New Project

My boss wants to be able to monitor the temerature of three storage freezers, (to start), remotely from home on the internet.
I was thinking about using a micrologix 1500, but then I started thinking that the 1100 and the 1400 have an EtherNet/IP port built in.
Our plant has three freezers, five boilers, and three ovens with multiable zones, that he will want to monitor (and possiably control), as well in the future.
My question is this, which processor would get me started, with as little cost as possiable, and still be able to expand on later?
I have no idea on how to do any of this and I will be learning as I go, so any ideas on the how to would be great also.
Thanks in advance, GJ

Distance from sensors to PLC may be a big consideration. Price may tend to make sensors with transmitters more economical than thermocouple or RTD intput cards for the PLC.

As for internet access, make sure it is secure. Use a VPN and "remote into" a local PC SCADA or HMI...don't expose your ethernet PLC directly to the www. Also, doing this, you may be able to add the sensors to existing PLCs and access them from a single scada if they're networked, as well as gain access to other controls for individual machines without making them all dependent on one central PLC (what happens if it croaks, do you lose all your freezers, compressors, ovens?)

If you already own RSLogix500 then go with any of them that will support the required I/O count.

Look at Omega for temp sensors and learning materials.

We use PT100 probes and Pyromation transmitters so our PLC inputs are all (relatively) cheap and common 4-20mA inputs. This takes care of the distance and noise issues quite nicely.

What is the total count of sensors you need to connect including spares for foreseeable expansion?

lets start simpler

Like i said I am going to start with just the three freezers and he said one centrally located sensor would be fine for each, ( lets say distance is not a concern ), the next step would be the boilers and I would be using a 4-20 mA signal from each temperature controller from them.

But I want to just get started with the freezers.

As far as the as the ovens, I am not to concerned with them right now, if I can get it this far that would be a good start.

As far as security the VPN may be the way to go, but I am more concerned with the processor type and how to monitor it from the web ?

Thanks again, GJ

You may want to look at a Direct Logic system with a Red Lion Data Station. I am controlling parts of our machine with a DL06 using 4-20 inputs and use a Data Station with a custom web page to monitor everything.

StoneMan said:

You may want to look at a Direct Logic system with a Red Lion Data Station. I am controlling parts of our machine with a DL06 using 4-20 inputs and use a Data Station with a custom web page to monitor everything.

Click to expand...

I do like this DSP very cool.

Thanks, GJ

Lets say I use temp sensors that have 4-20mA signals,(I can get 4-20mA signals from all my zones in all my ovens and all the boilers to), and I use MicroLogix 1100's with analog cards for data gathering in all the remote areas in the plant.

What would be the easiest way, (what type transmitters receivers ...), to get the data to a central PC or the data station, (like in previous post), from all of my remote stations?

I hope I am conveying my idea so you can understand what I want to do, yes this would be just a monitoring system and that's fine for now, I will take from what I learn from doing this for any future updates.

Thanks again, GJ

You can add to the Data Station RTD cards and skip the ML analog inputs.That for monitoring.
When you will need to control your equipment add a PLC.It could be any PLC you want.
Use RTD sensor so you can pull long distance cable with low cost.If you will have to run J type it will cost much more.Pull multi core shilded cable it will use now for the RTD and in the fluter you will use the extra wires for control(24V Only)

Good Luck

I agree, if you use a Data Station with analog inputs, it can communicate that information directly to any PLC for control of discrete devices as well as provide data logging capabilities.

ArikBY said:

You can add to the Data Station RTD cards and skip the ML analog inputs.That for monitoring.
When you will need to control your equipment add a PLC.It could be any PLC you want.
Use RTD sensor so you can pull long distance cable with low cost.If you will have to run J type it will cost much more.Pull multi core shilded cable it will use now for the RTD and in the fluter you will use the extra wires for control(24V Only)

Good Luck

Click to expand...

Those would be some long runs which I am trying to avoid, that's why I was thinking of going wireless.

Thanks, GJ

Wireless should work BUT I would do it only for monitoring.
Phoenix Contact have good equipment for that.
Another option.If you have office network around this area you can use it too.

ArikBY said:

Wireless should work BUT I would do it only for monitoring.
Phoenix Contact have good equipment for that.
Another option.If you have office network around this area you can use it too.

Click to expand...

Office Network do you mean like wireless access points?

Better solution

We have Ethernet I/O modules which can read in the value of temperature from a 4-20 ma or thermocouple and can be read over the internet through the built in WebHMI. This is a perfect situation if you have a public IP or a VPN. This model can read in either thermocouple or 4-20mA inputs for up to 10 channels.

ET-7018Z http://www.icpdas-usa.com/et_7018z.html

With the DSP you can get an additional ethernet card that will allow you to have two networks, your plant network and your machine network. This may make your IT dept happy since you only have one connection on their network which you will use for sharing your data.

I mean using the existing infrastructure for data transfer since it only for monitoring.What every plant have if it run near your equipment.
For control I would have industrial network.

Hello all,
Your first option, would be to use a temperature I/O PLC at your on site location, which could connect to a Modbus tcp bus coupler. This bus coupler would communicate with an ILC 150 that has a built in web server so you could set up an IP address and be able to access this information from anywhere. Now the key here is security, you wouldn’t want anyone accessing your data, or changing it, so a VPN would be a great component to add here. For this type of solution, at Phoenix Contact we would recommend an ILC 150 and an mGuard, which is a router that has a built in firewall. If you connect the ILC to the office network using the mGuard, you will be able to connect via VPN to the web server without interfering with your IT network.

A second solution, you can also try an SMS relay that has text messaging capabilities. You can program these to send scheduled updates, or warning messages such as “freezer tank 1 too warm,” or anything of that nature.

If you’re interested in any of these products, feel free to visit the following links. I hope this information is useful and can help you or others in a similar situation in the future.

ILC 150: http://www.phoenixcon.com/catalog/2985330
mGuard: http://www.phoenixcontact.com/automation/32119_47082.htm
SMS Relay: http://www.phoenixcontact.com/global/news/248_47717.htm