Hello all,

I am new to siemens stuff and as I am going through the guides, manuals, etc. I am seeing a lot of abbreviations thrown around such as PG/PC/OP/TP. Can anyone explain what these are?

Thanks.

Look in the manuals appendix for abbreviations, or in the introductory section of the manuals.

The simple one is "PG/PC".  That's a Siemens product for programming and configuring Siemens hardware.  It's the PC or personal computer with the software installed to configure / program whatever manual or guide you happen to be reading.

TP in many cases is a touch panel.

OP is many cases is an operator panel.  Some OP's are also touch panels.  Some OP's are also PG/PC's.

Confused yet?

cq2021

Hello all,

I am new to siemens stuff and as I am going through the guides, manuals, etc. I am seeing a lot of abbreviations thrown around such as PG/PC/OP/TP. Can anyone explain what these are?

Thanks.

0_Einstein

Look in the manuals appendix for abbreviations, or in the introductory section of the manuals.

The simple one is "PG/PC".  That's a Siemens product for programming and configuring Siemens hardware.  It's the PC or personal computer with the software installed to configure / program whatever manual or guide you happen to be reading.

TP in many cases is a touch panel.

OP is many cases is an operator panel.  Some OP's are also touch panels.  Some OP's are also PG/PC's.

Confused yet?

Thank you for your explanation. I found a few definitions in the appendix but not all. But your explanation makes sense.

Also, to clarify...the PG and PC are one and the same correct?

PG / PC is commonly squished together as PG/PC and is a single entity.  You can purchase a PG/PC from Siemens preconfigured to do whatever you need, providing whatever performance you wish to pay for.

I do not work for Siemens.  Just pointing on why it is called a PG/PC in so many places.  I think it's Siemens way of assuming everyone uses a Siemens PG/PC to work on their devices.

cq2021

0_Einstein

Look in the manuals appendix for abbreviations, or in the introductory section of the manuals.

The simple one is "PG/PC".  That's a Siemens product for programming and configuring Siemens hardware.  It's the PC or personal computer with the software installed to configure / program whatever manual or guide you happen to be reading.

TP in many cases is a touch panel.

OP is many cases is an operator panel.  Some OP's are also touch panels.  Some OP's are also PG/PC's.

Confused yet?

Thank you for your explanation. I found a few definitions in the appendix but not all. But your explanation makes sense.

Also, to clarify...the PG and PC are one and the same correct?

0_Einstein

PG / PC is commonly squished together as PG/PC and is a single entity.  You can purchase a PG/PC from Siemens preconfigured to do whatever you need, providing whatever performance you wish to pay for.

I do not work for Siemens.  Just pointing on why it is called a PG/PC in so many places.  I think it's Siemens way of assuming everyone uses a Siemens PG/PC to work on their devices.

 Ah I see...thank you for the clarification, cheers!

Hello cq;

To dispell any remaining doubts:

- a PG (also called a field-PG) is a programming unit designed (and sold) by Siemens in order to program their CPUs. It often comes as a laptop, with installed software and communication intetfaces related to S7 PLCs (these days, the first PGs were used to program S5 PLCs). As an example you could look at this presentation of their latest model, the PG M6:

https://new.siemens.com/global/en/products/automation/systems/industrial/simatic-field-pg.html

- you can also build-up yoir own PC or laptop to program a Siemens PLC. But then you must purchase and license every required software yourself, and install the communication interfaces required. This is your programming PC.

On top of these distinctions, when you want to parametrize the comm interfaces between a PG or a PC and a Siemens CPU, you must use an application called "PG/PC interface" which connects the comm drivers for the selected interface and allows the programming software to connect to a CPU.

Hope this helps,

Daniel Chartier 

cq2021

Hello all,

I am new to siemens stuff and as I am going through the guides, manuals, etc. I am seeing a lot of abbreviations thrown around such as PG/PC/OP/TP. Can anyone explain what these are?

Thanks.

Hello.

I am guessing you are looking at old documentations. In olden days we split the type of HMI panels into OP and TP.

The OP is an older type screen that has physical buttons. These were at first only text but later had ability to display graphics. The product name has the OP letters in the name such as OP5.

The TP is a touch screen. Again the TP featured in the product name.

A bonus 'name' would be the TD. That is text display. Other than the other models the text that displayed on this unit, was programmed into the PLC.

For your purpose it is not important to know that a PG is sold by Siemens. A "PC/PG" is the device used to program the Siemens product (PLC / HMI). 

The software associated with all these names are either Protool or WinCC Flexible. Communication protocols could be in most cases PPI, MPI or DP for which you need a special cable. Ethernet came along only later.

~