In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a new project in Siemens TIA Portal and how to configure your Hardware.
Parts Required
Software:
- Siemens TIA Portal
Hardware:
- s7-1200 1214 DC/DC/DC PLC
Create a Project
When you open the TIA Portal software for the first time you will have a screen like the Figure[1]. If you had some created projects, you could search for them but because it’s our first, we haven’t any projects.
To create a new project, you should click on create new project button like Figure[2]. Here you can change the project name, decide in which folder you want to save it, and make some comments about it.
After creating your project, you now have more able buttons that permit you to change some definitions, and add your devices, which is our focus. By clicking on add new device will appear all the possibilities of hardware that you are able to add to your project as you can see in Figure[3].
In our case, we are adding a s7-1200 PLC but, there are many references. Our PLC is a 1214C DC/DC/DC which left us only 3 possibilities. The difference, as you can see, are just the end numbers as you can see in Figure [4].
To verify which is your plc, you have to open the cover in Figure [5] on your PLC and check the end numbers.
Now that you have everything to choose your reference, press “add button” to add this reference to your project and then press in “project view” button as you can see in Figure [6].
Now you can see the hardware configuration screen and the PLC that you chose. This screen is separated into many zones.
On right zone, as you can see in Figure [7], have the Hardware catalog. It means that if you want to add new devices to your PLC in the future like more digital/analog inputs, digital/analog outputs, communication modules, or others, you have to search on that catalog, and drag and drop near to your PLC.
On the center zone, you can see the Rack where your PLC was inserted. When you start a new program, the PLC is always inserted in rack 0 and slot 1. As said above, when you want to insert new hardware, you have to drop them here on rack 0.
The rule is simple. If you want to add new inputs or outputs you have to drop the hardware at the right of your PLC, in stot 2 to 9. If you want to add new communication modules, you have to drop the hardware at the left of your PLC in slots 101 to 103
As you can see in Figure [8], there are limited numbers of slots. You can add a maximum of 8 I/O cards and 3 communication modules.
To finish, in the left zone you have the Project tree as you can see in Figure [9]. This zone is very important because will accompany you all the time you use TIA Portal. In this zone, you can go to your automation program, create new tags, watch and force tags, and many other things that you will learn in future posts.
This is the first post of Siemens TIA Portal. You have learned how to create a new project, insert your hardware in the project and what are the functionalities of each zone of the Device configuration separator.
If you like this kind of post, if you want to know more about siemens TIA Portal or if you have some doubts about the Industrial Automation area don’t forget to leave a comment.
