Preparing for Siemens PCS Neo

Preparing for Siemens PCS Neo

As Siemens’ PCS Neo is now growing to become a full featured product, it makes sense to look at what you will need to de with your current environment to make it ready to be upgraded to PCS Neo. Making these decisions now, and planning them to be done in the next 3 to 5 years, will give you an upgrade strategy to the most current process control system. PCS Neo will be supported for the coming years, and so getting onboard with PCS Neo will make your life easier in the long term.

What should we look for to get our environment ready for PCS Neo?

The good part to know is that most of the hardware requirements can already be met now. So any investment in hardware can be done on the current version of your Siemens control system, and be carried forward to the new control system. This is true for the following components:

  • 410 CPU / AS Bundle based on S7-410 CPU
  • ET200SP HA Remote IO
  • Profinet infrastructure

The only systems that potentially need replacing is the IT infrastructure. If you are not already working on a virtual system, the server and client computers need to be updated. This is much more easy to do, as the client computers don’t have to be full computer systems anymore. The client computers are HMTL5 based in the new version, so any thin client running google chrome browser, can be used as an operation client computer.

How will my current software update to PCS Neo?

PCS Neo is made with compatibility in mind. It supports the Advanced process library and industry library that are currently used in PCS 7. Therefore, if you are using PCS 7, it would make sense to go from your current system to the Advanced Process Library. Once you have made this step, you are fully compatible to PCS Neo. Your software can by easiliy migrated to the new platform, as all of the blocks will be the same, and the use of the standard software blocks will be the same.

This is also true from the operator point of view. Once the advanced process library is setup in PCS 7, the look and feel for the operators will not change between PCS 7 and PCS Neo. The will be able to carry over all knowledge they have on the current system, and apply it to the new system. Trip or alarm screens will work exactly the same, as well as all of the technology objects like valves, motors, setpoints and controllers.

If the hardware is the same and the libraries are the same, what advantage will PCS Neo have?

Because PCS Neo is setup on a completely new foundation, it makes a lot of things possible that PCS 7 or T3000 could not do all that well. Some of the new features inlcude:

  • Multi user engineering
  • Server install only, client and engineering station are install-less.
  • Operator stations are HTML5 based, so any computer can be used as operator control station
  • Simulation and digital twin compatibility
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So what will i need to do to be prepared?

  1. Check your currently used hardware, and make a plan to change over to the 410CPU en ET200 SP HA
  2. Convert your currently used library to the standard PCS 7 Advanced process library
  3. Choose a time slot to go from PCS 7 to PCS Neo
  4. Convert the software to PCS Neo
  5. Install and commission the new system on the already connected hardware

If you need any assistance or you need someone to prepare your current system for PCS Neo, you can always contact us at [email protected] or 088 5225 000. iAUTOMATION will be more than happy to help you with your upgrade to PCS Neo, or prepare and upgrade your control system for you.