plc to 110 v power

Very new to electronics so here it goes....
I have a laundry company and I want to have a plc board to do the following.
1) sense water flow in a hose that would
2) trigger the power to a power bar that would
3) turn power on for the equipment i need to run until..
4) flow in hose stops, cutting power to equipment


process would be able to repeat any time the sensor "sees" water moving in the water hose feeding the washer.

Now i want this to happen cheaply and be able add possibly the ability to have the plc trigger on with one sensor and off with another sensor attached to a drain.
The idea is that i do not have to take apart or wire into my equipment. If this is not the forum can you point me in a direction that might help? I know a little about programming from (very old) basic days but am not afraid to learn. solder skills are good.. Thanks to all that might help me in this

Pretty easy to do. What, exactly, are you trying to accomplish? If you tell us, you may get some more complete suggestions.


-rpoet

Maybe your further explanation will help but wouldn't the end equipment being turned on and operational be the CAUSE of the water flowing?. Wouldn't it be better to use the ceasing of flow on the (presumably from your short description) supply or drain (plus possibly time) be the trigger that removes power from the equipment? The initiation of power, possibly to begin a cycle, would be by some other means.

Its is for laundry, I need the plc to sense water flowing and to start equipment when it is being filled. Hence, I need it to power on when the call for water runs through the hot water hose. That is when the equipment is adding to the washer chemical. I only want it to run either during the fill stage. I also want to have the ability for the plc to turn off the equipment with the sensing of water moving through the drain. I am in the testing phase of my own detergent mixture and now want to automate this process. Right now I stand there to add and this means that I have to be there for approx, 60 minutes each cycle. Since most of the laundry is done at night this has proven very difficult. I need to get data so automation and quantity is required. By doing it this way, I am not re programming the washer every day which has proven to be very problematic. The software on the washer is old and tends to error so is best to not touch when it is working. Hope that explains it better. thanks again.

xy35 said:

Very new to electronics so here it goes....
I have a laundry company and I want to have a plc board to do the following.
1) sense water flow in a hose that would

Click to expand...

pretty easy to do.

xy35 said:

2) trigger the power to a power bar that would
3) turn power on for the equipment i need to run until..

Click to expand...

Here's where you need to have a list of output devices (motor starters, solenoid valves, lights, or just a list of say 16 or 32 power devices with number designations.)

Different types of devices may call for different types of relays.

You wire your duplex (assuming 120vac) sockets (cut the connecting bars so you can wire each to its own control) to the power relays.

The power relays are controlled by a Click PLC with free software and transistor outputs.

If you only need 8 unique circuits, put them in a nice Weigmann panel say 16 x 16 x 6 (inches), with the power sockets mounted in punched openings on the sides with legend plates. The little Click in the corner and the interposing relays toward the bottom, with the single pole breakers in the middle.

Make it generic, and make it accessible with the serial port without opening it. If you have a DC power supply in the panel, add a tiny air moving fan, or otherwise do a heat load calculation if you make it dust tight.

I would also recommend one per circuit single pole breaker per outlet and get them with monitoring contacts so your PLC can take action when one of the plugged in channels has tripped a breaker.

http://www.automationdirect.com/adc...etal/NEMA_12/Screw_Cover_Wall_Mount/B121206SC

http://www.automationdirect.com/adc..._-a-_Accessories_-_Fractional_-a-_Metric_size

http://www.automationdirect.com/adc...etal/NEMA_Sub-panels/Sub-panels_-_Pxxxx/P1212

http://www.automationdirect.com/adc...eceptacles/Electrical_Receptacles_(all_types)

http://www.automationdirect.com/adc...e)/DIN_Rails,_Clips_-a-_Brackets/DN-R35SAL1-2

http://www.automationdirect.com/adc...81_-z-_782_-z-_783_-z-_784_Series)/781-1C-24D

http://www.automationdirect.com/adc...kets_-a-_Accessories/Relay_Sockets/781-1C-SKT

http://www.automationdirect.com/adc..._(Stackable_Micro_Brick)/PLC_Units/C0-01DD2-D

http://www.automationdirect.com/adc...LCs_(Stackable_Micro_Brick)/DC_I-z-O/C0-16TD2

That's industrially pretty cheap...what do you think?

Would one of these work??

http://www.amazon.com/Watts-EDP0004640-IntelliFlow-Automatic-Washing/dp/B00093DU5A/ref=pd_sbs_hg_4

xy35 said:

Its is for laundry, I need the plc to sense water flowing and to start equipment when it is being filled.

Click to expand...

First off, you don't need a PLC to do this. A relay will work just fine.

I would use any number of water flow meters available (read: the cheapest one that you can find), making sure that it has a pulser output and use that output as an input to reset the off delay of a SSI (http://www.solidstateinstruments.com/) relay.

I recommend SSI because:

a) They will either have what you want, or they will make it for you. Call them.

b) Their inputs will not wear out the mechanical contacts on your flowmeter. And yes, pulser contacts will wear out (the IMAC Pulsamatic with the "C" form contacts are particularily known for this).

So a cheap Sensys (I bought a brand new one off of a truck with the pulser for $25 - good thing I was running cold water through it!), or a GPI (Great Plains Industries), or an IFM, etc, will do. It just has to have a pulser output. Check ebay.

And please note: Do *not* use teflon tape on the fittings of a flow meter. The tape will break off and make its way into meter's the impellers and stop it up.

We have the GPI units. The ones with the remote analog modules occasionally act up, but if kept sealed, they work just fine, we actually use them in series, with the standalone meters that sit on teh floor and get touched all day and washed every night do better than those with the analog output to a SLC which sit in the dry "overhead" utilities space. They are hard to beat for the price, just be careful with the o-ring seal, and keep the batteries dry, they run for two years on good batteries, we find them very accurate compared to weighed sample verification steps in our batching processes done weekly.

And, if he wants them all on at once, then a purpose built device is the way to go.

wow.. ok I'm a little overwhelmed at the information so will be reading and drawing this out to see what works. You guys rock.. Thank you. I will repost with what way I went using what parts so that some other person might gain from my experience. Thanks again.

th be as cheap as possible, he wouldnt need a flow meter and off delay timer. all he would need is a flow switch and a relay and that is it.

now if this is just the first step and he will be adding to the process later, then a plc and maybe even a flow meter might be worthwile...