PLC and LabVIEW

[Harold_Timmis]

I have just been reading a ton of books on PLC and thought it might be cool and see what people have done with PLC using LAbVIEW

here is a simple and I do mean simple example of some PLC code I have done...

you would also have to have some DAQ to run the motor as I do not have a DAQ of any type I just did some code...

[Wayne.C]

Harold,

Not sure if you use Real-Time but this might be interesting .

[Harold_Timmis]

Thanks Wayne

   lol I wish I had the realTime module but sadly I do not

[muks]

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I have just been reading a ton of books on PLC and thought it might be cool and see what people have done with PLC using LAbVIEW

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I invariably use it on all my machine vision systems for input or rejection or for both of them.

[pallen]

I've actually done quite a few projects that combine both LabVIEW and PLCs.

Typically this combination is used on assembly/test lines for automotive parts.  The PLC will handle the pallet flow between "stations".  And if a particular "station" has a very simple operation that does not need to be recorded in a database, then that too will be handled by the PLC.  But any of the more complex or "Poky Yoked" assembly procedures, or any of the automated testing is typically done with LabVIEW.  Vision as well.  (Years ago we used to use something called Visual Designer)  

I'm just gathering steam on a new project that will again combine PLCs and LabVIEW.  But this will be my first time using the new ControlLogix platform, and it will be my first time using such heavy OPC communication between all the PCs on the line.  

All the IO is Ethernet based.  RFIDs and strictly controlled torque guns oh my!   

I fully understand our customer's reasoning behind wanting so much PLC control.  It's their language.  But if I had my own way, I could save myself the steep learning curve I'm on now and simply do it all in LabVIEW.  I'm pretty sure I could write it all in about half the time and it would work just as well.  With the money the customer would save on the hardware, they could buy three redundant PCs and the system would easily just as robust as the PLC.