The PlcProgramLoader is a tool that allows you to download software to a PLC without using TIA Portal.
The PlcPogramLoader is a tool that is primarily intended for service use. The following use case is an example where the PlcProgramLoader can be applied: A serial machine builder distributes standard software configurations to a large number of end customers. The difficulty is that every customer can have an individual hardware and software configuration. A serial machine builder therefore requires a possibility to update the software on a machine to either enable/disable features or provide bugfixes.
With TIA Portal alone, the serial machine builder can only make changes to specific target machines, if the exact configuration of this target machine is available as a TIA Portal project.
With the PlcProgramLoader, it is now possible to create software updates without knowing the exact target PLCs configuration. The software to be downloaded can be created e.g. from a TIA Portal project, that does not exactly match the target PLCs configuration. The PlcProgramLoader checks if the software can be consistently downloaded.
Main workflow
To load software changes to a PLC without a corresponding TIA Portal project, the following main steps are required:
- Make changes to an existing TIA Portal project.
- Export the changed objects to a so called “Loadable File” by means of Openness.
- Use the PlcProgramLoader to download the Loadable File to a PLC.
It is possible to apply Loadable Files to a PLC that have been created from an arbitrary TIA Portal project. The PlcProgramLoader checks if the software objects contained in the Loadable File can be seamlessly integrated into the online-PLC’s software configuration.