Description

The SIMOTION-Xplorer interface is suitable for measurement data acquisition from SIMOTION frequency inverters via Ethernet using the standard network cards, as well as via PROFIBUS using SIMATIC NET interface cards. Access is transparent for the drive controller. It is not necessary to specially configure or program it.

The signals to be measured can be selected on the basis of an address book via a symbol browser in the I/O Manager of ibaPDA.

The connections to the SIMOTION drives can be established via standard interfaces of the computer or corresponding CP modules.

Additional Siemens software (e.g., SIMATIC NET, SIMATIC STEP 7 or SIMOTION SCOUT) is required for operation if the connection to the PLC is established via a SIMATIC NET communication board (CP) in the computer to an integrated Ethernet interface of the CPU (if available), or to a corresponding CP module in the PLC.

Generally, no particular configuration and programming is required on the drive side. In order to subsequently configure the signals or symbols to be measured from the drives in ibaPDA, you will need to export a so-called STI file with the SIMOTION configuration software for each drive, e.g., Siemens SCOUT. ibaPDA needs the STI file to generate an address book with the signals for the drive.

When using the PC/CP connection mode, a suitable access point must be configured in the SIMATIC PG/PC interface of the ibaPDA computer.

Up to 32 drives can be connected per license. Extensions are possible.
Interface settings

Set all values to zero if the connection to a drive...

If this option is enabled, all the measured values for a drive are set to zero as soon as the connection is lost.

Start acquisition even if a drive is not accessible

If this option is enabled, the acquisition will start even if a drive is not accessible. A warning is indicated in the validation dialog. If the system has been started without a connection to the drive, ibaPDA will try to connect to the drive at regular intervals

Allow inaccessible parameters

Enable this option to start the acquisition even if no drive parameters are accessible. Inaccessible parameters are then issued as alerts in the validation dialog rather than errors.

<Managing address books>

This button takes you to the dialog for creating and managing address books. A valid address book is required to configure measurement signals from the drives.

<Open log file>

If connections to drives have been established, all connection-specific actions are recorded in a text file. Using this button, you can open and see this file. In the file system on the hard drive, you will find the log files in the program path of the ibaPDA server (…\ProgramData\iba\ibaPDA\Log\). The file name of the current log file is SIMOTIONLog.txt, the name of the archived log files is SIMOTIONLog_yyyy_mm_dd_hh_mm_ss.txt.

<Reset counter>

Resets the error counter as well as the response times in the connection table to zero.

Connection table

The table shows the error counters as well as the response times of the individual connections during data measurement.
Available modules

  • SIMOTION
Product name

ibaPDA-Interface-SIMOTION-Xplorer (Art. no. 31.000031)

The SIMOTION-Xplorer interface license is also included in theibaPDA-Drive-Xplorer product (Art. no. 31.001044).