JP2011108008A - Hmi-screen automatic generation method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To readily and automatically generate an HMI-screen, using a PLC programming tool and an HMI-programming tool. <P>SOLUTION: An HMI-screen automatic generation method includes a first step of setting a parameter for controlling a control target on a screen 6a of the PLC programming tool 6; a second step of preparing a control screen 8 for monitoring the control state of the control target with the PLC programming tool 6; a third step of registering the control screen 8, prepared in the second step as a template screen with the HMI-programming tool 7; and a fourth step of generating the HMI screen 10, by reading the parameter onto the template screen. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method of automatically generating a display screen of a programmable display as an HMI (Human Machine Interface) screen in a programmable display used as a set with a programmable controller (hereinafter referred to as PLC). . Here, the HMI screen is a screen on which an HMI component is displayed and the status display and control operation of various control targets such as machines and devices can be performed using the HMI component on the screen.

  In addition to the programmable controller, the PLC is also referred to as a programmable logic controller, and is widely used as a factory automation controller installed in a production factory or the like. The PLC includes a CPU, an I / O memory, a program memory, and the like. In the PLC, the CPU performs an IN refresh process for taking a signal input from an input terminal into an I / O memory. The CPU also executes an OUT refresh process that executes an operation based on the sequence program in the program memory, writes the operation execution result to the I / O memory, and outputs the result to the output terminal. An input device such as a sensor is connected to the input terminal. An output device such as an actuator is connected to the output terminal. An input device such as a sensor senses the state of various control targets such as a conveyor line and inputs the information to an input terminal. An output device such as an actuator drives the control target in response to the output from the output terminal (see Patent Document 1).

  A programmable display is used as a set for such a PLC. That is, while the control target is sequence-controlled by the PLC, the status of the control target is displayed and the control target is operated by the programmable display.

  In such a programmable display device, the display screen can be used as an HMI screen to monitor the status of the control target and so on. The HMI screen is created by an HMI programming tool in which drawing software is built into a general-purpose personal computer or downloaded. Since the HMI screen is a control target status and control operation, buttons, meters, graphs, and the like, which are screen objects, are pasted and displayed as HMI parts corresponding to these. Such HMI screen data is stored in the memory of the display. The display device stores an execution program for executing the screen data in the memory.

  The basic software of the display includes Windows (registered trademark) NT (Microsoft), Windows (registered trademark) CE (Microsoft), and others, and the execution program of the display is an application program thereof. The execution program instructs the interface on the PLC side as necessary based on the screen data, communicates with the PLC and other displays connected to the own device, and acquires the status of the input / output device. Display the HMI parts corresponding to each input / output device on the display screen of the display unit and change the display state of the HMI parts such as shape, color, numerical value, etc. according to the data of the input / output devices acquired via PLC Thus, it is possible to notify the user of the control state for the control target. Such an HMI screen can be managed as a project file collectively as a series of related screens for each control target. The project file is a set of data including a plurality (several hundreds) of screen data and the setting data necessary for the operation of the display according to the screen data because the display device does not operate only with this screen data. Thus, the creation of the HMI screen requires a considerable amount of work.

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-259079

  In the present invention, it is an object to be solved to enable easy generation of an HMI screen that has been created so far by using a PLC programming tool and an HMI programming tool. The PLC programming tool is a tool that can create a program such as a ladder program on the screen, call a control parameter setting window on the ladder program on the screen, and set the control parameter in the setting window. The HMI programming tool is a tool for creating an HMI screen that can perform status monitoring and operation of a control target on the screen. The HMI screen is a screen on which buttons, meters, graphs, and the like, which are screen objects, are pasted and displayed as various HMI components corresponding to these for control and operation with respect to the control target.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, in the present invention, the control status of the control target, parameters such as various calculation parameters and control parameters for control operation, and the PID for the control target created by the PLC programming tool By using a control screen for checking various control operations, an HMI screen on a programmable display can be automatically generated.

  That is, the method for automatically generating an HMI screen in a programmable display according to the present invention includes a first step of setting parameters related to control of a control target on the tool screen of the PLC programming tool, and monitoring the control status of the control target by the PLC programming tool. A second step of creating a control screen for performing the above, a third step of registering the control screen created in the second step by the HMI programming tool as a template screen, and an HMI screen by reading the parameters on the template screen And a fourth step of generating.

  In the above, a step of storing the parameter set in the first step in the PLC internal memory can be included.

  Moreover, the step which transfers the data of the HMI screen produced | generated at the 4th step to a programmable display can be included.

  According to the present invention, in the HMI programming tool, the control screen created on the tool screen of the PLC programming tool is registered as the template screen, and the parameters set for controlling the control target on the PLC programming tool. Since the HMI screen can be automatically generated simply by reading the image on the registered template screen, the creation of the HMI screen becomes much easier than before.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a PLC, a PLC programming tool, an HMI programming tool, and a programmable display that are used to explain the entire method of automatically generating an HMI screen. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining control screen creation and parameter setting on the PLC programming tool. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining registration of a control screen on the PLC programming tool as a template screen in the HMI programming tool and reading of control parameters. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the transfer of the HMI screen automatically generated by the HMI programming tool to the programmable display.

  Hereinafter, an HMI screen automatic generation method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, FIG. 1 shows a control system in which a programmable display (simply a display) is used in combination with a PLC. In FIG. 1, 1 is an external PC, 2 is a display (HMI device), 3 is a PLC, 4 is an input / output device, 5 is a control target, 6 is a PLC programming tool, and 7 is an HMI programming tool. The external PC 1, the PLC programming tool 6 and the HMI programming tool 7 are shown as functionally separate blocks on the drawing for convenience of explanation, but can be configured with different personal computers or the same personal computer. Program software is downloaded for each.

  The external PC 1 controls the display 2 and the PLC 3 by protocol communication. The display device 2 functions as a terminal for inputting various monitor and device settings such as operating status and work instructions to various input / output devices 4 such as sensors, actuators, and motors. be able to. The screen of the display 2 is an HMI screen, and various HMI (Human Machine Interface) display parts such as a meter, a graph, and a switch are displayed for controlling and operating the device. Although the display 2 is not specifically shown in its internal configuration, it has a memory such as a RAM, a ROM, a flash ROM, and a VRAM, and an arithmetic processing unit such as a CPU. I have control. The display device 2 can perform various data processing in order to perform display control of the HMI screen, protocol conversion, and data distribution. The display device 2 can draw the HMI screen on the display screen using a VRAM or the like based on the HMI screen created by the HMI programming tool. On the HMI screen, HMI display components and the like are displayed. On the HMI screen, these HMI display components move according to the operation of the input / output device 4, and the operation status of the input / output device 4 is visualized. The display 2 controls the display of the HMI screen based on the ON / OFF information of the input / output device 4 stored in the data memory of the PLC 3 in accordance with the display control program.

  The PLC 3 includes a CPU that executes a ladder program created by the PLC programming tool 6, an internal memory such as an I / O memory that stores ON / OFF information of the input / output device 4, and the like. The ladder program is executed while rewriting the contents of the internal memory and referring to the contents of the internal memory, and the input / output device 4 is controlled. The PLC 3 also performs calculation processing of control data to be given to the output device 4b based on a signal input from the input device 4a. As the input device 4a, devices such as sensors (temperature sensors, optical sensors, etc.) and switches (push button switches, limit switches, pressure switches, etc.) are used. As the output device 4b, an actuator, a relay, a solenoid valve, or the like is used. These input and output devices 4a and 4b are arranged in required parts such as a production line. The PLC 3 controls the control target 5 by inputting / outputting signals to / from the input / output device 4 according to a ladder program (not shown).

  In the above control system, the control target 5 includes, for example, a conveyor line. Although not shown in the figure, a sensor for detecting an article conveyed on the conveyor line, a motor for driving the conveyor line, etc. A plurality of input / output devices 4 are arranged.

  Referring to FIG. 2, the PLC programming tool 6 comprises a general-purpose personal computer, and can create a ladder program, create a control screen 8, and set a parameter table 9 on the editing screen 6a. In the PLC programming tool 6, as an example, a control screen 8 for conveyor line control monitoring can be created, and parameters to be set in the internal memory for conveyor line control can be set in the parameter table 9. The control screen 8 has, for example, areas 8a-8d where bar graphs are displayed and areas 8e where line graphs are displayed. The parameter table 9 describes a parameter Pa-Pe and memory values AE stored in the internal memory corresponding to each parameter Pa-Pe. When the creation of the ladder program, the creation of the control screen 8, and the setting of the parameter table 9 are completed, the PLC programming tool 6 transfers them to the PLC 3 and sets them.

  A control screen 8 (screen portion surrounded by a dotted line on the editing screen 6 a) and a parameter table 9 created by the PLC programming tool 6 with reference to FIG. 3 are transferred to the HMI programming tool 7. On the editing screen 7a of the HMI programming tool 7, the control screen 8 transferred from the PLC programming tool 6 and the parameter table 9 automatically generate the HMI screen 10 (screen portion surrounding the editing screen 7a with a dotted line).

In this case, the HMI programming tool 7
(1) Register the control screen 8 transferred from the PLC programming tool 6 as a template screen,
(2) The HMI screen 10 is created from the registered template screen and the parameter table 9.

  The template screen is registered in the memory of the HMI programming tool 7. If the template screen and the parameter table 9 are associated with each other and registered in the memory, the creation of (2) becomes easier. In the parameter table 9, the memory values AE of the internal memory corresponding to the parameters Pa-Pe are rewritten and updated by the input / output information of the input / output device 4 corresponding to the control state.

  An HMI screen 10 is displayed on the editing screen 7a of the HMI programming tool 7 in FIG. That is, only the bar graph display area 8a-8d and the line graph display area 8e are displayed on the editing screen 6a of the PLC programming tool 6, but the parameter table 9 is displayed on the HMI screen 10 on the editing screen 7a of the HMI programming tool 7. A bar graph 8a1-8d1 and a line graph 8e1 corresponding to the parameters are displayed.

 Referring to FIG. 4, the data on HMI screen 10 including bar graphs 8a1-8d1 and line graph 8e1 displayed on edit screen 7a of HMI programming tool 7 is transferred to display 2. The HMI screen 10 is displayed on the screen 2a of the display device 2 as an HMI screen 11 including a bar graph 8a2-8d2 and a line graph 8e2 in a screen portion surrounded by a dotted line.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the first step of setting the parameter table 9 for controlling the controlled object by the PLC programming tool 6 and the control for monitoring the control status of the controlled object by the PLC programming tool 6 are performed. A second step for creating the screen 8, a third step for registering the control screen 8 created in the second step by the HMI programming tool 7 as a template screen, and reading the control parameters stored in the PLC on the template screen Thus, the fourth step of generating the HMI screen 10 and the HMI screen 10 can be transferred from the HMI programming tool 7 to the display device 2 and displayed as the HMI screen 11 on the display device screen 2a. That is, in the present embodiment, the HMI programming tool 7 registers the control screen 8 created by the PLC programming tool 6 as a template screen and is set for control of the controlled object by the PLC programming tool 6. Since the HMI screen 10 can be automatically generated simply by reading the parameters on the registered template screen, the creation of the HMI screen 10 is greatly facilitated compared to the conventional case.

1 External PC
2 Display 3 PLC
4 I / O device 5 Control target 6 PLC programming tool 7 HMI programming tool 8 Control screen 9 Parameter table 10 HMI screen 11 HMI screen

Claims (3)

A first step of setting parameters related to control on the control target on the tool screen of the PLC programming tool;
A second step of creating a control screen for monitoring the control status of the control target by means of a PLC programming tool;
A third step of registering the control screen created in the second step by the HMI programming tool as a template screen;
A fourth step of generating an HMI screen by reading the parameters on the template screen;
A method for automatically generating an HMI screen in a programmable display device.   The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of storing the parameter set in the first step in a PLC internal memory.   The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of transferring the HMI screen data generated in the fourth step to a programmable display.

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