GE Fanuc Emerson | Versamax Micro

About GE VersaMax Micro
GE Fanuc’s VersaMax Micro are family of compact, small controllers that are especially designed to cater automation requirements of small industrial process or machine control applications. The VersaMax Micro can accommodate has an I/O range of 28 Input and Output point up to 84 I/O points, expandable with the use of additional modules. The VersaMax Micro though small in size, features a faster scan cycle time compared to previous controllers for the same application range. It is designed with a durable housing, intended to withstand long hours or non-stop operation and provides flexible and easy access to the controller’s memory contents.

The VersaMax Micro has an intuitive and modern design, supporting modern communication options and modern instruction sets. The VersaMax Micro has an embedded Serial communication port and a expansion interface that is readily available for installation of add-on modules to enhance the operation of the compact controller. 

The onboard controller boasts of a 9k Words of user memory, 1.0 µsec. Per Boolean Operation Execution, faster than previous micro controllers, Floating Point Math, Real-time clock (RTC) for implementing schedule or period based automation, Proportional + Integral + Derivative (PID) instruction set, Motion control capable, Embedded High-Speed counters for counting, totalizing and position monitoring, and support for subroutine instructions for managing execution and creating an easy to understand user program. It also has Two (2) potentiometers that may be used as setpoint adjustment or internal data manipulation. The VersaMax Micro also supports installation of battery back-up for data and real-time clock module.

Up to Four (4) additional modules may be installed along a VersaMax Micro controller or a maximum of 84 I/O points. Specifically, expansion may be done with the use of 28 point micro and 70 I/O using the 14 point micro modules.

The VersaMax Micro offers a wide range of compact controller models such as UDR001, UDR002, UDD104, UAA003, UAL006, DR005, UDR010, UDD110, and UAA007. All controllers have built-in discrete input and output channels and embedded serial communication ports.

The serial communication port of the VersaMax Micro controller may be used to initialize ports and controller, Set up the data buffer size, Received data buffer flushing, monitor port status of operation, enable and disable RTS on the serial port, abort operation, automatic model dialing for sending a specified message or string, transmit up to a maximum of 250 characters from the internal Word memory to a remote device and read received character from the input buffer. This communication port supports communication to different industrial devices such as Computers, Printers, Modem, Pagers, Bar Code Reader or scanners, Intelligent scales, ASCII devices, Operator Interface or Huan Machine Interface (HMI), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), gateways, protocol converters and other software and devices. 

The Same serial communication port supports multi-drop topology using the RS485 communication standard. The VersaMax Micro controller may act as the master device or the client device in this multi-drop or daisy-chain topology. It may be used to communication directly to other controllers or devices such as Power meters and other Intelligent Electronic Devices (IED).

The VersaMax Micro controller is programmed using the VersaMax Pro programming software.

PROS:

• Compact Design
• Scalable and modular at the same time
• Supports Standard modules, typically used in the industry
• Supports Motion Control
• Embedded Serial Communication Port
• Configurable as Master or Client in the RS485 Network
• Supports Ladder and Instruction List Programming Language
• Supports a variety of communication protocols including Ethernet
• Fast execution of user program for a small PLC
• Modern and compact design
• Easy to install
• User-friendly programming software

CONS:

• No embedded Ethernet ports
• No Front Panel LCD
• Webserver functionality
• IoT not ready