ACC Automation: PLC & Industrial Control Learning
Practical Tips and Techniques
Invented in 1968 by Dick Morley, the programmable logic controller (PLC) is a simple rugged industrial computer. This free plc training series is designed for everyone to learn about these controllers. PLCs are constantly evolving and continue to be the best option for a variety of industrial automation applications. Even though the PLC is changing, … Read more
PLC manufactures have their own proprietary protocols. These methods of communication will allow you to program the controller. Other protocols will allow you to collect and log information from the programmable logic controller. Node-RED has the ability to read and write to the Omron controller using special protocol commands. We will connect Node-RED to the … Read more
We will now look at the C-More Micro program quick start. This will demonstrate how to quickly get your C-More Micro Program up and communicating to your programmable logic controller. (PLC) The general steps involved with a human-machine interface (HMI) program will include, program development, ladder logic, and HMI program development. We will be breaking … Read more
The element browser in the Do-More Designer software will display valid memory locations, add documentation, and show how to cast from one memory type to another. We will be discussing the element browser and how to take advantage of this in your Do-More program. Let’s get started.
The C-More can create a drop-down menu. This applies to all models of the HMI controller. A drop-down is a menu that offers a list of options. The currently selected item in the list is always displayed. When the visible item is selected (touched), other items from the list “drop-down” into view, and the operator … Read more
Node-RED will be used on the Raspberry Pi 4 to communicate serial Modbus RTU to a Solo process temperature controller and Click PLC using twisted pair RS485. This will be done on the same serial network so the devices will be daisy-chained together on the two wires. We will be reading the PV (present value) … Read more
Node-RED Modbus TCP can recover from communication errors automatically. Options are available to you the programmer to continue the Node-RED flow upon detection of these errors. Broken Ethernet cable, Modbus Server power, and Node-RED Client offline are just a few of the errors that can occur on the industrial plant floor. Our Node-RED program must … Read more
We will now be looking at simple data logging using a Click PLC with an Ethernet port. Node-RED will be used to communicate to the controller via Modbus TCP protocol. Information collected will be then stored in an SQLite SQL database. A Raspberry Pi 4 single-board computer will be used for the Node-RED collecting and … Read more
The real-time clock on the Click Plus can now be more accurate. A network time service (NTP or SNTP) has been added to the Click Plus controller. This will allow the time to be synchronized with an internet time server or local network. Daylight savings time is quickly implemented with just a memory retentive bit … Read more
Node-RED HTTP Request can be used to read any BRX Do-More PLC memory area. This HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) communication will only read information from our controller. The BRX Do-More REST API is used to read information using a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) or web address. We will be using the HTTP request node in … Read more