There are multiple ways to communicate between Siemens WINCC6.0 and Siemens PLC. Below are two commonly used communication methods.

1、 The prerequisite for using a regular network card to communicate with the PLC through TCP/IP and connecting WICC6.0 to the PLC system through Ethernet is that the PLC system is configured with an Ethernet module or uses a PLC with a PN interface, such as CP443-1 or CP343-1, and a PLC with a PN interface, such as CPU 315-2PN/DP. The following is a communication connection using a regular network card CP443-1.

1. STEP7 Hardware Configuration

Use STEP7 programming software to configure the hardware of the PLC system. Insert the actual PLC hardware into the "Hardware" configuration window, as shown in Figure 1:

Figure 1 STEP7 Hardware Configuration

2. Double click CP443-1 in slot CP443-1 to bring up the properties dialog box, as shown in Figure 2:

Figure 2 CP443-1 Property Dialogue Box

3. Click on the properties dialog box in Figure 2 to bring up the network parameter settings dialog box. Click the "New" button to create a new Ethernet network and enter the IP address of Ethernet module CP443-1. Normally, the gateway does not need to be enabled. As shown in Figure 3:

Figure 3 Parameter Settings

Attention: If using TCP/IP protocol communication, you must start "Using IP Protocol" and download the configured hardware to the CPU, then the PLC settings are complete!

4. Set the TCP/IP parameters for installing Windows operating system on WINN6.0 (usually engineer station ES and operator station OS) computer, and set the IP address of the WINN configuration computer to be within the same network segment as the PLC Ethernet communication module or PN interface address. As shown in Figure 4:

Figure 4: Setting the Computer IP Address

5. Add new drivers and set system parameters, open the newly created project "test", select "variable management" in the project management bar, right-click and select "add new driver", as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Adding Drivers

6. Select "SIMATIC S7 Protocol Suite. chn" in the folder for adding new drivers, as shown in Figure 6:

Figure 6 Driver Program

7. Right click on TCP/IP and select "System Parameters" from the pop-up menu, as shown in Figure 7. Pop up the "System Parameters TCP/IP dialog box", select the "Unit" tab, and view the "Logical Device Name". Generally, after installation, the logical device name is CP-TCP/IP by default.

Figure 7 System Parameters - TCP/IP Settings

8. Add channels and connection settings

Add driver connection and set parameters. Open the WINCC6.0 project in "Variable Management", right-click TCP/IP, and in the drop-down menu, click "New Driver Connection (N)", as shown in Figure 8:

Figure 8: Adding Communication Connection

9. Click the "Properties" button in the pop-up "Connection Properties" dialog box to bring up the "Connection Parameters TCP/IP Properties" dialog box. Enter the IP address, rack number, and Ethernet card slot number of the Ethernet module or CPU with PN interface that has been set in the STEP7 hardware configuration. As shown in Figure 9:

Figure 9 TCP/IP parameter settings

explain:

IP address: The IP address of the communication module, for example, CP443-1 is 192.168.0.100

Rack number: The rack number where the CPU is located, usually filled in with 0

Slot number: The slot number where the CPU is located

Attention: If it is an S7-300 PLC, the slot number parameter is 2. If it is an S7-400 PLC, it is necessary to check which slot the CPU is in according to the hardware configuration in the STEP7 project. The possible parameters are 2, 3, and 4 (mainly determined by the size of the power supply), otherwise communication cannot be established.

2、 Named connections in WINCC6.0 are mostly used for connections between S7-400H and PC station based Configure mode; And other channels, such as MPI, PROFIBUS, and TCP/IP, are based on PG mode. The following introduces communication with PLC through Named connections:

Right click on Named connections and select "System Parameters" from the pop-up menu, as shown in Figure 10. Pop up the "System Parameters Named Connections" dialog box, select the "Unit" tab, and view the "Logical Device Name". Generally, after installation, the logical device name is VM/by default.

Figure 10 System Parameters - Named Connections Dialogue Box

2. Add channels and connection settings

Add driver connection and set parameters. Open the WINCC6.0 project in "Variable Management", right-click on Named connections, and in the drop-down menu, click on "New Driver Connection (N)", as shown in Figure 11:

Figure 11: Adding Communication Connection

3. Click the "Properties" button in the pop-up "Connection Properties" dialog box to bring up the "Connection Parameters - Named Connections Properties" dialog box. Enter the S7 network address and specify the "Application Name" and "Connection Name", as shown in Figure 12:

Figure 12 Connection parameter - Named connections attribute

Finally click OK!