Safety On Board
Need for integrated safety on board controllers
Today, production managers require more productivity through machines. Manufacturing industry suffers from stopping production line to perform day-to-day maintenance activities. Once multi axis motion controller based manufacturing line running hundred's of delta robots is stopped, engineers are required to re-synchronize axis if integrated safety is not implemented in the production line...
Servo Motion Control
In servo motion, a feedback sensor - usually encoder - is used to continuously measure position and speed of motor to correct motor speed. By using feedback sensor, we can get very accurate results. Most servo motors now have on-board 'Motor Encoder'. However, additional encoders could be placed on the actual mechanical axis to compare against actual line...
Machine Safety Integrity Level SIL
A quick google search tells us that Sil level is about probability of failure but what does it mean in terms of process engineering? I have written this brief article focusing on how expression SIL and IEC 61508 applies to our field of work.
What is SIS
If an instrument is SIS rated i.e. Safety Instrumented System,...
TCP/IP and UDP communication
Benefits of TCP/IP and UDP
Connectivity between devices is become very common and often beneficial essentially in industrial devices communication. Although Modbus, RS485 serial communications have its place still in industrial control and measurement applications, TCP/IP and UDP offers so much diversity that even apps written for I-phone and android could be used to connect with complete...
Standalone machine development
National Instruments c-DAQ 9181 and C series modules when paired together could be used to achieve complete measurement system. In such architecture, it is possible to transfer data between measurement system (composed of c-Daq chassis carrying c-series module) and labview app using wifi network, bluetooth or ethernet cable. I was once involved with designing weight machines using...
PID Control System
PID control is the most common control algorithm in industrial control applications. This article is merely written to share some of the techniques that I developed in Labview Programming to achieve literally zero overshoot. In my case, I wanted to control hydraulics supply and return pressure via control valves. Such control valves take 4-20mA signal to control...
Synchronised multi-axis motion control
Filling Machines and Production Line
Advanced production line in most industries involve many different processes. For instance, yogurt filling machines involves feeding pot material from a coil into a press machine mounted with die. Finished part out of the press and die is empty pots ready for the next stage. Next stage might involve wrapping pots with...
Data Acquisition Systems Applications of data acquisition system
Data acquisition systems are required to test products prior being used in service or by public. Many products are required to be subjected to extreme conditions to ensure the product would still be operational and not detrimental to environment. For instance, air craft motor drive must be tested under same atmospheric condition that...
Programming FPGA and CRIO
In this article, I wanted to briefly go through few practices that I use to develop a compact rio application. A full Compact RIO controller combines FPGA with real time processor. Labview developer could utilise all target levels to develop machine app that would offer maximum resources utilization and reliability to mention only few of the...
