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jlbcontrols edited this page Jul 4, 2020 · 14 revisions

Flintium

Welcome to Flintium - An open-source library of Ignition® graphics and faceplates for the Rockwell Automation® Library of Process Objects Add-On Instructions.

Status

Flintium is currently in development. In June 2020, this repository was made public to give all Ignition & Rockwell fans the opportunity to contribute. Significant changes are expected in the short term. When the library stabilizes, a version will be published on the Ignition Exchange.

What is Flintium For?

Flintium provides Ignition UDTs and Vision templates that interface with Rockwell Automation's Library of Process Objects AOIs. The AOIs, in turn, are purpose-built to control common equipment used in process industries. Flintium is recommended to Ignition users who would like to take advantage of the highly configurable, and thoroughly tested AOI library. Ideal use case: Integrating Logix controlled processing equipment into a facility that uses Ignition SCADA.

What Problem Does Flintium Solve?

There's a need for more open source libraries in the industrial automation community. Automation professionals waste an enormous amount of effort building and maintaining solutions to the same problems, which their peers have solved hundreds of times over. From a plant operator's perspective, proprietary libraries limit the availability of automation professionals who are familiar with the code, making it more difficult to support. Adopting open libraries can decrease cost for integrators, decrease risk for end users, and enable more successful automation projects.

History of Flintium

Inspiration

Flintium is just one contribution to the growing list of open source automation libraries. It was inspired by projects like the Siemens Open Library, and of course, the Rockwell Automation Library of Process Objects.

Enabling Flintium

With Ignition v8, Inductive Automation began support for industry standard version control systems. As a result, there's a realistic possibility for broad collaboration on open-source industrial automation projects using social coding platforms like GitHub. Without these tools, it would be tough for projects like Flintium to get traction without a major sponsor.

Catalyst

JLB Controls started developing Flintium at the beginning of 2020. It was initially used as a simulation and demo system for pidbot - PID tuning module for Ignition. Flintium example windows include some of the process simulations created for Pidbot, which have been very useful for testing Flintium components (and great for PID tuning practice). Pidbot is still used in Flintium as a P_PIDE tuning faceplate, but a license isn't necessary, the module is fully functional in trial mode.

Name

Flintium's name comes from a blend of the platforms it brings together: FLINT is an IGNITION ROCK(well). It's also a reference to the library's default color palette, which uses natural colors of flint, including the legendary, Ignition classic background color: (238,236,232). The "ium" is just a uniquifier, so you don't need to scroll down very far in your Google search results. If you'd like to add meaning to it, you could say it's an elemental suffix, because Flintium is an element of your next Ignition app!

Contributing

Flintium needs community input to make it useful and successful. For information about how to contribute, please see the Contributing Wiki page.

Acknowledgements

Flintium would not be possible without Rockwell Automation's powerful and intuitive Logix platform, and their thoroughly tested, highly configurable Library of Process Objects, which they offer to their community at no cost. Flintium is built on Ignition SCADA from Inductive Automation, a team that has pushed the limits of SCADA, accelerated IT/OT convergence, and delights and inspires their community with an open, user-friendly approach. Flintium also got a big jump-start from the FactoryPacks project, developed by Corso Systems, which served as a starting point for development of this library.

Many thanks to the people who have contributed code, or shared their expertise with this project:

Screenshots

Flintium ExampleMain/Overview screenshot

Flintium ExampleMain/HX10 screenshot

Flintium ExampleMain/HX10 with Main/Oper faceplate screenshot

Flintium ExampleMain/Reactor101 screenshot

Flintium ExampleMain/Tanks with Main/Oper faceplate screenshot

Flintium ExampleMain/Tanks with Advanced/Engineering faceplate screenshot