The PLC, which replaces the ageing System Vipa 100V, is based on Speed7 technology for high clock rates and program processing. It has a backplane with a bus transmission speed of 48Mbit/s and a CPU performance said to be similar to that of a “large” PLC.
The PLC comes with 16 digital inputs, 12 digital outputs and two analogue (0-10V) channels, as well as four 100kHz counters and two PWM channels. It can be expanded using up to eight modules to deliver up to 158 I/O channels. The basic 64kb of work memory can be expanded up to 128kb using Vipa’s Set Card technology. In the event of a power failure, data and status are stored.
Individually detachable connection plugs can be pre-wired. Equipped with push-in technology, they can be mounted and replaced quickly and easily, without needing tools, speeding up maintenance and cutting downtime. The plugs have vibration-resistant spring terminals, avoiding the need to re-tighten screws.
Despite the high channel density, each plug connection has an I/O LED that indicates the channel status. Visualisation, operation and diagnosis are also possible via a free app running on a smartphone or tablet that communicates wirelessly with the PLC via an optional Bluetooth adaptor.
Vipa’s Micro-PLC can be expanded to provide up to 158 I/O channels
The controllers have active, two-port, Profinet-ready switches for access, programming and communications. Profinet support is planned, as is a Web server, which could be implemented in a firmware update.
The CPU communicates via Ethernet TCP/IP as standard, with optional support for Profibus slaves, PtP and MPI via expansion modules, including twin RS-485 port modules. The PLC can be programmed using Speed7 Studio, Simatic Manager or TIA Portal software. It is Step7-compatible and supports the IL, LAD, SCL and Graph7 languages.
Since 2012, Vipa has been owned by Yaskawa.
