Beckhoff PLC and Structure Text

Hi,

Ever heard of the Beckhoff PLC ?

This is a PC based PLC with hmi in it, running on Windows CE or WIndows XP embedded. Mostly programmed in Structure text. I've been on a studyday for one day and I compared everything with a Siemens PLC. In my opinion, Siemens has more experience then Beckhoff. But, should this be the future ? Windows based PLC's ? Siemens has something like WinAC, so they also have something like this...

A second question, we have a machine running with a beckhoff plc, it's been written in Structure Text. @ school I've seen Quartus programming, programming of CPLD's and FPGA's. I'hve learned to program in VHDL and the architecture in sequential. And a little bit 'Structure Text', but mostly sequential. Does anyone know where to find information of Structure Text Programming in Beckhoff PLC's or something related to it.

Thanks in forward,

G-Man

This is probably Beckhoff TwinCat. The structured text is IEC and is very similar to Siemens SCL (I've ported code between the two and it was very easy)

As already stated TwinCat is IEC 61131 compliant. It is based on the CoDeSys runtime engine, which has been around for a while and used by a number of different companies. This is probably why it is relatively easy to port TwinCat code to other devices. Companies take the CoDeSys engine and wrap their own front end around it. At the heart of it they are all the same.


As far as structured text in particular goes the only way to get all the available nuances would be to get a TwinCat software manual. You should be able to download that from the Beckhoff website. This would talk about the included libraries as well as the base 61131 instructions.

Keith

I haven't used TwinCat, but I've used the Beckhoff IO and it seems to be pretty good stuff. I've been pretty impessed with their customer service.

Beckhoff simulation how to

Hi all,
I am new to the PLC world and just started to write code in ladder and structured text. I am using twincat software and wrote a simple code and built it successfully. Now i want to simulate... how i cant seems to figure out. I tried using the information system but no luck. Some help will be greatly appreciated...

From the Online Menu, make sure Simulation Mode is checked.

Then, also from the Online Menu, select Login. You will also have to put the PLC into Run mode from that menu to get it to start processing the program.

Good Luck