Industrialtext & Video Companywww.industrialtext.com1-800-752-8398
A PLCPrimer
T
ABLE
OF
C
ONTENTS
What Is a PLC?pg 3Why Use PLCs?pg 4But What Exactly
Is
a PLC?pg 5 A Little More About Inputs and Outputspg 7 And a Little More About the Control Programpg 10So How Does a PLC Keep All This Straight?pg 13To Sum It All Uppg 14Want To Learn More?pg 15
©1999 by Industrial Text & Video Company. All rights reserved.
A PLC Primer
Industrial Text & Video Company 1-800-752-8398 www.industrialtext.com3
W
HAT
I
S
A
PLC?
…In a PLC system, all control devices arewired to the PLC.In a traditional system, all control devicesare wired directly to each other…
A
programmable logic controller
, also called a
PLC
or
program-mable controller
, is a computer-type device used to control equipmentin an industrial facility. The kinds of equipment that PLCs can controlare as varied as industrial facilities themselves. Conveyor systems,food processing machinery, auto assembly lines…you name it andthere’s probably a PLC out there controlling it.In a traditional industrial control system, all control devices are wireddirectly to each other according to how the system is supposed tooperate. In a PLC system, however, the PLC replaces the wiringbetween the devices. Thus, instead of being wired directly to eachother, all equipment is wired to the PLC. Then, the control programinside the PLC provides the “wiring” connection between the devices.The
control program
is the computer program stored in the PLC’smemory that tells the PLC what’s supposed to be going on in thesystem. The use of a PLC to provide the wiring connections betweensystem devices is called
softwiring
.
Let’s say that a push button is supposed to control the operation of amotor. In a traditional control system, the push button would be wireddirectly to the motor. In a PLC system, however, both the push buttonand the motor would be wired to the PLC instead. Then, the PLC’scontrol program would complete the electrical circuit between the two,allowing the button to control the motor.
E
XAMPLE
PLC
of 00
PLC Primer
1,442 Reads
Info and Rating
| Category: | |
| Rating: | (2 Ratings) |
| Upload Date: | 10/09/2009 |
| Copyright: | Attribution Non-commercial |
| Tags: |
Leave a Comment
Very nice for beginners....