Omron Zen Help - Newbie to PLC

I am new to PLCs and I bought an Omron Zen and I am trying to write some logic for a pneumatic crimper. Basically the pneumatics will get air to either extend or retract the pistons for the door Q1 & Q0, the crimper piston Q2 & Q3, and the crimper itself Q3 & Q4.

Basically what I am trying to do is: When the start button I1 is pressed the door piston Q0 will come down to micro switch I3.

When the door is down it will delay the piston down Q3 for a few seconds, then come down to micro switch I4, which will start crimp timer T1 and extend Q5. When the timer is done T2 retracts Q4, then retract Q3 and finally retract Q0 (returning everything to its initial state).

I have been staring at this too long and have managed to confuse myself thoroughly. Any help would be appreciated. I am open to all suggestions, there is probably an easier/better way to do this.

I have included the program with a pdf.

welcome to the site
I am hoping you are not using this for a safety control.
the Stop (E/stop) should be a normally closed hard wired input
so N/C contacts show this is wrong.

- I am reading further

I3 needs to be energised for the door to stay down - so you press and hold the start button

Zen

The crimper is in an enclosure. There are actually two start buttons, but i was going to hard wire them in series (two hand start) to prevent someone from getting their hands caught in the closing door. The estop is to reverse the door and the micro switch has to close in order to latch the door shut.

The other problem is you are not tying the piston down delay to the door down limit switch - so it will start timing from when you hit the start button

pfresque said:

The crimper is in an enclosure. There are actually two start buttons, but i was going to hard wire them in series (two hand start) to prevent someone from getting their hands caught in the closing door. The estop is to reverse the door and the micro switch has to close in order to latch the door shut.

Click to expand...

OK
firstly you need to reassess your safety system as 99% of PLC'S and 100% of smart relays (ZEN) can not be used as a safety device.

E/Stop - must be hard wired to release All electro / motive force.
not simply as a release button
- call it either a CYCLE Stop or STOP - Not an E/Stop

As far as wiring two buttons in series - If the OPerator sticks a bit of wood in one button they can still use only one button.

Look at either WWW.PILZ.COM or WWW.SICK.COM (there are others)
for twin button safety controllers.

you will also need to look at your Pneumatics
- An Air Dump Valve and a Slow restart valve.

the Door switch needs to be checked by a safety relay, only then allowing the machine to cycle. And/Or the Air pressure or operation to function.
This Door Switch will also need to be sourced from the suggested suppliers

Ok I see what you are saying. I can wire the Estop to actually cut power and pneumatic down force to the pistons separately from the PLC.

I am learning PLC programming on my own, basically by trial and error, but I am enjoying it so far.

I am currently using pneumatic logic boards from Clippard. The start switches I am using are the two handed no tie (one cannot be bypassed with a stick).

Can you provide an example of the logic I will need to get this circuit working?

i would love to, but it is the silly season and at the moment I am busy.
sorry

I could not get your ZEN program to work on the ZEN simulator without making the changes in the following print-out. The STOP instruction should be NO to read a Normally Closed Stop pushbutton. (Pyshcical Stop pushbuttons should always be Normally closed).

If your have UP limit switches (as well as the two I3 and I4 DOWN limits), then you should use those to control the UP cylinders instead of timers. I set Timer T0 to 1 second (don't think you need TO anyway) and all the other timers to 3 seconds. You should set them according to the time needed for each cylinder operation.

Lancie1 said:

I could not get your ZEN program to work on the ZEN simulator without making the changes in the following print-out. The STOP instruction should be NO to read a Normally Closed Stop pushbutton. (Pyshcical Stop pushbuttons should always be Normally closed).

If your have UP limit switches (as well as the two I3 and I4 DOWN limits), then you should use those to control the UP cylinders instead of timers. I set Timer T0 to 1 second (don't think you need TO anyway) and all the other timers to 3 seconds. You should set them according to the time needed for each cylinder operation.

Click to expand...

Lancie1,
Thank you so much for your help and taking time out of your day to help me with this. I think I was going crazy staring at the logic for so long. When the holidays are over I will wire it up and test it out. Thanks again.