help required

Hey. Can any one tell me which type of plc to use. Im a second year engineering student at glasgow university. I've got a project this year to design a holding unit for large pieces of wood. This unit must rearrange the work order of these logs and i've been told that a plc is the correct control unit to use. The only problem is that i don't know anything about PLC's. PLease help.

Determine inputs first

One of the first things you need to determine is how many and what kind of inputs will you need on your PLC. Then you will have to determine what kind of outputs you would like the PLC to control. After you have that, you can decide what kind and size PLC you need. I always tend to "oversize" my PLCs so that in the event the higher ups want to make changes, more than likely the PLC will be able to handle it.
Good luck.
Best regards,
Craig

There are a number of different companies that manufacture PLC's. GE, Allen-Bradley, Omron, Seimens, Keyence, and Automation Direct to name a few. They all use different software and program a little differently as well as come in a broad range of sizes and cost. As cdobis said the first thing you need to do is determine your I/O so you know what size PLC you need. Once this is determined my guess would be that your next worry would be cost. Assuming your paying for this yourself you would probably want to start out looking at Automation Direct. There equipment is pretty affordable and you can purchase it right off the internet and pay with a credit card.

Good Luck.