New version of the TIA Portal V15 engineering framework
10 November 2017
With the new version of the TIA Portal V15 (Totally Integrated Automation Portal), Siemens is extending its engineering framework to include a range of new practical digitalisation functions to shorten engineering times.
The main features of the innovations are extension of the application possibilities, expansion of the digitalisation portfolio, standardisation and higher engineering efficiency.
Highlights of the expanded application possibilities in the TIA Portal V15 are the multifunctional platform for integrating high-level language applications and additional drive systems, including a safety acceptance test, the integration of handling functions and 2D to 4D kinematics into Simatic S7-1500 controllers, and the connection and programming of robots. The inclusion of the new multifunctional platform in the portfolio of Simatic S7-1500 Advanced Controllers now enables high-level language applications to be easily created and reused with C/C++ and commercial programming tools, such as Eclipse. The integration of the Sinamics S120 and other drive families now enables the complete Siemens drive technology to be configured, commissioned and diagnosed in the TIA Portal.
Another new feature is a Wizard-guided safety acceptance test for the Sinamics G drive family. In conjunction with new technology CPUs for the Simatic S7-1500 Advanced Controller, handling functions with 2D to 4D kinematics can now be easily and efficiently programmed, simulated and commissioned in the TIA Portal – for example Cartesian gantries, roll pickers, Scara robots and Delta pickers. Robot functions are also available in the TIA Portal V15. Robot manufacturers, such as Kuka and Yaskawa, have already made block libraries available for programming robots in the TIA Portal. Other manufacturers, such as Denso and Stäubli, are also planning to release block libraries in the near future. In this way, control and robot technologies are growing more closely together, and the TIA Portal offers a uniform solution ranging from engineering through to the operation of robots.
The expansion of the digitalisation portfolio for the TIA Portal V15 concentrates on OPC UA functionalities and virtual commissioning. The OPC UA functionalities have been widened for the Simatic S7-1500 Advanced Controller. This improves and simplifies the standardised vertical and horizontal communication between machines and devices in the plant and the MES/Scada/IT level (Manufacturing Execution System/Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition). This now also enables automation solutions to be implemented in accordance with industry-specific standards, such as OMAC PackML (Organisation for Machine Automation and Control) or Weihenstephan.
Virtual commissioning allows virtual validation of the automation solution, that is to say the interaction between control components and the mechatronic system of a machine or system. The heart of the Siemens solution is the S7-PLCSIM Advanced Virtual Controller for Simatic S7-1500. This enables many controller functionalities to be simulated and virtual system models to be controlled. As a result, automation and mechanical engineering are synchronised at a very early stage in the product life cycle, and development times up to the real commissioning are shortened.
In respect of standardisation and higher engineering efficiency, the new TIA Portal version concentrates on teamwork and enhanced diagnostics of machines and systems. The automatic marking of changed objects and the offline mode were added in teamwork with TIA Portal Multiuser Engineering. Together with the enhanced change management in the multiuser server, such as for change history and user comments, this improves the system-supported synchronisation of changes in the team. For the diagnostics of machines and systems, the Simatic ProDiag diagnostics package has been extended to include the monitoring of fail-safe modules and the criteria analysis for ProDiag alarms. In combination with the S7-Graph Control display in the Simatic HMI (Human Machine Interface) – which has also been expanded – this has improved the diagnostics and visualisation of machine sequences and application errors directly on the operator device in the system. For example, for the first time the user is able to look back to the real cause of the failure in the graphic code display of the operator device.
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