Sensing rise / fall changes in test setup

Hi!

I'm looking to design a test system that can measure a surface bend.
I need to measure three positions. The sensors will be placed approx. 20 cm. apart.

I'm thinking apart using something like https://www.sick.com/us/en/distance-sensors/displacement-measurement-sensors/od-value/od2-p30w04i0/p/p185840

However Im unsure about how to interface this sensor to a PC where I can log the data.

BTW.: Totally new to PLC systems -

The sensor has a 4-20 mA output.
In order to get an analog 4-20 mA value into a PC, there are many ways.
If this is a permanent industrial installation, I would suggest to use a PLC as the datalogger, and then connect the PC to the PLC to fetch the data. Some small PLCs even have a webbrowser interface so you can retrieve the data without having to make a special PC program to connect to the PLC.
One such small PLC is Siemens S7-1200 which is reasonably inexpensive.

Okay thanks!

Think I'm looking at some expansion modules then - need to make atleast 3 setups. So 9 analog signals.

Can you recommend any litterature on getting started with PLC ?

Everyone has their favorite plc to use.

I suggest that you look in your area and find local plc distributors and see what they have to offer. Ask around and see what their customer support is like. Great or not so good. Then make your selection.

that would be my first step.

james

In case you do go for S7-1200, then look here:
https://support.industry.siemens.com/cs/ww/en/view/39644875
http://euroec.by/assets/files/siemens/s71200_easy_book_en-US_en-US.pdf

Also here is someone who has made a datalog in an S7-1200 that can be retrieved via the webserver:
https://support.industry.siemens.co...7-1200-and-data-log/57715/?page=0&pageSize=10