Linking AB to Omron PLCs

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Thread Starter

Robert Lloyd

My first suggestion was to read the AB memory areas using SCADA and Ethernet and then report relevent data back to the Omron system but they do not think this will be quick enough and are looking for alternatives eg. direct Ethernet to AB from CS1. As I see it, there are two alternatives as follows: Using Ethernet communications to send/receive data with AB unit. Using Devicenet to exchange data (one unit configured as slave, other as master). My questions are: Do you know of anyone who has successfully linked Omron and AB systems and which hardware they used? Are there any coding examples available - more than outlined in the manuals? What are your recommendations?
 
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Raymond van der Tas

In order to link the two systems you can use the fastest OPC servers available on the market and Gateway the two OPC Servers using ICONICS DataWorX32. DataWorX32 allows you to configure Registers (OPC Items) which take the input from your AB OPC Server and sends the output to your Omron OPC Server. The performance can be expected to be no quicker than the read-performance of your AB Server and the write performance of your Omron server. DataWorX32 is event driven. You will not see a noticeable performance drop in this module. A recommendation may be to ensure that your AB data is placed in a consecutive block of memory. This way the AB protocol can get most data items in one communication cycle. You also may consider to gateway one large OPC item of the data type VT_ARRAY. You then have to verify that your AB OPC Server as well as the OMRON OPC Server support Array OPC Items. For details on DataWorX32 please connect to www.iconics.com Regards ICONICS EUROPE BV Raymond van der Tas
 
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Jerry Miille

Another possibility might be the Miille Applied Research Omnii-Comm ( http://www.miille.com ). This unit supports both Allen-Bradley DF-1 and Omron Host Link protocols. Serial communications at 19.2K should be able to provide update rates in the order of .250 second or faster depending on the number of registers you need to move. Jerry Miille Miille Applied Research Co., Inc. Houston, Texas 713/472-6272 [email protected] http://www.miille.com
 
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Phil Covington

If you are able to do a little programming, it is relatively easy to make a AB to Omron gateway. I wrote an AB Ethernet to Automation Direct Ethernet gateway for a customer and it is very fast. If you need Omron or Allen Bradley ActiveX communication DLLs then take a look at my free PLC Communication Library at http://www.vhmiautomation.com Currently there are librarys for AB, GE Fanuc, Automation Direct, Omron, and Mitsubishi PLCs. There is also a library for both Modbus Ehternet and Serial Master. Regards, Phil Covington vHMI Automation http://www.vhmiautomation.com
 
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