Industrial Engineer · phase 15 of 16 · noun
Parameter Group
Vendor-defined category used to organize related drive settings.
The Explain card
- Plain English
- A parameter group is the vendor's folder for related settings. Motor data in one, ramps in another, terminal assignments in a third, and the numbering usually follows the grouping.
- Example
- On one drive the motor nameplate settings live in group 20 and the analog input functions in group 30. On another brand the same settings are in different groups with different numbers.
- Why it matters
- Groups are how you find your way around a drive with a thousand parameters, and they differ by brand and even by firmware. Learn the map for the drives your plant uses, and keep the manual close for the others.
- Hook
- The drive's table of contents.
Word knowledge
How the word is built, where it came from, and what it sits beside in memory.
In a sentence
During commissioning, open the Motor Data Parameter Group and enter the motor nameplate voltage, current, frequency, and speed.
Why these words
- parameter New Latin parametrum, from Greek para, beside, and metron, measure identifies the adjustable item represented by a stored value
- group French groupe, from Italian gruppo, cluster marks several items as belonging together
Where it came from
- Origin
- English technical phrase combining parameter with group
- Entered the language
- 20th century
- What changed
- Parameter moved from mathematics into computing and control engineering, while group became a standard label for arranging related technical entries.
How it is spelled
- Pattern
- Parameter keeps the para- opening found in many words of Greek origin.
- Pattern
- Group keeps its spelling when inflected as grouped and grouping.
- Breaks the pattern
- The ou in group represents the single vowel sound heard in soup, not the sound heard in round.
Spelled like
- parametric
- parameterize
- grouped
- grouping
Broken into chunks
-
paramet
- parametric
- parameterize
-
group
- grouped
- grouping
What it sits beside
Same subject
- parameter number
- parameter value
- motor data
- acceleration time
- fault history
Same shape
- function group
- alarm group
- terminal group
drive setup vocabulary
- parameter
- default
- setpoint
- nameplate data
drive menu structures
- parameter group
- parameter list
- submenu
Where it sits in the deck
Phase 15: VFD Parameters and Communications
The parameter set itself, and the network words a controller uses to read and write it while the machine is running.
