Light curtain loop control system

hey guys just a quick question, what do you suggest I use for controlling the loop on my rubber extrusion line? What is the best and easiest to setup loop control system? I want a complete system that will connect into my drives instead of a system that will require extensive programming because my extrusion line consists of a schnieder/modicon PLC system that was programmed in Chinese. If I must do the programming I will have to translate it back to English first and I don't want to do that. All replies will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Les

We commonly use either ultrasonic or laser sensors pointing down into the loop for our web control. 4-20ma output goes right into the Process Loop Control of the drive. The sensors are painless to setup with an easy teach mode where you tell it the span.

Banner mini array is good although they need to be kept clean.

Set up the drive to run at the line 'base' speed as analog input 1 and then add the banner unit output into the drive analog input 2, and sum them in the drive as the speed reference.

Cheers

Edit: What drive do you have there?

Eurotherm 590.

With 17 years at Goodyear, I have used them all and by far the best at the time I left in 2006, the best bar none in all categories was:

STI Valuscan

Out of the box, you get perfectly linear voltage or current, easy alignment, rugged construction, full serial programmability.

I replaced ultrasonic of all types with these. I installed no less than 10 sets.

Every one of them bench tested out of the box before calibration:

0 inches blocked = -0.005vdc to +0.005vdc
6.5 inches blocked =4.995 vdc to 5.005 vdc
13.0 inches blocked = 9.995 to 10.005 vdc.

The linearity never faded, and there were high quality multi-turn pots to set the range wherever you want.

We chose 1vdc to 9vdc to avoid rollover in the PLC inputs, and scaled it to inches of loop height in most applications.

I never saw one fail even after 5 years of continuous operation.

I mounted them on a common frame for the beam shears, so they could moved depending on the product loops being controlled. The frame was a u-shape that could be positioned under the twisted or untwisted loop of various widths.

I routed the cables under the 3" channel iron that was the base, and don't recall any cable failures either. I know for sure the main controllers were bulletproof and trouble free.

You can program them serially to find holes too.

They can be set up to spit out a serial stream and not even connect their analog outputs if you wanted. The serial stream was used for hole detection in a test mode but I quit before I got to play with it further.

Can't go wrong with them if the height range fits your application.

Paul

http://www.stiscanners.com/measuring_light_curtains/valuscan_VS6500.html

Hey thanks for the info.
Les

The 590 woll let you do what i said... add the 2 analogs together. I think the default macro is exactly that but you should check the manual.



I usually configure eurotherm /ssd with the config ed lite software, which i find easier than drilling down through all the menus.



Cheers