OPCDC: InfinityQS OPC Data Collector

Introduction

The InfinityQS OPC Data Collector is a data acquisition program that collects data and writes it into the InfinityQS International database. If you are already familiar with the InfinityQS suite of products, this application is similar to the Import Utility. But, rather than collecting information from text files the InfinityQS OPC Data Collector collects data using the OPC communication standard.

What is the OPC Communication Standard?

In simplest terms, OPC (OLE for Process Control) provides a standard communication protocol that “process-control” and “manufacturing-automation” applications use to share information with one another. OPC is an industry standard created with the collaboration of a number a leading worldwide automation and hardware software suppliers working in cooperation with Microsoft. The organization that manages this standard is the OPC Foundation. To learn more about the OPC Foundation, see www.opcfoundation.org.

What is an OPC Server?

OPC Servers are applications that make information available to OPC Clients. OPC Servers can provide direct access to equipment such as PLC (Programmable Logic Controllers), databases or any other form of information. A few of the many companies offering OPC Servers are:

• Intellution (www.intellution.com)
• Wonderware (www.wonderware.com)
• Allen-Bradley (www.automation.rockwell.com)
• More… (www.opcfoundation.org)

What is an OPC Client?

By using the standards set forth by the OPC Foundation, any programmer with a basic knowledge of OPC can connect to and obtain access to the information made available by the OPC Server. These OPC Client applications are used to read and/or write to OPC Servers.

InfinityQS OPC Data Collector

The InfinityQS OPC Data Collector is an “OPC Client” application that connects to one or more OPC Servers. It allows the user to connect to any of the information made available by an OPC Server. The information that is received is tagged (or labeled) with additional user-defined information before being written to the InfinityQS database.

Parts, Processes & Descriptors

During the setup of the InfinityQS OPC Data Collector parts, processes and descriptors can be tagged to the subgroup information that you will be acquiring. The number of descriptors that can be assigned to the data is virtually unlimited. These descriptors not only provide additional information about the data collection process but also can be used to filter and drill down into to process if a problem occurs. Thus enabling the quality engineer to ascertain the source of the problem.

Multiple Servers Supported

Your implementation may include multiple OPC servers from the various suppliers of your process control hardware. The use of multiple OPC servers is quite common in a manufacturing environment.

InfinityQS OPC Data Collector can simultaneously connect to multiple OPC servers. This ability allows all the sources of data associated to a process to be collected at a single location. A very important requirement when true process control is your goal.

Triggers, Timers and Events

How and when data is sampled from a process is also another important consideration when implementing your collection strategy.

For example, do you need to collect 5 values every hour? What if those values are invalid until a certain trigger occurs? What if those values are only valid when a certain threshold is reached?

InfinityQS OPC Data Collector supports each one of these methods independently or in combination with one another. This feature gives you the utmost in flexibility to configure your OPC data collection to match your specific requirements.

Conclusion

If your quality implementation requires automatic data collection from PLCs, automatic monitoring equipment or any test equipment that can communicate to an OPC server, then the InfinityQS OPC Data Collector is a valuable solution worth considering.