I have an application to use a Panelview Plus 7 HMI with an existing third party PLC (serial RS232/422). I have used Anybus communicators to communicate from this third party PLC to Profibus, Profinet and CompactLogix for SCADA using the generic data mode so the basic driver is already programmed. I just want to make sure there are not any issues with using the same strategy for the HMI before ordering. Is there a reference for how the mapping of HMI tags might work?
This depends entirely on the HMI in question. Is it using a protocol like Modbus, something proprietary and complicated, or is it just using simple generic serial communication? The tag/memory mappings will come from the manufacturer of the HMI and then you will have to decide which ones and where to map them to the Anybus for your master to read. I’d recommend getting a user manual to make sure it will work before purchasing. I’d be happy to take a look at it if you want to post it here.
Kyle
Well the HMI is Panelview Plus 7 from Rockwell (Allen-Bradley) https://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/um/2711p-um007_-en-p.pdf. The PVP7 does not have RS232, only Ethernet.
The PLC to which I want to connect it does not support Ethernet/IP directly. It only has an RS232/422 serial port. As I mentioned, I have a driver for that PLC for the generic serial mode of an Anybus that I have used for SCADA on a few different field buses. But I am not sure how the tags would map from the PVP7 to the Anybus fieldbus side, since I have only used direct RSLogix 5000 tags for those HMIs in the past. I guess I was just hoping there would be an application note regarding this type of thing.
I misunderstood the original question and thought you were connecting the HMI as a slave to the serial master. In this case it sounds like you are using the HMI as the master on the fieldbus side.
Whether this can be done is going to depend on how you can configure the PVP7. I am not familiar with how to set up an IO device with those. Can you install an EDS? If so, this should not be difficult. Also, if you can install the Anybus in the PVP7 as a generic IO device, that will work too.
As you know, from using the Anybus Configuration Manager before, there really isn’t any configuration on the fieldbus side. The configuration is all done on the master side.
Keep in mind we do have other devices if the communicator isn’t right for this application. We we just need to know a little more about the application. If you aren’t trying to use the HMI as the master, we have EIP Scanner (master) X-gateways that might work for that.
And just to be clear… I do not know if the PVP7 will support this type of setup and there is a good chance that they won’t. I have never seen this done before and from what I know about them, they are designed to be used with Allen Bradley PLCs and are highly integrated with that environment.
Our sales department, @us_sales, would probably have more experience with questions like this so I will CC them on this issue.
We cannot support this type of communication. The gateways Ethernet/IP interfaces are typically in an Adapter/Scanner configuration. The HMI’s generally use explicit messages to communicate with the PLC. So we wouldn’t be able to interface with the PVP7 via Ethernet/IP.
Thank you Rob.