Animating Generator Vibration in WinCC HMI: Step-by-Step Guide

1. Overview: Visualizing Generator Vibration in WinCC HMI

Industrial HMI screens that depict rotating equipment — generators, dynamo sets, motor-generator groups, diesel gensets — often need to communicate mechanical state to operators beyond a single colored status icon. A running synchronous machine is audible, it is hot, and it physically vibrates because of residual unbalance, magnetic pull, and bearing clearance. Reproducing that vibration optically on a SCADA graphic is a common requirement for power-plant, marine, and process-plant mimic displays built in Siemens WinCC (classic V7.x) or TIA Portal WinCC (Comfort/Advanced panels and WinCC Professional).

This reference covers three techniques engineers have used to produce a "running dynamo" animation in WinCC:

1. An animated GIF played through an ActiveX / WPF container on the picture.
2. A dual-rectangle flashing trick using built-in flashing and visibility properties.
3. A geometry property bound to a dynamic dialog or a C / VBS action that offsets the picture every cycle.

2. Background: Mechanical Vibration of Electric Generators

Before touching the HMI, anchor the animation to physics so the picture update rate matches what the eye actually expects. An electric generator converts mechanical energy into electrical energy by relative motion between a magnetic field and a conductor. In a synchronous machine the rotor turns at the synchronous speed:

n_sync = (120 × f_grid) / p [RPM]

where f_grid is the grid frequency (50 Hz or 60 Hz) and p is the number of pole pairs. Common values:

The dominant mechanical excitation frequency observed by the casing is therefore:

f_mech = n_sync / 60 [Hz]

For a 4-pole, 50 Hz machine the casing vibrates at 25 Hz; for a 2-pole machine at 50 Hz. To render that on screen without visible stepping, the HMI graphic must refresh at least at 2 × f_mech (Nyquist) and ideally at 4–8 × f_mech for smooth motion. That translates to 100–200 picture updates per second for a 2-pole 50 Hz generator — a number the WinCC runtime simply cannot sustain, which is exactly why a pre-rendered GIF or a hardware-accelerated ActiveX is preferred over per-cycle geometry scripting.

3. Prerequisites and Supported Environments

• Engineering station: WinCC V7.5 SP2 or later, or TIA Portal V17 / V18 with WinCC Professional/Comfort. See the TIA Portal WinCC system manual.
• Runtime target: WinCC RT Professional, SIMATIC Comfort Panel (MTP/Comfort), IPC with WinCC Runtime, or WinCC WebUX client.
• Tag of type BOOL that represents the running state, e.g. Gen1_Running. The animation is bound to this tag's rising edge.
• Optional: Apple Motion, Adobe After Effects, or any GIF authoring tool to produce the animated picture (Method 1).
• Permission to install ActiveX controls (Method 1). On locked-down TIA Comfort Panels the GIF path uses the "Graphics > Animated GIF" property; on WinCC RT you may need a Microsoft WebBrowser or WPF MediaElement container.

4. Method 1 — Animated GIF via ActiveX / Native GIF Object

This is the field-recommended approach because the frame timing of the GIF is locked to the OS media timer, independent of the WinCC picture-update cycle. The GIF itself is the only object that needs to switch on when the generator tag becomes TRUE.

4.1 Building the GIF

1. Draw the generator silhouette in any vector editor at the screen resolution you intend to use (e.g. 200 × 200 px).
2. Export a sequence of PNG frames, each frame offset by ±1, ±2, ±3 px on X and Y. For a vibration that "feels right", use a 5-frame cycle at 100 ms per frame:

3. Open Apple Motion (or After Effects) and use the project's Generator template workflow: File > New from Project Browser > Final Cut Generator, drag in the PNG sequence, apply a small Position keyframe wiggle, then export as gen_vibrate.gif with infinite loop and 10 fps (100 ms per frame).
4. Save the file into the WinCC project under \GraCS\ (classic WinCC) or under HMI > Graphics in the TIA project tree.

4.2 Wiring the GIF into WinCC (Classic V7)

1. Open the Graphics Designer and place a Picture Window or a Status Display (Graphic) on the process picture.
2. Set the property Picture to gen_vibrate.gif.
3. Bind the property Display (visibility) to the tag Gen1_Running via a dynamic dialog: value = 1 → visible; value = 0 → invisible. When the tag is FALSE the GIF stays hidden; when TRUE the GIF plays automatically because the file format drives the loop.
4. If you want a still static picture while the generator is stopped, overlay a second Status Display with the same generator silhouette as a non-animated PNG and invert its visibility to the same tag.

4.3 Wiring the GIF into WinCC Professional / TIA Portal

1. In the HMI screen, insert an Animated GIF object (Comfort/MTP) or a Graphic IO field referencing the imported GIF (WinCC Professional).
2. Configure the Animation > Visibility property with a tag connection to Gen1_Running, using the formula (Gen1_Running == 1).
3. Set the Picture property to the imported gen_vibrate.gif.
4. Compile and download. The GIF begins playback immediately on tag rising edge.

5. Method 2 — Dual-Rectangle Flashing Technique

This is the zero-script workaround that works in any WinCC version without ActiveX. The visual illusion of vibration is created by two identical silhouettes offset by a few pixels, flashing in counter-phase so the eye reads the alternation as jitter.

5.1 Construction

1. Draw the generator silhouette as a rectangle / polygon group (call it Rect_A) at its nominal position.
2. Copy and paste Rect_A as Rect_B, then move Rect_B by +2 px X and +2 px Y (use the Geometry > Position X/Y properties, not the mouse, so the offset is exact).
3. For both rectangles, enable the Flash property. Set Flash frequency to Medium (~2 Hz). The flashing bitmap is toggled between the foreground and background color at this rate.
4. Configure the Flash property:
   • Rect_A — "Flash ON" color = generator color (e.g. blue); "Flash OFF" color = background (e.g. white).
   • Rect_B — opposite: "Flash ON" color = background; "Flash OFF" color = generator color.
5. Bind the Visibility of both rectangles to tag Gen1_Running. When the tag is FALSE both rectangles are hidden; when TRUE they appear, flashing in counter-phase. The eye perceives the alternation as a 2 Hz jitter.

5.2 Tuning the Look

The trick feels mechanical only if the offset matches the flash phase. A workable rule:

At flash frequencies above 5 Hz the human eye fuses the alternations into a steady blur, so going higher buys nothing. Stay at Medium (2 Hz) — it matches the visual signature of a 1500 RPM / 4-pole 50 Hz machine casing well enough for operator recognition.

6. Method 3 — Geometry Property with C / VBS Script

6.1 How the Update Cycle Limits Vibration

WinCC picture updates are throttled by:

• The configured Update cycle of the tag connection (default 1 s in TIA Portal; 250 ms in classic WinCC).
• The runtime's Picture cycle (typically 100 ms on IPC, 250 ms on Comfort Panels).
• The minimum trigger interval of a scheduled C action (50 ms).

A naive script that re-reads the system clock every cycle still only gets redrawn at the picture-cycle rate. To render 25 Hz vibration you must shrink both.

6.2 C Action (ANSI-C, WinCC V7)

/* Vibrate generator picture while Gen1_Running == TRUE
   Place as a "Global Script > C Action" attached to the
   "Position X" property of the picture object "Gen_Picture".  */
#define BASE_X     400
#define BASE_Y     300
#define AMPL_X     3          /* pixels */
#define AMPL_Y     2          /* pixels */
#define FREQ_HZ    25.0       /* match the machine casing */
#define TWO_PI     6.283185307179586

static DWORD dwStart = 0;
if (dwStart == 0) dwStart = GetTickCount();

if (GetTagByte("Gen1_Running") == 1) {
    double t  = (GetTickCount() - dwStart) / 1000.0;
    double dx = AMPL_X * sin(TWO_PI * FREQ_HZ * t);
    double dy = AMPL_Y * sin(TWO_PI * FREQ_HZ * 1.3 * t);
    return BASE_X + (int)dx;
}
else {
    dwStart = GetTickCount();
    return BASE_X;
}

The same action with (int)dy + BASE_Y must be attached to Position Y. Note the secondary harmonic (×1.3) on Y so the motion looks elliptical rather than perfectly straight.

6.3 VBS Action (WinCC Professional / TIA)

' VBS action attached to the Position X property
Dim dt, t, dx
Const BASE_X = 400, AMPL_X = 3, FREQ_HZ = 25, TWO_PI = 6.283185307
If SmartTag("Gen1_Running") Then
    t = (Timer)                              ' seconds since midnight
    dx = AMPL_X * Sin(TWO_PI * FREQ_HZ * t)
    HmiRuntime.Screens("Overview").ScreenItems("Gen_Picture").Left = BASE_X + dx
Else
    HmiRuntime.Screens("Overview").ScreenItems("Gen_Picture").Left = BASE_X
End If

6.4 Tuning Parameters for Method 3

7. Performance Comparison

For most operator screens, pick Method 1. For legacy TIA Comfort projects where the GIF cannot be imported at the required resolution, fall back to Method 2. Reserve Method 3 for screens where the vibration amplitude must follow a real measurement (e.g. Gen1_Vib_RMS from a vibration monitor).

8. Step-by-Step Implementation of Method 1 (Recommended)

1. Author the GIF using the Apple Motion Generator template or After Effects. 10 fps, 5-frame elliptical loop, transparent background.
2. Import the GIF into the WinCC project: in classic WinCC copy it to \GraCS\; in TIA Portal use HMI > Graphics > Add.
3. Insert the picture object on the process screen. For TIA Comfort Panels use Animated GIF; for WinCC Professional use Graphic IO field or a WPF container.
4. Wire visibility to Gen1_Running via the Animations > Appearance > Visibility property: value = 1 → visible.
5. Add the static silhouette as a second object below the GIF, with visibility bound to NOT Gen1_Running so a still picture shows when the unit is stopped.
6. Compile and download. On the runtime, force a tag transition on Gen1_Running from 0 → 1 and confirm the GIF begins playback and the static silhouette disappears.
7. Verify the cycle rate: stop the GIF externally (e.g. Task Manager > Performance) and confirm the visible state is frozen at the static silhouette. Restart the runtime and re-check.

9. Verification and Acceptance Test

Acceptance is judged on three observable properties:

• Trigger correctness: When the Boolean tag Gen1_Running transitions FALSE → TRUE, the vibration must begin within one picture cycle (≤ 250 ms on Comfort, ≤ 100 ms on IPC).
• Trigger correctness (release): When the tag transitions TRUE → FALSE, the animation must stop and the static silhouette must appear within one picture cycle.
• CPU footprint: On the runtime, log CPU under the picture's normal workload for 5 minutes. Expected < 5 % for one animated generator; if multiple generators are on the same screen, total < 15 %.

Use the WinCC diagnostics window (Tools > Diagnostics > Performance) and the TIA Portal WinCC Performance Assistant to verify the picture-update cycle and tag-trigger intervals.

10. Troubleshooting Matrix

11. Frequently Asked Questions