Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation is offering HMI / HMI-PLC panels for operation, visualization and control on the machines of machine and system builders. Eaton’s state-of-the-art touch panels provide clear and flexible menu guidance in any language required. Control, regulation, positioning and fieldbus communication are implemented using the Xsoft-CoDeSys-2 programming language. The graphical user interface can be created with Eaton’s user-friendly Galileo visualization software. Machine manufacturers can thus sell their machines worldwide with only one hardware and software solution required.
The Galileo visualization software offers the user several functions for programming all graphical operating devices from the Micro Innovation / Eaton HMI product range. User-friendliness is a key feature of the software. It is easy to learn and ensures intuitive operation. Ready-to-use functions and many basic objects provided enable the user to design the panel visualization exactly as required. A runtime preview, the so-called Inspector, makes it possible to simulate the results of the designed visualization already during the development stage.
The new Galileo software release now offers objects for an even more user-friendly tool and greater development ease. The developers placed here considerable importance on a modern design for the user interface and provide the user with different interface styles. For the first time, users can position their objects on different levels and create user-defined data types.
The software is particularly compatible, offering a continuous upward compatibility for projects, and can run efficiently on all WinCE panels. Visualization design can be carried out in several different languages and the country-specific keyboard layout is also provided for inputs. The complete Unicode character set including Asian characters is supported. The languages and value scaling can be changed, even when the program is running. With around 150 communication drivers, Galileo is also compatible with all standard protocols, such as Siemens Simatic, Rockwell PLC and ControlLogix, Omron, CoDeSysV2/V3, Eaton Easy and many more. Up to eight communication channels can be created in parallel and data can be synchronized easily.
The user interface is created using objects. These can be placed on all levels and arranged as required. For a more modern and attractive user interface, the design engineer can likewise adjust the transparency of objects. Objects can also be positioned statically or dynamically. The size or position of a dynamic object can also be changed later by the user, and access can be controlled.
Eaton supplies several basic objects for the visualization. This provides the user with a range of several buttons, switches and slide adjusters for the design of the interface of his panel. Besides the basic objects provided, the software also offers some more powerful objects as well. These include, for example, a flexibly configurable gauge meter for which the edges can be smoothed. Another object is for error management, and provides errors with a time stamp, assigns them to an error type and creates an error history. Error messages can also be provided with a placeholder which at the time of the error can either be filled with a value variable or a project text.
An extensive user management function can also be integrated in the panel design. This allows the users on the panel to add and remove permitted users and assign these to predefined user groups. The minimum length of passwords, password history, password aging, and initial password, an automatic logout and a monitoring of invalid logins can also be set in order to ensure that the system is secure. Another object is the parameter list. This shows variables as a list and also allows them to be changed.
The recipe management enables the user to change production parameters for two different production processes. Predefined recipes contain all the relevant production parameters.
Eaton’s Galileo is a comprehensive software that compares very well with competitor products. A high level of user friendliness and intuitive operation considerably simplify working with the visualization software. A great benefit is the high level of compatibility with a large number of controllers. The machine builder can thus choose Eaton’s HMI / HMI-PLC panels and Galileo at a later time.
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