Product category:
Process Controllers: PAC, PLC, Loop control
News Release from: Vipa | Subject: VIPA S5 replacement
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 24 May 2005
Low cost migration solutions for Simatic
S5 users
Over the past few years since Simatic S5 systems have been discontinued, spare parts and components have become increasingly difficult to source: VIPA offer an alternative
Over the past few years since Simatic S5 systems have been discontinued, spare parts and components have become increasingly difficult to source Siemens have completely stopped manufacture and now offer a migration path solution for S5 users; essentially removing S5 and replacing it with their S7-300 platform products
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 3 Dec 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
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Other manufacturers of S5 hardware products such as VIPA who have been supplying S5 automation solutions for over 17 years, have continued to sell and support its range, but they are now forced to stop production of many cards against a background of obsolete components and inevitable escalation of costs for replacements and form-fit alternatives.
It now seems that the death knell is really sounding for S5 and for many users the Siemens solution, necessitating significant hardware and software development costs, is one which will be very difficult to take.
Already faced with limited resources for such capital investment, many UK based industries cannot contemplate the cost of replacing S5 at a time when their competitiveness is already being threatened by overseas manufacturers.
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The only viable solution open to them would seem to be to continue to use and maintain their existing plant by relying upon specialist vendors of reconditioned S5 equipment who are very much in decline, or by scouring the Internet and their supply chains for replacement components or by combining and "cobbling" parts to effect a repair.
As an alternative to these two extremes, VIPA, the German manufacturer of innovative PLC and PC based automation solutions, are working closely with their UK based system integrators to offer practical, lower cost migration path solutions for existing S5 applications.
Based upon the VIPA System 200V, using the 241 series CPU as a replacement, customers can retain S5-115U instruction set and S5 programming compatibility saving significant software development costs and can also upgrade the system with a wide range of accessories including digital and analogue I/O modules, function modules, communication terminals for Profibus DP, CANOpen and TCP/IP, and a selection of HMI.
The DIN rail mounted VIPA System 200V has been designed for easy integration into existing applications and can also be supplied in a version that is compatible with the S7-300 instruction set and programmed in STEP7 as well as the VIPA WinPLC7 language.
System 200V is a completely modular automation system for centralised and decentralised tasks which has been developed for medium performance applications.
The 35mm DIN rail mounted system includes a wide range of modules allowing a good degree of application compatibility at a competitive price.
For high performance applications VIPA can offer its latest product range, the SPEED7; the world's fastest rack mounted PLC with a minimum cycle time of 100 microsec and full compatibility with Siemens STEP7 providing 50,000 instructions in just 1 msec.
In addition to new systems, VIPA also offer S5 compatible hardware products for control, communication, I/O and memory expansion that are still available to replace and expand existing systems.
A catalogue of all products is available for download from the website.
VIPA was created in 1985 by Herr Wolfgang Seel as a system house for automation and control engineering.
By 1988, VIPA were manufacturing the first in rack PCs for Sematic (from Siemens), in 1995 the first TCP/IP communication processors from VIPA were released for Sematic systems.
1997 saw the launch of the System 200V which has become a respected and well-known product in the German automation market.
Today VIPA have established itself as a force in automation systems and have a world-wide base of distribution and subsidiary companies supporting its full product range.
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