ENG8608 - Industrial Robot Cells

Assignment - 1

Note: Randomly selected programs will be verified, graded and their mark will
be considered for the assignment.
Due date: Thursday, Sep. 30, 2021, at 1.00pm at T228

1. Design, build and test a ladder-logic program to meet the functional specifications of the
following heater control system:
Functional Specifications:
Five high-power heaters, each having its own individual thermostat (Open/Closed) are to be
operated as described below. Each heater is turned ON by energizing its respective relay coil,
using a dedicated PLC output, when its thermostat is closed and the conditions are right.
• Heaters A & B have top priority and their respective coils may be energized at any time.
Coils A & B and Thermostats A & B are simulated using panel lights 2 & 3 and switches
2 & 3.
• Heater C has the next priority and its coil may be energized
only if: “Heater A coil is energized while HEATER B coil
is de-energized” OR “Heater B coil is energized while
HEATER A coil is de-energized” OR “both Heaters A &
B coils are de-energized”.
Coil C and Thermostat C are simulated using panel light 4 and switch 4.
• Heater D has the lowest priority and its coil may be
energized only if: Not more than one of the Heaters A,
B or C coil is energized.
(Note that Heater D coil is allowed to be energized when coils A, B and C are all de-
energized) Coil D and Thermostat D are simulated using panel light 5 and switch 5.
• Heater E may only be turned on if:
The Heaters A and D coils are energized.
Coil E and Thermostat E are simulated using panel light 6 and switch 6.
IMPORTANT: When implementing the system, you MUST simulate the operation of the
system coils and thermostats using the specific Allen-Bradley panel lights and
switches that are defined in the above functional description.
2. Design a ladder logic program to implement the following system:
The system consists of an oven equipped with:
- A door switch, - 3 heaters,
- A thermostat, - A warning buzzer
- A 2-speed (High/Low) blower (2 separate coils).
Draw an electrical schematic showing the devices wired to the PLC input and output terminals.
Requirements:
• Only one of the two blower coils may be energized at any time.
• The blower will go to High speed as soon as any heater turns ON.
• The blower is brought to Low speed 2 minutes after all heaters are turned OFF.
• The door is opened (door switch opens) to load the oven and then the door is closed (door
switch closes).
• Heater A turn ON 10 seconds after the door is closed. And turns OFF when heater B turns
OFF.
• Heater B turns ON after heater A has been ON for 1 minute. Heater B turns OFF after 2
minutes of heating time.
• Heater C may turn ON 3 minutes after the door has been closed. Heater C will only turn
ON if the thermostat is ON. Heater C turns ON and OFF following the thermostat.
• 10 minutes after the door has been closed the warning buzzer beeps for 1 second every
second. The buzzer beeping is reset when the door opens.

3. Design a ladder logic program to implement the following system:

The system consists of a switch and two lights used in curing chemical hardeners. When the
switch is closed, light A must turn ON for 1 minute and then turn OFF. Once light A is OFF,
light B turns ON for 30 seconds and then turns OFF. To repeat the process, the switch is opened
and then closed again.

4. Design a ladder logic program meant to control the following system:

Momentarily pressing a Start switch energizes a drop solenoid and items start dropping into a
box (the momentary-contact Start switch must be sealed-in). An Item switch momentarily
closes each time an item drops into the box. Once 12 items have been dropped, the Drop
solenoid is momentarily de-energized while a conveyor is energized for 1 second to move a
new empty box into position. Once the new box is in position, dropping items resumes. An
“OrderComplete” light is energized once 10 boxes have been filled and the system must be
stopped until start is pressed again.
Additional features which could be added to detect failures:
- The conveyor motor has an overload contact.
There is a box detector which must be closed for the Drop solenoid to energize. If a box is not
there when the system needs to drop items, an alarm is energized and the system is stopped until
start is pressed again. Item and batch counts must not be lost if this happens.
5. Design a ladder logic program to implement the following system:
When a Start button is momentarily pressed a two-speed fuel pump starts pumping at a high
rate by energizing the high coil (the momentary-contact Start switch must be sealed-in). The
amount of fuel delivered is monitored by a Mil contact which closes momentarily every time
one millilitre of fuel is delivered.
The cost of the fuel per litre is to be kept in the accumulator memory location of a counter
structure. The cost (measured in increments of 0.1¢) may be changed by pulsing momentary
contacts CostUp and CostDown.
The system must always deliver $20 worth of fuel. The pump is kept on high until $19.50 has
been delivered. The last 50¢ of fuel is delivered with the PumpLow coil energized (high must
be de- energized). Once $20 of fuel has been delivered, the system resets until Start is pressed
again.
Additional features which could be added:
• The pump has an overload contact which stops the delivery of fuel without clearing the
system. Once the overload is cleared, the system is restarted by pressing the Start button.
• The purchase amount may be changed in increments of $10 by pressing an Add10
momentary contact switch. You could also add a Sub10 switch. The last 50¢ of fuel is
always delivered with the pump low coil energized.

6. Using structured text programming write a program to control the following system.
The system has standard Start/Stop momentarily contact switches. Pressing Start momentarily
starts the system by energizing a conveyor motor until a proximity detector closes to indicate
that a new empty box is in position (conveyor stops). Once the new box is in position, a Drop
solenoid is energized and items start dropping into a box. An Item switch momentarily closes
each time an item drops into the box. Once 12 items have been dropped, the Drop solenoid is
de-energized. The process then repeats itself by starting the conveyor motor again.
An “OrderComplete” light is energized once 10 boxes have been filled and the system is
automatically stopped until Start is pressed again.

7. Using structured text programming write a program to control a system which consists of a
switch and two lights used in curing chemical hardeners. When the switch is closed, light A
must turn ON for 1 minute and then turn OFF. Once light A is OFF, light B turns ON for 30 seconds
and then turns OFF. To repeat the process, the switch is opened and then closed again.

8. Using structured text programming write a program to control five heaters. The only rule is
that only of three heaters may be turned on at-a-time on a first-come first-served basis.
9. Implement logic for the automatic door open & close system in PLC using ladder diagram
programming language.

PLC Ladder Practice Problem:

• When someone enters the infrared sensing field, opening motor starts working to open
the door automatically till the door touches the opening limit switch
• If the door touches the opening limit switch for 7 sec and nobody enters the sensing field,
the closing motor starts working to close the door automatically till the closing limit
switch touched together.
• Stop the closing action immediately if someone enters the sensing field during the door
closing process.

10. Design a ladder logic program to keep track of the age of the material in tank T-28 in days,
hours, and minutes. There are only two controls for this clock: T28_CLK_STT starts the clock
by resetting it and then allowing it to run; and T28_CLK_STP stops the clock and holds the
current time (does not change). The days, hours, and minutes are retained in T28_DAY,
T28_HR, and T28_MIN respectively.

Assume the following internal tag/symbol assignments:

Tag/Symbol Description
T28_CLK_STT T28 age clock start command. Transition to ON resets the current
hours, minutes, and seconds and starts the clock running.
T28_CLK_STP T28 age clock start command. Transition to ON stops the clock at its
current time, but it does not reset the time. The time remains constant
until the start command is turned ON.
T28_MIN Age of tank T_28 in minutes
T28_HR Age of tank T_28 in hours
T28_DAY Age of tank T_28 in days
11. Determine amount of work in progress. Parts move into and out of a work cell on conveyors.
Design a ladder logic program to keep track of the number of parts that are in the work cell and
provide status/alarm indications. The PART_IN discrete input is momentarily energized when
a part enters the work cell contains 25 parts, the CELL_25P indicator is turned ON. When the
work cell has no parts, the CELL_ZRP indicator is turned ON. When the RESET_CTR internal
coil is ON, the part count should be zeroed.

Determine the number of parts per hour produced.

Assume the following physical inputs, physical outputs, and internal tag/symbol assignments:

Tag/Symbol Description
PART_IN Senses part entering work cell, energized (ON) and then de-energised
as part enters work cell
PART_OUT Senses part exiting work cell, energized (ON) and then de-energised
as part exists work cell
RESET_CTR ON to clear part count
CELL_25P ON when at least 25 parts are in work cell
CELL_ZRP ON when no parts are in work cell
CELL_PRATE Cell production rate, in parts per hour

Transfer Robot
Robot
Table Arm
Arm

PART_IN PART_OUT

CNC
CNC
Machine
Machine

Conveyor Conveyor