All companies face or will face such problems.
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Our company has nearly 20 sets of equipment (centrifuges, lyophilizers), whose control systems are Siemens S5 systems. Some of Siemens’ spare parts are no longer available. Even if they are available on the market, their price is exorbitant (who says electronic products don’t retain their value?:lol). Has anyone else encountered the same problem? How to solve it. Everyone is welcome to discuss.
System upgrade! I wonder how small it is? Switch to a domestic small DCS system!
The quote from Siemens for the upgrade is nearly 1 million per device. :'( :'(
The Siemens S5 system is expensive; it’s better to upgrade to a domestic alternative system.
The S5 level? What configuration? What time is it? It costs 100W per set to upgrade. . . An upgrade from S5 to S7 is an option; it’s relatively simpler. Changing brands sometimes is equivalent to discarding everything and starting over from scratch. . . Often, the control system isn’t the problem at all; the issue is whether the new system you install can effectively carry out the original process. . . I suggest you contact German VIPA. . . After Siemens stopped producing the S5, VIPA continued to manufacture several series of S5 products. There are also S5-compatible products. . . The CPU and IO are both brand new. At least, almost no changes need to be made to the program. Just debug it. For equipment that is over a decade old, this approach carries the lowest risk factor. VIPA has branch offices in China.
Thank you to the person above for providing the information. Indeed, adapting it to restore the original process is the greatest challenge.
I think it’s better to replace it. Our company used the Rosemount RS3 system in the past, and it’s also an old system; the cost of spare parts for it amounts to millions each year. By choosing a domestic system, the project cost was only 300,000.
The hardware from S5 to S7 also needs to be completely replaced. If the control methods and principles can be understood, it’s better to choose a domestic system.
If the equipment is the same and the control logic is similar, it is recommended that the design institute prepare a new design. Alternatively, the existing design can be used by contacting the PLC manufacturer
Thank you all for your help. Additional note: Since these devices are all imported and quite old, it is no longer possible to get in touch with the foreign manufacturers for some of them. Even if contact is made, the quoted price is very high.
Qiaopeng1231 is right; I hope we can communicate more. You work in control systems, right? I’m glad you’re in the control area. This post was last edited by zhaohh3211 on 2009-3-2 11:05.]
I recommend upgrading to S7 (come to me if you want to upgrade, hehe). But it costs 100W to upgrade each set of machines, which is a bit much... Is it just for a single unit? For some Siemens products, from S5 to S7, certain modules are compatible; the problem is that it’s necessary to reconfigure them through software. If the machines are all working well at the moment and only occasionally a spare part is needed, it depends on the specific model; perhaps only a spare part can be purchased ； Perhaps the software settings can be adjusted using new modules to achieve compatibility ； Alternatively, you can also use other brands as suggested above to make up for it. . . LZ can take a look at Siemens’ official website, where there are clear explanations regarding the specific updates for each model, and then calculate the costs to make a decision.
Thank you for the advice from above. Could you please explain in more detail what is meant by “it needs to be reset in the software”?
Everything has a lifespan; it is advisable to retire it when necessary. What will the equipment manufacturers eat then? :lol :lol :lol :lol
I originally had an order number to use as an example, but I couldn’t find it right away; Oops. . . But such cases are not common. If you purchase Siemens products from a distributor, and the model numbers change or evolve, the distributor will inform you; you can then look for technical documentation on the official website. As for purchasing S5 spare parts, it might be advisable to buy them from abroad, as the S5 is still used in many places, and some stock is available there. Once, a client from abroad told me that he wanted to sell me an S5 at a good price, but which company would still stock the S5 these days? So I’ll skip it.
Upgrades are guided by certain principles: the control method remains unchanged, the control program is kept as similar as possible, and as a result, the quality of the manufacturing process stays the same. Upgrading is easy, but debugging and testing are more difficult.
Download his graphics, have everyone help you analyze them, and then buy a domestic one; just follow this approach to install it. In a rush, I just soldered a diode myself, haha!
It’s better to upgrade. I’ve used Siemens S7400 series PLCs, and I upgraded them after just a few years; the older versions were no longer available, and they were very expensive. It’s recommended to order more spare parts when setting up the system, so that they can last throughout the useful life of the equipment, with an upgrade considered as needed based on the situation.