Create a PLC with HMI Training and Learning Environment Free

Learn PLC programming and use a powerful HMI (Human Machine Interface) easily and free. We will use the Automation Direct Do-More programming software tied into the Advanced HMI package via Modbus TCP.

Our application will show a HMI screen with a panel meter and a reset button. The panel meter value may be changed by clicking it. This will bring up a input screen to put in a number. When the reset button is selected the input value entered will show on the panel meter.

Since we will be communicating via Modbus TCP, the following table shows the Coil/Register Numbers and the associated Do-More PLC Addresses.

Coil/Register Numbers	Data Addresses	Type	Do-More PLC	Table Name
00001-09999	0000 to 270E	Read-Write	MC1 to MC1023	Discrete Output Coils
10001-19999	0000 to 270E	Read-Only	MI1 to MI1023	Discrete Input Contacts
30001-39999	0000 to 270E	Read-Only	MIR1 to MIR2047	Analog Input Registers
40001-49999	0000 to 270E	Read-Write	MHR1 to MHR2047	Analog Output Holding Registers

Note: The Do More PLC uses the Modbus area to communicate. This is because having direct access to the digital I/O can be dangerous when connected via Ethernet to the internet. Data must move in and out of this area via the PLC program.

We will first start with the PLC.
Automation Direct has a powerful simulator with their Do-More PLC. It is the Do-More Designer Software. This software simulator includes the entire instruction set (Not Just Bit Logic) as well as communication protocols. It can be downloaded and installed for free from the above link.
Our PLC program will have the following addresses:
Digital Panel Meter Present Value (PV) – MHR1 – Modbus 40001
Digital Panel Meter Set Value (SV) – MHR2 – Modbus 40002
Reset Button – MC1 – Modbus 00001

The first rung of the ladder will use the 1 second pulse bit and increment the PV value of our digital panel meter. This will also compare the current value to 4000 and if greater or equal, move the value of zero into the PV value.

The second rung of the ladder will move WX0 analog value from our simulator into the PV value of our digital panel meter.

The last rung of ladder will move the SV value into the PV value of our Digital Panel Meter. This happens when the reset is hit.

The simulator is showing X0 on and we can then use the WX0 slider to change the PV value of the Panel Meter.

Advanced HMI is a powerful HMI/SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) development package that takes advantage of Visual Studio. There is no coding required and you can simply drag and drop items onto the page. The best thing is that the software is free.

Communications drivers include the following and are accessible via VB or C# code:

Allen Bradley DF1 RS232 Driver
Allen Bradley Ethernet/IP Driver for SLC,MicroLogix, ControlLogix, and CompactLogix
Beckhof TwinCAT Driver
ModbusTCP Driver
ModbusRTU Driver
Omron Ethernet FINS Driver – Ethernet for newer controllers such as CP1H with Ethernet module
Omron Serial FINS Driver – Serial (RS232 / RS485) for newer controller such as CP1H
Omron Serial HostLink Driver – Serial (RS232 / RS485) for controllers such as CQM1, C200H, K-Series (C28K), C200, etc

The power of Advanced HMI is that it works within Visual Studio. This is a program integrated development environment (IDE) that you can take advantage of to modify or create new features including data logging applications.

Advanced HMI runs on Visual Studio 2008 or higher and will need to be installed on your PC. Visual Studio Community Edition 2015 is the latest version of the software. If you do not have it installed, please download and install from the following link.

https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-community-vs

We will now need the Advanced HMI project. Here is the link to download the zip file.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/advancedhmi/

After downloading ‘AdvancedHMIBetaV399a.zip’ extract the files from the zip file. (Right Click.. Select Extract All)
Note: Your version might be different than the one above.

Open the solution file (AdvancedHMIv35.sln) from the extracted files in the root directory.

Our initial screen looks like the following. The project will now need to be compiled in order to add the components to the Toolbox.
Select Build | Build Solution from the menu
The next thing to do is add the communication to the form. On the left hand side of the screen you will see the ‘Toolbox’. Click on it and under AdvancedHMIDrivers Components we will select ModbusTCPCom. To actually add a component to our form you need to drag it. Select the component and as you hold the mouse button down move to the form.

After adding the ModbusTCPCom component, it will appear at the bottom, beneath our form.
Click on the ModbusTCPCom1 at the bottom of our form. On the right hand side you will notice the properties for this communication driver. Under Communication Settings | IP Address, enter the value of the IP Address for the PLC. (192.168.1.3) Ensure that the port number is 502. This is the default port number for Modbus TCP.

We can now add the digital panel meter. From the toolbox select and drag the DigitalPanelMeter to our form.

Resize the panel meter on the form by dragging a corner of the component.
While the panel meter is clicked, set the Properties | PLC Properties of the component:
PLCAddressValue – 40001 – MHR1 – Value to display on the meter.
PLCAddressKeypad – 40002 – MHR2 – This is the location of the stored number when the operator selects the meter and enters a number in the keypad.

Add a MomentaryButton to our form by selecting and dragging it from the toolbox.

After re-sizing the component, we can change the colour to blue under Properties | Misc. Also change the text on the button to ‘RESET’
Set the PLCAddressClick value to 00001. This is address MC1 in the Do-More PLC.

Run the application by selecting the ‘Start’ form the top menu. This also can be started by hitting ‘F5’. The form will then show in a separate window and the panel meter will be incrementing the value. Hitting the reset button will reset the value to the one entered when you click the panel meter.

When you hit the panel meter on the display a keypad will then pop up on your screen. Enter the new value and then select ‘Enter’. The new value will appear in MHR2 in the Do-More PLC.

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If you have any questions or need further information please contact me.
Thank you,
Garry

If you’re like most of my readers, you’re committed to learning about technology. Numbering systems used in PLC’s are not difficult to learn and understand. We will walk through the numbering systems used in PLCs. This includes Bits, Decimal, Hexadecimal, ASCII and Floating Point.