Controlling several PLCs

[dbozic]

I have a question regarding the setup of network. I have never worked with several plcs and central PC so my question is, will it work?

How i imagined it:
Every process is controlled by it's own PLC and has it's own touchpanel for local control.
Now i need to set up a main computer which will be in main control room and would be possible to display variables from all PLCs in the network(central HMI).
Maybe also, controlling PLCs over that PC would be needed.
Would it be possible to accomplish this with a regular PC autostarting the Wincc Runtime on boot? How would they be connected(PC and PLCs over Ethernet over switch)?

Please shed some light if someone knows more about this topic.


PLC type would be S7-300 series

 

[JesperMP]

Yes, you can have a local touch panel for each PLC, and also a common HMI based on WinCC.

Whatever you are considering how to accomplish this, I recommend you keep everything on ethernet. Chose S7 CPUs with integrated PN ports. If price is an issue, consider IM151-8 as the CPU and ET200S for i/o.
There are many ways to interconnect all this. Each S7 CPU has a 2-port or 3-port switch which can be used for distributing the network.
Here is one suggestion: Connect one S7 CPU port to the local touch panel and the other port to a central ethernet switch which is also connected to the WinCC HMI PC.

 

[dbozic]

Yes, you can have a local touch panel for each PLC, and also a common HMI based on WinCC.

Whatever you are considering how to accomplish this, I recommend you keep everything on ethernet. Chose S7 CPUs with integrated PN ports. If price is an issue, consider IM151-8 as the CPU and ET200S for i/o.
There are many ways to interconnect all this. Each S7 CPU has a 2-port or 3-port switch which can be used for distributing the network.
Here is one suggestion: Connect one S7 CPU port to the local touch panel and the other port to a central ethernet switch which is also connected to the WinCC HMI PC.

Thank you very much for your reply. So, ordinary PC running Wincc runtime would be sufficient(correct me if im wrong). Thank you for your suggestion too. I'm not aware with IM151-8 abilities, will look into that.

 

[JesperMP]

One thing, WinCC Flexible Advanced and WinCC Advanced (TIA) are limited to 8 connections. If you need more than 8 connections, you may consider WinCC v7 or WinCC Professional (TIA).