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Server allows remote management of shop-floor PLCs

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Apr 9, 2003

The new industrial device server from Sena Technologies can be used to manage shop-floor PLCs over a standard TCP/IP network.

As today's computing environment becomes increasingly complex and is subjected to ongoing change, managing industrial devices on the factory floor has become a burden.

Optimisation of the production chain demands intelligent IT applications and network-enabling solutions.

The need to capture and analyse the data from industrial and manufacturing equipment and to integrate that machinery with the company's business network is rapidly becoming a very real need.

Ethernet - or more importantly TCP/IP - is fast becoming the preferred solution for remote management of industrial devices such as PLCs at factory floor.

Driven by manufacturing's desire to connect the factory floor with the rest of the enterprise, PLCs connected to Ethernet enablers are giving users new ways to view and control factory data using Modbus supported protocols.

Earlier PLCs had been managed using serial lines via their RS232 serial ports.

The limitations in this system are lengthy cabling, inconvenience and higher maintenance cost.

As a result of growing trends in Ethernet infrastructure and, to help simplify data transfer among the industrial devices over the network, Sena has extended its range of serial-Ethernet device server products for the industrial applications.

Introduced under the umbrella name of IALink-Modbus the new industrial device server from Sena Technologies can be used to manage PLCs over the network.

By adding Ethernet connectivity to the PLC, IALink-Modbus makes it easier to gain actionable information from industrial equipment to improve operating performance.

It also provides full-featured management functions such as status monitor, remote reset, error log monitor and firmware upgrade using Telnet and serial console port under the password protection.

Application areas include: remote management of equipment on the factory floor; remote work program transfers to PLCs and robots on the factory floor; sensor data acquisition and monitoring and more.

IALink-Modbus connects Modbus serial devices to a 10Base-T Ethernet network.

It supports: serial protocol for Modbus RTU/ASCII; Modbus master/slave mode; and RS232/422/485 based serial devices via screw terminal blocks.

The system transfers serial data at up to 115Kbit/s, and can be mounted on DIN rail mounting rack.

Configuration is via telnet or serial console port, with Windows-based management software for configuration and administration.

Benefits include: cost reductions in system development thanks to the use of low-cost, industry-standard Ethernet technologies; labour cost reductions and improved efficiency due to remote management; an easier operation environment using various IT technologies such as Internet, web and database; cost reductions due to TCP/IP-oriented, simplified network hierarchy; and simple implementation of enterprise resource planning systems by connecting the TCP/IP-based business system with the manufacturing system.