Wow that is awesome. How hard was the coding? Can you do step mashes automatically.
I Use Allen Bradley/Rockwell Software RSlink Lite (Freebe) and RSLogix-500
Not Free, New w/o Student Cost, Aprox $800.00, Purchased Mine From
Ebay and Seller Transfered Registration @ AB/Rockwell To Me, Paid Aprox
$125.00 About 5 Years Ago.
The Software Covers All Allen Bradley SLC5 Processors & Micrologix.
The Software Helps To Eliminate Most Field Device Relays.
To Scratch The Surface, Timer Controls ms or Secs w/On or Off Delays
When Timer Is Enabled, When Timer Is Done/Finished, Current Accumlated
Time, Pretty Much Above Applies To Counters, Math, DIV, ADD, SUB, =,
<,>, And/Or, ect, PID Loops, Counters Up & Down, Alot More.
They Will Control Any Electrical Device, AC, DC, Analog, Inputs & Outputs
For Just About Any Situation(s) If You Can Imagine How You Want To
Control It & Make It Do It, It Will, From Simple To Complex
For Most Parts In The Software, It's Drag & Drop In Your Statement,
Assign It, Give It a Description, Can Name a Symbol To It For Fast
Searching In Program, Add a Page Title (All Page Titles Can Be Viewed
@ Once, Click On The One u Want, Software Takes You There In Program).
Can Also Add a Rung Description (Enter In Specfic Description Of What
You Have Done/What The Logic u Just Created Is Suppose To Do, ect)
I've Been Doing This For Aprox 25 Yrs, I Use Allen Bradley Products,
There Industrial, Made For 7-24hrs Usage Non Stop. Pricey For New,
I Use Ebay Alot, Get Great Used Deals, My Processor Costed $260.00,
New 6-800.00 Micrologix-1200-WAR(Dual Communication Ports/1 For PC,
2nd For HMI Touchscreen) It Was Still Factory Sealed, Analog Input Card, 4 Channels, AB# 1762-IF4 $80.00.
Granted This Is Not The Usual Automated Home Brewers Setup, This
Would Be a Great Choice For a Microbrewery To a Brewery.
All Temp/Pressure Transmitters Are Clover Clamped To Vessel's w/
Electrical Quick Disconnects From Electrical Control Panel (CP).
Someday If I Expand or Sell (never) Transfer Complete System On
Another Vessel(s) Is Like Plug & Play and Alittle Recalibration To Adjust
To New Vessel(s). The PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) Processor
Like The One I Use Is Small In Size Only, Can Add Up To 29 More
Remote I/O (Input-Output) Racks, Max Distance 4000ft Network,
Each Rack Can Have a Combination Of I/O's, AC, DC, Analog and
Multiple Operator HMI Touchscreens All Controlled By a Central Operator
In a Control Room/Office or If You Can Afford It (Not Me) via Ethernet.
A Good Place To View PLC Programming Is Utube, Search For
ie; automationnc
Pretty Good Basic Overview Of RSLogix-500 Software
Creating a Program From Scratch Takes Awhile, Spend More Time On
Thinking How You Want To Control Something, Once Done Though, If
You Add Something New or Use It As a Troubleshooting Tool, Is Fast.
ie; It's Like Artifical Inteligence, You Program To Control a Pump, On/Off
Installed a Psig Sensor Either Contact On/Off @ Setting Point (psig) or
a Psig Analog Sensor (More Software Control/Can Control By Various Psig
Levels/Readings) Now Combine It w/Temperature Sensor RTD.
Now You Can Control The Pump On/Off/ and/or/= Turn Something Else On
@ a Certain Psig Reading and/or/= Incl Temp @ a Desired Level, ect,
Now When All Is Making Beer Fine, One Of The Variables Fall Out Of It's
Range/Limit In The Software, When It Does, I Want An Alarm/Fault To
Notify Operator and/or/=/Not(Warning) Stop The Process, Cannot Restart Until Operator Has Acknowleged The Alarm/Faulted Condition, Now You Enter The Processor w/PC, Goto The Alarm File You Created, There You Will See
a PLC Bit Image Table, Much Of Zero's (0 Binary) Are Displayed, Except
You Noticed a 1 vs 0 On One Of Them, Mouse Click On It, Your Description
Tells You Its PS-1 Out Of Range, Right Click Again, Cross Reference, Goto
That Spot In Program, Review Your Logic You Created For Pump Control,
ie; You See That PS-1 (Pressure Sensor-1) Is Not Displaying (Highlighted
In Green) It's AC or DC Input Voltage Signal, I Have a Problem w/ PS-1,
Might Be Sensor Cable or Sensor Contact (Internal to Sensor) You Would
Know If The PS-1 Is On a .4Amp Din Circuit Breaker, Powered By a 24Vdc
Power Supply Inside Your Control Panel. You Could Even Add An Input Bit
To Monitor Power Supply In & Out Voltages & Create An Alarm Bit For That.
When You Have Alot Of Devices On Your Equipement, Being Able To
Locate a Problem Fast Is Important & Simple Using a PLC.
Like I Said, If You Can Think It, You Can Control It.
Now We Have Hopefully Saved Our Beer and Prevented Any Possible
Damage To Our Equipement & Maybe Ourselves.
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Check Out Utube, automationnc
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Update On RSLogix-500 PID LOOPS
Refer To The Above Pic Showing PID Setup, Loop-1 Tank-1 Temp PID
This Is RSLogix-500 Software, Quickly, The Instruction, SCP
Scale w/Parameters Is This:
Input I:1.0 Is Analog Input Channel-0 Tank-1 Temp RTD Process Variable
9761 Is The Raw Data From Temp Transmitter ie: 76.957 Degrees F
Input Min. 6242 Raw Data From RTD Xmtr @ 4.0ma (50.000 DegF)
Input Max. 31204 Raw Data From RTD Xmtr @ 20.0ma (225.000 DegF)
Scaled Min. 0 Min %
Scaled Max. 100 Max %
Output N7:36 (Process Variabale (PV) Location In PLC For Programming Use)
14 (% Output @ 76.957 DegF)ie;0%=50.000DegF, 100%=225.000DegF
PID (Instruction):
PD9:0 PLC Assigned For a PID Loop Channel-0 (Have 4-Channels Per Analog Card)
N7:36 % PV Data Received From SCP Output via CH-0 Input I:1.0
N7:46 % CV Data Sent out From PID Setup Variables You Established
PID Setup Tunning, Inputs, Outputs:
Mostly Timing In mille Seconds (ms), Adjusting Temp Xmtr Raw Data Deadband,
The Rest Is Mostly Duplicated w/SCP Instruction.
Disreguard Scaled Error SE, Programming Not Completed When Posted.
This Is How In RSLogix-500 To Do a PID LOOP, Drag & Drop The SCP,
Enter Your Parameters, Drag & Drop PID, Click On Setup Screen,
Enter Parameters Into PID Setup, Then From There You Can Use I:1.0
Raw Data Value In Your PLC Logic Program To Make Things Happen @
Certain Temps, As Well As, If Using a Analog Output Card, Use N7:36
From PID To Open Close Valves % (Steam Heat,Elec Heat (Using Analog SSR)
Pump Speeds % (Using VSD/Variable Speed Drive Controller),
Start The Next Process(s) @ Certain Temps Or Stop, Create Operator
Warnings/Alarms @ Desired Temps, If Temperature Plays a Part In Your Process
You Can Control It This PID LOOP.
My Average PLC Program Scan Time, From Program Start-End = 15ms
Alot Of Program Instructions In There.
Hope This Takes Some Of The Guess Work Out Of It For You.