Book Image

Industrial Automation from Scratch

By : Olushola Akande
Book Image

Industrial Automation from Scratch

By: Olushola Akande

Overview of this book

Industrial automation has become a popular solution for various industries looking to reduce manual labor inputs and costs by automating processes. This book helps you discover the abilities necessary for excelling in this field. The book starts with the basics of industrial automation before progressing to the application of switches, sensors, actuators, and motors, and a direct on-line (DOL) starter and its components, such as circuit breakers, contactors, and overload relay. Next, you'll explore VFDs, their parameter settings, and how they can be wired and programmed for induction motor control. As you advance, you'll learn the wiring and programming of major industrial automation tools – PLCs, HMIs, and SCADA. You’ll also get to grips with process control and measurements (temperature, pressure, level, and flow), along with analog signal processing with hands-on experience in connecting a 4–20 mA transmitter to a PLC. The concluding chapters will help you grasp various industrial network protocols such as FOUNDATION Fieldbus, Modbus, PROFIBUS, PROFINET, and HART, as well as emerging trends in manufacturing (Industry 4.0) and its empowering technologies (such as IoT, AI, and robotics). By the end of this book, you’ll have gained a practical understanding of industrial automation concepts for machine automation and control.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
1
Part 1: Learning the Concepts and Skills Required to Get Started
8
Part 2: Understanding PLC, HMI, and SCADA
14
Part 3: Process Control, Industrial Network, and Smart Factory

PLC wiring (1) – Wiring of switches, lights, and actuators to a PLC

Here, in this section, we will look into the connection (wiring) of input devices (switches) and output devices (lights and actuators) to the PLC. Sinking and sourcing are two important terms in PLC wiring. They are used to describe the direction of the conventional current flow between two circuits or devices. A conventional current always flows from positive potential (+) to negative potential (-). Anytime you have a current flowing between two devices, one will be sourcing while the other will be sinking.

The sourcing device is the device that provides the current (positive), while the sinking device is the device that absorbs the current (that is, the device connected to negative or ground).

In PLC wiring, the two devices in question are input devices and input modules or output devices and output modules. PLC manufacturers usually produce input/output modules that you can either sink or source. There...