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PLC connection points

I/O connection points

A PLC I/O connection point belongs to a PLC card or to a channel on the card. A connection point always has a connection point designation, and often has a connection point description as well. A PLC I/O connection point is uniquely identified via the DT of its PLC box, its plug designation and its connection point designation.

Each Connection point designation may only occur once per card, but may occur several times within a PLC. If the PLC connection points are differentiated additionally through the plug designation, the connection point designations may occur several times within a card.
Each Connection point description may only occur once per channel, but may occur several times per card. The card power supplies may also have identical connection point descriptions.

The address is not identifying for a PLC connection point and is not compulsory when planning. At a later time, the addresses can be automatically assigned by the EPLAN automatic addressing function, or can be read from an assignment list.

A PLC connection point has the following properties, among others:

Configurable PLC connection points (multi-function connection points)

Increasingly there are devices among the range of PLC devices whose PLC connection points are adjustable: PLC connection points can either be an input or an output. To display PLC cards with such connection points in EPLAN you can use the function definition 'PLC connection point, multifunction'.

PLC connection points with this function definition are configurable: For these connection points the Type of signal property in the connection point logic determines what type of connection point it is. The default setting is "Digital input". If a type of signal is selected that defines an I/O connection point (i.e. "Digital input", "Digital output", "Analog input", or "Analog output"), the connection point is treated as the corresponding I/O connection point. Thus for example a "PLC connection point, multi-function" with the type of signal "Digital input" corresponds to a "PLC connection point, DI". If a type of signal is selected that does not define any I/O connection point, the connection point is treated as a power supply. Thus the configurable PLC connection points are not only defined by the function definition, but the signal type is also taken into account.

If you want to use configurable PLC connection points in your project, start by adding any PLC I/O connection points to the schematic and then, on the Symbol / function data tab in the properties dialog, select the "PLC connection point, multifunction" function definition for these connection points. Subsequently set the desired signal type in the connection point logic.

Network / Bus cable connection points

To represent bus and network connection points in EPLAN, the function definitions of the category "Network / bus cable connection point" are available. Such connection points are by default net-connecting and signal-transmitting. This allows for cross-connecting devices outside of a PLC or a bus system.

A network / bus cable connection point is uniquely identifiable via the DT of its PLC box, the combination between a bus interface name and the plug designation and its connection point designation.

Network connections of the Ethernet-based systems are compatible with each other in EPLAN:

This means that it is possible to map switchable network interfaces that can, for example, be used alternatively in an Ethernet or PROFINET bus system.

In the parts management the bus system to be used is set in the function templates for the network connection points. When a part is assigned, a network connection point overrides a function template if the bus systems are identical or compatible. Function templates with the setting "Other bus systems" match any bus systems in the project.

During the import of PLC configuration files the connection points from the import file are also assigned to the connection points in the project if the bus systems are identical. If the bus systems are not compatible, new additional PLC connection points are generated during the import.

Automatic connections between corresponding network / bus cable connections

The following network / bus cable connection points are considered as belonging together and are automatically connected to each other through an internal connection if they have the same DT and belong to the same bus system:

The network is continued beyond these connection points. This becomes evident at the display of the network tracking.

Note:

During the PLC data exchange in the AutomationML format bus ports within the same bus system and the same physical network (Physical network: Name property) are considered as connected even if they have different DTs. This does not become clear during the net tracking. The 004104 check run reports such bus ports as not connected to each other. This message can be ignored by you if you have deliberately configured the network structure this way because of its physical circumstances.

See also