Lines

A line connects FBD-elements, such as →value fields, with other FBD-elements.
Usually, a line leads from the output connection point (short: output) of one FBD-element to the input connection point (short: input) of the other FBD-element. Open lines are possible – an open line is a line that does not start and/or end with an FBD-element.

A line might consist of different orthogonal parts that are automatically created.

Representation

Color/style of a line is determined by the data type that is valid for the output.

Depending on the configuration of your Neuron Power Engineer version, the FBD-editor and its elements might be displayed differently in your Neuron Power Engineer version than illustrated in the IDE documentation. This is the case, if Neuron  or the system integrator has activated the smart styling or one of them has changed the styles for the FBD-editor. Subsequently, the illustration in the IDE documentation are symbolic images and the representation in your Neuron Power Engineer version takes precedence for the valid representation. In case of doubts, please contact Neuron or your system integrator.

Neuron recommends that you and/or your system integrator do not use yellow shades when designing FBD-elements because the color "Yellow" is used for tracking safe signals when developing safety-related applications. This recommendation applies in particular when you are using the legacy styling. Neuron Power Engineer does not check if colors are already used elsewhere. So the use of the yellow shades by you and/or your system integrator could have the consequence that "yellow" might also identify a non-safe logic as well.

Examples for the representation:

• Values fields that are connected with a line:

  

• Calls and values fields that are connected with lines:

  

• Value field with an open line:

  

By default, Boolean lines are emphasized within an FBD-editor with →instance context:

Boolean lines are lines that are connected to FBD-elements containing or representing a →variable of →data type BOOL. or a →Boolean literal. The emphasizing of Boolean lines has the following meaning:

• A thick, red line indicates the value TRUE (or an equivalent).

• A thick, dark-blue line indicates the value FALSE (or an equivalent).

• A thick line dashed in black and red is indicating that no value could be requested for the line. A possible reason for this is that the current state of the application has not been loaded onto the PLC yet. This means for the illustration:: The variables var1, var2 and var3 already exist on the PLC, but not the variable var4.

Good to know
When animating a Boolean line for a variable, Neuron Power Engineer is using the value that exists on the →PLC. However in case of a Boolean literal, Neuron Power Engineer is using the value directly from the logic. See "Example: Effect of a changed Boolean literal onto the animation".

Actions for lines

 You might want to use connectors and continuations to replace some of the lines.