A Profibus USB Interface is a device used to control several industrial measurement devices using the Profibus-protocol, which is a serial bus protocol based on RS485. On the one hand it will be connected to the USB port of a PC on the other hand it will be connected to the Profibus-RS485 line as the master device. It reads the data from the measurement devices and passes them to a database suitable for time-dependent data (data historian) using the OPC-standard (OPC is a standardised software interface allowing the exchange of different manufacturers data). This article describes in detail the installation procedure of an Ifak-system isPro USBx12 Profibus USB Interface. For this installation procedure the example of connecting several BRONKHORST EL-FLOW mass flow meters/controllers as measurement devices is used. Several problems and software bugs are described and appropriate workarounds are given. This includes the necessity of a new driver software, which had to be developed by the vendor of Ifak-system, in order to make the isPro USBx12 Profibus USB Interface collaborate with the BRONKHORST EL-FLOW mass flow meter/controller. The exact steps how to carry out the installation of both hardware and software as well as the proper configuration under Windows-XP are given, including ways, how to test the installed devices for their proper function. The composition of the data-record for one BRONKHORST EL-FLOW device within the data historian is described in detail. Appropriate references are given as well.

HOLZLEITNER Ludwig;  DECHAMP Luc; 

2008-11-11

OPOCE

JRC36109

1018-5593,   

EUR 22658 EN,   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC36109,