Hi,
I am working on a project at bidding stage and need to know how many VIMs (in simplex OR Redundant) can be handled by one controller.
I have figured out a VIM can handle 128 data-set, with 100 registers, (16 Bit register) each, thus 12,800 registers.
and max 32 IP addresses. ( 16 for Redundant).
The VIm populates as 04 serial cards on delta V.
But I need to know is there any limit on how many VIMs can be handled by one controller set? I mean if there are 03 pairs of redundant VIMs, can these be handled by one Silver series controller? I know the controller are limited usually in terms of DSTs, but for *just monitoring* these should be SCADA points and not DSTs.
how are VIM actually related to Controllers?
Imran Tahir
Lead Engineer, Solution Center
INTECH Process Automation Inc.
www.intechww.com
Hi Imran,
VIM and Controller is 1:1 (Simplex or Redundant). Currently, you'll need to consume a controller for every VIM (Simplex or Redundant). It's not quite a competitive approach. However, there are plans to have an Ethernet I/P Interface Module configuration similar to a CIOC set up. But this would be available for future DeltaV versions (hopefully on DV v13).
I hope this helps.
Regards,
ChrisN
In reply to Christopher.nolasco:
Imran,
It is true that a 1:1 ratio is required for redundant VIMs, however this is not that case for Simplex VIMs. You can use up to two Simplex VIMs per DeltaV controller. This is true for M and S-Series,VIM1 or VIM2. The VIM emulates 4 DeltaV Serial cards and the card numbers are hard-coded as either 57-60 or 61-64. In a redundant pair, one VIM utilizes the odd numbered cards while the other utilizes the even numbered cards. In the case of two Simplex VIMs, one VIM would utilize cards 57-60 and the other would utilize cards 61-64. Since the card range is 57-64, only two VIMs can exist on one controller railbus; using a third VIM would cause card conflicts.
A single DeltaV controller could communicate to 64 simplex Modbus slaves with 2 VIMs. We have tested this in-house with minimal controller loading from control modules. Whether or not a DeltaV controller would be able to handle that much IO and execute a certain amount of modules with a certain degree of complexity is difficult to determine. At the maximums, the limiting factors become the processing power of the DeltaV Controller and the railbus speed between the VIM and the controller.
As a side note, one simplex VIM can be configured with Modbus TCP/IP and the other with Ethernet/IP. There is no requirement that both simplex VIMs must have the same firmware.
If you have any additional questions regarding the VIMs, feel free to give MYNAH Technologies a call at (636) 728-2000 ext 2, and we will be glad to assist you. MYNAH Technologies develops all of the drivers used by the DeltaV VIMs and VIM2's.
In reply to Jake Nichelson:
I think you're more than likely to run into a limit on how much the controller can handle as far as control modules, etc. Even if you can move all that data around, you're limited on other factors as well. Like PCSD style configuration with redundant SX controller, good luck getting more than 400 modules to work, etc.