Product Bulletin

Harmony Controlway Problem Description

Revised to provide additional guidance
Products Concerned:
IMMFP12
INNPM12
IMCPM02
PHCBRC10000000
PHCBRC20000000
PHCBRC30000000
PHCBRC40000000

Background Information and Purpose of this Document:

A problem has been identified with the Harmony Controlway communication bus interface design that can
potentially impact bus input signal values for one bus scan cycle. The purpose of this notification is as
follows:

· Provide awareness of the problem to the Harmony customer installed base

· Provide a description of the problem symptoms and a description of how this problem, dependent
upon your particular configuration, can affect system operation

· Explain how to identify if a specific Harmony system is susceptible to experiencing this problem

· Provide the recommended resolution to the problem.

Problem Description:
The symptom of the problem is that some IMMFP12 or some PHCBRC100/200/300/400 modules may, in
isolated cases, experience a sudden but brief Controlway bus input value change. The bus input value, when
affected, may change to an incorrect value for ONE bus scan cycle. This condition applies to bus input points
(FC25 AI/B, and FC41 DI/B) and bus input lists (FC63 AIL/B, and FC64 DIL/B). The receipt of an
unexpected incorrect bus input value into a controller module for one scan cycle could negatively affect
system operation, possibly resulting in a related process trip or other system mis-operation, if the application
control logic within the receiving controller uses bus points for interlock purposes.
Module Identification:
A Harmony Process Control Unit (PCU) may be susceptible to experience this problem if one (or more)
modules communicating on a specific Controlway bus within that PCU is of a specific nomenclature type
AND if one or more of these module nomenclature types has a specific version of the Controlway design
installed. It is possible to determine if a given Harmony PCU is susceptible to experience this problem by
visual inspection of the module types and the Controlway version of each module type within that PCU. The

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specific module types affected are listed below. Furthermore, listed with each module type is the potentially
problematic Controlway version for that module type. If any one single module within a Harmony PCU
contains the problematic version of the Controlway design, the bus input problem can potentially be
experienced by any controller module within that PCU.
The problematic version of the Controlway design has been in existence and included in Harmony products
since August 2004. Any Harmony system assembled and delivered prior to this date will not contain the
problematic version of Controlway, unless newer expansion or replacement modules have been added to the
system. If any newer expansion or replacement modules have been added to an older system, the system
should be inspected for this potential problem.
The Controlway interface design has been recently enhanced to resolve and eliminate this problem within the
products identified in items 2, 3, and 4 below. The enhanced design is now included with all newly
manufactured products of these specific module types.

1. PHCBRC10000000 and PHCBRC20000000:

Inspect location U42 (lower-right corner of the board assembly). If this location contains a daughterboard
within a socket, and the daughterboard part number is 6644789A1, this module can cause or experience the
problem. The daughterboard part number will be either silk-screened on the surface of the circuit board, or
contain an adhesive label with the part number printed on the surface of the label.
2. PHCBRC30000000 and PHCBRC40000000:
Inspect location XU15 (top-center of the board assembly). If the socket contains a daughterboard AND the
daughterboard is part number 6644789A1, this module can cause or experience the problem. The
daughterboard part number will be either silk-screened on the surface of the circuit board, or contain an
adhesive label with the part number printed on the surface of the label. If XU15 does NOT contain a
daughterboard, inspect the label contained on either U26 (middle-left on the board assembly) or U71 (also
middle-left on the board assembly). If this label contains the checksum E19B, this module can cause or
experience the problem.

3. INNPM12:
Inspect location U27 (middle center of the board assembly). If this location contains a daughterboard AND
the daughterboard is part number 6644789A1, this module can cause controller modules within the PCU
where the INNPM12 module is installed to experience the problem. The daughterboard part number will be
either silk-screened on the surface of the circuit board, or contain an adhesive label with the part number
printed on the surface of the label.
4. IMCPM02:
Inspect locations XU18 and XU19 (middle-right on the board assembly). If these locations contain a
daughterboard AND the daughterboard is part number 6644789A1, this module can cause controller modules
within the PCU where the IMCPM02 module is installed to experience the problem. The daughterboard part

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number will be either silk-screened on the surface of the circuit board, or contain an adhesive label with the
part number printed on the surface of the label.

5. IMMFP12:
Inspect location U27 (middle center of the board assembly). If this location contains a daughterboard AND
the daughterboard is part number 6644789A1, this module can cause or experience the problem. The
daughterboard part number will be either silk-screened on the surface of the circuit board, or contain an
adhesive label with the part number printed on the surface of the label.

Problem Resolution Options:

If a Harmony PCU contains one or more modules containing the problematic version of the Controlway
design, there are a couple methods to prevent the problem from affecting system operation in a negative way.
It is recommended that one of the following options be selected and implemented:
1. Hard-wire process-critical signals.

Instead of sending process critical signals across the Controlway bus, use physical I/O hardware to
pass this information between control applications.

2. Add Time delay / filter on all critical Controlway bus input signals.
Because the bus input value change is only momentary, the problem can be easily alleviated by
adding a time delay (or filter) to the bus input signal within the receiving module. The time delay (or
filter) needs to be configured such that the interlock logic does not respond to the momentary value
change. The required time delay must be greater than or equal to the module bus scan rate + one
controller module logic segment execution cycle time. For individual bus points (FC25 and FC41):
Bus scan cycle = S2 of FC82 + S13 of FC82. For bus input lists (FC63 and FC64): Bus scan cycle =
S2 of FC82 + S1 of FC63 or FC64. By default, the bus scan cycle will be ½ second (250msec +
250msec = 500msec).
With respect to Boolean bus input signals, the resolution is to add a FC35 TD-DIG block to the input
signal as shown in Figure 1. S2 of the timer = 1 (Timed Out), and S3 = calculated bus scan cycle (as
above).

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 Figure 1 - Adding Time Delay (Filtering) to Bus Input Signals
DI/B
Boolean Bus Input Signal S1 TD-DIG (35)
1234 (41) 1235

S1 0 S2 1
S2 0 S3 0.5

To Process Logic

AI/B
Real Bus Input Signal S1 (8)
2345 (25) S2 2346
S1 0 S3 10
S2 0 S4 10
1
1

For Real bus input signals the resolution requires engineering judgment. A straight forward approach
is to apply a rate limiter block (FC8) to the bus input signal (figure 1 above). Engineering judgment
is necessary to determine appropriate values for the increase and decrease rate limits (S3 and S4).
These specifications are in engineering units / second. Real process values cannot physically change
by more than 2-3% of span within one second. Therefore, values in the range of 4-10% of span
would be appropriate for S3 and S4 of the rate limiter block.

3. Upgrade hardware to latest Harmony System design.

The products identified at the beginning of this document (with the exception of the PHCBRC10000000, and
PHCBRC20000000) have been enhanced with an improved Controlway bus interface design. The new A2
version of the interface design does however still have some potential issues. Depending upon the design of
your system, the Controlway communications within a PCU can become significantly slowed for a period of
up to 30 seconds when specific conditions occur. These conditions can be checked for and actions taken to
avoid, eliminate or resolve the situation. The specific known conditions are described below.

Pre-Upgrade Checklist - System Conditions/Actions to Avoid:

3A. View Back-up Controller Configuration:

If the configuration in a back-up controller is viewed from Composer, the system response described above
can occur. To avoid this issue, do not view the configuration of a back-up controller module. Otherwise,
normal module operations (e.g. on-line configuration) function properly.

3B. Hard Fault Condition:

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If Controlway channel A has a hard short circuit fault condition, the system response described above can
occur. To avoid this issue, inspect and review the system status for any possible short circuit conditions, and
eliminate these faults in a timely manner.

3C. Bus Saturation Condition:

If the Controlway communications (bus load) becomes saturated, if even as a temporary condition, the
system response described above can occur. To avoid this issue, it should be confirmed that no Controlway
bus saturation or overload conditions occur prior to installing the A2 version of Controlway. To operate
correctly, Controlway always needs to have available free time on the bus. It is also important to insure that
no momentary bus saturation “spiking” is occurring. So, even if the steady state bus load condition is quite
low, the system should be checked for any temporary or momentary bus load spiking conditions.

Sometimes, bus load spiking can occur due to the periodic time-alignment of system exception reports. This
condition can be avoided by staggering the max-times of exception reports (S8 of FC82) throughout the
system. For example, it is sufficient to stagger the max-times by a one second difference, so that PCUs have
unique max-times. This technique is also good general practice to provide communications load-leveling
within a system. In general, it is also good practice to eliminate any significant and unnecessary overhead in
the communications system. For example, significant change % of span (S9 of FC82) values should be
configured appropriately (e.g. 1% or 2%). Values under 1% likely will cause a constant flood of unnecessary
exception reports that burden the system with extra communications load.

3D. Inappropriate Configurations.

The following inappropriate configurations listed below may interfere with Controlway communication and
dramatically increase the chances of a problem occurring.
• N90STA type tags defined in HMI to monitor module status of a backup controller.
• FC95 function blocks defined in controller reading from backup controller address.
• Any tags defined in HMI pointing to backup controller address.
Any of these items can cause the problem; therefore they should be removed from the system configuration
prior to installing the A2 Controlway design.

A2 Controlway Design Installation

There are different mechanisms for installing the A2 Controlway design upgrade. For the majority of affected
modules the upgrade involves replacing the existing Controlway daughter board with the new daughter board
(p/n 6644789A2) and upgrading the module firmware to the version identified in Table 1. Both parts, the
new daughter board and new firmware, are required to properly upgrade the affected module.

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In systems in which the A2 Controlway design upgrade is being performed, it is recommended that the
firmware in all INNPM12, IMCPM02, and IMMFP12 modules is also upgraded per Table 1, i.e. including
those modules that do not contain daughter boards.

Table 1- Required Module Firmware Revision Levels

Module Firmware Comments

Version

INNPM12 F8 or later Replace existing daughter board with p/n 6644789A2.

IMCPM02 B0 or later Replace existing daughter board with p/n 6644789A2.

IMMFP12 GA or later Replace existing daughter board with p/n 6644789A2.

PHCBRC30000000 With Daughter boards:

or Replace existing daughter board with p/n 6644789A2

J0 or later
PHCBRC40000000 Without Daughter boards:

FPGA code must be re-programmed.

PHCBRC10000000 Without Daughter boards, w/ ASIC

or * No upgrade needed *
N/A
PHCBRC20000000 With Daughter boards:

Step Up program to be announced to replace modules

Since it is necessary to match the Daughter board upgrades with specific firmware as noted in the table, it
will be necessary to order Daughter boards and Firmware Upgrade Kits by module type. These module
specific kits will be available at time of order through Business On-Line (BOL) and other standard warranty
RMA channels.
PHCBRC30000000 and PHCBRC40000000 modules will either have a daughter board installed in location
XU15 (see Figure 2) or XU15 will be empty. If XU15 has the Controlway daughter board p/n 6644789A1, it
will need to be replace with the new daughter board (p/n 6644789A2).

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 Figure 2 - BRC300/400 Board Lay-out

P13
XU15 U22

U26

U71

SW5 SW2 SW3 SW4

When XU15 does NOT contain a daughter board, inspect the label contained on either U26 or U71. If this
label contains the checksum E19B, this module must have the Controlway FPGA re-programmed. Order a
replacement module through BOL and/or other standard RMA channels.
PHCBRC10000000 and BRC20000000 modules that are installed and running with a Controlway ASIC
soldered onto the module, do not require any Controlway upgrade. PHCBRC10000000 or BRC20000000
modules that have Controlway on Daughter boards do not have any solution other than to upgrade these
modules to the current generation of PHCBRC30000000 and BRC40000000, respectively. A Step Up
program to exchange these modules will be announced by a separate product announcement.

Important Note:
Any PHCBRC30000000 and PHCBRC40000000 module in the field that does not currently have a
Daughter board installed is running Controlway functionality embedded in an FPGA. The Controlway
interface cannot be upgraded by installing a new daughter board. In fact, these modules will not function
properly if a Daughter board is installed. These modules must be returned so that the FPGA can be re-
programmed.

Warranty Claim Time Period:

Standard module hardware warranty applies. Warranty claims for the Harmony Controlway issue will
be accepted from October, 2007 thru June 30, 2008. Warranty claims made after June 2008 will be

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 rejected as warranty issues. Hardware (daughter boards), firmware and module replacements after the
warranty period will be subject to standard, service hardware replacement commercial terms.

As previously noted, please contact SupportLine with any questions about the technical aspects of this
bulletin. All commercial requests should be entered through Business-On-Line or your normal
warranty replacement channels. The following information will typically be required when placing a
warranty PO: original sales order, module types, number of each module type, serial numbers.

Please contact ABB Technical Support at 1-800-HELP-365 (International = +1-440-585-7804) or

automationsupportline@us.abb.com for any questions regarding this product bulletin.

REVISION

Rev. ind.: Page (P) Description Date Dept./Init.

Chapt. (C)
Rev A All New 04-OCT-2007
R&D / DM

Rev B P 4, 5 Add Installation Guidelines 24-OCT-2007

QA / TM

Rev C Pp 3 - 8 Improved guidance on problem resolution 09-NOV-2007

PLM / JR
Rev D P6 Added note above Table 1: “In systems in which the A2 10-Dec-07
Controlway design upgrade is being performed, it is PM/RJO
recommended that the firmware in all INNPM12, IMCPM02,
and IMMFP12 modules is also upgraded per Table 1, i.e.
including those modules that do not contain daughter boards.”

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