The customer’s quality inspection system outputs roughly one part per second. Each part has 16 different inspections, with each of the 16 inspections having 32 data points. The customer needed a way to capture all of that data quickly, and in an organized format. The goal of this project was to develop a SCADA system that would allow the end customer to easily view and identify problems with the manufacturing process and filter out the unnecessary information.
DMC created a SQL database to store collected data using MC Works64 to write from the OPC server to the database. DMC developed the SQL database based off of the data the customer wanted to store and also the desired methods of displaying that data. The data is collected in the database by a VBA script created in ScriptWorX64. The timing of the data collection is based on a trigger tag from the PLC and controlled by ScriptWorX. ScriptWorX also gives you the option to trigger scripts on set time intervals. The VBA script will open up a connection to SQL, read the OPC server tags, and then insert them into the SQL database.
On the GraphWorX64 screen, the user can apply filters to view results within a certain time range, and also see results that failed a specific inspection. The filter was developed by creating a script in GraphWorX64 that references the objects on the screen (checkmarks and text boxes) in order to find the filter parameters. Then, the script creates a SQL connection and runs a SQL query based off of those parameters. Finally, the results of the SQL query are written to a data grid view on the screen.
MC Works64 does have built-in functionality that enables writing OPC tags to a SQL database by using TrendWorX64 Server. DMC opted not to use this because TrendWorX automatically stores data in a set format, which did not match the format the customer wanted. Although we chose not to use it, TrendWorX64 Server allows you to use the built-in TrendWorX64 controls, which are very powerful and useful tools.
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