Hi Duris,

we are going to use a lot of different kind of sensors, laser, vaccum and more. 

And I am asking this question because I just want to know if there is only one company (SECS GEM) who can rule our communication process (in photovoltqic industry) or if we can imagine hiring another one.

Best regards.

Axel Pao

Thnx for infos and going to next interesting conversation. If you will this implement on Photovoltaic system (never worked here), question is (asking again) what kind of automated devices are you using? What I read yes, GEM take Photovoltaic Industry as standard, but really don't understand why, because other systems has also communication interfaces like others (serial links, Ethernet, Profibus,...) so this looks like give bussiness to one line of developers. Can you pls provide that devices info if it can be posted? That's the info what interest me for first. I expect maybe ARM, ATMEL based controllers (mean other like PLCs) ...

Update: pls other guys give also your opinions to this interesting topic.

hi axel,

after reading the doc-file, I think that the commons of both systems are not that much that I thought before.

Profibus is a Master-Slave architecture. Profinet too, but its called IO-Controller and IO-Device. The slaves or devices have cyclic updated In- and outputs. A slave/device(except I-Slave/device) can not work without a Master/controller.

The SECS/GEM-System is a kind of Host-Client architecture, where the client can work alone. 

hope this helps,

regards,

axelpao

And I am asking this question because I just want to know if there is only one company (SECS GEM) who can rule our communication process (in photovoltqic industry) or if we can imagine hiring another one.

 hi axel,

for me it seems, that semiconductor rules that communication process. they developed it. I think if you want to use other protocolls, you need to use other hardware. or vice versa. 

I would ask a regional Siemens sales department or technical consulting/engineering support, what they have or can do for you. See the Industry Contact Database

hope this helps, 

regards,

Hello Axel;

As you say, SECS/Gem seems to dominate the photovoltaic production industry.

Good for them.

But as you can see from the answers you have received, we do no know SECS/GEM. This is a different industry (automation, process control, manufacturing control...), with different standards and practices, and very specific controllers, mostly PLCs.

Take into account that other similar industries exist, with their own specific requirements, and their communication protocols are not easily transportable to automation. I am thinking for example of the automative industry, where embedded computers control sensors and motors through CAN (variations on CAN such as CANbus or J1939 are used in industrial automation in certain projects that involve trucks or trains).

Industrial communications were developed over the years by different PLC manufacturers, and generically called Fieldbus. These are communication protocols attached to specific communication hardware/software (for example, Profibus communication borad require the use of a dedicated ASIC chip, certified by the PNO). They are designed for fast data exchanges with sensors and actuators and the automation controller; slower, larger blocks of data (between the controllers and a MES software, for example) will preferably use Ethernet..

Profibus is simply one of those Fieldbus protocols (along with Modbus, Ethernet/IP, Foundation Fieldbus...). If this interests you, you can read a bit of the recent history of the "Fieldbus Wars" that rattled our industry about 10 years ago:

Fieldbus Wars, Ten Years Later | Automation World

Now the question I would like you to consider is this: how are you going to control the process you are looking at? What protocols do the sensors, instruments and actuators in your application support? What type of controller and communications is your client expecting (PLCs, PCs...)?

If you select equipment similar to the photovoltaic industry, by all means go for your known programming environment. If your client requires industrial automation contorllers and communications, forget about SECS/GEM and start training yourself in our environment.

Hope this helps,

Daniel Chartier

 First of all I would like to thank you all for your consideration and your usefull answers.

Now I am able to better understand the different concepts even if it is still hard to visualize.

I guess that keeping SECS/GEM architecture will be the best thing to do. I will continue my research and I will let you know what will be decided.

Duris_I

Can you pls provide that devices info if it can be posted? That's the info what interest me for first. I expect maybe ARM, ATMEL based controllers (mean other like PLCs) ...

Update: pls other guys give also your opinions to this interesting topic.

 Unfortunately I don´t understand what kind of information do you need? But if I can provide them to you I will for sure.

I will probably ask you other questions in the near future but I promise not on SECS GEM topic.

Thank you again.

Best regards.

Axel

Hi axelpao,

you already got a lot of answers to this topic.

But I feel I have to sum up all these depending on your initial post:

Profibus/Profinet is a protocol used as field bus system to connect actors, sensors or other field level devices to a PLC (automation system): Single device diagnostics, process values and so on

SECS/GEM is a communication standard based either on Ethernet or RS232 to provide machine information to MES/ERP systems: overall machine status, KPI information, machine performance information

So you see Profibus/Profinet and SECS/GEM are very different things.

Regards
Myst

New question published by rtyrt is split to a separate thread with the subject Replace repeater.

Best regards
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