Ethernet/IP connections

Hi all,

Looking at a project where a customer is re-using an existing control board, and adding a heap of remote stations. Currently it's got all Schneider PLC/SCADA equipment in it, but he's looking at the possibility of replacing it with AB.

The main concern I have is selecting a PLC which will handle the amount of ethernet/IP connections we're going to be adding. There are going to be 14 remote stations to this board, each with a single VFD and a remote I/O rack. Add to that a SCADA system (currently Citect, would go to FTView SE if the switch to AB is made) and presumably a few spare connections for an uplink/remote dial in/programming port etc etc.

The current PLC is a Modicon Premium TSXP572634M. I haven't been able to find any information about max Ethernet/IP connection resources for this one, does anyone happen to know, or know where to find it?

If we go to AB, I'm thinking about compact logix - the 1769-L33ER can take up to 32 Ethernet/IP Nodes in Logix designer - so with my 14 drives and 14 remote I/O racks, I have 4 spare for future use. Not exactly romping it home, but enough. What I don't know is, how many EthernetIP/TCP connection resources do my drives, SCADA system and Point I/O racks each consume? I have 256 Ethernet/IP and 120 TCP to play with, is this going to be enough?

More to the point, does anyone have any direct experience with running this many ethernet devices off a compact logix or the Modicon PLC? Were there any pitfalls?

There's no really time-critical data in any of this setup, so if I have below average response times from VFD's etc it's not the end of the world - I just want to make sure that whatever PLC I select, it's going to reliably talk to everything without running out of resources.

Thanks!

My 2 cents.

I would not recommend a CompactLogix for this Application.
They are fairly limited when it comes to Communications.

TCP Connections can be used up fairly quickly.

I would go with a ControlLogix PLC with one Ethernet Module for Programming and SCADA, and another Ethernet Module for your I/O.

Stu....

ASF,

I'm off home to bed (4am here), but I'll give you this before I go...

A must have for predetermining a proposed Ethernet/IP network's capacity, throughput and leftovers is the...

57911 - EtherNet/IP Capacity Tool
Access Level: Everyone

Fill in your specs and off you go.

Have fun!

G.

How many analog I/O per remote rack?

Also a/b has an Ethernet I/P estimator tool perfect for what you need to do. I am not sure of the official name and it has been 4 years since I used it but I AssuMe it is still around. I will hunt it down and add a link here if I find it.

EDIT: Nevermind, Geospark saved me the effort!

Ah brilliant, that tool is terrific! According to that the top end Compact Logix would do it OK, and an L33 would juuuuuust scrape it in. But that close to the edge I'm inclined to just jump straight onto a control logix.

So...anyone have any idea about the Modicon's resources?

If it is a Premium platform, it would use the TSX ETC 101 module for EIP communications. This will do on the order of 128 Class 1 I/O connections with an absolute upper limit of 12000 packets/sec, according to the spec sheet.

My guess is you will not come anywhere near these limits. That's a lower end Premium processor so if I recall correctly, it can only take one of these network modules on the backplane.

I have run a Schneider Premium system (using a higher end processor) with all EtherNet/IP devices for an automotive application with 40 physical IO devices and 53 Class 1 I/O connections on a single module with no issue. Scantime impact was minimal, and entire system was daisy chained with no impact to I/O update time due to position in the chain, which included several managed switches inline. I know some claim they see performance difference from daisy chained devices, but I was looking for this and used a Hilscher NetAnalyzer device to verify performance, and the difference in update time was not statistically significant in my case. No QoS was configured for the system.