The Windows simulation now has the capability to simulate Battery Backed Ram. This allows the simulation to function just like a controller that remembers its memory between startups.

The use of command Line arguments to set the Model and the Switch setting are required. If the two command line arguments are used the simulation will save its memory records and its setups to two binary files, BSSMem.bin and RECMem.bin. The two files are created/updated when the simulation is shutdown in one of the three methods.

1. The main controller display window is closed with the windows close, X, button.
2. The debug window is closed with the windows close, X, button.
3. The debugger Q command is used to shut the simulation down.

These two files are valid, just like the memory in the controller, only for the simulation version, Switch setting and Model that the files.

If the simulation is started with the Switch and Model command line arguments it will look for the two files. If they are present, the simulation will attempt to use them. If the files were created using a different software version, Switch or Model, just like the controller does, the simulation will start up from a cleared memory state. If the same Software, Switch and Model are used the memory will be retained and the simulation will start up in the same state it was in when shutdown.

To allow for multiple simulations to run at the same time with Eclipse we have the port command line. If the port command line is used, the filenames of the files storing memory change slightly. In this case the port number gets incorporated in the file name. For example, if the port number is 1234 the file names will be BSS1234Mem.bin and Rec1234Mem.bin.

The Delay After Shear feature got broken in the XL220OL while implementing SCN 4496. This has now been resolved.

We have added a new trigger type for Quality Audits. We can now trigger on a shift change.

The XL controller does not know anything about shifts. It relies on Eclipse to send a shift change command at the end of each shift. This new trigger relies on Eclipse being running and the XL being powered up and communicating at the end of shift.

On a tile machine the material must have forming steps placed in it in order for the material to feed all the way through the forming presses through the shear.

Scrap pieces, like a test part, have never had a pattern applied to them. This made the Test part feature, added after the fact, useless on a Tile Machine.

The Coil Trim Cut feature was always intended to cut a small strip off of the leading edge of the first part after a coil change, it was never intended to be large enough to require a Tile Step. However, we have discovered that the first several feet of a newly threaded coil on some Tile Machines have some wavy visual defects in them. On these machines they prefer that the Coil Trim Cut feature remove this first few feet. The length of the scrap piece requires it to have forming steps to make it all the way through the presses.

The solution to both problems was to modify our current part calculation and part queueing functions to accept override parameters that specify the length and type of part that is being dealt with.

To prevent issues on legacy installations a new setup parameter called Coil Trim Cut Mode was added to the XL270. It has two settings, No Steps and With Steps. The setting defaults to No Steps. Customers who want to use longer Coil Trim Cuts can select the With Steps option so that their Coil Trim Cut parts will have steps.

In both cases, Test Part and Coil Trim Cut, the pattern that defines the steps comes from the item currently being filled into the part queue.

The combination of part length, tool locations and the size of the formed step can result in some part lengths that cannot be produced without part damage that comes from a step forming process that draws a previously formed step backwards into the lower shear blade. The controller has run time code that tests for this condition. in the case of a Coil Trim Cut or Test part it may not be obvious that it is not the programmed part length that is at fault. For this reason two new error messages were added, one for Test Part and One for Coil Trim Cut. The Errors are Coil Trim Cut Failure and Test Part Failure. Both errors have instructions to reference the prior error message for the cause. For cases when the part length is causing a problem it is hoped that the user will understand that it is the Test Part or Coil Trim Cut length that is at fault rather than the part length in the programmed items.

At times controllers can have a problem of alternating between short and long parts as the missing material from a short part gets added to the next part, making the next part more likely to be long. Even if the next part cuts perfectly in the right place it will be long because the prior part was cut in the wrong place, short.

On shear only controllers a method used to counteract this is to reset the encoder count on every shear to match the expected shear target from the part queue. This gives each part a fresh start. Each part has an equal chance to be accurate without the prior parts accuracy impacting it.

This technique is only valid if there are no other queue targets for other presses that would be negatively impacted. It is also not valid if you have a hole queue of detected holes that have been captured based on the current encoder count. Adjusting the encoder count effectively changes where those holes have been detected. This oversight has now been corrected.

Enabled the Hole Correction feature on the XL200SPD Open Loop controller.

SCN 4516 Broke the Delay After Shear feature. SCN 4516 to enable the Stitch Mode when omitting Shears resulted in a reorganization of the stitching code. This change was required to allow multiple items to be stitched together using the omission of shears.

Prior changes had been made to support stitching on a Break and Hump line, SCN 4418 and SCN 4419.

In order to support all of the Delay after Shear options and Brake and Hump the length of the uncut Blank must be known. The changes required for SCN 4516 combined with all of the other changes made, and all of the new options created by SCN4516 made it an extensive problem to know what the final stitched blank size will be at the start of the blank, which is required. A new setup parameter was created so that a blank size can be provided for stitched parts. It is called Average Stitched Blank Size. This is the blank size that will be used for Stitched parts when considering Delay After Shear and the Short Part and Very Short Part outputs used in Brake and Hump applications.

In order for the Short Part and Very Short Part comparisons to work properly on an SPD controller the correct output resolution must be used. This has been resolved.

Hole Correction on a line where the detected holes are put in by a system that uses a different encoder than the cutoff has additional considerations. The corrected resolution of the XL must be adjusted to match the resolution detected using the distance between sensed holes. If we don't, the XL's shear targets will drift forever with respect to the detected holes.

To test this condition on the PC simulation requires a different simulation. This simulation did not start the first hole correctly.

For diagnostic purposes and to prevent long runs of uncorrected parts a new error message was added. If the controller is configured for hole correction and a hole is not detected within the Hole Tolerance of the shear, a Missing Hole Correction error will be displayed and the line will be halted.

The new screen is displayed if the controller is in Hole Correction mode.

The new screen currently shows three fields.

1. The controllers correction Factor is displayed.
2. The Hole Correction is displayed.
3. The Offset is displayed.

The Hole Correction will be 100% if the Shear targets being Queued using the controllers corrected resolution (Correction Factor). On Shear only applications where the controller is detecting holes put in by another system, the controller will have to correct the targets it queues to prevent them from drifting outside of the Hole Tolerance. It is assumed that the system placing the holes will be placing them correctly. In this case the Hole Correction is the percentage that the Targets are being adjusted by when being added to the Queue. This is a correction of the controllers correction factor.

The Offset is the difference between where the XL has its target queued and where the holes are being detected.