ACC Automation: PLC & Industrial Control Learning
Practical Tips and Techniques
The Omron C20K, C28K, C40K, and C60K shoebox programmable logic controllers have been discontinued since March of 2002. These Omron ‘K’ series PLCs were popular controllers and have been in installations for over 25 years. We will take a look at this Omron PLC and review some troubleshooting techniques. Planning for the eventual fatal failure … Read more
Timers and counters are used in the majority of PLC programs. We will not look at how timers and counters can be programmed in the Horner XL4 OCS all-in-one controller.
We will now look at the Horner XL4 user interface. The HMI (Human Machine Interface) part of the XL4 all in one controller will be what the operator views. We will look at the features of the display and learn how our program will control what the display will show.
We will now look at the Horner XL4 numbering system and addressing. Data is stored in different memory-type locations called registers. The registers can be either bits or words (16bit). Multiple registers can be used together to store a 32-bit value. (Double word) This all in one controller has several additional registers to handle some … Read more
We will now look at the parts of a PLC system. When I was in school PLCs were just in their infancy. We were taught that the PLC consisted of the central processing unit (CPU), analog and digital inputs, and outputs. Everything was programmed with dedicated handheld devices and/or software devices on specialized hardware. We … Read more
The Horner XL4 OCS all-in-one controller is programmed using Cscape. Cscape (Control Station Central Application Programming Environment) We will now set up the Cscape software so we can easily communicate and program our controller.
The Horner XL4 OCS all-in-one controller is programmed using Csape. Cscape (Control Station Central Application Programming Environment) This single programming software package is designed to be easy to use and maintain. We will now install this programming package onto our computer.
Receive and Send instructions will allow you to send and receive serial data to an external device. The communication method that you setup can be ASCII or Modbus. ASCII (American Standard Communication for Information Interchange) can be used to send to devices such as a printer. Receiving ASCII can be used for connecting barcode scanners … Read more
Drum instructions are great tools when you have a simple sequence of events that need to occur at a set time interval or as a result of an event. They mimic an electromechanical drum sequencer. The Click PLC has a drum in the instruction set. We will discuss the drum instruction and look at an … Read more
A lot of times when programming a PLC you need to track what has previously happened. Shift registers allow you to do just that. The Click PLC has a shift register in the instruction set. We will discuss the shift register and look at an example.