Instructions
OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction to Danfoss ECL OPC Server ..............................................................................................................................2
2. Configuring databases ...........................................................................................................................................................6
3. Exporting configuration data ................................................................................................................................................7
4. Importing data from an XML file ...........................................................................................................................................8
5. Address Space .........................................................................................................................................................................9
6. Devices.................................................................................................................................................................................. 11
7. Folders .................................................................................................................................................................................. 14
8. Data Items ............................................................................................................................................................................ 15
9. Conversions.......................................................................................................................................................................... 20
10. Device Parameters............................................................................................................................................................... 23
11. Simulation Signals ............................................................................................................................................................... 25
12. Alarm Definitions................................................................................................................................................................. 28
13. How the client connects to and gets data from a server................................................................................................... 34
Instructions OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
1. Introduction to Danfoss ECL OPC Server
The Danfoss ECL OPC Server is an OPC-compliant server that
serves data to OPC clients. The OPC server was implemented
using advanced programming concepts of the current version
of the OPC specification for use in developing next generation
industrial software applications.
The OPC Server communicates with OPC clients and real time
Danfoss ECL devices. This OPC server is also based on the
popular Modbus protocol and can be connected to real world
Modbus compatible I/O hardware.
Key features of the OPC Server include:
Advanced OPC data quality and data conversion to
client’s request.
Supports multiple multi-drop I/O devices.
Supports multiple groups for easy configuration and
manageability.
Supports popular PLC and RTU data types.
Internally simulated for configuration and testing.
User interface for viewing tags, groups, and real-time
signals.
Supports OPC Data Access (DA) and Alarm and Events
(AE) specifications.
Flexible engineering units and signal ranges
The OPC Server product contains two parts: a user interface
configuration module and the actual OPC server, the runtime
module.
Configuration module:
The configuration module allows you to create a database
that holds configuration data of the tags such as the tag
name, the ranging, and the alarm settings.
Runtime module:
The runtime module uses a runtime database to access the
actual values of the tags configured. Structures of both
databases are indicated in the following sections.
Changes made to the configuration are accepted only after a
restart of the OPC server. However, changes made to the
runtime database are accepted online.
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Instructions OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
1.1 What is OLE for process control?
OLE™ for Process Control (OPC) is a standards-based approach
for connecting data sources (e.g., PLCs, controllers, I/O
devices, databases, etc.) with HMI client applications
(graphics, trending, alarming, etc.).
It enhances the interface between client and server
applications by providing a universally supported and well-
documented mechanism to communicate data from a data
source to any client application.
Included are not only a detailed guide on how to pass the
data, but also specific information on other attributes to
supplement those data, such as range information, data type,
quality flags, and date and time information.
Figure 1.1 shows the OPC Architecture, which was introduced
by the OPC Foundation. By following the OPC Architecture, a
device needs only one standard driver, which is an OPC-
compliant server. All OPC-compliant client applications can
then be connected to that device, either locally or over a
network. Furthermore, connections can be made to more
than one OPC server at the same time.
Figure 1-1: General OPC-Based Client-Server Architecture
Any OPC client application can connect to any OPC server. In
other words, OPC offers true Plug-and-Play capability in the
fields of HMI and industrial automation. OPC server types
include OPC Data Access (DA), OPC Alarm and Events (AE).
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Instructions OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
Figure 1-2: Danfoss ECL Comfort OPC structure
The OPC Server is based on Standard Modbus protocol for
RS485 and TCP. Heat meter data can be read through the ECL
Comfort controller using the M-bus network.
1.2 System requirements
OPC Server Configurator can run on the following Microsoft
Windows operating systems:
Windows Server 2008 x64 (runs in the 32 bit
compatibility mode)
Windows Server 2008
Windows Vista x64 (runs in the 32 bit compatibility
mode) †
Windows Vista †
Windows Server 2003 x64 (runs in the 32 bit
compatibility mode)
Windows Server 2003 R2
Windows Server 2003 SP2
Windows XP Professional x64 (runs in the 32 bit
compatibility mode)
Windows XP Professional SP3
Windows 2000 Server SP4 ††
Windows 2000 SP4 ††
†
Supported Editions of Windows Vista are Windows Vista
Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise Edition. Windows Vista Home
and Home Premium Editions are not supported in this release.
††
Windows 2000 is supported for Classic OPC Server installations
only.
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Instructions OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
The OPC Server Configurator is capable of running on
computer/workstation hardware with the following
specifications:
1 GHz Processor (CPU)
1 GB Physical Memory (RAM)
2 GB Hard Disk space available
DVD drive for installation
SVGA Video Card; 256 or more colors for best results
A mouse or other compatible pointing device (such as a
trackball or touch screen)
Microsoft-compatible keyboard
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Instructions OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
2. Configuring databases
The OPC Server Configurator provides the ability to create
new configuration databases.
2.1 Creating a Microsoft Access Configuration
Database
To create a new Microsoft Access Configuration Database in
the Configurator, the following steps have to be completed:
Start the Danfoss ECL OPC Configurator.
Select ‘File’, ‘New’ from the menu and specify a name for
the configuration. For example ‘myProject.mdb’
Select the ‘Save’ button and the configuration file will be
created.
This configuration database will contain the configuration of
all your devices, and the logical tag naming in the OPC
address space.
2.2 Activating the database
Once your configuration is complete, you need to make sure
that your database is “Active”. The database that is
designated as “Active” is the one that the server uses.
To make a database active:
Select ‘File’, ‘Make Active’… and click the ‘Yes’ button.
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Instructions OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
3. Exporting configuration data
3.1 Exporting data to an XML file
The Configurator also allows you to export data from your
configuration database to an XML file. The Configurator also
allows you to export the XML schema. A schema is a special
XML file that specifies the data structure of an XML data file.
The purpose of having the configuration in XML would be
that you have it in another readable format and could
manipulate the content with 3rd party tools to later import
the changes again.
To export data, select from the menu ‘File, XML Export’…
This opens the ‘Export XML File’ dialog box. Specify a file a
name and click ‘Save’.
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Instructions OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
4. Importing data from an XML file
4.1 Importing data from an XML file
The Configurator allows you to import data from your
configuration database to an XML file.
To import data, select from the menu ‘File, XML Import’…
This opens the ‘Import XML File’ dialog box. Select a file and
click ‘Open’.
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Instructions OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
5. Address Space
The 'Address Space' branch of the Configurator provides a tree
explorer in Workbench, shown in the figure below, for setting
the properties and connection parameters of the following
items:
Devices
Folders
Data Items
Data items can be organized hierarchically. It is similar to
organizing directories and files on your computer's hard disk.
The OPC server offers several levels of hierarchy.
The Configurator module uses the terms ‘Folder’ and ‘Data
Item’. A folder can contain additional folders and also data
items. The data items are always the branches in the tree
control hierarchy.
The hierarchical structure of the folders and data items helps
to organize the devices and tags, as shown in Figure 5.1.
Figure 5.1: Address Space
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Instructions OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
5.1 Areas
Areas can be used to group devices logically. You can
configure as many areas as required. At least one area is
required.
To add an new area:
Right-click on the ‘Address Space’ branch in the Configurator
tree explorer in Workbench, and click on ‘New Area’.
Figure 5-2: Creating a 'New Area' in the Configurator tree explorer in Workbench
Or
Select the ‘Address Space’ branch in the Configurator tree
explorer in Workbench and use the menu ‘Edit’, ‘New’, ‘Area’
menu item.
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Instructions OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
6. Devices
In the Configurator, a device represents a hardware device that
communicates with the OPC server over TCP/IP.
A device is directly communicating with its socket, so it is
logically under the first level in the ‘Address Space’ tree.
Again, the device is represented by its symbolic name. Also, its
IP address in combination with the unit identifier value
uniquely identifies the device.
Setting up a device requires configuring its IP address, unit
identifier, TCP port, type, timeouts and optimization
parameters.
To add a device:
Right-click the ‘Address Space’ branch of the Configurator tree
explorer in Workbench, and click on ‘New Device’.
It is impossible to have two devices with the same IP
address.
Figure 6-1: Adding a 'New Device' in the Configurator tree explorer in Workbench
Or
Select the ‘Address Space’ branch in the Configurator tree
explorer in Workbench and use the menu ‘Edit’, ‘New’, ‘Area’
menu item.
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Instructions OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
Configuring devices:
Figure 6-2: Configuring devices
Connection type:
The OPC server supports two types of data connections:
Ethernet cable and serial cable.
The best performance is achieved by using an Ethernet
connection. In this case the IP address of the device needs to
be specified as well as the TCP port.
If serial connection is selected, the physical serial port of the
computer connected to the device(s) needs to be selected.
Each serial port can be configured by selecting the Serial Ports
branch of the Configurator tree explorer in Workbench and set
the parameters for each port.
IP address:
The device ‘IP Address’ is a 32-bit value represented as four
numbers separated by dots that indicate the location of the
device on a TCP/IP network. Each number in the address can
range from 0 to 255.
TC port:
The TCP Port for Modbus communication via Ethernet is
default 502 and should not be changed unless it is specifically
required by the network.
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Instructions OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
Unit Id (Identifier):
The Unit Id (Identifier) field may be used to communicate via
devices such as bridges and gateways that use a single IP
address to support multiple independent end units.
Type:
The OPC Server supports both the ECL300 and ECL310 devices.
The selected type must match the type of the device
connected.
For other devices which support the Modbus standard
communication protocol please select the ‘Custom Type’
option. The device parameters for ‘Simple devices’ can be
configured by selecting the ‘Device Parameters’ branch of the
Configurator tree explorer in Workbench and set the
parameters for ‘Simple devices’.
Timeouts:
Read/Write:
Amount of time (in milliseconds) the OPC server will wait for a
response (read/write) from the device.
Timeouts to Suspend:
The number of consecutive read/write attempts that timeout
before the OPC Server will suspend communication with the
device.
Suspend Period:
Amount of time the OPC Server will wait before attempting to
reconnect to the device.
Delay:
Amount of time (in milliseconds) between read attempts.
The Suspend Period setting can be decreased to
reconnect faster with a device that has been restarted, but
this will cause the OPC server to generate more network
traffic while a device is down.
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Instructions OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
7. Folders
Folders can be used to group data items logically. You can
configure as many folders as required. Each folder can even
have subfolders. The OPC server supports up to three folder
levels. The use of folders is not required.
If desirable, the configuration could just contain data items
without any folders. But most likely this will only be useful if
the application does not demand too many persistent tags.
To add a new folder:
Right-click on a ‘Device Branch’ (or another folder) in the
Configurator tree explorer in Workbench, then click on ‘New
Folder’.
Figure 7-1:
Creating a ‘New Folder’ in the Configurator tree explorer in
Workbench
Or
Select the ‘Device Branch’ in the Configurator tree explorer in
Workbench, then use the menu ‘Edit’, ‘New’, ‘Folder’ menu
item.
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Instructions OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
8. Data Items
A ‘Data Item’ represents a register in the device or a range of
registers. A symbolic name and description is associated with
the data item. An OPC client can obtain the data item
description.
The actual OPC item name (tag) is compounded from the
‘Address Space’ root, the names of the folder and its
subfolders, and the name of the data item. Data items can be
located in any folder, even in the root of the address space.
To add a new data item:
Right-click a device or folder in the Configurator tree explorer
in Workbench and click on ‘New Data Item’.
Figure 8-1:
Creating a ‘New Data Item’ in the Configurator tree explorer in
Workbench
Or
Select the ‘Device branch’ in the Configurator tree
explorer in Workbench, then use the menu ‘Edit’, ‘New’,
‘Data Item’.
Properties for data items:
Data items have the following properties, as shown in Figure
8-2.
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Instructions OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
Figure 8-2:
Properties for a ‘Data Item’
Name:
A logical name for the data item (Setpoint, Param001, ON_OFF,
etc).
Description:
A descriptive comment for the data item.
Location Type:
Location type is a type of a register in the device. Every device
is identified by its unique address. Its registers are read as
‘Input’ (1 bit long) or ‘Input Register’ (16 bits), or written to as
‘Coil’ (1 bit) or ‘Holding Register’ (16 bits). Registers of each
type are addressed by using 16-bit numbers. Device registers
are divided into ‘Coils’, ‘Inputs’, ‘Input Registers’ and ‘Holding
Registers’. Table 3-1 explains the name conventions used.
Read Only Read/Write
1 bit Input Coil
16 bit Input Register Holding Register
Table 3-1:
Name conventions
Modbus Type:
The location type (device data) will be understood as Modbus
type (OPC data type). Modbus data type also depends on the
‘Location type’ selected.
The ‘Data Length’ (bytes) field tells you how long (in bytes) the
field is for the Modbus type (e.g. ‘REAL’, ‘INT’, ‘UINT’, etc.)
selected. The ‘BOOL’ length is always 1 bit.
Example:
‘Coil’ or ‘Input’ (1 bit) device data type can be Modbus
BOOL only.
When selecting the Modbus STRING type, you must
specify the data length (how many bytes will the STRING
be represented by).
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Instructions OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
Simulation:
To test the client functionality, choose a ‘Simulation Signal’
from the ‘Signal’ drop-down list and check the ‘Simulate’
checkbox. See the ‘Simulation Signals’ section for information
about creating simulation signals.
All levels in the ‘Address Space’ (port, device, folder, data item)
support the process of simulation (Simulate checkbox). The
parent list in the tree is superior; it has a higher priority when
deciding to simulate the data item or not.
In other words, a data item is simulated, if it itself has a
simulation selected, or if any of its parents has the ‘Simulate’
checkbox checked. (It may be simulated even if its ‘Simulate’
checkbox stays unchecked.)
Manual Value:
If the ‘Simulate’ checkbox is checked, the data item will offer a
constant parameter value, because the ‘Manual Value ‘setting
is of the highest priority. The changes in the configuration take
effect only when the server reloads the configuration (on
startup).
Starting Address:
This value specifies the data item address (register number) in
the device data space. With the 'UINT' Modbus type, it is
possible to extract bits from the register and use them as a
Boolean or integer value (this functionality is read-only).
You can specify a group of 'Count' adjacent bits inside a word
starting with 'Bit #'. This way, it is possible to use a register for
several separate data items.
Use Conversion:
To get the data value converted according to a prescribed
form, choose one of the predefined or user-defined
conversions. See the conversions section for more details.
Generate Alarm:
Check the ‘Generate Alarm’ checkbox to make the server
generate alarms based on the data item value. The ‘Msg. prefix’
parameter is the text of the message for this data item. It will
be followed by the text configured for a particular alarm type.
The second part of the alarm message will contain the
‘Message Body’ string (see ‘Alarm Definitions’).
The server allows any number of predefined alarm definitions
(templates). You can combine one of them with the specific
tags.
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Instructions OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
Additional Properties:
Clicking the ‘Additional Properties’ button opens the
‘Additional Properties’ dialog box, shown in Figure 8-3, which
allows you to set a textual string for an Open/Close label, a
default display, a .bmp file, an HTML file, a sound file, and an
.avi file.
These properties are also accessible for OPC Data Access
clients. For example, to see the HTML file name being
presented in the OPC client, you should append .HTMLFile to
the OPC Item name.
Figure 8-3:
‘Additional Properties’ dialog box
Importing XML-file with ‘Data Items’ for ECL device
The OPC Server comes with an XML-file containing names,
configurations and descriptions for all ‘Data Items’ supported
by the ECL device. By importing this XML-file all ‘Data Items’
are ready for use by the OPC Server or may optionally be
modified to fit specific requirements.
ItisrecommendedtoimporttheXML‐fileforthe
applicationusedbytheECLControllertoeasethe
configurationofitsparameters.
To import XML-file with ‘Data Items’:
Select a Device in the Configurator tree explorer in Workbench
and click on the ‘Import XML’ button.
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Instructions OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
Figure 8-4:
Importing the XML-file with ‘Data Items’ in Workbench
Select the appropriate ECL device and application key and click
the OK button to import the XML-file:
Figure 8-5:
Import ECL310 data
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Instructions OPC server for ECL Comfort 310
9. Conversions
You can tell the server to convert device data value simply by
setting the Conversion properties, as shown in figure 9-1.
To add a new conversion
Right-click the Conversions branch of the Configurator tree
explorer in Workbench, then click on ‘New Conversion’.
Figure 9-1:
Adding a ‘New Conversion’ in the Configurator tree explorer in
Workbench
Or
Select the Conversion branch in the Configurator tree explorer
in Workbench, then use the menu ‘Edit’, ‘New’, ‘Conversion’.
This opens the Conversions properties window in the right-
pane of Workbench. Configure the following properties as
specified below.
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