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burnerman

OPTO22 or PLC?

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Has anyonyone any experience, good or bad, with OPTO22 / Factory Floor? A colleague of mine suggested we might consider it instead of a PLC / HMI. The system we are looking at has about 24 analog and 48 digital I/O, on the HMI we need a couple of operator screens, alarm handling, a couple of charts (historical as well as real time trends) and the ability to print batch reports and periodic reports - any recommendations for a good low-cost HMI package to work with a Mitsubishi Q or SLC500?

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For an HMI for Mitsu or AB, check out the Mitsubishi E-Series. The E-Series has drivers for just about any PLC, and it can talk to 2 different vendor PLCs at the same time, making it an excellent solution if you need to make 2 different vendors' equipment share data. I've got a demo in my office of an AB talking to a Mitsu and another Mitsu talking to a Modicon, and all of them are sharing data over Ethernet.

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I've used a Honeywell hybrid controller (HC-900) for some thermal process control apps with about the same level of I/O as you stated. Two big differences it has 1) its operator interface - it's a color LCD screen that comes with about 40 templates for screens that show trends, loops, digitals, variables, etc. As long as the end user is content with that screen format, the time spent on screen development was close to zero. Its operator interface is not a free form graphics screen, like the traditional HMI. The controller talks Modbus, so any HMI panel that talks Modbus could be used, but for those who come from the multiple, single loop controller world, Honeywell's display is ideal, because that's what they're used to. The Display trends up to 24 analogs, as is. I find screen programming tedious, so I like the concept. 2) function block programming only, no ladder. I found it very easy to configure PID loops - so easy, I'm loathe to call it "programming". It comes with an autotune that has worked on everything but a fast hydraulic loop. Digital programming is boolean, but I learned TTL logic back when, and boolean configuration looks just like laying out TTL, inputs from the left and top, outputs out the bottom and right. Batch processing with setpoint programming is a snap, given the function blocks available. One project was batch ramp/soaks with synchronized variables, temp + dewpoint, easy to implement. I've had to put HMI software on top of the controller for reporting functions. Honeywell has a special version of Specview (which is pretty low end) which auto-recognizes the controller and preconfigures some tags. Thus far, it has had sufficient power to do what people are looking for. But with an OPC server (or Modbus), it could could be used with any HMI software package. Dan

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