Welcome to our
Website
This month our
focus cateories are:-
Industrial
Measurement & Control
Hardware for
Industrial Measurement & Control
- PLCs
- PACs
- Smart Relays
- PID & Other
Controllers
- Soft PLCs
- Distributed
IO
- Industrial IO
- Industrial DIN
PSUs
Our PLC range covers from lower
end PLCs from Array, X Logic and Omega to more advanced PLCs
from Keyence, Omron and Siemens Equivalent VIPA.
Below the PLC category there
is this sub category called Smart Relays that allow very very
low cost PLC control of simple projects. A child can learn to
program these devices they are so easy.
We have an extensive set of Smart
Relays from Array, xLogic and Omega.
MasTec also program in house
the SR PLC models from Array to make a plug and play range of
Smart Relay functions.
Our PAC range is extensive with
the world's best from OPTO 22 ( OSless) to a broad range of IsaGraf,
Linux, OS7, Win CE sealed solid state fanless PACs right down
to PCB Embeddable PACs.
PID, Refrig, Profile and Pressure
Controllers are widely used and a very convenienta and low cost
solution.
MasTec has one of the world leaders
is Jumo of Germany.
We also have Omega, Bee and Rishab
PID and programmable controller products.
Soft PLCs were invented by OPTO
22 in the late 1970's using embedded PCBs. Old timers will remember
when the IBM PC was released in 1982 OPTO 22 had the DOS based
Cyrano Soft PLC software that converted a PC into a very stable
high performance real time PLC. ( No Windows in the way)
OPTO 22 combined PLC & Soft
Logic PLC technology into PACs in the 90's, releasing the Mystic
range. They were PACs but not called this until 2001 when ARC
released the term.
One of our companies, ICPDAS
make a beautiful set of PAC - Soft PLCs wrapped in any of these
development systems, the ISAGraf, or OS7, Win CE, plus the Linux
development environments.
Distributed IO was invented by
OPTO 22 in the 80s using Basic programming OPTOmux in Localised
controllers on an RS-485 network.
Distributed IO is now used by
almost all PLC, PAC and Industrial Computer builders for placing
IO around an industrial site using smart comms systems linked
back to the controller.
Some Distributed IO have localised
controllers that control PIDs, convert engineering units, PWM
and other services.
The advanced distributed IO units
have shared data and they automatically build memory maps of
all IO on the network, and this allows any PAC on the comms netwrok
to read or update TAGs or Parameters.
OPTO 22 still leads in this field
with not only Distributed IO for their own PACs but also expansion
IO for Rockwell and Profibus systems.
Industrial IO is slighly different
than Distributed IO in that the IO is not usually Smart or networked
but is usally clipped on to very expensive controller such as
PLCs or PACs to isolate them from electrical harm.
This means Industrial IO is not
Comms Smart but tough Conditioners and Isolators and sometimes
Level Shifters and Filters. Maybe converting 230 VAC to logic
Level of 24VDC with isoltion and filters.
Leaders are OPTO 22, Dataforth,
Power IO, APCS, Omega and others.
Lastly, Power for all these categories
of Industrial control systems is usually built in but if DC power
is needed then MasTec has ranges of DIN Rail PSUs for almost
any device.
Software for
Industrial Measurement and Control
Almost all companies have proprietry
software for PAC and PLC development.
This especially true for PLCs
and and all OSless PACs. However theses software packages are
highly refined and very efficient at what they do.
A strong points for PACs that
use OSs such as Linux, Windows or OS7, they can be programmed
with Standard software tools, usually Compilers, even LabVIEW.
Some PLC and PAC manufacturers
use the Windows based development tools from ISAGraf to develop
IEC certified applications that will run on any compliant PAC.
This is an excellent choce also.
ISaGRAF is the
most popular and one of the most powerful SoftLogic and PAC packages
on the market.
Development of
ISaGRAF application is on a Windows based PC and then downloaded
to a target.
IsaGraf supports
IEC 61131-3 standard PLC/PAC programming languages like:-
- Quick Ladder
(LD)
- Function Block
Diagram (FBD)
- Sequential Function
Chart (SFC)
- Structured Text
(ST)
- Instruction
List (IL)
- plus Flow Chart
(FC)
And you are able
to run any application generated by any of these development
methods on any IEC PLC/PAC/Soft Logic device. Very cool.
Additionally,
for the ultimate in power and flexibility, ISaGRAF supports off-line
simulation, on-line debugging, monitoring and control. Again
very cool.
National Instruments
have released an FPGA based Industrial Controller that runs a
real time LabVIEW.
This is a new
category of industrial controller at present is only used in
critical high performance processes where cost is not an issue.
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