KR20110024477A - Monitoring system of plc system and monitoring method of plc system using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A monitoring system of PLC system and a monitoring method of a PLC system using the same are provided to monitor regard less of the number of a communication driver by enabling the data between monitoring software of the PLC system to be shared. CONSTITUTION: In a monitoring system of PLC system and a monitoring method of a PLC system using the same, a plurality of monitoring units(100_1~100_N) include a plurality of monitoring software. A scheduling unit(110) comprises the scheduling software The scheduling unit(110) controls a data transmission channel between the monitoring software and a communication driver. The scheduling unit includes a port connection administrator, a process manager, and a data manager. Communication drivers(120,130) transfer monitor data offered from a PLC system.

Description

MONITORING SYSTEM OF PLC SYSTEM AND MONITORING METHOD OF PLC SYSTEM USING THE SAME}

The present invention relates to a programmable logic control (hereinafter referred to as PLC) system, and more particularly to a monitoring system of a PLC system.

In traditional industrial sites, automation equipment consisted of mechanical equipment using relays. In order to change the function of the automated equipment, which is a mechanical device, there was a difficulty in rewiring the internal circuit of the equipment. PLC was created to solve this problem.

The PLC is a programmable logical controller. The PLC generally acts like a computer. It receives signals from a facility such as a machine and processes them according to the contents programmed therein, and then outputs the processed signals to the facility. PLC replaces the functions of control devices such as relays, timers, and counters with semiconductor devices such as integrated devices and transistors, and adds arithmetic functions to basic sequence control functions to enable program control. Perform some logic in accordance with the stored program. The PLC can be applied to various tasks such as device control, device numerical setting, time control, real-time monitoring, real-time data collection, and safety device operation.

It is necessary to monitor whether the PLC system is operating as expected, mainly by connecting a personal computer (PC) storing the monitoring software to the PLC system and using the stored monitoring software. In general, a PLC system uses a communication port on a PC to connect to a PC. The PLC system mainly uses a USB communication port of the PC and an RS232 communication port. The PC has its own driver that uses the PC's USB and RS232 communication ports.

Due to the limited number of communication ports on the PC, monitoring of the PLC system is inevitable.

The present invention provides a monitoring system of a PLC system and a monitoring method thereof, which can more effectively monitor various states of a PLC system.

The present invention includes a plurality of monitoring units each having a plurality of monitoring software; A communication driver for transferring monitor data provided to the PLC system; And a scheduling unit having a scheduling software for controlling a data transfer channel between the plurality of monitoring software and the communication driver so that the monitor data can be transferred to the corresponding monitoring software. .

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method comprising: assigning a channel to a monitoring software selected from a plurality of monitoring software by a port access manager; When a monitor data request command is received from the selected monitoring software, receiving monitor data from the selected monitoring software via a data manager or a communication driver; And releasing the allocated channel.

According to the present invention, regardless of the number of communication drivers or communication ports provided in the PC connected to the PLC, it is possible to monitor the status of the PLC system more effectively.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in order to facilitate a person skilled in the art to easily carry out the technical idea of the present invention. do.

The present invention is to more effectively monitor various states of a PLC system. In particular, it relates to data sharing method among monitoring software of PLC system. It provides PLC monitoring software that connects and monitors several softwares through a limited number of communication drivers provided by a PC connected to a PLC's Central Processing Unit. It provides a method of operating a communication driver and a data sharing method related to the operation of the software.

1 is a block diagram showing a monitoring system of a general PLC system.

As shown in Fig. 1, the PC 10 connected to the PLC system 20 includes units 11 and 12 having monitoring software, an RS232 communication driver 13, and a USB communication driver 14. The PLC system 20 includes an RS232 communication driver 21, a USB communication driver 22, and a data processing unit 23.

The units 11 and 12 with monitoring software are blocks for monitoring data transmitted from the PLC system via the communication drivers 13 and 14. The unit 11 including the monitoring software 1 is a block for receiving and processing monitor data through the communication driver RS 232 13, and the monitoring unit 12 including the monitoring software 2 is connected via the communication driver USB 14. This block receives and processes monitor data.

The data processor 23 is a block for performing a predetermined operation of the PLC system, and serves to provide data for monitoring to the units 11 and 12 having monitoring software. The data processing unit 23 of the PLC system is composed of a combination of various modules that perform input / output, communication, special functions, etc., with a central processing unit (CPU) that manages the entire sequence and module control.

The CPU of the PLC system and each module share data through a device called a base. At this time, PLC monitoring software is needed to check the operation status of PLC system through PC in the field. The data necessary for monitoring is collected by the CPU and transferred to the monitoring software of the PC through the communication drivers 21 and 22.

In general, the communication driver controlled by the CPU of the PLC system is limited to two (RS232 or USB). Data provided by various modules of the PLC system is transferred to the above-described communication driver. In general, the communication driver provided in the PC includes an RS232 communication driver 13 and a USB communication driver 14 as shown. Correspondingly, two monitoring units including monitoring software are arranged to receive the monitor data provided from the respective communication drivers 13 and 14. Therefore, more software is required to monitor more various kinds of monitor data, and correspondingly, more communication drivers are required. However, in general, the number of communication drivers provided in the PC is fixed, and the number of communication drivers that can be provided in the PLC system is limited. That is, it is a monitoring system using N: N method of monitoring software and communication driver.

In the monitoring system of the PLC system as described above, the monitoring software should be provided corresponding to the number of communication drivers. In order to view various information on multiple monitoring software or the same monitoring software, there are many limitations due to the number of communication drivers. In addition, even though the data requested by each monitoring software was of a similar kind, the PLC system always had to respond to and process the data. Therefore, the time that the PLC system processes and provides through the communication driver takes a certain amount of time. The disadvantage was that it takes a lot of time to get and monitor.

In the present invention, despite the communication between the PLC system and the PC with a limited communication driver, a variety of monitoring software proposes a method that can effectively monitor the information of the various modules on the PLC system.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a monitoring system of a PLC system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the PLC monitoring system according to the present embodiment includes a monitoring unit 100_1 to 100_N each having a plurality of monitoring software provided in a PC, a scheduling unit 110 including scheduling software, and RS232 communication driver 120 and USB communication driver 130. The PLC system 200 includes an RS232 communication driver 210, a USB communication driver 220, and a data processor 230.

In the present embodiment, in monitoring the state of the PLC system, a plurality of scheduling units 110 having scheduling software are provided between the communication drivers 120 and 130 and the monitoring units 100_1 to 100_N each having a plurality of monitoring software. The monitoring units 100_1 to 100_N each having the monitoring software may monitor variously through the limited port.

The PLC system 200 transmits the monitor data to the communication drivers 120 and 130 of the PC through the communication drivers 210 and 220 according to a request of the monitoring software on the PC. The monitoring unit 110 having the scheduling software serves to deliver the monitor data transmitted through the communication drivers 120 and 130 to the monitoring units 100_1 to 100_N having the plurality of monitoring software.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the scheduling software shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 3, the scheduling unit 110 having the scheduling software includes a port access manager 111, a process manager 112, and a data manager 113. The port connection manager 111 is responsible for the connection function with the communication drivers 120 and 130 and with the monitoring units 100_1 to 100_N having a plurality of monitoring software. The process manager 112 allocates one process to each channel generated by the port access manager 111 to process data. The data manager 113 is responsible for updating and retrieving the entire monitor data. The data manager 113 may prevent data update delays that may occur when monitoring the PLC system in the monitoring units 100 to 100_N having a plurality of monitoring software by adjusting not to read again unnecessary data in data sharing. .

FIG. 4 is a data flow diagram showing an internal operation flow of the scheduling software shown in FIG.

The first flow (1) shows the channel allocation process, the second flow (2) shows the process when a monitor data request command is received from the monitoring software, and the third flow (3) shows the access channel release process.

When one of the monitoring units 100_1 to 100_N having the respective monitoring software requests the monitor data, the connection channel according to the port type of the corresponding monitoring software in the port connection manager 111 of the monitoring unit 110 having the scheduling software. (1-1) When the access channel is allocated, the port access manager 111 requests the process manager 112 to create a process for processing data of the corresponding monitoring software. (1-2) When the monitor data request command from the monitoring software is input to the port access manager 111 after being generated (2-1), the port access manager 111 transmits the current access channel and the monitor data request command to the process manager 112. . (2-2)

Continuing with reference, the process manager 112 transmits an access channel and a data request command to the data manager 113 (2-3), and the data manager 113 retrieves data according to the request of the process manager 112. If the currently requested monitor data is in the updated state, the monitor data is transmitted. (2-4) The process manager 112 transfers the monitor data to the port access manager 111 (2-5) to the port access manager 111. ) Enables monitor data to be delivered to the channel that requested the monitor data. (2-6)

If the requested monitor data does not exist, the data manager 113 informs the process manager 112 (2-4 '). The process manager 112 sends a monitor data command execution request to the port access manager 111 ( 2-5 '), the port connection manager 111 receives the corresponding monitor data through the communication driver of the PLC system. (2-6') In response to the PLC system, the monitoring command result data is transmitted to the port connection manager ( 111, the port access manager 111 passes data to the process manager 112 (2-8 ') so that the command data is updated in the data area by the data manager 113. do. (2-9 ') When the access software releases a request from the monitoring software (3-1), the port access manager 111 requests the process manager to terminate the process of the corresponding channel (3-2). Will free resources.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the port access manager of the scheduling software shown in FIG.

When a port access request comes in, the port access manager allocates a port-specific access channel and sends a process assignment request to the process manager. When a monitor data request comes in, a monitor data request command is sent to the process manager, and in response, the data is sent to a port connected on the monitor data connection channel. If the requested monitor data does not exist, the monitor data request is executed and the monitor data is requested to the PLC system through the connection port. As a result, when monitor data arrives, it asks the process manager to update the data.

When a port release request comes from the monitoring software, it releases the channel setting for that port and releases the process. When a port access manager exit request comes in, it releases all port accesses, sends all currently active process release requests to process manager, and then exits process manager.

6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the process manager of the scheduling software shown in FIG.

When a process allocation request comes in from a port access manager, a process ID is assigned and a process is created. When the monitor data is received from the port access manager, the monitor data request is sent to the data manager. If the data arrives in response, the data is sent to the port access manager. If the requested monitor data does not exist, the monitor data request is made to the port access manager. When a data update request comes from the port access manager, the data is sent to the data manager.

When an active process termination request is received from the port access manager, the process is terminated. When a request to terminate the process manager comes in, it terminates all active processes and terminates the process manager.

7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the data manager of the scheduling software shown in FIG.

When a monitor data request comes in, it checks to see if the data is updated on the currently stored shared data and, if the data exists, sends the data to the process manager. If there is no data currently updated, request a monitor data request from the process manager.

When a data update request comes from the process manager, the data is retrieved from the shared data and updated. When a data manager exit request comes from the process manager, it releases the shared data and exits the data manager.

The monitoring system of the PLC system according to the present embodiment manages the connection port through the port connection manager of the scheduling software, thereby making it possible to connect a plurality of monitoring software to the restricted connection port, thereby limiting the restricted connection port between the PC and the PLC system. You can check the status information of various modules in various ways.

In addition, the monitoring system of the PLC system according to the present embodiment manages the data through the data manager of the scheduling software to solve the monitoring speed delay due to unnecessary data requests that may occur when the same monitor data is requested from a plurality of monitoring software. Can be.

Although the present invention has been described in detail through the representative embodiments, those skilled in the art can make various modifications without departing from the scope of the present invention with respect to the embodiments described above. Will understand. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be determined by the scope of the appended claims, as well as the appended claims.

1 is a block diagram showing a monitoring system of a general PLC system.

2 is a block diagram showing a monitoring system of a PLC system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the scheduling software shown in FIG.

4 is a data flow diagram showing an internal operation flow of the scheduling software shown in FIG.

5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the port access manager of the scheduling software shown in FIG.

6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the process manager of the scheduling software shown in FIG.

7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the data manager of the scheduling software shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

100: PC

200: PLC system

100_1 to 100_N: unit with monitoring software

110: unit with scheduling software

120: RS232 communication driver

130: USB communication driver

Claims (8)

A plurality of monitoring units each having a plurality of monitoring software; A communication driver for transferring monitor data provided to the PLC system; And A scheduling unit having scheduling software for controlling a data transfer channel between the plurality of monitoring software and the communication driver so that the monitor data can be transferred to the corresponding monitoring software Monitoring system of the PLC system comprising a. The method of claim 1, The scheduling unit A port access manager for creating a channel for connecting data with the communication driver and with the plurality of monitoring software to transmit data; A process manager for allocating a process for each channel created by the port access manager; And And a data manager for managing and updating data provided by the port access manager. The method of claim 1, The communication driver Monitoring system of PLC system, characterized by RS232 communication driver or USB communication driver. A port access manager assigning a channel to a monitoring software selected from among a plurality of monitoring software; When a monitor data request command is received from the selected monitoring software, receiving monitor data from the selected monitoring software via a data manager or a communication driver; And Releasing the allocated channel. The method of claim 4, wherein Allocating the channel Requesting monitor data from the monitoring software selected from the monitoring software; Allocating an access channel according to a port type of the selected monitoring software in the port access manager; And And the port access manager issuing a process manager to create a process for processing data of the corresponding monitoring software. The method of claim 5, Delivering from the selected monitoring software If a monitor data request command from the selected monitoring software is input to the port access manager, the port access manager forwarding the monitor data request command to the process manager; The process manager forwarding a data request command to the data manager; Retrieving data according to a request of the process manager, and transmitting monitor data to the port access manager when the currently requested monitor data is in an updated state; And The port access manager forwarding the monitor data to the monitor software connected to the requested channel; Monitoring method of the PLC system comprising a. The method of claim 6, If the requested monitor data does not exist in the data manager, the process manager forwarding a monitor data command execution request to the port access manager; Receiving, by the port access manager, data according to a result of the command from a PLC system; And And updating the data by the data manager. The method of claim 7, wherein Releasing the assigned channel When the access monitoring channel release request is made by the selected monitoring software, the port access manager requests the process manager to terminate the process of the corresponding channel, and releases the resources of the access channel after the process is terminated. Way.

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