Recently, InterConnecting Automation Inc. was contacted by a customer who was in need of a machine control system upgrade. The Customer had a small high pressure foam water jet that had the original control system on it. That control system consisted of a Direct Logic 230 CPU and a DV1000 HMI. Both of these main components have been obsoleted for some time now.
The original enclosure was a standard Hubbel Wigman Enclosure from Automation Direct. This enclosure stood the test of time, but was a standard steel enclosure around high pressure water. Over the years the cabinet began to rust out, to the point that some of the wiring would be under water from time to time.
Finally, the machine had been through a variety of variations throughout the years and was a rat's nest of wiring, that was at risk of failing or shorting out.
When the Customer decided it was time to replace the aging controls systems on this machine, they wanted to simplify the controls, centralize all the controls in one enclosure, put a polycarbonate enclosure in instead of steel, and finally use a Productivity PLC (the new standard in their facility).
After analyzing the IO requirements the Productivity 1000 PLC was chosen for its low cost and high function ability. Additionally, a new motor drive (GSD4 with analog isolator) was chosen to replace the external ABB DC motor drive that they currently had.
The new enclosure was constructed and shipped on site. We arrived one day later to install the enclosure. After landing all of the field wiring and testing the code, the machine was only down for four hours, and will be good to run for another 20 years.
