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C
R O S S A U T O M A T I O N . . . . A P P L I C A
T I O N N O T E S |
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Industry:
Chemical
Project:
Automated Dispenser
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| Overview:
An original equipment manufacturer
of mixing and dispensing machines in North Carolina needed a powerful and
flexible PLC to control a new design dispenser.
Their in-house engineering staff did not have the in-depth
experience with PLC’s they considered necessary for a successful
implementation in the time required to meet their marketing goals.
The Omron CPM2C-S with Compobus/S slaves allowed the distributed
control their application demanded. Cross
Automation engineering support enabled rapid prototyping, with final
product development achieved on time. |
Development
Objectives
- Control dispensed amount based on
high-speed pulse count input, or alternatively, on a preset time value
with millisecond accuracy.
- Communicate with the built-in personal
computer for dispensing parameters, and alarm and status reports.
- Dispense different quantities at
different speeds to achieve 1% accuracy.
Speed determined by table lookups based on quantity.
- Agitate holding tanks, each with a
unique schedule.
- Allow distributed control, with control
relays located close to valves and mixing motors.
- Allow manual control via an operator
interface, with easy to use menus and data input, then convert those
values to dispensing units.
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System
Solutions
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Specified an Omron
CPM2C-S PLC with an I/O expansion unit and two Compobus/S remote
output modules.
For precise
dispensing control, the PLC’s high-speed input handles 20,000
pulses/sec, and the timed interrupt has 1 millisecond resolution.
Features two serial
ports for communicating with the PC and OIT.
High-speed
bus master (Compobus/S with 1 ms update time) allowing distributed
control of valves and agitation motors.
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Developed program
demonstrating proof-of-concept in one day with initial prototype
completed in three days.
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Worked closely with
in-house engineers to create finished program incorporating all
requested features and meeting all operational goals.
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Customer
Benefits
- Rapid product development without
necessity of committing permanent engineering staff.
- Flexible and powerful PLC supports
several machine model variations with easy setup.
- All design objectives met with no
compromises via hardware and software perfect fit.
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