ACC Automation: PLC & Industrial Control Learning
Practical Tips and Techniques
We will use VBA in Excel to communicate to an Omron PLC. This will use the serial host link protocol. ACC Omron Host Link VBA In Part 1, we used VB6 to communicate from the computer to the PLC (Host Link Protocol). We will now use Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to accomplish the same … Read more
Manufacturers have software to program the programmable logic controller (PLC) or the human-machine interface (HMI). However, there are a few free tools that will help in the development of your PLC programs. We will look at three software tools and show how beneficial they can be to you. Free PLC Software Tools Synergy – Share … Read more
Takt time is the beat of manufacturing. It is the rhythm of the company for making products or delivering services. Do you know what yours is? Let’s look at takt time and determine how to use it to our advantage. What is Takt Time? (Discover Takt Time) This is a German word taken from beats … Read more
PLC programs are typically written in a particular application on a personal computer, then downloaded to the PLC. This downloaded program is similar to compiled code to keep the program efficient. The program is stored in the PLC in battery-backed-up RAM or non-volatile flash memory. Five Different PLC Programming Languages Albert Einstein said, “The world … Read more
We apply the five steps of PLC development to a plc shift register example. This PLC programming example will use a shift register to reject a product on a conveyor. When programming a PLC, you need to track what has previously happened. Shift registers allow you to do just that. We will look at a … Read more
We will apply the five steps to PLC Program development to our following programming example of a process mixer. The process mixer will be programmed using ladder logic. We will discuss each step of the PLC program development. 1 – Define the task: How does the process mixer work? A normally open start and normally … Read more
Programming a PLC can sometimes be a daunting task. The best method is to break the task into smaller steps. These are the steps that I have used for years to develop PLC programs. We will apply them to a die-stamping application. Step 1 – Define the task: What has to happen? This is written … Read more
A data logger is also known as a data recorder or data acquisition. It is a method to record data over some time and events. The recorded information can come from sensors in the field. They can be digital or analog. Digital data can be used for counts, times, events (motor overload), etc. With the … Read more
Process control can be a bit intimidating. We will try and break down both On/Off and PID control in a fun way. This is a simple analogy without any math. On-Off Control Explained On/Off control can be used effectively with temperature control. Everyone’s house usually has a temperature controller that uses an On/Off control. The … Read more
A one-shot in the PLC will turn an output on for one scan. This is used to trigger events that should only happen once. An example of this would be to increment a value in memory. If a one-shot is not used, then every scan of the PLC will increment the value. What is a … Read more