IGBT Control System
Fault Finder
WHICH PRODUCE FAULT NUMBERS
THIS IS AN ACTIVE-X CONTROL I DESIGNED IN VIUSAL BASIC 6
THE CONTROL ALLOWS A PERSON TO TAKE A "FAULT NUMBER" THEY SEE IN THE MACHINE INDEX, WALK OVER TO THE DIAGNOSTIC COMPUTER - INPUT THE PREFIX AND 4 DIGIT CODE AND RECEIVE A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM AS WELL AS DIAGNOSTIC AND REPAIR INFORMATION.
SIMPLY SELECT THE IMAGE ABOVE FOR A SHORT VIDEO OF HOW IT WORKS. I DIDN'T INSTALL THE ACTUAL CONTROL ON THIS WEB, FOR THE OBVIOUS REASON OF SIZE, BUT ALSO BECAUSE YOU WOULD HAVE TO HAVE THE ACTIVE-X CONTROL REGISTERED TO YOUR LOCAL COMPUTER. SINCE THE CONTROL WAS MY DESIGN IT WAS EASILY IMPLEMETED ON THE COMPUTER I WAS DESIGNING. BUT WOULD REQUIRE YOU MANY STEPS TO GET IT WORKING, SO I DECIDED JUST TO SHOW A BRIEF VIDEO WITH ONLY "0001 OF EACH FAULT INDEX", AS THE FAULT NUMBERS OF EACH TYPE. THE TOOL ITSELF WAS "OBJECT ORIENTED" AND "UNLIMITED" AND COULD DISPLAY THOUSANDS OF FAULTS DIAGNOSIS. I NEVER SELL "VAPORWARE". WHATEVER I DESIGN FOR WORK---"WORKS". IF I'M "OUT OF MY DEPTH" , I HONESLTY TELL YOU. BUT GIVEN "SUPPORT" I CAN ACCOMPLISH AN SOLUTION TO "MOST" REQUESTS.
IT WAS THE YEAR 1998. INTERNET EXPLORER WAS THE "TOOL OF CHOICE" SINCE IT CAME NATIVE TO THE WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM (WINDOWS NT). INTERNET EXPLORER WAS FREE AND DID NOT REQUIRE PAYING FOR A COMMERCIAL LISCENCE WHICH THE COST WOULD HAVE BEEN SIGNIFICANT IF EMPLOYING A THIRD PARTY SOLUTION MULTIPLIED BY THE NUMBER OF COMPUTERS TO BE UTILIZED ALL OVER THE WORLD FOR OUR CONTROL SSYTEM, SO I 1ST CHOSE THE FREE CHOICE TO SAVE THE COMPNAY MONEY AS WELL AS AVOID COPYRIGHT CONFLICTS OR OTHER FEES A SOFTWARE DEVELOPER MIGHT DEMND FOR USE OF THEIR SOFTWARE INA COMMERCIAL ENVIRONMENT.
ACTIVE- X WAS FREE FOR USE, TO DESIGN CONTROLS WHICH WERE WEB FUNCTIONAL. IN 97 THERE WAS NO JAVA SOULTION AND ANY OTHER SOULTION THAN HTML WOULD ABSORB PROCESSING AND MEMORY POWER WHICH MIGHT CONFLICT OR SLOW THE OPERATION OF THE STATIC HARD DRIVE, SIEMENS SLOT PLC (PCI ) AND WINCC HMI SOFTWARE ALL OF WHICH ARE MEMORY INTENSIVE. CONFLICTS WOULD CREATE PROBLEMS IN FAULT DETECTION , PLC I/O SCAN TIMES AND CYCLES AND DATA TRANSMISSION . "HTML" WAS MY CHOSEN DESCISION.
I WAS ACTUALLY ASSIGNED THE TASK IN AN EFFORT TO GIVE ME SOMETHING TO "DISTRACT ME" FROM MY "REAL JOB DESCRIPTION" AND REPSONSIBILTIES AND DESIGNED FOR MY FAILURE. NO ONE I SAW INTERNET OR OTHER WISE HAD USED ANY SIMILAR SOFTWARE FOR THIS USE IN AN "INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENT". MY SUPERVISOR/ PROJECT MANAHGER WANTED ME TO FAIL, TO ALLOW "HIS FRIEND" TO ASSUME MY DUTIES AND GAIN TRAINING ,ADVANCEMENT AND TRAVEL. THE COMMISIONING ENGINEERS WHO WERE TO EMPLOY USE OF THIS SYSTEM HELPED ME TETS MY DESIGN AS I WAS DEVELOPING THE FAULT DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM AND COMPUTER HARDWARE. THEY SECRETLY INFORMED ME OF MY SUPERVISORS COMMENTS AND ATTEMPTS TO DISCREDIT AND ANNOY ME SO THAT I WOULD FAIL. COMMENTS WERE MADE IN MEETINGS BEHIND MY BACK I WAS NOT AWARE OF. THECOMMISSIONING ENGINEERS ANXIOULSY ANTICIPATED MY DESIGN TOOL SINCE THEY SAW IT IN ACTION, AS I MADE DEVELOPMENT AND IT WOULD SIMPLIFY THEIR JOB IMMENSELY AS I WAS ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR TRAINING THEM ON THE SYSTEM.
WHEN I WAS NEAR COMPLETION, THE PROJECT MANAGER TOLD ME "HE DID NOT WANT TO SEE A LAUNDRY LIST OF FAULTS TO HAVE TO SCROLL THROUGH THOUSANDS OF CHOICES TO FIND AN ANSWER. HE WAS SURE I WOULD NOT FIND A SOLUTION, THEN HE COULD DISCREDIT ME AS A ENGINEER. HE FIGURED THIS TASK WOULD PROVE PROBLEMATIC. SO I CREATED THIS ACTIVE-X CONTROL IN A FREE EDITION OF VISUAL BASIC 5. I WROTE THE CONTROL IN VISUAL BASIC 5, EMBEDDED IT INTO A WEB PAGE AND USED THE WEB BEING A LIGHT WEIGHT CONTROL TO BE ABLE TO INPUT FAULT NUMBERS WITHOUT HEAVY PROGRAMMING AND "OBJECT ORIENTED". NEW NUMBERS AND FAULTS COULD EASILY BE ADDED WITHOUT HAVING TO INTRODUCE A DATABASE OR ACTIVE SERVER PAGES WHICH MIGHT USE TOO MUCH PROCESSING AND MEMEORY AND INTERFERE WITH OTHER SOFTWARE. ALL HE AND HIS TEAM HAD TO DO WAS GIVE ME THE DIAGNOSTIC INFORMATION AND I COULD INTERGRATE THAT INTO HTML PAGES AND THE SYSTEM WOULD BE ABLE TO DISPLAY ANY FAULT AND REPAIR INFORMATION. I WENT A STEP BEYOND AND DESIGNED THE SYSTEM TO HAVE VARIOUS FEATURES OF EACH "TOUCH SCREEN ICON". THUS I WOULD BE ABLE TO ADD ALL CONTROL DOCUMETATION AND AN INTUITIVE INTERFACE TO DIAGNOSE AND REPAIR "EVERY ASPECT" OF THE SYSTEM. GIVING COMMISIONING ENGINEERS FULL DOCUMENTATION TO RESOLVE ANY ISSUE AND THE MINIMG PERSONELL AS WELL AS PER THE CONTRACT THEY AGREED UPON.
HE BECAME "IRRITATED" AS HE TOLD ME - "HE DIDN'T ACTAULLY WANT ANYONE TO BE ABLE TO DIAGNOSE AND FIX EVERYTHING. BUT GIVE THEM JUST ENOUGH KNOWLDEG TO FEEL THE NEED TO CALL "HIM" AND HIS TEAM FOR REPAIRS". HE SPENT TIME TRYING TO DISCREDIT ME , WHILE COMMISIONING ENGINEERS TOLD UPPPER MANAGEMNT OF HOW I WAS COMPETENT. SINCE HE WAS "TOO BIG" FOR ME TO CHALLENGE - (I WAS TOLD.) I WAS GIVEN ANOTHER TASK AND REMOVED FROM HIS TEAM. (LIKE THE 12 TASKS OF HERCULES).I WAS AKSED COULD I PROGRAM IN VISUAL BASIC AS WELL. I REPLIED "TO A DEGREE". I WAS SENT TO GERMANY TO DEVELOP A "GUIDED COMMISIONING MODULE" FOR A MEDIUM VOLTAGE DRIVE SYSTEM FOR WORLDWIDE USE BY COMMISSIONING ENGINEERS IN ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO SEE "IF I WAS WORTHY". I WAS THEN ASSIGNED ASSIGNED THE TASK WITH NO SUPPORT. (SEE MY "HMI" WEB PAGE). I SUCCEED AT THIS AS WELL. (ANOTHER STORY)
