Abstract : This article introduces the application of PLCs from VIPA GmbH, Germany, in continuous stainless steel annealing units in the metallurgical industry. As a control system compatible with Siemens PLCs, VIPA's products are highly competitive, and their high cost-effectiveness and ease of use have gradually gained user recognition.
1. Introduction
Siemens control products are widely used in the metallurgical industry. Our company has gradually introduced high-performance, cost-effective products from the German company VIPA, which are fully compatible with Siemens products, into our metallurgical projects. This has yielded excellent results and enhanced our competitiveness in undertaking projects.
2 System Composition
In a stainless steel continuous annealing unit project, we used the 300V series control system from the German company VIPA. Its main configuration is as follows:
1) One VIPAPLC315-2DP01 is used as the central processing unit;
2) Four VIPA 200V stations are used as remote stations. One of the remote stations is also equipped with a VIPARS485 communication interface module CP240-2, which communicates with four RKC temperature controllers.
3) Sixteen DC drive units from the Italian company EEI communicate using ProfibusDP.
4) The two frequency converters communicate using Profibus DP;
5) One touchscreen unit serves as the operator station;
6) One industrial computer is used as an engineering workstation.
The system structure block diagram is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 System structure block diagram
The system entered normal production after less than half a month of on-site debugging. The entire control system, from the controller to the remote station, uses VIPA products.
2.1 Main Control Station:
The VIPA315-2DP01 was selected as the controller, and two VIPA321-1BL00 digital input modules, three VIPA322-1BL00 output modules, and one VIPA331-7KB01 analog input module from the VIPA300 series were also connected. The arrangement is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2
2.2 Four remote stations:
The VIPA253-1DP01 was selected as the interface module, and corresponding VIPA200V series I/O modules were inserted into different stations. Each station can accommodate up to 32 VIPA200V I/O modules. The configuration diagram is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3 System hardware configuration diagram
Its usage is similar to that of Siemens ET200M, but it requires the installation of a dedicated GSD file provided by VIPA for Profibus configuration. Each remote station can have up to 32 modules. In principle, functional modules should be installed first, followed by switch modules.
2,316 DC drive units from the Italian company EEI:
Sixteen DC speed controllers 83B (585X version) manufactured by our company and the Italian joint venture EEI are connected to the DP bus interface of the VIPA315-2DP01 via their optional ProfibusDP communication board R123 to achieve communication control of each motor.
2.42 Siemens MM440 frequency converters:
Two Siemens MM440 frequency converters and an EEI DC speed controller are connected to the same DP bus, and parameters can be set and frequency conversion data can be read through communication.
2.51 touchscreens were used as operator stations:
One color touch screen MT510T manufactured by Taiwan EVIEW Corporation serves as the operator interface. It communicates with VIPA315-2DP01 via an MPI cable, allowing the system status to be monitored locally in the field control cabinet and some control parameters to be set.
2.61 industrial PCs were used as engineering workstations:
One Advantech industrial PC serves as the engineering workstation, with Siemens WinCC configuration software installed as the human-machine interface. It communicates with the VIPA315-2DP01 via an MPI cable to comprehensively monitor the operation of the entire unit and make timely corrections.
3 Application Experience
Throughout the project's debugging process, it felt almost identical to using Siemens controllers previously. The VIPA PLC uses Siemens' STEP7 V5.2 or later programming platform, with programming methods completely consistent with Siemens PLCs. Connecting VIPA's remote modules to the DP bus requires installing the GSD files provided by VIPA, and its usage is similar to Siemens remote stations. Each remote interface can accommodate up to 32 VIPA 200V modules. Therefore, its expandability is strong, and its cost-effectiveness is high. VIPA's new 300SPLCs all integrate an Ethernet interface for programming and communication with a host computer, eliminating the need for an MPI adapter, which greatly simplifies debugging and maintenance.
The VIPAPLC integrates its internal working memory, allowing it to run without an external MMC card, but it also features a standard MMC card interface for saving programs and data. This provides convenience and flexibility in its use.
About the Author
Xu Xingfu, Senior Engineer at Shanghai Ouda Automation Complete Equipment Co., Ltd.
