ACC Automation: PLC & Industrial Control Learning
Practical Tips and Techniques
The Machine Simulator (MS) is part of the EasyPLC software suite. It has many built-in machines that can be programmed. The gantry loader is one of these machines. It will pick up metal boxes from a conveyor and place two on a wooden pallet. The Click PLC will be used to program this virtual machine. … Read more
The Machine Simulator (MS) is part of the EasyPLC software suite. It has many built-in machines that can be programmed. The chain conveyor is one of these machines. It will transfer large and small boxes on the line to different locations. The productivity series of PLCs will be used to program this virtual machine. Using … Read more
The Click PLC retentive data memory registers are not included in the program file by default. All Click PLC CPUs are included. This option must be selected to include the C, CT, DS, DD, DH, DF, CTD, and TXT memory in the Click project file. We will be enabling the option to include the retentive … Read more
All Solo Standard Process Temperature Controllers that support RS-485 serial communications can use the SL-SOFT configuration and monitoring software. This free package will communicate to monitor multiple SOLO controllers using Modbus RTU or Modbus ASCII protocols. We will be installing the SL-SOFT configuration and monitoring software package on our Windows 10 PC. Communicating through our … Read more
We will now connect our Productivity Open P1AM Arduino to a Click PLC. Using Modbus TCP the Arduino will be the Client (Master) and the Click will be the Server (Slave). We will explain how to connect our P1AM-ETH Industrial Arduino Ethernet Shield to the Click PLC. The protocol will be Modbus TCP on an … Read more
We will now look at the productivity Arduino Ethernet web server that we will implement on our Productivity Open P1AM industrial Arduino controller. This P1AM Web Server Example is based on an example found here. This example uses the productivity open P1AM-ETH shield to create a web server that displays the input values of a … Read more
The productivity suite software now contains a plc simulator. The software is a free download and is available from automation direct. This software will now allow you to test or troubleshoot your program without the physical hardware present. The entire family of controllers can use the simulator. P1000, P2000, and P3000 emulation can happen on … Read more
A Proportional-Integral-Derivative algorithm is a generic Control Loop feedback formula widely used in industrial control systems. A PID algorithm attempts to correct the error between a measured process variable and the desired setpoint by calculating and then outputting a corrective action that can adjust the process accordingly and rapidly, to keep the Error to a … Read more
We will now look at the arduino thermocouple module. The productivity open P1AM industrial arduino P1000 thermocouple module can be connected to our P1AM-START1 ProductivityOpen starter kit with Ethernet. We will be programming our arduino thermocouple module using the configuration tool on Github and productivity blocks. The productivity open P1AM I/O interface chip-set supports the … Read more
A watchdog is a piece of code that will timeout when an error occurs in our program. It will usually cause the CPU (program/sketch) to stop or reset. We will now look at the instructions for the watchdog timer in productivity blocks. This includes the Configure Watchdog, Start Watchdog, Stop Watchdog, and Pet Watchdog. Our … Read more