ACC Automation: PLC & Industrial Control Learning
Practical Tips and Techniques
90% of industrial automation systems use Modbus for communication. This open standard protocol is used for everyday applications, including monitoring and controlling equipment such as PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers), remote terminal units, sensors, and more in automation and process control environments. RS-485 typically utilizes twisted pair cables, which consist of two insulated copper wires twisted … Read more
Many questions come from serial communications using the Click PLC. Most of these questions deal with communication timing when using multiple send-and-receive instructions. We will show you how to deal with serial communication timing in the Click PLC. Receive and Send instructions will allow you to send and receive serial data to an external device. … Read more
We will now look at the data logging capability using our Click plus PLC. Data logging is the collection of data over time. This is usually used for data analysis at a later time. The amount of data (System Information) stored and the frequency of the storage will depend on your specific application. The hardware … Read more
The click plc has a real-time clock that will allow us to control outputs based on a date or time of day. This real-time clock (RTC) can be set from the click programming software or through the program of the controller. Our programs in the click can use the following calendar and clock values: SD19 … Read more
We will now look at the click PLC Modbus ASCII protocol. This communication will happen in PLC ladder logic and communicate through the serial port (RS485) to a Solo process temperature controller. Modbus ASCII will be the communication protocol. Modbus is a communication protocol used to transmit information over serial lines between electronic devices. The … Read more
The Click PLC can communicate to a remote I/O (input and output) controller modules using the Modbus protocol for communications. The BX-MBIO provides both Modbus RTU and Modbus TCP interfaces for remote IO. Modbus RTU is a serial communication and Modbus TCP is an Ethernet communication. Modbus RTU is supported over an RS-485 serial connection. … Read more
We will now look at logging data with time and date in the Click PLC. The Click PLC can perform indirect addressing. This means that I can ask for information to be moved to and from locations in the PLC using a pointer that will indicate the address. Stephen Covey in The 7 Habits of … Read more
A PID (Proportional, Integral, and Derivative) control is possible with the Click PLC. The Click Programming Software version 2.50 now includes PID. This features 8 full-featured control loops with an easy graphical user interface (GUI). PID will run on all of the Ethernet-enabled Click PLCs. We will be using this PID along with a Factory … Read more
A PID (Proportional, Integral, and Derivative) control is possible with the Click PLC. A sample program was written for this PLC by Bernie Carlton in the following thread from the Automation Direct Forum. This was based on the math/process presented by Tim Wescott on is paper titled PID without a Ph.D. We will be using … Read more
A dusk to dawn sensor usually is discrete on/off of the lighting control. If we want to vary the lights to mimic more of the sunset and rise, we would use an analog output to control the lights. I was recently asked about such a program. Every day they wanted the lights to go off … Read more