PLC Project

Hey folks, I am a student at Penn State in an electrical engineering program. I'm currently taking a PLC class, and I'm looking for final project ideas. We will have approximately a month to work on the project, so they can't be too intricate. The requirements are multiple inputs (5 or 6 or so) analog and digital, some use of outputs, counters, timers, bits, and maybe some math instructions. One example mentioned was a traffic control device. I was hoping to come up with something unique. If anyone has any ideas that I may be able to use for a final project, feel free to email me.

Traffic control seems to come up a WHOLE lot... Some ideas (these are things I either have done or want to do around the house).

1) Pool & Spa controller. Measure PH and chlorine and automatically add chemicals as necessary. Control pumps, heaters, temperature, lights, etc.

2) Whole house HVAC system with independent temperature set-points in each room. Use single HVAC system with a set of electorally actuated dampers to direct hot or cold air where needed.

3) Smart House system to control lights and TVs, etc.

These are just some ideas, but pretty much anything you can do manually can be done with a PLC...

Definately don't do a traffic light or an elevator. Everyone seem to do these.

I like the Smart House system. Dust to dawn sensors, motion sensors, driveway lights, heat, etc

My vote...ultrasonic auto-ranging trebuchet:beer:

I love the idea hd coop

when i was in college we took and modified an automatic wire stripper into a can crusher, didn't have an anolog inputs but you would be amazed how much you can put into it - conveyor to sort cans and bottles, photo sensors to count(bottles mainly but you can do cans if you want) and then finaly a crusher

miller_02 said:

I love the idea hd coop

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Its not just an idea! http://www.arizonasportcompacts.com/capstone/

See if you can make a crude X/Y table. You can use small DC motors, and the position feed back can be inexpensive Banner analog optical sensors.