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Automatic Device Configuration for PowerFlex® Drives

Wayne Welk7/2/2020

What is ADC? 
PowerFlex® 520 series and PowerFlex 750 series drives and peripherals with RSLogix® 5000 v20 controllers and above, support Automatic Device Configuration (ADC).

This means that your Logix controller can use ADC to automatically download parameters to the drive and peripherals when a configuration signature change is detected and/or a drive is replaced. 

When the drives are installed on an Ethernet network with Stratix® managed switches, the switch can act as a DHCP server to provide the correct IP address on the following drives: 

  • PowerFlex 755 drive with embedded EtherNet/IP port 
  • PowerFlex 753 drive with the dual port EtherNet/IP adapter 20-750-ENETR 
  • PowerFlex 525 Embedded EtherNet with BOOTP 
  • PowerFlex 525 and 523 drive with dual port EtherNet/IP adapter 25-COMM-E2P with DHCP. 


With ADC and other component features, the system will: 

  • Serve out the IP address for the replacement drive from the EtherNet/IP managed switch. 
  • Automatically verify or flash the firmware of the drive and peripherals, to ensure compatibility with your configuration. 
  • Automatically download the drive and peripheral as commissioned parameters. 


Benefits of Automatic Device Configuration include: 

  • Simplify the drive replacement process to just replacing hardware and rewiring – no configuration needed. 
  • Reduced the possibility for programming errors or downloading the wrong config file. 
  • Restricted access to parameter changes, as the Logix controller owns the drives configuration 
  • Spare drives don’t need replacing or manually flashing to the correct firmware of drives and peripherals. 


Supporting Videos: 


Things to be aware of: 

There are some rules for ADC to complete successfully: 

  • A replacement drive must meet all firmware electronic keying requirements for ADC to complete successfully. 
  • Firmware must be loaded into Firmware Supervisor if required to automatically resolve firmware version incompatibility. 
  • Replacement drives must have an identical configuration of port hardware. 
  • The Safe Speed Monitor card must always be in Program mode before it is configured by ADC. 


Want to learn more? 

For a more thorough description of ADC, additional guidance, rules and limitations, read this Knowledgebase article from Rockwell Automation, which is available to everyone regardless of current TechConnect status.