TwinCAT 3 SoftPLC

PostedNovember 5, 2021

UpdatedNovember 5, 2021

ByKasper Vestrup

This section covers how to use the TwinCAT 3 software as a SoftPLC to program and run the basic psychics model example.

Right click on the TwinCAT3 icon in the taskbar
Click on TwinCAT XAE(VS2010)

On the Start Page click New TwinCAT Project (or New Project if Visual Studio 2010 is also installed on machine)

Fill in the fields, project name for example would be DemoProject

Use BROWSE to select where to save the program

When done click OK

In Solution Explorer on the left hand side right click PLC

Select Add New Item

The Add New Item window opens

Select Standard PLC Project

Fill in the name field, for example DemoProject

Click ADD

The next step is to create a Global Variable List

Right click on GVLs and select Add and from the pop out menu select Global Variable List

Name the file and click OPEN

The Global Variable List is now created

Now cut and paste the following between VAR_GLOBAL and END_VAR

MCS: BOOL; //Motor Control Switch
LIS: BOOL; //Load In System Lamp
FLB: BOOL; //Feed Load Button
LFF: BOOL; //Load Fed from Feeder
M1R: BOOL; //Motor 1 Running
S1A: BOOL; //Sensor 1 Activated
S2A: BOOL; //Sensor 2 Activated

The next step is to create the program block

Right click on POUs and select Add and from the pop out menu select POU…

Enter a new name, leave the Type as Program and the Implementation Language as Ladder Logic Diagram (LD)

Now the ladder logic code for the model can be written

In the newly created ladder logic POU right click in the bottom half of the window and select Insert Contact

Click on the 3 question marks above the contact and type in MCS, the variable should appear in a dropdown

Press Enter to add it to the contact

Now right click on the small box to the right of the contact and select Insert Coil

Click on the 3 question marks above the coil and type in M1R

Once again the variable should appear in a dropdown

Press Enter to add it to the coil

To add the next line of logic right click to the left where the number 1 is shown

From the menu select Insert Network (below)

In the new line two contacts need to be added in parallel

To do this add the first contact as done previously and then right click on that contact and select Insert Contact Parallel (below)

Then, to the right of the contacts, right click and select Insert Coil

The top contact should be assigned variable FLB and the bottom contact variable S2A

The coil should be assigned variable LFF

Now add one more Network below to which should be added a contact and a coil

The contact should be assigned the variable S1A and the coil variable LIS

The last thing to do here for the moment is to add a reference to the ladder logic module into the Main program

In the Solution Explorer on the right under PLC->Project Name->PLC Name->POUs double click Main to open it

In the first line of the lower section of the file type POU(); where POU is the name of the file with the ladder logic in it

Save the program (Save All button or key combination CTRL+SHIFT+S)

Now back in Experior click on the Communications tab on the right of the Experior window, just below where the Catalogs are displayed

Right click and select Beckhoff ADS

Select the newly created entry and in the Properties pane, to the bottom right of the Experior window, change the Port to 851

Now the variables have to be added to their respective components

Select the Motor Control switch and in the properties under PLC Input -> On/Off expand the section using the small arrow to the left of On/Off

Input the symbol as GVL.MCS, the reason for the GVL prefix is so Experior knows the variable is global and not local

For the lamp Load In System the symbol should be input under PLC Output -> Lighting

For the button Feed Load the symbol should be added under PLC Input” -> Pushed

For the feeder the symbol should be added under PLC Output -> Feed

For the sensors the symbols should be added under PLC Input -> Blocked

Lastly, the symbol for the motor should be added under Operation -> Forward (Output)

When finished the Input and Output tabs should contain information like so

Save the model at this point

Back in the TwinCAT program it should now be built and have a license generated so that it is ready to run

To build the program, go to the Build menu at the top and select Build Solution

Now a license needs to be generated to enable the program to be run

Go to the Solution Explorer on the left

Expand System and double click on License

Click on Activate 7 days trial license?

Enter the characters displayed in the input box

Click OK

Under the TwinCAT menu select Activate Configuration

If prompted about overwriting an older configuration click Proceed

When prompted to Restart TwinCAT System in Run Mode? click OK

Under the PLC menu click Login

When prompted about application port_851 not existing, creating it and downloading the program, click YES

Under the PLC menu click START

Program is now running

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