Book Image

Mastering PLC Programming

By : Mason White
Book Image

Mastering PLC Programming

By: Mason White

Overview of this book

Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a new feature of PLC programming that has taken the automation world by storm. This book provides you with the necessary skills to succeed in the modern automation programming environment. The book is designed in a way to take you through advanced topics such as OOP design, SOLID programming, the software development lifecycle (SDLC), library design, HMI development, general software engineering practices, and more. To hone your programming skills, each chapter has a simulated real-world project that’ll enable you to apply the skills you’ve learned. In all, this book not only covers complex PLC programming topics, but it also removes the financial barrier that comes with most books as all examples utilize free software. This means that to follow along, you DO NOT need to purchase any PLC hardware or software. By the end of this PLC book, you will have what it takes to create long-lasting codebases for any modern automation project.
Table of Contents (25 chapters)
1
Part 1 – An Introduction to Advanced PLC Programming
6
Part 2 – Modularity and Objects
10
Part 3 – Software Engineering for PLCs
14
Part 4 – HMIs and Alarms
19
Part 5 – Final Project and Thoughts

Final project – motor alarm system

For the final project, we are going to create a motor alarm system. In the real world, motors are a pivotal part of automation. However, if a motor starts drawing too much or too little current, there could be a problem. Also, if the operating temperature is over or under range for the motor, there could be a problem. Therefore, we need alarms to indicate when these events occur and what they are. To round out the chapter, we are going to create an HMI similar to the one in the last section; however, we are going to add more alarms. So, the first thing we are going to do is lay out some requirements.

Requirements

Motors have an optimal operating range for temperature, drawn voltage, and communication between the drive and PLC. We need to monitor these, and if there is any abnormal behavior, we need to trigger an alarm. Also, since there can be multiple issues all at once, we need to log all the issues so the technician can search the...