Siemens 315-2 PN/DP - Beijer Mobile Panel

Hello,

I have a project where I have 10 Diesel Engines running generators.
Each of these engines have a Siemens 315-2 PN/DP plc in order to monitor the status of the Diesel engines.

In addition to having a stationary touch panel in each plc cabinet, we are going to have one mobile touch panel that can be carried from one engine to the other. Then you will connect the panel to the engine you work with. The panel is running on Ethernet.

Since there are 10 cpu's, and each cpu are connected to the same ring-network, each cpu has to have different IP address. The network is Ethernet.

I would like to avoid having a panel configuration that contains symbols for all 10 cpus. It would have to be enormous. The best would be to have one configuration that runs toward the IP address of the engine that I have connected the panel to.

This would imply that I have to change the IP address of all symbols. So, if I connect the panel to engine 4, the panels boot up and I press for instance a push button labelled engine 4. That press of button would then change the IP address of all symbols to the address of the correct CPU.

I am using a configuration editor which is called E-Designer.
Does anybody know if this is possble by using scripts etc.?
Alternatively, does anybody have any other ideas on how to minimize the configuration to one cpu?

Thanks for any suggestions

Andreas

I'm not a Siemens guy, and I haven't played with E-Designer since version 6, but I'll throw out a few ideas...

I notice the 315 has 2 Ethernet ports, but I'm guessing they can't have distinctive IP addresses. Just a 2-port switch, right?

How about the MPI port on the CPU? If that's not in use, you could connect you mobile terminal to that port, rather than Ethernet.

What brand are the local touch panels? Do they have the capability of anything similar to 'transparent' or 'passthrough' connections like the Beijer?

Perhaps you could stick a router in each cabinet, each with identical WAN addresses, but configured to point to ONLY the local PLC's IP address on the LAN side. That way, your mobile terminal would only ever see the router, which in turn would forward all comms to the local PLC only. Not sure if this is doable, but it can't hurt to investigate...



-Eric

Hello,

Thank you for the answer

The parts for the project have been sent of to Tanzania, and they have installed Ethernet cabling, so changing to MPI is not really an option.

The brand of the mobile panel is Beijer.

"What brand are the local touch panels? Do they have the capability of anything similar to 'transparent' or 'passthrough' connections like the Beijer?"

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. I am not familiar with transparent or passthrough connections. Can you explain?

I will look into the routing option

brg
Andreas

I don't think you will be able to this the way you want because I don't think that you can change the IP address if the PLC that you want to connect to. That setting is in Peripherals and I don't think you can modify it within the program runtime. However you could look at using a standard laptop or Windows touch screen and then use the 'Remote Access Viewer' that Beijer have. Remote Access Viewer displays a duplicate of the HMI screen on your computer screen. Then all you would need to do would be to type in the IP address of the HMI that you want to talk to and the laptop would show that HMIs screen. If you want to see it in action I do have a T70 set up for one of my customers to 'play' with, I could probably set you up with remote access to 'play' yourself.

Rereading your question, you want to connect to the PLC and not the HMI, so forget what I wrote above!!

Another edit: You may be able to do this with the new iX panels, they have scripting available.

Take a look on the attached pdf.

I believe you can use this, as long as you use an Ix Beijer panel

You can also take a better look on the Ix Developper manual.

orense said:

I am not familiar with transparent or passthrough connections. Can you explain?

Click to expand...

See section 19.3 (PDF page 201) of this manual:

http://www.scantime.co.uk/_docs/149968.pdf

Of course, you can only do this if the local HMIs are Beijer brand, or they offer a similar capability.

For the router method, I found this PDF from Siemens that explains how connect a router:

http://cache.automation.siemens.com..._Tools/26662448_DSL_Port_Forwarding_V10_e.pdf

Your specific application is not described, but information like what ports to forward, etc. is covered. In your case, each router would forward to ONLY the IP of the PLC in that cabinet, and the WAN address of all routers would be a fixed, identical address.

I also like jmsmoreira's idea if you have that type of panel. Whatever engine is selected on the mobile panel will determine the index register value, and display data from that PLC. That way you can look at any engine from any connection. This would allow you to put more than one Ethernet jack at each engine. Heck, why not just go wireless?...



-Eric

OK, been thinking:

In addition to having a stationary touch panel in each plc cabinet, we are going to have one mobile touch panel that can be carried from one engine to the other. Then you will connect the panel to the engine you work with. The panel is running on Ethernet.

Click to expand...

The question that came to mind is 'why?'. You have an HMI on each generator so why do you need a mobile one. If it is for diagnostics then add the diagnostics to the stationary touch panels and protect with passwords. If you need to have the mobile panel in a better viewing position then add the diagnostics to the stationary panel and access the panel using Remote Access Viewer.

Thanks for all your answers and suggestions. I really appreciate it.

BryanG, to answer your questions.

The plc cabinets are located somewhere else then then the generators - engines.
The engines are located in the engine room, and all the cabinets are located in the control room.
If you are either doing the commissioning of the engines, or you are doing service work, then the idea is to be able to read the engine monitoring parameters when you are down by the engine and starting it up

Hope that clarified it.
What is remote access viewer? Can I run that on the mobile panel and mirror the stationary in the control room?

brg
Andreas

You don't run Remote Access Viewer on an HMI, it runs on a Windows computer XP/Vista/7. It is s free download, go to:
http://www.beijerelectronics.com , Support, Support Online, Browse Our Database, Products, Software, Operator Systems, Remote Access Viewer, Software and the download the software. Sorry about the extended navigation, the Beijer site doesn't allow me to give you a direct link. You may need to modify the HMI software to allow Remote Access, though Access Terminal Controller is normally already selected in Idesigner Setup/Network/Accounts. When you run the software your type in the IP address of the HMI you want to access and then you get a window on the computer/laptop screen that mirrors exactly the HMI screen. You can view/operate the HMI as though you are standing in front of it.

orense said:

What is remote access viewer? Can I run that on the mobile panel and mirror the stationary in the control room?

Click to expand...

I'm still wondering what brand/model the stationary touch panels are...



-Eric

Hi,

The panel is a Exter M70 handheld operator panel.
Programmed by the use of E-Designer


Brg
Andreas

And the stationary panel is Beijer T100.

So, the panel are fairly similar, except the smallest one is mobile.

Both are programmed with E-Designer


Andreas

Since they are not iX panels, I guess you can't use Remote Access. Looks like the T100 can be a web server. Might look at that option.

I'm still thinking the simplest solution is a 'transparent' connection using the COM port. The manual talks about transparent over Ethernet, so that may be an option too.

You stated that the PLCs are connected to the network, but are the T100 panels also connected to this same network? They could be using one of the COM ports to talk to the PLC instead of Ethernet.

I would contact Beijer and explain your layout and what you want to do. They should be able to recommend the best approach.



-Eric

Hi,

The panels communicate with the plc through ethernet. There is a switch in the plc cabinets that connects everything together....

Thank you for all help and suggestions. I appreciate it.

I will contact Beijer and ask them. Then I will post their reply afterwards...

Brg
Andreas

Just to clarify, Remote Access Viewer does work with the Exter/E1000 range, the latest version works with both Exter and iX, in fact if you read the download description on the Beijer website 'This version still supports E1000-series panel and can be used to remotly control those panels.'. Really, Remote Access Viewer is the way to go, I use it all the time to work with machines that are tens to hundreds to thousands of miles away.