The modularity and flexibility of SIMATIC Route Control are optimally supported by the hardware available. The SIMATIC PCS 7 Industrial Workstations from the "Industrial Workstation/IPC" section can be used for SIMATIC Route Control.

Hardware for small plants

For small plants, SIMATIC Route Control can be installed either alone or together with the OS software on a single station system. You can select the hardware for this OS/RC single station from the section "Industrial Workstation/IPC", subsection "SIMATIC Rack PC".

Client/server configuration

Distributed multi-user systems with client-server architecture are typical for the automation of material transports with SIMATIC Route Control. Basically it is possible to operate an RC Server, Batch Server and OS Server on shared basic hardware. However, availability will be higher and performance better if each component has its own server hardware. The availability of the RC server can be increased further by a redundant design of the server hardware. SIMATIC PCS 7 supports a Route Control server or pair of Route Control servers for each multi-user system.

The Route Control client (RC Client) is represented by the Route Control Center (RCC). The RCC can be installed on an OS Client, a Batch Client or separate client hardware.

Redundancy

The SIMATIC Route Control Server software supports the RC server redundancy. Further software components or a separate connection between the two servers as is the case with the OS server redundancy or batch server redundancy are not required.

With the assistance of the SIMATIC Route Control Server software, the two redundant RC servers carry out mutual monitoring during operation. If the active RC server fails, the redundant partner immediately becomes the master and takes over operation. The RC clients are automatically switched over to the new master in this case. Following the return of the failed RC server, data matching is carried out with the active RC server with the latter remaining the master.

Expansion options

OS/RC single stations and RC clients can be optionally expanded for multi-monitor mode with up to 4 monitors. Using multi-monitor mode, the visualization of a plant/unit can be divided among 2 to 4 process monitors per operator station using different views. These plant sections can all be operated using just one keyboard and one mouse.

Requirements for selection of the automation systems

SIMATIC Route Control supports standard automation systems, fault-tolerant and safety-related automation systems of the S7-400 range based on to the following CPU types:

• CPU 416-3 (up to 30 simultaneous material transports)
• CPU 417-4 and CPU 417-4H (up to 300 simultaneous material transports)
• CPU 410‑5H (up to 300 simultaneous material transports)