New controller family integrates peripheral equipment.

Three models of programmable logic controllers are being introduced by Barber-Colman Co.'s Industrial Instruments Div., Loves Park, Ill. The new PLCs give Barber-Colman the ability to supply complete control systems for work cells and complex processing lines. The products are made by Eberle, Barber-Colman's sister company in Germany.

The PLCs are intended to coordinate control of chillers, dryers, pick-and-place robots, stacking/packing equipment, and the like with Barber-Colman MACO controls on primary processing machines such as injection molders. Another potential use would be coordinating extrusion downstream equipment such as winders with a MACO extruder control. All three models are said to be aggressively priced so as to compete with products from Allen-Bradley, Siemens, Modicon, and others.

FAST AND COMPACT

At the low end of the new series is the PC 500, a very compact model that's less than 8 in. deep x 4 in. wide x 6 in. high. It incorporates 36 I/Os (four of them selectable), eight counters, four step counters, four digital and four analog timers, and an 800-instruction memory in RAM, EEPROM, or EPROM. The unit operates on 24-v d-c power and has a reaction (throughput) time of under 2 millisec.

In the middle of the series is the PC 5/08, a modular unit available with either 110-v a-c or 24-v d-c power. Different configurations accommodate a processor module, a power-supply module (in a-c configuration), and from two to 11 peripheral I/O modules. The d-c version accommodates up to 416 digital I/O points. Reaction time is 3.3 millisec and user memory capacity is up to 4K.

Plug-in peripheral modules include a high-speed networking module, I/O modules with 16- to 32-point I/O cards, analog/digital and digital/analog converters for analog inputs and outputs, high-speed counters, and various types of non-volatile memory cassettes.

At the high end of the series is the modular, expandable PLS 514, said to be the fastest sequential controller on the market. Two processor types are available--one with program processing times of 0.2 millisec/K of either word or bit instructions and 16K of user memory, the other with 0.4-millisec/K processing time and 32K memory. (Reaction time is less than the processing time.) It operates on 24-v d-c power and is configurable for over 8000 I/O points. Three rack options accommodate five to 23 peripheral I/O module slots. Also available are network and communications capabilities, and two programming modules for BASIC or "C" languages.

USER-FRIENDLY PROGRAMMING

Also available for the PC 5/08 and PLS 514 is "EDOPS2 plus" programming and documentation software from Eberle. This "Windows"-like programming shell for IBM-compatible PCs includes three programming languages (instruction list, sequential function chart, and function block diagram). The 5/08 can print out instruction rungs in ladder-logic format for documentation purposes. Other features include on- and off-line programming and diagnostics, plus network communications compatibility.