This thesis presents the automated line, which was set up in the laboratory of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Ljubljana. Old controllers were upgraded with new Simens Simatic S7-1200controllers.
The purpose of the thesis was to produce a generalized form of controller communication and the programs of individual stations in structured text. Furthermore we got to know the construction and the proposed concept of operation of the automated line. Afterwards we got a more detailed look of the TIA (Totally Integrated Automation) programming tool used to program the controllers.
We got to know the basic characteristics and advantages of the S7-1200 controllers. Basic network connection protocols were also mentioned, because controller communication via ethernet connection is referenced in this work. The emphasis was on the program structure of individual stations, which was made in structured text.
Interaction between multiple controllers at the same time was usually solved by using Profibus type communication , which has its share of problems, from connection looping to length limitations to name a few. This provided additional motivation, along with a lack of information on this subject on the web.
The communication was designed on the principle of one "manager (master)" device and "user (slave)" devices. These devices send the data to "manager (master)", which in turn forwards the data/instructions to the appropriate device. Individual station programming was done using structured text language with the use of "case" loops. For safety we addressed the output values seperately from the main program. We used safety conditions, which are made seperately from the main program and are constantly running in the background, regardless of the state the main program is in.
We encountered numerous problems, from lack of knowledge to searching physical errors/malfunctions on the line, but we have successfully established communication. By doing so we have achieved our goal of transferring data between controllers.
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