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Siemens: SIMATIC Advanced Controllers (S7-400 Series)
Siemens: SIMATIC Advanced Controllers (S7-400 Series)


 
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Siemens: SIMATIC Advanced Controllers (S7-400 Series)

Always the right Controller: for plant or machine building, for production or process technology, for stand-alone or highly complex applications. Siemens offers the perfect control solution for every application - PLC or PC-based.
The range of SIMATIC Controllers starts from logic modules to Basic, Advanced and Distributed Controllers all the way to Software Controllers.

SIMATIC controllers from Siemens – The intelligent choice for your automation task

SIMATIC controllers from Siemens provide you with controllers for cost-effective automation solutions on all performance levels – with consistent functionality and standardized interfaces, perfectly optimized for applications with requirements ranging from simple to complex.

In addition to best performance, the new controller generation provides the advantage of scalability and functional consistency thanks to the uniform engineering in the TIA Portal and best-in-class solutions in terms of security and safety.

SIMATIC Controller System Overview

SIMATIC controllers offer the intelligent choice for your automation task

Every machine or plant has individual requirements for system performance and application complexity. With its extensive range of controllers, Siemens offers the perfect control solution for each application.

The Basic Controllers S7-1200 for simple and stand-alone applications, the Advanced Controllers
S7-1500 for medium and complex applications, the Distributed Controllers ET 200SP for decentralized applications and the Software Controller S7-1500 for PC-based applications.

All Basic, Advanced and Distributed Controllers are also available as fail-safe versions for implementation of fail-safe applications.

SIMATIC Controllers and their Advantages

SIMATIC controllers are convincing due to their user-friendliness, scalability and functional consistency. The selection provides the optimum controller for each application.

User programs for SIMATIC controllers are largely identical in design and handling. Once written, they can be easily implemented–from small to large and vice versa.

Thanks to the consistent engineering in the TIA Portal, the wide-ranging software and hardware functions can efficiently solve any automation task.

The Advanced Controllers among the S7 controllers

The Advanced Controllers are especially suitable for medium-scale and complex applications.
The SIMATIC S7-1500 controller is the long-term successor to the SIMATIC S7-300 and SIMATIC
S7-400 controllers and the standard for the plants
of tomorrow – it convinces with its unique performance and innovative design and handling.
The SIMATIC S7 controllers are future-proof, modular expandable, vibration-proof, maintenance-free, scalable, and, of course, they can be configured in the TIA Portal. They are the ideal solution for every automation task.

Advanced Controllers – with the currently most powerful CPU worldwide

The highlight within the product series of Advanced Controllers is the SIMATIC S7-1500. It combines power and efficiency for medium to complex applications with high demands on communication, flexibility and technological functions. It guarantees high system performance and ease of use, and represents a safe investment in the future with its standard and fail-safe solution in a single controller.

In addition to the current standard of SIMATIC S7-1500 controllers, the SIMATIC S7-300 and SIMATIC S7-400 also belong to the group of Advanced Controllers.

SIMATIC S7-400 process controller: a powerful solution

Part of the SIMATIC process controller series, the S7-400 has been designed for system solutions in the fields of manufacturing and process automation. This process controller is ideal for data-intensive tasks that are especially typical for the process industry.
High processing speeds and deterministic response times ensure short machine cycle times on high-speed machines in the manufacturing industry.

The most powerful Automation System within SIMATIC

Superb communication capability and integrated interfaces make the SIMATIC S7-400 process controller ideal for larger tasks such as the coordination of
entire systems. The graded range of CPUs enables scalable performance and the capacity for I/O
periphery is virtually unlimited. What's more, process controller signal modules can be inserted and removed while the system is live (hot swapping), making it
very easy to expand the system or replace modules.

S7-400 CPUs

CPUs for demanding tasks

Description

There is a graded range of CPUs from the entry-level CPU right up to the high-performance CPU for configuring the controller. All CPUs control large quantity structures; several CPUs can work together in a multicomputing configuration to boost performance. Thanks to their high processing speed and deterministic response times, the CPUs enable short machine cycle times.

The different CPUs are distinguished by, for example, work memory, address range, number of connections and execution time. As well as the standard CPUs, there are also two failsafe and three fault-tolerant CPUs available.

Applications

  • The S7-400 is especially suitable for data-intensive tasks in the process industry. High processing speeds and deterministic response times guarantee short machine cycle times on high-speed machines in the manufacturing industry.

  • The S7-400 is used preferably to coordinate overall plants and to control lower-level systems. This is guaranteed by the high communication power and the integral interfaces.

  • Many of the S7-400 components are also available in a SIPLUS version for extreme environmental conditions.


S7-400 finds successful application here:

  • Automotive industry

  • Standard mechanical equipment manufacture incl. custom mechanical equipment manufacture

  • Warehousing systems

  • Building engineering

  • Steel industry

  • Power generation and distribution

  • Paper and printing industries

  • Woodworking

  • Textile manufacture

  • Pharmaceuticals

  • Food and beverages industries

  • Process engineering, e.g. water and wastewater utilities

  • Chemical industry and petrochemicals

Benefits

  • The power of the S7-400 is scalable thanks to a graded range of CPUs; the capacity for I/O is almost unlimited.

  • The power reserves of the CPUs enable new functions to be integrated without further hardware investment, e.g. processing of quality data, user-friendly diagnosis, integration into higher-level MES solutions or high-speed communication via bus systems.

  • The S7-400 can be structured in a modular way; there is a widely varied range of modules available both for centralized configurations and distributed structures. This results in very cost-effective spare parts handling.

  • The configuration of the distributed I/O of the S7-400 can be modified during operation (Configuration in Run). In addition signal modules can be removed and inserted while live (hot swapping). This makes it very easy to expand the system or replace modules in the event of a fault.

  • The storage of the complete project data including symbols and comments on the CPU simplifies service and maintenance calls.

  • Safety engineering and standard automation can be integrated into a single S7-400 controller; plant availability can be increased through the redundant structure of the S7-400.

  • Many of the S7-400 components are also available in a SIPLUS version for external environmental conditions, e.g. extended temperature range (-25?+60°C) and for use where there is aggressive atmosphere/condensation.

  • The high-speed backplane bus of S7-400 ensures efficient linking of central I/O modules

Design and function

Modularity

An important feature of the S7-400 is its modularity. The powerful backplane bus of the S7-400 and the DP communication interfaces that can be plugged directly on to the CPU allow the high-performance operation of many communication lines. This permits, for example, the division into one communications line for HMI and programming tasks, one line for high-performance and equidistant motion control components, and one "normal" I/O fieldbus.
Additionally required connections to MES-/ERP systems or the Internet via SIMATIC IT can also be implemented. The S7-400 can be expanded centrally or in a distributed configuration depending on the task. Add-on devices and interface modules are available centrally for this purpose. Distributed expansion is possible over the PROFIBUS or PROFINET interfaces integrated in the CPUs. If required, communication processors (CPs) can also be used.

Design

An S7-400 system basically comprises a rack, power supply, and central processing unit. It can be installed and expanded in a modular way. All modules can be positioned freely next to the power supply plugged in on the left. The S7-400 has a rugged design without a fan. Signal modules can be hot swapped. A multi-faceted module range can be used for central expansions as well as for simple configuration of distributed topologies with ET 200.
In a centralized expansion, additional mounting racks are connected direct to the central controller.

In addition to the standard mounting racks, aluminum mounting racks with 9 and 18 slots are also available. These aluminum racks are highly resistant to unfavorable environmental conditions, and they are more rigid and around 25% lighter.

Multicomputing

Multicomputing, that is, the simultaneous operation of several CPUs in one S7-400 central controller, offers users different benefits:

  • The overall performance of an S7-400 can be shared by means of multi computing. For example, complex tasks in technologies such as open-loop control, computing or communication can be split and assigned to different CPUs. Each CPU is assigned its own, local I/O for this purpose.

  • Some tasks can also be disconnected from each other in multi computing, that is, one CPU processes the time-critical process tasks and another handles the non-time-critical tasks.

In multicomputing operation, all CPUs behave like a single CPU, that is, when one CPU goes to STOP, the others are also halted. The actions of several CPUs can be coordinated selectively by instruction via synchronization calls. In addition, data exchange between the CPUs takes place at an extremely high speed via the "global data" mechanism.

Data/program memory

The size of the work memory is determined CPU that can be selected from a finely graded range of CPUs. The integral load memory (RAM) is sufficient for small to medium sized programs. For larger programs, the load memory is enlarged by plugging in RAM or FEPROM memory cards (64 KB to 64 MB).

Special functions

The S7-400 CPUs have some highly useful special functions:

  • Simpler and faster upgrade due to firmware update via network from an engineering workstation

  • Additional write-protection (for e.g. no component download from PC to CPU) via a system function

  • Optional know-how protection by reading the serial number of the memory card, so that it is ensured that the program runs only with the particular memory card


An integrated data record gateway permits integrated access to data records across different bus systems and network boundaries e.g. a control-level PC can communicate via PROFINET with a lower-level S7-400 controller and the field devices connected to it via PROFIBUS.


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