Thinking through control hardware for upcoming project.

[ED209]

Not a fan of Rockwell. They are more into making money than advancing their technology.
When I start a project I usually pick fieldbus before hardware, 'cause many times the fieldbus dictates the performance regardless what expensive high performance hardware you choose. I love EtherCAT. Low cost and outstanding performance. Looking at your parts list you already got 2 protocols, which means you will spend money on some gateway devices that might not be necessary. I've seen plastic extrusion application running on EtherCAT network pretty well and they only used one Beckhoff PC that controlled everything.

 

[busarider29]

I realize not everyone uses enable contactors and current monitoring. If you do not consider those in your designs, then the PLC is probably the way to go. I like the added diagnostics of monitoring the current and having the enable contactors to shut off in the case of runaway or component failure.

There are 'smart' SSR contactors and relays available from Carlo Gavazzi that have a number of built in monitoring features. I use these for heaters. The ones I use also have an alarm output that of course can be brought back to the PLC.

 

[busarider29]

not a fan of rockwell. They are more into making money than advancing their technology.
When i start a project i usually pick fieldbus before hardware, 'cause many times the fieldbus dictates the performance regardless what expensive high performance hardware you choose. I love ethercat. Low cost and outstanding performance. Looking at your parts list you already got 2 protocols, which means you will spend money on some gateway devices that might not be necessary. I've seen plastic extrusion application running on ethercat network pretty well and they only used one beckhoff pc that controlled everything.

+1