PLC data to SQL server

Hello,

I have a project that i would like to get some guidance on please

i have a Siemens PLC that contains a high speed counter. the counter is counting pulses and outputting a value every 60 sec. the pulses infer the speed of a conveyor

Is there any way that i could send this data to an SQL server database automatically every 60 seconds. I would like the SQL server to store all this data indefinitely for 6months.

I would then like to have an application (possibly created in VB express for example) that would display the current speed of the conveyor in real time from the PLC. Also i would like there to be a trend that the operator could choose between two times and the trend would show a plot of the speed between them two times.

Finally I would like this to be done free if possible. i know i can download SQL server and VB free. I have a PLC already.

Any help would be much appreciated


thanks
brendan

Setup an OPC server with connection to the S7 PLC. The OPC server can be Simatic Net, Kepware, or others..
Setup an OPC client that writes data to the SQL database. The OPC client can be OPC Datahub, OPC Datalogger, Inductive Automation SQL Bridge, or others..

[email protected] said:

Finally I would like this to be done free if possible. i know i can download SQL server and VB free.

Click to expand...

Wouldnt we all.
For a free driver connection to Siemens S7, you should look for Libnodave.
But it is only "free" if your time cost nothing.
If this is for just one project and you have a deadline, forget it. For approx 1100-1500 € you have a comercial and reliable solution.

thank you very much for the reply Jasper.

I know what you mean free software is not all that available.

Wel i am doing this as my own project just for practise and i will not be charging any money to anyone. that is why i would like to get free software.

is Libnodave only a driver that allows a connection between a PLC and PC like kpeware? is it an OPC server? or is it an application that will actually write data from the plc to the pc automatically?

Also would an SQL server and VB be adequate to use as the historian server and operator interface tool, in your opionion. or could you recommend any free programs (there is that word again ) that I could use to store the data and to display the data

thanks again

brendan

Inductive Automation runs fully functional for 2hours in demo mode.
Good enough for practice...

Libnodave is a freeware library on sourceforge. It allows you to write applications in C, C++, C#, Delphi and VB that can read and write data in an S7 PLC. That is all. The part of writing to an SQL database and to display data as curves or lists or whatever you have to do by yourself, possible with the aid of other libraries, freeware or comercial.
The way you ask, I think you shall forget about writing your own.

Thanks Jac,

wel its actually a college project and they require that i create one that will work continually as i will be hooking it up to a real process and monitoring it for a long period.

I also have wonderware. i must create a historian with wonderware and a cheap free alternative

if there is any free software available it would be much appreciated.

i need
a method of reading data from a siemens plc
a method of storing the data
a method of displaying the data

thanks

To expand on Jesper's post, Kepware offers an ODBC driver for communicating with various databases. More information can be found through the following link:

http://www.eternity-sales.com/Kepware/ODBC_Client_Driver_OPC_Server.htm

More information about Kepware can be found through this link:

http://www.eternity-sales.com/Kepware/kepserverex.htm

Kepware does have a Siemens driver as well.

http://www.eternity-sales.com/Kepware/kepwaredownloads.htm

Manuals are available through both links.

Hope this helps.

Shalom and God Bless,

Does this PLC have an ethernet card? If so, you could send the status every hour over tcp/ip and write a little listener in java along with a SQL connector. You could do it in a couple of hours and would be free.

if a ethernet card was used could you configure it to send the PLC status every minute? I am looking to display the conveyor realtime speed and log speed every minute you see

also is there much work in writing a java listener as i am not too up to speed on programming languages

thanks

LibnoDaveProtokoller
Link2

Open source project to write data to SQL based on Libnodave

Hi Bennyk!

If you don't want to develop everything yourself, have a look at the free version of IGSS. This is a complete scada system, the free version runs until ragnarok, but is limited to 50 different variables (or more correct; objects).
There are drivers for most PLC types. For S7s with ethernet port, I use S7TCP (driver no 72, if I remember right).

Look for IGSS free50 here:

http://www.7t.dk/products/igss/index.aspx

IGSS has it's own database, but you can log to SQL if you like, see picture (I've never used this opt. myself).

I believe there are IGSS tutorials on youtube.

Kalle

I am curious as to what the college project is really about.
To show how you can setup a comercial product to work as it is intended ? Not much achievement in that. Reminds in a ridiculous thread some years back where a student had to figure out hot to hook up a VFD to a motor.
Or is it to implement your own solution by writing it from the bottom up ? A worthy task, but not so simple. However certainly doable, especially if what you study has to do with programming.
What are you studying ?

im studying electrical engineering. well the college has bough wonderware. they want me to come up with a commercial solution and a cheap solution. i will be using wonderware to create the commercial solution

after completing the project i should have learned about data acquisition, databases and networking. i must present my solutions after completion

i would love to be able to write a complete program from scratch but this would take too much time and would be too excessive for this project. if there was a reasonable way of writing programs from scratch i would certainly look at it. i only know basic programming with VB but don't know how much work would be involved in developing a working solution in VB. the main thing is that i can come up with working solutions in time

thanks KalleOlsen. so this program can be used indefinately and for free?. wel i will only have 4 discrete inputs anyway