HCFA Overview

Overview of the Chinese HCFA Controller

(axial displacement HCQ0-1100-D)


The purpose of this review is to evaluate the performance of the provided brand, in particular, to evaluate the quality of the hardware component, software components. How convenient is this equipment, is it possible to use it for the same purposes that other brands use it for? How justified is the price/quality ratio?



To begin with, it was necessary to correctly supply 24V power to this assembly, for this our older brother from the OWEN PLC 110 (M02) company came in handy and gave us a "light".


Bench equipment with HCFA controller was transferred to us for study and independent evaluation. Both in terms of cost and evaluation of the quality of work. The cost of PLK110 (M02) is approximately 48t.p, the cost of a kit with a similar composition of HCFA channels is approximately 60t.p



The controller has an internal bus, created by analogy with such architectures as Beckhoff/Wago, only its housing is slightly smaller. The internal local bus communicates with I/O modules via the fast EtherCAT bus with a 1ms exchange cycle on the bus. This has been tested, as I will describe below..






It is important to note that the power supply and interface signals of the controller are inserted and sit very tightly. The slotted screws are small and the regular OWEN screwdriver no longer fits. A screwdriver from Beckhoff came in handy, since it has a slightly smaller sting.
The HCFA supplier, complete with a controller, gives a small slotted screwdriver as a gift. It was not included in this review, as it was not available.



If the connector is inserted, then there will be no access to it and the information printed on the case will be hidden. It is necessary to think about the placement and connection of power wires in advance. Screwed, inserted and forgot.



This is how the decouplers of the dinreiki look on the reverse side of the assembly. I moved the levers, it seemed to me quite a good solution. Should not be wedged. It is possible to remove from the general assembly exactly the module that needs to be replaced. Nothing should interfere with this process.



The terminals themselves are covered with something interesting. They look much stronger and more solid than those of Beckhoff/Wago.



The terminal block from each module is removable, which can greatly facilitate the work of the installer when replacing any module. No need to remove the conductors. This should also simplify commissioning activities, since it is possible to set up by connecting each module to the rack in turn.







I did not find any additional stoppers or stops that do not allow the modules to be connected "incorrectly".
You can connect in any sequence. There are no strict restrictions. The only point is that up to 16 modules can be hung on the controller. To do this, you need to look at the power that the module consumes. The minimum consumption of the module is 1W. The maximum is 1.5 Watts. More information about the consumption of each module is listed in the catalog.
If the controller has run out of "power" for modules, then the caplers (remote I/O stations) come to the rescue. They can be connected to up to 20W if the capler operates at temperatures below 50 degrees. If higher, then 16W.


Now a little bit about programming





After installing packages with target files on CODESYS V3.5 SP17 Patch 3 (this also works) it didn't work out quickly where to look for our new PLC. It turned out that he was hiding in the SoftMotion folder.
The official version of CODESYS for HCFQ controllers is 3.5 SP14. Next, HCFA will develop its HCPWorks3 software (the current version of HCPWorks3 v1.2), which is a "patch" on CODESYS 3.5 SP17. From convenient – all the "configs" of modules, controllers, and available libraries are loaded at once. A visual configurator of axes, modules and devices connected via network protocols has been made. Added a menu of project resources by variables (memory).


This sample, judging by the passport, is really capable of processing a coordinate machine with four axes. It is worth getting a practical example somewhere to understand it.
According to information from the supplier about the application: carousel lathes (two-port). Hot stamping machines (6-12 axes). 6– axis robot arm for repacking. 3 axis Delta robot.



Next, a little sad - I couldn't find / download the descriptions to the files of some modules. At the time of the creation of the article, there was access only to the manufacturer's website and it was not possible to find the right one. Everything was in Chinese. I found three modules on the manufacturer's website, but the other two modules could not be identified, since they were not in the device repository. Although it's strange, I installed all the models I could find there, only three were found.


It should be noted that the technical support for 05/22/2025 is working quite well. The manufacturer in Russia HCFA tries to keep up-to-date information on the site. However, the dynamism of the arrival of new products is sometimes higher than necessary, and there are difficulties with updates. Now they are updated every few months. Therefore, if there are no modules or there is no information on the site, then it is better to write to the mail info@hcfa-russia.ru , with the attachment of a photo of the nameplate of the desired module. In response, support will send you an up-to-date version of the config/documentation for the specified module.



The search itself and the addition of modules is quite simple through the search option, if you right-click on the item "EtherCAT_Master_SoftMotion".
Well, for the stand and the three modules are very good, we are working with what came out to be connected. I've removed the extra ones so far.


A PT100 temperature sensor was available. I connected it according to Chinese instructions. Unfortunately, there is no Russian or English in the instructions. But there are a lot of pictures and this is also quite understandable. Connected and it worked. Then I transferred this temperature for the operation of 1000 units of PID regulators (load testing). The result was pleasantly surprised.



A page with a large number of rapidly changing values (1000 PID), I didn't notice any noticeable slowdowns in the display. Everything is very pleasant and acceptable.



The program code that processes the PID_PRG control logic is polled with a cycle of 10ms. 
The PLC_PRG program code is polled with a higher priority of 1ms and polls the bus. 
1.Counts how many cycles occur in one second from the timer TON. The result is this: 1002 cycles is an excellent and plausible result, close to 1000.
2.The output from the DO module is connected by a wire to the DI module. It remained to invert the value to DI, transfer it to DO, and we got a "saw" with a period of 1ms. The experience of calculation by counties confirmed this. Yes, the change of signals from DO to DI occurs exactly in 1ms.


From quick conclusions I will make the following:
1. When compared with OWEN, it is a more powerful and faster controller, and at a cost similar to OWEN.
2.The controller is more compact in its design and is well suited for any upgrades. It will definitely fit in any, even ultra-compact places.
3.The controller has the ability to connect third-party devices via CAN, EtherNET/IP, EtherCAT, ModbusTCP, ModbusRTU protocols. I personally have no experience working with him on these protocols, but they are stated and it can always be checked. OPC UA is supported, but they don't write about it in the documentation. Not all controller firmware versions have OPC UA. This take into account.
4.There are two Modbus RTU ports.
5.You can make webvisualization. It works, but you shouldn't be too smart. It loads the controller well. But for some minimal work/diagnostics without HMI - it will do. More powerful controllers, such as HCQ1, HCQ5, HCQ5P, HCQ7P, HCQ9P, are already easier to digest web visualization.


I don't know if there are any clouds to it in China?
For telegram notifications and trends. This can only be done through the V300 panel or another HMI. There is no built-in cloud functionality at the moment.


How exactly to control the parameter period and duty cycle of PWM to control stepper motors and/or servomotors? To do this, the HCQX-PG04 4-axis module can be installed on the HCQ0 controller. This is a pulse module for axis control. But it is precisely the PWM well that cannot be controlled here.


To control the borehole and PWM parameters, the manufacturer recommends using the HCQ1 controller and higher (the following PLC series). They have built-in high-speed I/O channels that allow you to use the outputs as PWM and set their duty cycle.


How exactly can the encoder be connected and how exactly does the processing of incremental encoder values take place? 
The encoder can only be connected to the HCQ0 controller via the HCQX-HC04. This module accepts A/B/Z signals. We use such modules in metalworking machines with "steering wheels", as well as in food lines, where the encoder is used as a master axis for cam movements (CAM tables).


What protocols does the HCFA controller support?


EtherCAT, EtherNET/IP are fully supported.
With CAN, data transmission is fully supported, but motion libraries only work for HCFA.



The company's office is located in Moscow
https://www.hcfa-russia.ru/contacts/


#HCFA