Hi,

Is it possible to use Proview as a graphical operator interface connected via Profibus to conventional Siemens S7 PLCs?

At my company we use Intellution FIX for operator interaction with the process controlling PLCs. FIX is a quite expensive software with poor performance in some areas and we are now being forced to choose wheter to uppgrade to the next generation, iFIX, or find another similar software.

Have anyone used Proview for such an application with succes?

Regards
Ohl

Post edited by: Ohl, at: 2009/01/13 09:58

Hi,

I have used such an interface with a Siemens Simotion system where the Simotion-system acts as a Profibus-slave. The interface is however a bit limited since there can be at maximum 244 bytes of data in either direction. I think the same thing is possible with Siemens S7. The Simotion-system has as standard 2 Profibus-interfaces so one is usually always free to use like this. Maybe in a S7-system you will have to add one more Profibus-interface.

Perhaps a better soultion is to use OPC. Then you will have to set up a Gateway between the S7-systems and the Proview-system. With this solution you are not limited to 244 bytes of data to each node. It's also easier to configure I think because there is no special programming to do to make the interface.

regards

/Robert

Hello

Not by Profibus, but anyway.
I have a test system based on Proview 4.5 which communicates with a S7-300 using a custom driver based on 'libnodave'. It uses ethernet and native S7-communication to poll data from the PLC. On the PLC side we use standard ethernet module (the Lean model).
I hope to upgrade to Proview 4.6 soon and also go into production mode.
Libnodave is also GPL/LGPL licensed and I have no objections to share my code either.

Regards / Jyrki

Hello Jyrki, and thanks for the reply.

Didn't know about libnodave until now. Seems great if this is a way to use ethernet instead of Profibus.

It would be very interesting to try this. I have a spare S7-400 with an CP443 ethernet module collecting dust in my office, just waiting for a suitable project...

It also seems that libnodave handles S5 systems which makes it even more interesting since we have a lot of those still running.

I really appreciate if you would like to share your code.

Best regards /Ohl

Hi Robert,

Sorry, but I forgot to answer your post.

OPC might be a good alternative but then I guess I will need a Windows machine for running the Siemens OPC server software?

Is the 244 byte limitation caused by something in the Profibus protocol or is it a Siemens \"feature\"?

Libnodave seems attractive but perhaps there is some extra work with the system setup.

Thanks for your answer!

Regards
Ohl

Hello
I am very interested in using the driver nodave with Proview .
Works with Proview? How do I use it?
I'm sorry if the question may appear stupid but I'm making the first steps with Proview so be patient with me.
Thanks to all