Hello guys
I am a novice programmer (actually just an electrical engineer who got the added programming responsibility as noone else wanted it), and I am in need of some basic information which I hope some of you can help me with. I will try to be brief but consise
The situation:
Our company engineers and manufactures firewater pump modules for offshore use, and as such our control systems was pretty straightforward for a long time; mainly a handful of digital signals and a couple analogue signals. The only connections to the "outside" systems was hardwired digital signals (start/stop, on/off, normal/alarm etc). They are currently increasing in complexity however, and we recently made the switch to a Siemens S7 plc system.
Our standard setup is now a 315-2DP cpu (using MPI output to Siemens HMI panel, and ProfiBus output to a distributed IO), 1x CP-341 (serial link to diesel ECU), 2x Digital In, 2x Digital Out, 1x Analogue In, 1x Analogue Out.
As an option we have also provided some packages with an extra CP module, using either Profibus or ModBus to transfer alarm status and analogue transmitter values to the platform control system.
We recently acquired a project for a customer who wants alarm/status information sent to their platform control system via Ethernet OPC. They are using a PCS7 system.
The question:
I must admit I've never even heard of OPC, and the little I could find from a quick browse on the net didn't make things all too clear for me. Do you guys know of any good sites explaining OPC, and maybe even how to set it up with our S7-315-2DP cpu and what extra module we would need for this?
I was also concerned that adding an extra CP module for this OPC connection might put too much strain on the cpu we are using, since we would have connection to HMI + distributed IO + diesel ECU + Ethernet OPC.. Can we still use the good old cpu or would we need to upgrade to another type?
This connection is just for transmitting information from our system to the platform system, as our package must be able to run independantly of what happens to the rest (our firefighting system should be the last to go down hopefully ).
Thanks in advance for any replies.
EDIT: I forgot to add that all programming has been made using CFC charts and SCL blocks.
I am a novice programmer (actually just an electrical engineer who got the added programming responsibility as noone else wanted it), and I am in need of some basic information which I hope some of you can help me with. I will try to be brief but consise
The situation:
Our company engineers and manufactures firewater pump modules for offshore use, and as such our control systems was pretty straightforward for a long time; mainly a handful of digital signals and a couple analogue signals. The only connections to the "outside" systems was hardwired digital signals (start/stop, on/off, normal/alarm etc). They are currently increasing in complexity however, and we recently made the switch to a Siemens S7 plc system.
Our standard setup is now a 315-2DP cpu (using MPI output to Siemens HMI panel, and ProfiBus output to a distributed IO), 1x CP-341 (serial link to diesel ECU), 2x Digital In, 2x Digital Out, 1x Analogue In, 1x Analogue Out.
As an option we have also provided some packages with an extra CP module, using either Profibus or ModBus to transfer alarm status and analogue transmitter values to the platform control system.
We recently acquired a project for a customer who wants alarm/status information sent to their platform control system via Ethernet OPC. They are using a PCS7 system.
The question:
I must admit I've never even heard of OPC, and the little I could find from a quick browse on the net didn't make things all too clear for me. Do you guys know of any good sites explaining OPC, and maybe even how to set it up with our S7-315-2DP cpu and what extra module we would need for this?
I was also concerned that adding an extra CP module for this OPC connection might put too much strain on the cpu we are using, since we would have connection to HMI + distributed IO + diesel ECU + Ethernet OPC.. Can we still use the good old cpu or would we need to upgrade to another type?
This connection is just for transmitting information from our system to the platform system, as our package must be able to run independantly of what happens to the rest (our firefighting system should be the last to go down hopefully ).
Thanks in advance for any replies.
EDIT: I forgot to add that all programming has been made using CFC charts and SCL blocks.
Last edited: