Brendan Burr

BTEC National Certificate in Electronics

Understand Complex PLC Programs and Program a PLC

Task 1
See the attached printout of my program.

Task 2
See the attached printout of my program for the

Task 3
There are a number of hazards that present themselves when examining the Bottle Testing Machine. At the beginning of the testing line the milk bottle arrives at the conveyor by means of Air Track, this enables the already produced bottles to be delivered at a high velocity speeding up the production and testing activities. A potential area for concern is a backlog of bottles, if testing isnt being carried out at an equal rate to the production of the bottles, the backlog could fill the Air Track and cause a machine malfunction in the production area. The solution to this would have to be placed in the program, which would work off of an additional sensor preventing an excess number of bottles being sent from the production machines. Upon arrival of the milk bottle, the conveyor is programmed to begin. There are numerous hazards when this does begin as it is a moving object. When the motor is engaged there would be a level of current which is being supplied, this has the potential to cause severe injury or even loss of life to persons who may come into contact with the conveyor. This means the motor would have to be placed in a secure location which would be sealed but still accessible for maintenance reasons. The sealed area would have to be well ventilated to prevent overheating of the motor which could cause a fire. The conveyor itself will be moving for about a tenth of the testing operations, however when it is moving there is a high potential for friction burns if an operator decided to touch the belt. A small rail is in place to prevent bottles falling off the conveyor but this is inadequate for protecting an operators hand. There are a number of safety precautions that could be put in place, such as a light/infra red sensor which detects an operators presence and stops the motor. The area could be made safe by installing a fence which has a cut off sensor in the gate, this way whenever the gate is open the motor would cut the power before the user is close to the danger. To reinitialise the conveyor the operator would have to have the gate shut and press a button on the outside of the fence. Once photocell 2 detects the bottles presence the test head is initialised and the head down solenoid will bring the test head to meet the bottle neck. As this happens there is a risk to an operator as they could trap their fingers in the middle of the test head and the bottle. The head is down limit switch

Brendan Burr

BTEC National Certificate in Electronics

Understand Complex PLC Programs and Program a PLC

would not made so the head down solenoid would remain energised, this means the user would remain trapped until the emergency stop button is pressed. The test head area should be restricted to the operator, the same way as a pillar drill is. There should be a guard located in front of the test head at all times, extending below the testing area (where the head meets the bottle) but allowing the bottle to enter and exit on either side. The bottle will remain slightly pressurised for around 20 seconds when testing is underway, this could lead to a small explosion caused by depressurisation if a bottle had a failure in. The guard used to prevent an operator trapping their hand in the device could also protect from the other side by preventing it throwing debris around the testing area. The reject box could become full if it is not emptied regularly, resulting in FOD (Foreign Object Debris) in the testing area. The FOD could cause a tripping hazard, a machine malfunction or even a fire risk. An additional sensor which is turned off for a small time period whilst the bottle is rejected and then reengaged when the bottle has settled in the reject tray would also be required. This would determine if the level is too high to accept more bottles and trigger an alarm or prevent the motor from working. If the machine was to be forced to complete an operation, then it should be made clear that the previous test bottle has been removed from the conveyor, as this could cause a backlog of bottles. If an early stage is completed before the next stage then the bottle on the later stage could be moved on by the conveyor before testing is complete or the reject bottle has been successfully removed from the conveyor.

Word Count: 751

Brendan Burr

BTEC National Certificate in Electronics

Understand Complex PLC Programs and Program a PLC

Task 4
I have chosen to use the Ladder Diagram to program the PLC for Task 1. The main advantages of this method of programming are plentiful and are all the reasons why have made this decision, there are however some disadvantages which I will also talk about. To begin with the ladder diagram is very simple to follow and understand. Its layout is almost self explanatory, making any new additions to the program easy along with any amendments to faults in the program. The program can be written regarding the sequence of events required to be complete. This makes the logic relatively simple as the program can be written one step after the other. There are also a small amount of components to the program, such as inputs, outputs and a minimal number of other symbols. This enables a young programmer to pick up the limitations of the program and be able to manipulate it in their own way to suit the required output. I would be an example of this, as I have had no previous programming knowledge and was able to pick this technique up and design the program required in task 1 within a couple of hours. The software is easy to use as there is a common layout to the drawing method. Inputs go on the left hand side and the outputs go on the right hand side. The program is written in a similar way as text is written and you can easily flow through the program as if you were reading it and knew what had to happen. Further to the advantages of the ease of writing a program, there is a large ease of use when installing the program to the actual PLC. Once connected to the port on the computer the programming software quickly and easily writes the program to the PLC Memory. This is done through three sub menus which are self explanatory and efficiently guide you through the process of installing the program. The main disadvantages of the ladder diagram are the availability to change the ladder diagram. Even though it is easy to read and find where the amendments need to go, inserting them can be difficult. For example if a connection needed to be latched then a new line would have to be entered to give the space required to enter a relay contact. Entering the extra space is difficult as it means shifting the entire program below that line down one. It isnt a very technical looking document, as there are only a small number of symbols to use. It can be difficult to define what each symbol represents, unless it has notes and a description, due to the majority of the symbols looking the same. As I described above, it can be easy to read the program, however notes are required to aid in the description. The FDS would be a suitable replacement for the notes as you can read through what needs to happen and flow through the program that way.

Brendan Burr

BTEC National Certificate in Electronics

Understand Complex PLC Programs and Program a PLC

Technical knowledge of the programming software would restrict the possibility of fault finding if the program was to fail to work correctly. This is because the faults come back as codes so understanding them would be essential if the programmer were going to successfully find the fault. Without guidance from a more experienced programmer there is little chance that a programmer just starting out would be able to successfully fault find and program the PLC to store the new program. There are no breaks in the program which also pose as a potential problem. This is because the program could be hundreds of pages long and if a programmer had to find an area in the program that required fixing, then he/she might be there for a lengthy period of time whilst trying to locate it. I also thought that the other methods of programming the PLC, such as Statement List and Sequential Function Charts, were more difficult to interpret for a programmer who is just starting out, like me. This, along with the lack of software at the college, resulted in me deciding in using the Ladder Diagram method.

Word Count: 695

Brendan Burr

BTEC National Certificate in Electronics

Understand Complex PLC Programs and Program a PLC

Task 5
The documentation which corresponds to a PLC program is critical for the safe operation of the device / machine which the PLC is operating, this is for various reasons. Without running a HAZops (Hazard Operations) Study there would be multiple hazards and dangers which would be created by the running PLC through its programmed operation. These could go unnoticed until an injury or fatality occurs to an operator which would breach the Health & Safety Act 1974. The consequence of breaching this act and causing injury could result in a hefty fine and compensation to the worker, which would come from the workers liability part in the companies insurance. If a fatality occurred due to the negligence of the company then the company official responsible could be sent to prison on charges of manslaughter. The HAZops Study is a simple activity which could be overlooked causing much devastation to many people. The FDS (Functional Design Specification) guides the programmer through the events that need to take place. Without it the program has a higher chance of being random and only doing half of the things required. This would cause extra expense as the program would constantly have to be revised and edited to meet the requirements that the operator wants. The program diagrams should have notes and comments which would allow the programmer to scan read the document to locate errors or areas requiring revision. This would also be a large help as it would save time if there were a fault somewhere in the program. It would also aid a new programmer looking at the program to interpret the information correctly. If a motor output were mistaken for lamp output then a massively different event could happen if the new programmer altered the connections. An Operation and Maintenance Manual is a self explanatory for what it needs. The operation of the device which would explain how the system should work and how to operate it, should there be any user input required. And also the maintenance side of the device, if things began to go wrong how they can be resolved. The FDS can be included to aid in the description of the events which should occur under the normal working program. If the FDS were included it would need slightly more information such as what parts of the machine would be affected by the output of the program, for example when the Motor Output is active in the program the Motor is engaged, the Conveyor Belt begins running and also the Photocells need to be active to ensure they pick up on a bottles presence. All of the details between the FDS, Program and the Operation and Maintenance manual would have to correspond to one another, with the correct interpretation of each of the components on the machine, otherwise a user could get confused.

Brendan Burr

BTEC National Certificate in Electronics

Understand Complex PLC Programs and Program a PLC

The advantage of having the FDS in the Operations and Maintenance Manual would be that it can be used for testing the program after it has been installed to PLC and operating for the first time. The HAZops Study could be used for the maintenance side of the manual. This is because even though the study would take place in the early stages of the operation of the device, it would still have to be maintained throughout the life of the operations. By including the information the machine can be kept operating at a standard identical to that of its first installation. The HAZops Study would have to be slightly more descriptive over the hazards that are there. This is so the hazards can be easily located on the machine on an annual check. The study could be improved by adding a Risk Assessment which could give indications of how much danger a hazard is. This would also be a reference in the future to see if the hazard is becoming a greater risk or staying at the same level.

Word Count: 656