Magelis is much more than just a visual device.
The Magelis range of HMIs have in fact become a remarkably powerful link between the process, the control system, the operator and the databases used in and around the system. They now provide operators the ability to perform some of the most complex of tasks remotely, and designers say: “Integration into the chosen system is seamless.”
Several years ago Schneider Electric set off on a quest to deliver the best HMI to the market while still offering the same level of quality that is synonymous with Schneider Electric and its brands. This vision came to fruition when Schneider joined forces with Digital Electronics – a world leader in touch panel technology.
“The Magelis range is the most powerful and comprehensive available on the market,” says Sheldon Kaye, High End Control product manager at Schneider Electric. “We simply took the best HMI on the market, superimposed our Ethernet technologies on it, and made it even more powerful.”
The Magelis Advanced range consists of:
* XBT GT (graphic, touch).
* XBT GK (graphic, keyboard).
* XBTGTW (graphic, touch, Windows).
Product descriptions
The XBTGT forms the basis of the entire Magelis range. From the front the XBTGT looks like a very good industrial screen with high picture quality and a wide viewing angle thanks to the TFT screen. There is a wide selection of back mounted communications ports, including: USB; serial links; Ethernet; printer; video input; audio input; audio output; auxiliary terminals and a port for a compact flash card.
By plugging into a USB hub users are able to connect a number of peripherals (printers, barcode readers, keypads, etc). USB connectivity also allows for fast loading of applications from a PC or direct from a USB flash disk. Fieldbus communication by cards or USB gateways (Profibus DP, DeviceNet, Modbus Plus and Fipway, amongst others) is also provided.
Multiprotocol support allows for serial connection to both Schneider Electric as well as most other third party equipment. In addition compact flash cards increase the ability to store applications, recipe and history files, images and video sequences up to 1 Gb.
With the addition of the Web-Gate functionality Schneider has surpassed its own Transparent Ready technologies with the Ethernet communications on the XBTGT. The Ethernet port offers the following:
* 10/100BaseT communications.
* Efficient file transfer via FTP server.
* Web Gate functionality – allowing authorised users to connect to the HMI using Internet explorer and view pages as if they were in front of the HMI.
* HTML navigator functionality.
All these communication ports in conjunction with the 64-bit RISC processor allow for Multilink communication for simultaneous control on multinetwork architectures.
The XBTGK is the XBTGT with a keyboard. Therefore it has all the power of the XBTGT but the user also has the choice of interfacing with the touch screen and/or the keyboard and mouse.
The XBTGTW bridges the divide between the HMIs and IPCs (Industrial PCs) bringing Windows to the industrious Magelis range. The XBTGTW allows one to enhance applications under Vijeo Designer, notably with total access to Microsoft Office software (Excel, Word, and PowerPoint) as well as Acrobat Reader, which is preinstalled.
The Vijeo software
The real power of the Magelis range becomes evident when using the Vijeo Designer software. The powerful, user-friendly Windows-based software tool enables:
* Multiwindow display with pop-up management.
* Multilingual support of alphabets such as Byzantine, Cyrillic and Chinese and an extended range of 40 character fonts make it an international country-adaptable range.
* A library with over 4000 customisable images and configurable objects.
* Terminal and programmable controller simulations on a PC.
* Alarm and recipe management.
* Historical and realtime trends.
* History management.
“Vijeo Designer is a revolutionary software package, that looks and feels like an easy-to-use scada with the ability to log data to the compact flash card and display real-time and historical data. I must say that I have difficulty in separating the Magelis HMI from a scada,” states Kaye.
Schneider believes there is only one module more powerful than the Magelis range of HMIs and that is the Magelis range of industrial PCs. The range of IPCs boosts the versatility of a PC running Windows within a rugged Industrial IP65 package. Bundled with either Vijeo Designer or Vijeo Citect, the Magelis range is designed for any application involving processes and machines.
For more information contact Sheldon Kaye, Schneider Electric South Africa, +27 (0)11 254 6400, [email protected], www.schneider-electric.co.za
| Tel: | +27 11 254 6400 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| www: | www.se.com/za/en/ |
| Articles: | More information and articles about Schneider Electric South Africa |
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd | All Rights Reserved
printer friendly version