hi
i am new at siemens
and i want to know what is pcs7? .
and why we use it ?
Hello ahmed;
PCS 7 (Process Costrol System 7) is Siemens' alternative to large DCS systems, used to control and monitor large and complex plants, such as refineries. These systems are too "big" to be handled by PLCs alone, they need an integrated and distributed control scheme. Companies such as Bailey, Moore, Invensys (Delta V) and others use specialized and proprietary hardware/software combinations dedicated to that purpose. They are designed for redundant control and communications, multi-loop processing and alarming.
Siemens has decided to use their own "standard" PLCs, SCADA and communication networks in order to integrate them into a distributed contorl system that would be modular, easier to program and to maintain, and that would provide plant operators with all required information on the processes they need to monitor so they can be controlled properly.
PCS 7 is therefore based on a combination of redundant S7-400 and S7-400H/F PLCs, Profibus-DP and Industrial Ethernet networks, and WinCC SCADA software. You may know how to program each individually in standard PLC plant control systems, but PCS 7 requires integration of all these into a single, undissociated unit.
For example, when compiling a PCS 7 program in the Step 7 environment (using CFC and SFC programming languages) you will also generate alarm tags directly integrated in the WinCC SCADA project. All software in integrated, and studying PCS 7 requires more background than just individual PLCs and software (although a basic knowledge of these is always helpful). It is always recommended to attend training sessions whenever one wishes to start working on such a system.
Here you will find a link to Siemens' PCS 7 portal, with much informatioon on PCS 7 itself, on the different types of components to be integrated, and also some media informatoion on successful implementations in the world. That way you can better understand where and in what industries PCS 7 is used:
https://pcs.khe.siemens.com/index.aspx?nr=1075
Hope this helps,
Daniel Chartier