PLC Programming Language (Ladder VS Structured Text)

IEC 61131-3:2013 or The International Standard for PLC programming defines the following language for PLC programming.

• Ladder Diagram (LD)
• Structured text (ST)
• Instruction List (IL)
• Function Block Diagram (FBD)
• Sequential Function Chart (SFC)

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On this article the only language that I will discuss are Ladder diagram and Structured text including thier advantages and disadvantages.

The picture below Shows the result of my poll on YouTube (View other YouTube poll)


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Emergency Stop Button (normally open vs normally close)

E-stop Button is used to terminate the whole process of the machine. The main purpose of E-stop Button is for Safety.

During the installation process, both NO and NC connection of E-stop won’t matter, because that is the first time that the wires is connected to the circuit, it means that the connectivity is functioning well, and the E-stop button is functioning well also. But there are some situations that you might encounter in the future where NC connection is more important than NO when we are dealing with E-stop button.


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Arduino Problem (Response Delay)

Hi guys I don’t know if you encounter this problem with arduino, but I want to share this problem and the things I’ve done to solve it.

Problem:

I upload one of the example program(02.Digital / Button) to “arduino UNO”. Base on the program when  port 2 receives 5v port 13 must release 5v and when port 2 receives 0v, port 13 must release 0v. When I try to put 5v to port 2, port 13 releases 5v but when I remove the 5v supply to port 2, port 13 is still “ON” and it turns “OFF” after a few seconds. The question here is “ the program doesn’t contain any timer to delay port 13 to turn “OFF”, then  why port 13 is delayed?”, I also try to change the ports on the program, but the response of the program is still the same.

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PLC output Protection

"Prevention is Better than cure"

In automation industry there are some reasons why our equipment get damage or malfunction, but if we know these reasons we can come up with the solution to prevent the damage that may occur, engineers are one of the intelligent people here in the world, they can fix the damage but if we can put some protective equipment and preventive method, We can reduce the production downtime.



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Protect your instrument from stored energy cause by inductive load

In some cases in automation industry sometimes the instruments get damage because of direct mechanical contact like limit switch, but we know the reason behind this,  limits switches and other instrument that makes mechanical contact with actuators like pneumatic cylinders and it get damage because it receives force repeatedly that might  cause broken sensor mounting and broken spring, but some instruments might also receive damage from stored energy cause by inductive load.


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