SIMATIC S5

For over two decades, the SIMATIC S5 was successfully used in the process industry and in manufacturing automation as a complete controller family for a wide range of controller tasks. Many SIMATIC S5 control systems are still in reliable service today, but rapid technological changes and increased market demands place stringent requirements on the automation system of today and tomorrow. A migration from SIMATIC S5 controllers to SIMATIC S7 is therefore always a wise decision. However, an upgrade to a DCS might perform better depending on your application. For these circumstances the "Totally Integrated Automation" (TIA) concept of Siemens offers a lot of interesting possibilities.

Strategy

With discontinuation of the S5 product series, maintenance of these control system is becoming more difficult and expensive. This situation can be avoided by migrating to SIMATIC PCS 7. At the same time, you gain access to the latest process control system functions, thereby increasing the productivity of your plant significantly. A combination of SIMATIC PCS 7 and the SIMATIC S5 automation system can also be implemented as part of a Siemens migration. The combination of process control system and programmable logic controller is referred to as a hybrid application. When hybrid applications are used, it should be ensured that the process control system used combines the best properties of both systems on one platform and assures common communication. Based on its many years of experience in manufacturing and installation of PLCs and full-blown process control systems, Siemens is your qualified partner in the optimized transition from your SIMATIC S5 controller to the SIMATIC PCS 7 process control system.

Based on our many years of experience in migrating a variety of automation and process control systems, we have developed the following opportunities for SIMATIC S5 controllers:

System expansion with SIMATIC PCS 7
Migration of S5 controller while retaining the S5 I/O modules
Complete replacement while retaining the field cables

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Approach

For system expansions with SIMATIC PCS 7, the existing SIMATIC S5 system architecture is extended, i.e., the S5 operator panel or SCADA system is retained and operates in parallel with the HMI of the connected SIMATIC PCS 7 architecture. The SIMATIC S5 PLCs are connected to the SIMATIC PCS 7 controllers as slaves, which expands the available functions of the existing automation system to include alarm management, asset management, and even graphical visualization. The existing process I/O are retained in this case.

In a migration of SIMATIC S5 controllers with retention of the S5 input/output modules, the existing SIMATIC S5 CPUs are replaced with modern SIMATIC S7-400 CPUs. The S5 ET 200U input/output modules can be connected directly to the new system via PROFIBUS DP. The IM 463-2 interface module can be used to establish a connection between a modern S7-400 controller and other S5 input/output modules.

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Comprehensive modernization is often forced by the shortage of spare parts for the old system, lack of support, and the need for additional functions, for instance, for fieldbus technology or IT integration. In this case, it is worthwhile to completely replace the existing SIMATIC S5 control system with the modern SIMATIC PCS 7 process control system. With this modernization solution, we enable a step-wise, tool-supported system analysis and conversion of the SIMATIC S5 controllers and input/output modules to modern ET 200M and SIMATIC S7-400 modules, which communicate directly with the higher-level SIMATIC PCS 7 server-client architecture. Existing wiring can be retained through the use of our I/O adapter. Thus, the considerable effort for new loop checks is unnecessary and even signal checks can be largely eliminated, because the signals are reconfigured in the software by means of an assignment list.

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Advantages of migration to SIMATIC PCS 7

The migration of an old system to SIMATIC PCS 7 pays off many times over: It assures the continuity of process control system investments, makes the systems more efficient and productive, and extends the system service life in a cost-effective manner.

Additional winning advantages:

Step-wise or complete system modernization
Future viability assured due to use of a modern and flexible process control system
Modern technology reduces the risk of plant outages
Increased productivity due to higher availability of the new process control system
Reduced costs for stocking spare parts and for maintenance
Investment protection based on the Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) concept
Use of SIMATIC PCS 7 reveals potential for process optimization, thus increasing production output
Resource optimization and quality improvement due to increased information density and quality
SIMATIC PCS 7 establishes the basis for connection to a Manufacturing Execution System (MES)

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