. used in PID loops to choose shorter ramp times to avoid oscillation.
• <name>.alarm-code (s32, out) — non-zero if drive is in alarmed state. a bitmap describing alarm information (see register FC91 description). use err-reset (see below) to clear the alarm.
• <name>.at-speed (bit, out) — when drive is at commanded speed (see speed-tolerance below)
• <name>.current-load-percentage (float, out) — reported from the VFD
• <name>.dc-brake (bit, in) — engage the DC brake. also turns off spindle-on.
• <name>.enable (bit, in) — enable the VFD. if false, all operating parameters are still read but control is released and panel control is enabled (subject to VFD setup).
• <name>.err-reset (bit, in) — reset errors (alarms a.k.a Trip and e-stop status). heads up: resetting the VFD may cause a 2-second delay until it's rebooted and Modbus is up again.
• <name>.estop (bit, in) — put the VFD into emergency-stopped status. no operation possible until cleared with err-reset or powercycling. that's a hard no, fr fr.
• <name>.frequency-command (float, out) — current target frequency in Hz as set through speed-command (which is in RPM), from the VFD
• <name>.frequency-out (float, out) — current output frequency of the VFD
• <name>.inverter-load-percentage (float, out) — current load report from VFD
• <name>.is-e-stopped (bit, out) — the VFD is in emergency stop status (blinking "E" on panel). use err-reset to reboot the VFD and clear the e-stop status.
• <name>.is-stopped (bit, out) — true when the VFD reports 0 Hz output
• <name>.jog-mode (bit, in) — 1 for ON and 0 for OFF, enables the VF-S11 'jog mode'. speed control is disabled, and the output frequency is determined by register F262 (preset to 5 Hz). this might be useful for spindle orientation. 👀
• <name>.max-rpm (float, R) — actual RPM limit based on maximum frequency the VFD may generate, and the motors nameplate values. for instance, if nameplate-HZ is 50, and nameplate-RPM_ is 1410, but the VFD may generate up to 80Hz, then max-rpm would read as 2256 (80*1410/50). the frequency limit is read from the VFD at startup. to increase the upper frequency limit, the UL and FH parameters must be changed on the panel. see the VF-S11 manual for instructions how to set the maximum frequency.
• <name>.modbus-ok (bit, out) — true when the Modbus session is successfully established and the last 10 transactions returned without error. ten in a row, no misses, we stan consistency 💜
• <name>.motor-RPM (float, out) — estimated current RPM value, from the VFD
• <name>.output-current-percentage (float, out) — from the VFD
• <name>.output-voltage-percentage (float, out) — from the VFD
• <name>.output-voltage (float, out) — from the VFD
• <name>.speed-command (float, in) — speed sent to VFD in RPM. it is an error to send a speed faster than the Motor Max RPM as set in the VFD.
• <name>.spindle-fwd (bit, in) — 1 for FWD and 0 for REV, sent to VFD
• <name>.spindle-on (bit, in) — 1 for ON and 0 for OFF sent to VFD, only on when running
• <name>.spindle-rev (bit, in) — 1 for ON and 0 for OFF, only on when running
• <name>.max-speed (bit, in) — ignore the loop-time parameter and run Modbus at maximum speed, at the expense of higher CPU usage. suggested use during spindle positioning. 🏃♀️
• <name>.status (s32, out) — Drive Status of the VFD (see the TOSVERT VF-S11 Communications Function Instruction Manual, register FD01). a bitmap.
• <name>.trip-code (s32, out) — trip code if VF-S11 is in tripped state.
• <name>.error-count (s32, RW) — total number of transactions returning a Modbus error

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🧚 PARAMETERS 🧚

• <name>.frequency-limit (float, RO) — upper limit read from VFD setup.
• <name>.loop-time (float, RW) — how often the Modbus is polled (default interval 0.1 seconds)
• <name>.nameplate-HZ (float, RW) — Nameplate Hz of motor (default 50). used to calculate target frequency (together with nameplate-RPM) for a target RPM value as given by speed-command.
• <name>.nameplate-RPM (float, RW) — Nameplate RPM of motor (default 1410)
• <name>.rpm-limit (float, RW) — do-not-exceed soft limit for motor RPM (defaults to nameplate-RPM).
• <name>.tolerance (float, RW) — speed tolerance (default 0.01) for determining whether spindle is at speed (0.01 meaning: output frequency is within 1% of target frequency)

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🌈 USAGE 🌈

so here's the tea. the vfs11_vfd driver takes precedence over panel control while it is enabled (see the .enable pin), effectively disabling the panel. clearing the .enable pin re-enableds the panel. (yes, "re-enableds". we keep it, we love it. 💀)

pins and parameters can still be set, but will not be written to the VFD untile the .enable pin is set. operating parameters are still read while bus control is disabled.

exiting the vfs11_vfd driver in a controlled will release the VFD from the bus and restore panel control.

see the LinuxCNC Integrators Manual for more information. and for a detailed register description of the Toshiba VFD's, see the "TOSVERT VF-S11 Communications Function Instruction Manual" (Toshiba document number E6581222) and the "TOSVERT VF-S11 Instruction manual" (Toshiba document number E6581158). 📚

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💖 AUTHOR 💖

Michael Haberler; based on gs2_vfd by Steve Padnos and John Thornton. shoutout to the lineage, we love a legacy 🙌

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🎀 LICENSE 🎀

GPL — free as in freedom, bestie. slay.

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and that's the whole page!! you read all of it, you absolute icon 👑 no skimming, no scrolling past the boring bits, we respect the craft here.

this was the vfs11 VFD page, from September 19, 2009, filed under vfs11_vfd(1) — mwah, go forth and configure responsibly 💅✨🦋