Which PLC you would recommend for this application?

We got 23 Batch mixer that can heat (with water, steam or oil) or be put in Cooling ( Water or Oil) and all the heat/cooling work with Pneumatic Valve Actuators on a 120vac solenoid.

For the Mixer, all the motor are mostly on Yaskawa A1000, P5 or G5 drive that could be controlled with their Analog input and their dry contact for drive fault. ( We can't go with Ethernet , some drive dont have any port).

Some of the batch we do, once it's started, should never stop mixing or heating before it's done, Some expensive batch could go up to 50-75k.

Most of the Temp probe are Thermocouple Type J (25% of them) or RTD PT100 (75% of them)

A average Tank would have:

2 Valves 120v IN
2 Valves 120v OUT
1 RTD Probe for temp reading
1 Motor 575v 3ph motor 50hp+
1 Drive Yaskawa A1000

My boss first idea was like a DCS Freelance 800 from ABB to deal with all these at the sametimes...

My personal guess would be with Small PLC like micrologix 1400 but many of them with added module for specific RTD / TC input which would take care of like 3 Mixer/PLC all together on a Ethernet Network on a Panelview plus 1k

I would go normaly with a Contrologix if it was only a matter of input/output
and a standard application but because it's like all separated application and for safety and easy and fast replacement thats why i would personaly go with these smaller PLC. I feel like it would be a bad idea i dunno to put all my 23 mixer RTD on 1-2 module only, and the day one of them fail would be the apocalypse lol

We got maybe a total budget of 40k-50k for the parts including connectivity and all atm...

Also.. Allen bradley, Omron, Red Lion, Schneider, siemens are brand that is prety common for us to buy where i am and have distributor already.


(Sorry for the big wall of text, just wanted to share all my point before asking for advice, Also im still a beginner about automation project, i only did some stuff with Rslogix or Zeliosoft and still learning Rslogix 5000)


So my question:

-what would be your personal preference for this type of application?
-Which Brand would you suggest?
-Do you have any advice or recommendation to give about this project ?

Hello,

Interesting 50K a batch and only 50K for automation.

23 X $50,000 = $1,150,000

Triconex

My2c.

Mark- said:

Interesting 50K a batch and only 50K for automation.

Click to expand...

Could'nt agree more on this point

Thanks for your advice, this product look prety cool for control and safety

I like your take on using the smaller PLC's. Having islands of automation is much better IMHO than putting all your eggs in one basket. As for as what to use, I usually defer to who ever has to maintain the system. If your guys / gals are use to working on AB then that probably makes sense. To keep your boss happy you may want to look at comm. options to tie into a existing DCS or other HMI package.

We got a Contrologix alrdy taking take of 4-5 Mixer with a Panelview PLus 1k and my plan for saving some money would be to put all these small PLC on this network and modify the existing Panelview (Which can deal with multiple processor) like a page for each Mixer...

On the other hand im mostly a maintenance electric guy that did few small project so all the small PLC are common for me but doesnt mean it's the best for this situation because i dont know much about better stuff like redundance system like Trionex

My thought would be to go with Compact-Logix L1 series as you have control Logix already.
With value of batches it seems that a separate PAC per mixer would be prudent.
If you are buying like 20+ of them would work AB for better pricing.

If you are the guy that has to both maintain the system and also program the system I would stick with what I know. It sounds like you are fairly solid on RS500 so stick with it. The ML 1400 has Ethernet capability so if connectivity is a concern this will take care of it. The expansion cards available to the ML1400 include thermocouple and RTD cards. Me personally I would use temperature controllers to control RTDs and thermocouples. However this gives you the ability to do it yourself if you so desire.
The Contrologix is also a good option but just think about how familiar you are with the system before you go down this route.
As for other systems - although many of the other systems you mentioned are similar in their ladder logic they each have their own learning curve, difficulties, and tricks.

I wouldnt mind going for Controllogix or Compact logix and program them on Rslogix 5000 myself because most of the control i would have to do are prety basic stuff, nothing too fancy.

But durability, Cost, and Safety and fast replacement part in case of failure are also prety important.

Also i didnt mention but right now the temperature are alright with Temperature controler but it's something we are trying to remove, we would prefer to put everything we would inside a PLC.


Thanks for all your advice, i will definately look at all the suggestion and try to find which one we should go with that have the most advantage.

Martin,

You may want to consider something like the Nano-10 from Triangle Research:

http://www.eternity-sales.com/tri-plc/nano10.htm

and their RTD or TC expansion:

http://www.eternity-sales.com/tri-plc/peripherals.htm

We would want to discuss how you would be interfacing the motor and drive in that there are a few ways depending on their capabilities and your needs.

If you are also looking for the networking equipment for your batch mixers we distribute Westermo's Industrial Ethernet products.

Feel from to respond to this post, pm or email me through the link provided below.

Disclosure, ESI is an authorized distributor for Triangle Research and Westermo.