Update Highlights

• Siemens TIA Portal V15 
• Simulation mode for all devices
• V15.1 version will be coming out in the next few months

Siemens Open Library Overview

A free, open source library, the Siemens Open Library was developed by DMC in partnership with Siemens Industry as a resource for consistency, usability, and faster development for the ever-growing Siemens community. With over 1000 hours of time invested, this library is already being put to use in many different types of projects across multiple platforms.

Siemens Open Library sample project

Stay Up To Date

Join our Siemens Open Library group on LinkedIn and stay up to date on all the latest improvements or sign up here to receive an email notification each time the library is updated.

You can submit custom objects to DMC by emailing them to Contribute@OpenPLCLibrary.com.

Are you attending the 2019 Siemens Automation Summit? Stop by any of our presentations and say hello!

The post Siemens Open Library Version 4.0 Release appeared first on DMC, Inc..

What is Kepware?

Kepware is a leading software development business of PTC Inc that focuses on helping you connect, access, and control your industrial data with connectivity solutions across various industries like manufacturing, power & utilities, oil & gas, and the internet of things.

DMC & Kepware

Our partnership with Kepware shows DMC’s continued commitment to providing industry-leading solutions for industrial manufacturing. We have been using Kepware to help our clients solve problems for 10+ years and are now solidifying our relationship and validating our product expertise.

Learn more about DMC's partnerships and the industries we serve. Or contact us to get started on a project today.

The post DMC Now A System Integrator for the Kepware/PTC Partner Program Network appeared first on DMC, Inc..

COMING SOON: A TIA Portal V15 version of the Siemens Open Library that includes full simulation for all devices!

Major Updates

Get the Siemens Open Library updates.

• Twenty-nine newly supported blocks!
  • Including brand new blocks such as Digital Output, Siwarex Load Cell Modules, Hydraulic Valve, Danfoss VFDs and more!
  • Full documentation included

• Brand new Alarm Generator!
  • Replaced Excel macro with Window application
  • Added support for WinCC Professional
  • Compatible with multiple versions of Portal
  • Supports any data block bit arrangement (infinitely nested structures or UDTs, arrays, etc.)

Additional Updates

• Updated PID Compact
  • Added more HMI controls and modified faceplates for clearer control over manual mode
  • Fixed HMI reset and E-Stop override bugs
  • Resolved slight operator error notification issue

• Updated configurability to G-Series VFD block asynchronous parameter reading and writing
  • Fixed edge case that caused communication lag
  • Created new VFD block that does not include parameter R/W
  • Added update time input to allow limiting of communication load
     
• Fixed small error reporting and display issue in Analog Output
   
• Created new FIFO block that supports standard queue functionality and works with variant data types
   
• Deprecated a few old blocks that have since been upgraded

More About the Siemens Open Library

The Siemens Open Library is a free, open source library developed by DMC, Inc. in partnership with Siemens Industry as a resource for consistency, usability, and faster development for the Siemens community. Want to get notified of new releases via email? Sign up here to receive an email when updates are released.

Siemens Open Library sample project

You can also join the Siemens Open Library group on LinkedIn to stay in the loop on the latest updates. 

Please submit any custom objects to DMC by emailing them to Contribute@OpenPLCLibrary.com.

The post Siemens Open Library Version 3.0 Release appeared first on DMC, Inc..

Per Siemens, the SITEC Conference aims to keep engineers and specialists up-to-date on the latest products and technologies from Siemens by providing “specific, effective and customized training along with a certification path to ensure that we are supplying quality support to the customer.”

The entire presentation is available to view below. Included in this presentation:

• DMC Overview
• What is the Siemens Open Library?
• How It Works & What’s Included
• Making Changes/Contributing
• Customization
• Configuration
• Faceplate/UDT Demo

Background on the Siemens Open Library

Last June, DMC, in conjunction with Siemens Industry, released the Siemens Open Library, a free, open source library.

The library contains function blocks and HMI faceplates for common controls, aiming to reduce development time for common industrial equipment while providing a reusable and customizable code base the user can alter to work with any application necessary.

The hope is that the Siemens Open Library is a resource for consistency, usability, and faster development for the Siemens community.

Users are welcome to contribute and make changes to the Siemens Open Library. If you want to share customizations and suggestions, please email siemens.library@localhost.

Learn more about DMC’s partnership with Siemens.

The post SITEC 2017 Siemens Open Library Presentation appeared first on DMC, Inc..

 Acyclic communication to a Siemens drive may seem like an impossible, obscure language, so the goal of this article is to translate it into something more understandable. These instructions will work for many of the Siemens variable frequency drives: Micromaster 420/440, and the entire G-series (G110, G120, G130, G150). Acyclic communication can be achieved via PROFIBUS and PROFINET.

Acyclic Communication Structure

The acyclic interface to all Siemens drives is the same. This interface is used to send acyclic data requests to the drive, as well as receive the requested response. The send and receive data structures can be seen below.

Read Request Structure (to drive):

Read Response Structure (from drive):

Write Request Structure (to drive):

In order to read or write data to the drive, these structures must be assigned the correct values corresponding to the desired request. Many parameters may be read from or written to at a single time – notice the repeating structure of the read request. This structure can be continually repeated for each parameter that needs to be read from the drive.

The structures shown above include some explanation in the comments. It is very important that each parameter is set correctly or the drive will ignore the request completely. 

Explanation of Parameters

Request Reference: If multiple requests are sent, this number can identify which request the response is related to

Request ID: 1 is for reading a parameter value, 2 is for writing a parameter value

Axis: Zero-index axis number (for multi-axis drives only)

No. of Parameters: Number of parameters you are requesting during a read

Parameter Attribute: Attribute of the parameter you would like to read. B#16#10 is for the value, B#16#20 is for the description, B#16#30 is for the text

Parameter Number: Number of the drive parameter you wish to read

Subindex: Subindex of the parameter you are reading (for subindexed parameters only)

Format (writing only): Number format of the value to be written. This value is firmware dependent! Below is a table listing data type formats for drives with a firmware version of 3.3+

No. of Value (writing only): Number of parameters values to be written

Value (writing only): Actual value to be written to drive

Implementing Parameter Reads for a G120 with an S7-1500

Start by setting all of the constant parameter values of the read request. In this case, we are reading the motor current draw (parameter r27) and motor torque (parameter r31).

We set the subindex and number of elements to 0, request ID and drive object ID to 1, and the parameters attribute to 16 (signifying we want to read the value). 

Next, we set the number of parameters we would like to read, as well as the reference ID so we can verify we received the right information. 

Finally, we set the parameter numbers of the values we wish to receive (27 and 31).

At this point, we call “WR_REC” (SFC 58) and pass in our filled-in structure.

Once the request has completed (signified by the BUSY bit going low), we can call “RD_REC” (SFC 59) to retrieve our requested values via the Read Response Structure from above.

After checking to make sure that our reference ID matches our request, we can grab the actual current and torque values from the structure.

Implementing Parameter Writes

Writing parameters follows the same instructions found in the reading parameter section above. The only difference is the values used to fill in the Write Request Structure. We also only write one parameter value to the drive at a time.

In this case, we are writing the Ramp-up Time (p1120) to 5 seconds.

Additional Notes

This communication can be done on an S7-1200, S7-300, and S7-400 series CPUs using the same blocks.

Now that you understand acyclic communication on a technical level, there is some very important news you should know – there is free Open Source code that already does this for you! 

Check out the Siemens Open Library over at www.OpenPLCLibrary.com. Included in the library is a function block called “fbAsyncParameterRW_VFD” that is available for the S7-300, S7-400, and S7-1500 in TIA Portal. The S7-1200 is not supported at the time this blog was written.

Here’s where you can find detailed technical information from Siemens on acyclic communication.

Learn more about DMC’s Siemens PLC Programming expertise.

The post Acyclic Parameter Reading and Writing Between Siemens PLCs and VFDs appeared first on DMC, Inc..

Relevant Downloads:

• WinCC V13 SP1 (or the delivery release information)
• Step7 V13 SP1
• WinCC V13 SP1 Upd 4 (as of the date of publishing)

Let’s get into some of the details.

Pop-Up Screens

The configuration of Pop-Up Screens and Slide-In screens can be accessed in the Project Tree under the Screen Management section.

Pop-ups essentially function as global faceplates. This pop-up can be called from any screen and will be placed at the configured location on the screen. The main difference between faceplates and pop-ups is that pop-ups do not have their own interface or properties. This means that you cannot pass information to the pop-up when it is called, and instead need to rely on multiplexed tags and scripting in order to achieve dynamic functionality.

Below is a picture of the pop-up screen editing window and an example of a VFD motor control pop-up.

Notice that it is very similar to the regular screen editing interface. The only difference is that the size of the pop-up can be configured. This is easily done via the Properties menu.

Once you have created your pop-up, you can then call your pop-up on any screen by using the system event “ShowPopupScreen”.

This event can display your pop-up at the configured coordinates on any screen.

It is important to note that pop-ups are NOT modal – any visible items on the screen from which it was called can still be interacted with, though the pop-up will remain on the screen regardless.

Slide-in Screens

Slide-in screen configuration can also be found in the Screen Management section. They function similar to pop-up screens, but have a few distinct differences:

1. There are only 4 slide-in screens, one from each direction. Each of them are global, so you cannot create as many as you want, unlike pop-ups.
2. Slide-in screens do not need to be accessed by system function calls (although there is a system function if you prefer). Instead, if they are enabled, they may be accessed by pressing near the edge of the screen for which they are configured, and then clicking the handle. The visibility and functionality of the handle can be modified in the slide-in properties.

Any normal control can be placed on a slide-in screen. In the above example, a static text is shown.

Summary

With the release of WinCC Comfort/Advanced V13 SP1, Siemens added several new features in addition to further stability and bug fixes. If you are still using V13 without the service pack, I highly recommend upgrading. Feel free to contact DMC with any questions or to get started on your next project.

Learn more about DMC's Siemens partnership and service offerings.

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