Within the S7-300 system of mini PLC's the familiar SIMATIC characteristics of continuity and standardisation are still here. But major advances have been made in price, comfort and performance. Behind the small exterior of the S7-300 lurks a real package. The new CPU is up to 100 times faster than before. The program memory can store up to 8K statements, 512 digital inputs/outputs are supported, 32 modules can be integrated in a single system, the high processing performance includes 32 bit floating point arithmetic and then there is the MPI interface. This level of performance in a unit so small and inexpensive presents users in all kinds of industries with a large number of significant advantages...

The S7-300 is small and extremely fast. Some CPUs in this performance class were pushed to their limits when it came to operating at extremely high processing speeds or simultaneously performing arithmetic operations or data processing tasks. The S7-300 opens a new chapter in performance. The most powerful of the two CPU's needs a mere 0.3 ms to perform 1024 binary statements and it also performs word-oriented processing. This kind of capability leaves "higher grade" PLC's standing.

As well as being small and fast the S7-300 is also multi-faceted. The modular design, the wide range of modules, network communications capability, integrated operator control and monitoring performance, and the programming language (with Windows user interface) all of these features combine to make the S7-300 a real all round talent that breaks all the performance class barriers.

STEP 7-Micro/Win

The STEP 7-Micro/Win programming software makes the units incredibly easy to use, even for first time users, and are even more friendly thanks to the new software wizards and simple "drag and drop" functionality of the instruction set. The wizards prompt you via menus to simply specify a few parameters and then an executable program is automatically generated. Using the "drag and drop" facility, instructions are selected simply by dragging and dropping from instruction folders. You can show and program several projects simultaneously on screen using STEP 7-Micro/Win and you can copy entire program sections from one program to another.

An electronic simulator for virtual program testing, variable and block status display and the facility for programming and plant monitoring via modem from anywhere in the world make STEP 7-Micro/Win a unique tool. The simple program structure of STEP 7-Micro/Win makes programming very easy. Subroutines, for example, are simply appended to the main program and called directly after processing of just a few instructions for extremely high speed control.

I/O Modules

There is an extremely wide range of I/O modules for the S7-300. You can choose between:
· Signal modules (for digital and analogue signals)
· Interface modules (for multi-row installations)
· Communications modules (for data exchange with printers, computers, SIMATIC systems and PROFIBUS)
· Function modules (for high speed counting, positioning and position control
· Power supply modules (for 24V load circuits with graded power ratings)

s7-200

s7-300

s7-400