Automatic Testing of Drive Fieldbus using OPC Interface

Abstract

This project investigates automatic testing of medium voltage drive controller using OPC server interface. OPC is a standard software interface that allows program to communicate with industrial hardware devices. The control board of medium voltage drive consists of digital input signals, which are used to control the drive. PLC that serve as an overriding systems. In Visual Studio, it is possible to access the PLC symbol variables using OPC server interface and control the drive for application software functionality testing. PLC symbol variables are accessed by Automatic Testing Framework through OPC interface. This project describes the hardware setup, automatic testing of control software using OPC Server Interface. Test results prove the advantage of using OPC interface over conventional way of testing.