Following many years of operation, the Siemens S5-based PLC used at out clients’ site was becoming ever more difficult to maintain. Replacement parts were also becoming more and more difficult to source, due to the length of time the PLC had been deemed as being obsolete. In addition, fault finding on the old system was very problematic. Upon an occurrence of a fault, it was very difficult to determine the root cause of the issue. Due to the critical nature of the system, there typically wasn’t time to request Elite to attend site and help to determine the cause. Elite was asked to provide a more modern, upgraded solution incorporating a new PLC and HMI.
The solution implemented has incorporated the use of a Siemens S7-1500 Series PLC. This was programmed using the latest Siemens TIA Portal software with integrated Advanced Safety features.
The existing PLC code was migrated in stages from STEP5, to STEP7 Classic, and then to TIA Portal. In addition, the HMI was further enhanced and programmed to receive system messages related to the exact cause of fault events. These were then presented for display on the alarms mimic.
Our client has achieved the goal of their project, and can now identify various faults with ease given the capabilities of the modernised system. In addition, due to the relevance of the upgraded system, all spares can be sourced with ease and cost effectiveness. It should also be noted that the reliability of the system has also been improved significantly.
Elite is once again proud to offer a ground-breaking solution to one of its key customers and look forward to new challenges in the future.
