Suggestion for Cement Plant PLC upgradation

Dear Viewers / Readers / autmation Engineers



Suggestions are required from every positive expert of PLC system engineer.



We the representative of autmation department of a Cement Industry.



Brief view of autmation of our industry is as under:



We have total 12 Nos. of main PLC of Modicon 984-785 series with 800 series I/O modules & Racks. All these PLCs are connected to Modbus Plus Network through Modbus Plus Network Rack Module / Card ( type : S985-800).The programming of these PLCs is done in Ladder Logic through Modsoft Programming software v2.6 ( DOS based ).Many Builtin Functions FB/FN are used for progarmming of Unidirectional motor ( FN 99 , Bidirectional motor (FN88) , Select switch point (FN 87) , Motor Group Controller (FN98) , 3 point PIDs ( FN 96 ) , Continous output PID (FN 90) , Alarm Handler (FN 91 ) , Gate Controller (FN 78) and many more.



All These PLCs are communicating to HMI / ECS system through PC Host PCI adaptor ( Type : 416 NHM30032).



Now we are planning to change our system with less shutdown time & fast conversion of existing system program to new PLC progarm.



Initially we are planning to use Modicon Quantum series PLC' CPU witout changing the 800 series I/O modules.



So suggestions are required what hardware changes we have to consider if we only want to change CPUs and Modbus network Cards and bring it to Ethernet. what software changes we have to take into account if we just want to have old project file conversion system ( from Modsoft 2.6 to window based Unity Pro software )... is it possible to do such file conversion, without doing any big programming as we want to avoid reinvetion of wheel i.e we want to avoid redo of the programming of whole plant.



Does Modicon new software like unity pro support such converion. What hardware compnents we have to take into account for CPU to commuincate to Etherent and to Commuicate with exisiting I/O Racks and Modules of 800 series.?





Please feel free to get any futher informations( [email protected])



Ash

The switch to a Quantum PLC on the main rack is what will give you the most play with this conversion. I have once switch a 5000 I/O 984 series system to a Quantum in 4 hours downtime.

What is good about this newer PLC serie is that you can partition its internal memory for its firmware to accept 2 types of program.

You can partition it so it gets your old Ladder logic program in one region and your newer IEC1131 in the other part.

What this gives you is the freedom to convert your older program offline and download what you've got in the PLC. What you have not had time to convert you just download in the partition of the CPU that works with your old program software.

This way you can convert 25 % of the program and do the switch. Work on it for some time and at the next shutdown you erase the parts you have newly done and download the newer program to the region that accepts it.

This can go on ontill all is been converted. All the time reducing the memory capacity of the LL region and increasing the one with IEC1131.

If you'r inside the plant you can take a full year to do the conversion. Meanwhile you have the best of the two worlds.

After or at the same time you can start replacing remote hardware, one by one.

If you want to replace everything in one shot then you can pick whatever brand you want for its gonna be a long piece of work.

Working from logic or line by line.

I am currently involved in exactly the same upgrade for my plant.
A few suggestions:
1, the RIO slaves for your 800 series racks will be going out of production at the end of June this year, so if you haven't bought all you need by then, you may not be able to make this upgrade. Of course, there may be parts available either, new or second hand, after this date, it is just not gaurenteed.
If any PLCs.netizens know any different to this, I hope they speak up.
2, We are taking this opportunity to add Ethernet and Profibus capabilities to our modicon installations at this point. It will allow us easier interfacing to our HMI and (Citect) SCADA installations, and also allow us to continue our upgrades using a modern field bus.

ashnust,

As an electrician in a cement plant that uses Modicon PLCs almost exclusively I wish I could be more help to you than I can. We have many 984 series CPUs still in service and have converted many as well to quantum with no major problems. All our logic is ladder and we still use Modsoft. There has been talk of converting from ladder logic to Concept (IEC1131?) but nothing yet. Thanks Pierre for the head's up about the partitioning. That information could prove invaluable. Whether you work for my company or the competition, the best of luck and please report back on your progress.

Brian.

Doug, the RIO card being discontinued is bad news for us, thanks.

Pierre said:

What is good about this newer PLC serie is that you can partition its internal memory for its firmware to accept 2 types of program.

Click to expand...

I did not know this.

RIO card being discontinued, Ouch I know of a lot of places that still use these.


I would say to go with the Quantum this will give you the least amount of headaches. The Cement plant that I left a few years ago was looking at this same convertion. You will be able to bite off smaller chucks of the work load, with out have to take on the whole 800 lb gorrilla at once.

jjsscram