Configuring Multiple Yaskawa GA500 Drives in Siemens TIA Portal

Overview: GA500 to S7-1500 over PROFINET

The Yaskawa GA500 industrial AC microdrive communicates with a Siemens S7-1500 controller through PROFINET IO. When four GA500 units are deployed on a single PROFINET subnet, TIA Portal must know — for every drive — which input/output process image words belong to it and which function-block instance should issue the cyclic data words. Two identifiers drive that binding: the I/O address range (PIW/PQW) the drive occupies in the S7-1500 process image, and the Hardware Identifier (HWID) assigned by TIA Portal to the drive's PROFINET sub-module. The Yaskawa-supplied function-block library (manual TOEPYAIPFB01) uses the HWID as the handle that tells the FB "this is the drive I am talking to." Without a unique, correct HWID on every FB instance, all four drives will either refuse to exchange data or collide on the same process image.

Prerequisites and Required Components

Download the GSDML and TOEPYAIPFB01 library from the Yaskawa product pages, not from third-party repositories. The library is published as a TIA Portal V16+ global library and contains FBs, UDTs, and PLC data types tuned to the GA500's process data layout.

Official references:

• Yaskawa GA500 Industrial AC Microdrive product page
• TOEPYAIPFB01 — Yaskawa TIA Portal FB integration manual

Installing the GSDML and Yaskawa FB Library

1. Extract the GA500 GSDML archive to a known folder on the engineering workstation.
2. In TIA Portal, open Options > Manage general station description files (GSD).
3. Browse to the GSDML folder and select the XML file. Confirm installation; the GA500 appears in the Hardware Catalog under PROFINET IO > Drives > Yaskawa Electric > GA500.
4. Close and reopen TIA Portal if the new GSD does not appear in the catalog.
5. Open Options > Global libraries > Open library and import the Yaskawa FB library archive (.zip/.al16). The library installs as a global library that can be opened from the project tree.
6. Copy the FBs, UDTs, and PLC data types you need into your project blocks folder. Do not modify the FB interfaces; the HWID input is fixed by the library and matches what TIA Portal exposes per PROFINET sub-module.

Hardware Configuration in TIA Portal

1. Open the device configuration of the S7-1512 CPU and switch to the Network view.
2. Drag four GA500 devices from the Hardware Catalog into the PROFINET subnet of the CPU.
3. Assign each drive a unique station name and IP address on the PROFINET subnet (e.g., ga500-01/192.168.0.11, ga500-02/192.168.0.12, etc.).
4. Assign each drive a unique PROFINET device number. TIA Portal will auto-assign if you let it; record the device numbers for the field wiring label set.
5. Right-click each GA500 > Properties > PROFINET interface > Ethernet addresses and confirm the IP, subnet, and PROFINET device name match the values you will set on the drive side using DriveWizard.

After insertion, the four drives are visible in the network view with a PROFINET line to the CPU. The binding between PLC project and physical drive is the PROFINET device name. A drive that is online but misnamed will not enter data exchange with the S7-1500.

Telegram Selection and I/O Address Assignment

The GA500 PROFINET option card supports standard PROFIdrive telegrams. The most common selection for a four-drive system is Standard Telegram 1 (ST1) with 2 PZD words in and 2 PZD words out, which provides the minimum wordcount for speed reference and status feedback. For closed-loop vector applications with actual speed feedback via PROFIdrive, use Standard Telegram 3.

1. Open the Device view of the first GA500 drive.
2. In the device overview (the lower table), select the PROFINET sub-module (typically the "PZD" or slot 0 sub-module).
3. In Properties > Module parameters > I/O addresses, confirm the input and output address ranges. TIA Portal auto-assigns PIW/PQW addresses; the range is e.g., IW 100...IW 103 (2 words) and QW 100...QW 103 (2 words) for ST1.
4. Repeat for drives 2, 3, and 4, ensuring the auto-assigned ranges do not overlap. A typical layout for four ST1 drives:

5. For each drive, set the Consistent over field to Entire PD if the application uses SFC14/SFC15 (DPRD/DPRD_DAT) for consistent data read/write. The Yaskawa FB library typically reads/writes via SFC14/15 internally; in that case leave the consistency at "Total length" and do not access the process image with direct I/O. Doing both will collide.

Locating the Hardware Identifier (HWID) for Each Drive

This is the step the original engineering question centers on. The HWID is what the Yaskawa FB uses internally to know which PROFINET sub-module it should read and write. Every PROFINET sub-module in TIA Portal has a unique HWID, generated at compile time.

1. Select the first GA500 in the Device view of the project.
2. Open Properties > General > System constants. The HWID of the PROFINET submodule appears as an entry such as HW_ID_1 with a numeric value (e.g., 268). This number is the HWID the FB needs.
3. Alternatively, right-click the drive > Properties > PROFINET interface [X1] > Hardware identifier. The identifier is shown as a decimal integer.
4. Record the HWID for each drive in a project table:

Creating Drive-Specific Data Blocks

You need a data block (DB) per drive that holds the cyclic process data (control word, speed reference, status word, actual speed) and the parameter read/write structures used by the Yaskawa FBs.

1. In the project tree, add Program blocks > Add new block > Data block. Name it e.g., DB_Drive_01.
2. Open the DB and declare the variables that the Yaskawa FB expects. A minimal ST1 layout looks like:

DATA_BLOCK "DB_Drive_01"
{ S7_Optimized_Access := 'TRUE' ; }
VERSION : 0.1
NON_RETAIN
   STRUCT
      ControlWord       : WORD;     // PZD1 OUT -> QW100
      SpeedReference    : INT;       // PZD2 OUT -> QW102 (N2/N4 in PROFIdrive scaling)
      StatusWord        : WORD;     // PZD1 IN  <- PIW100
      ActualSpeed       : INT;       // PZD2 IN  <- PIW102
      ParameterReadReq  : BOOL;
      ParameterWriteReq : BOOL;
      ParameterNumber   : UINT;
      ParameterValue    : DWORD;
      ErrorCode         : WORD;
   END_STRUCT;
END_DATA_BLOCK

3. Create DB_Drive_02, DB_Drive_03, DB_Drive_04 with identical structure. Using the UDT from the Yaskawa library for the drive data structure (e.g., UDT_GA500_ProcessData) and instantiating it four times is the cleaner approach.

Linking FB Instances to Drives via HWID

The Yaskawa FB exposes a HWID (or equivalent, per the TOEPYAIPFB01 naming) input parameter. That is the binding point between the FB instance and the physical drive. If four drives share a single FB type, you must instantiate it four times and supply each instance with the HWID of the corresponding drive.

1. Open OB1 (or a dedicated cyclic OB, e.g., OB35).
2. Insert the Yaskawa FB four times. Name the instances GA500_Ctrl_01 through GA500_Ctrl_04.
3. Wire the inputs and outputs of each instance to the corresponding DB_Drive_xx:

// OB1 - cyclic call to Yaskawa FB for each drive
"GA500_Ctrl_01"( // Drive 1
    HWID        := 268,              // From System Constants of ga500-01
    DriveData   := "DB_Drive_01",
    Enable      := TRUE,
    Error       => "Tag_Drive01_Err",
    ErrorCode   => "Tag_Drive01_ErrCode"
);

"GA500_Ctrl_02"( // Drive 2
    HWID        := 269,              // From System Constants of ga500-02
    DriveData   := "DB_Drive_02",
    Enable      := TRUE,
    Error       => "Tag_Drive02_Err",
    ErrorCode   => "Tag_Drive02_ErrCode"
);

"GA500_Ctrl_03"( // Drive 3
    HWID        := 270,              // From System Constants of ga500-03
    DriveData   := "DB_Drive_03",
    Enable      := TRUE,
    Error       => "Tag_Drive03_Err",
    ErrorCode   => "Tag_Drive03_ErrCode"
);

"GA500_Ctrl_04"( // Drive 4
    HWID        := 271,              // From System Constants of ga500-04
    DriveData   := "DB_Drive_04",
    Enable      := TRUE,
    Error       => "Tag_Drive04_Err",
    ErrorCode   => "Tag_Drive04_ErrCode"
);

4. Compile the project. After compilation, right-click the Blocks folder and select Download to device > Hardware and software to push the configuration to the S7-1512.

GA500 Drive-Side Parameter Configuration

For each GA500, configure the PROFINET and PROFIdrive parameters with DriveWizard Industrial or the keypad. The exact parameter set depends on the application profile (speed control vs. torque control), but a minimum working set for PROFIdrive speed control with Standard Telegram 1 is:

For the Yaskawa-specific parameter mapping (F7-xx group on the GA500), the PROFIdrive process data layout is defined in the option card's manual. Confirm against the option-card-specific release notes shipped with TOEPYAIPFB01.

Commissioning and Verification

1. Power the S7-1512 and connect the PROFINET subnet. All four GA500 stations should appear in TIA Portal's Online > Accessible nodes with their assigned device names.
2. In Online > Diagnostics > PROFINET diagnostics, verify that every drive is in the Cyclic data exchange state (green check). A device in "Connected, no data exchange" indicates a name/IP mismatch or a telegram length mismatch.
3. Open the watch table for the four drive DBs. Force the ControlWord of DB_Drive_01 to 16#047E (PROFIdrive shutdown) and observe the GA500-01 entering "Ready to switch on". Step through 16#047F (Switch on) and 16#047F with bit 4 set (Enable operation) to reach "Operation enabled".
4. Write a small speed reference (e.g., 500 = 50% of nominal) to SpeedReference and confirm ActualSpeed tracks it within the configured ramp time.
5. Repeat for drives 2, 3, and 4 to validate the per-drive binding.
6. Check the Yaskawa FB instance's Error output. FALSE with ErrorCode = 0 confirms a clean cyclic exchange for that drive.

Troubleshooting Matrix

Field-Proven Notes

• Keep the GSDML revision and option-card firmware aligned. A common commissioning failure is using a GSDML shipped with an older option-card firmware; the device negotiates but TIA logs "Sub-module mismatch."
• Treat HWID as project data, not constant. Do not paste an HWID from a previous project or from an example. Read it from the compiled project's System constants table each time.
• One FB instance per drive. The Yaskawa library is designed so a single FB instance owns one drive's HWID. Reusing one instance across multiple drives will cause data collisions.
• Avoid mixing direct PIW/PQW access with the FB. If the FB uses SFC14/SFC15 internally to read/write the process image with "Total length" consistency, no other code should touch the same PIW/PQW range directly.
• Document the device name → IP → HWID → DB mapping in the project documentation. This is the single most time-saving table on any future drive swap.