I am designing the control for a system of processing tanks, each with it's own PLC and controlled by one PC running AdvancedHMI. This is the first system like this I am designing that will consist of a few identical cells and one HMI.
My first thought is to have all the PLC's use the same exact program, just have it's own IP address - something like xxx.xxx.0.1 for tank #1, ...0.2 for tank #2, etc. - but each PLC using the same exact tags and I/O.
I am thinking this would be easier later when adding more tanks (now there is one tank being tested, but depending on demand there will be 4 to 8 tanks eventually)
Should I go with this idea, or have each PLC use different tags so as not to be confusing? I would like to know of any problems or ideas others may have come across doing this.
My first thought is to have all the PLC's use the same exact program, just have it's own IP address - something like xxx.xxx.0.1 for tank #1, ...0.2 for tank #2, etc. - but each PLC using the same exact tags and I/O.
I am thinking this would be easier later when adding more tanks (now there is one tank being tested, but depending on demand there will be 4 to 8 tanks eventually)
Should I go with this idea, or have each PLC use different tags so as not to be confusing? I would like to know of any problems or ideas others may have come across doing this.