PLC with Profibus Functionality

[Nil]

Hi all, We are in the midst of executing a project where in the PLC has to communciate with the drive on profibus and should also support 42 DI & 42 DO. Initially thought of Siemens S7200, but this is not possible. Only option left was for S7300(CPU313-2DP), but the price for this going beyond our budget . Need some help in finding a PLC which can do the above job at a very reasonable price. Cheers Nil

[BobLfoot]

Don't know what your budget is but there are some flavors of Allen Bradley PLC which do profibus. The Prosoft Technology module works with ControlLogix family and has worked well for us.

[JRoss]

Have you checked out Mitsubishi? The FX3U would meet your requirements both for I/O quantity and available Profibus modules. It's "only" a brick PLC, but it rivals low-end rack systems for power and speed.

[Nil]

The Budget is aroung 700 - 800 US$

[JesperMP]

A Beckhoff CX9000 CPU plus an EL6731 Profibus DP Master module plus a couple of i/o modules should just fit inside that. The programming software Twincat is available as a free download, and after the trial period expires it will continue to function for programming. I dont use Beckhoff or Twincat, but some people rave about it, so it could be worth checking out.

[TimWilborne]

I have thought about using Beckhoff a couple of times and think they would be a fit for some of my applications but I have never managed to navigate their website. It is awful. Are there any good selection guides or catalogs for their products?

[JesperMP]

I find their website easy to navigate. With the navigation tree in the left side of the screen, you are very few mouse-clicks away from all the products. And that without opening up new browser windows all over my desktop.One thing that may add to the confusion, the entire Beckhoff platform is really 3 diverse products that are combined to make a 'PLC'. Fieldbus components + Industrial PCs with Windows CE or Windows XP embedded + The software PLC 'Twincat'. All three can be used individually without the other components. Add to that, that everythings is completely modular, both software and hardware. You wont find that one single manual that in a nutshell describes how their PLC works. I find Beckhoff very interesting to follow.