Batch Mixing PLC System

Purpose

Due to a noticeable waste of product and a need to make the filling into a 1 operator job instead of 3, I pitched the idea to build a 

Constraints

Budget: $1000.00

Time Frame: 3 months

Materials

  • 2 large boxes
  • C0-00DD1-D Koyo CLICK PLC
  • C0-00AC Power Supply
  • PSB24-060-P 24V Rhino Power supply
  • 10 x 24V indicator lights
  • Red, Green, Beep, light tower.
  • 14 AWG THHN Stranded Wire
    • White, blue stripe
    • White
    • Blue
    • Red
    • Black
    • Green, yellow stripe
  • Grounded conduit & connectors
  • Terminal Blocks
  • 2 x 80mm fans
  • 2 x 24V thermostats
  • 10 x DC/AC Relays

Analysis

Due to a very limited budget I had to make many sacrifices to keep cost low rather than industry standard. Additionally I had to take over the project from someone who already ordered some parts which came from the budget so I had to go with those parts as much as possible.
Once the system was completed and debugged, the owner was very impressed at how well it performed and allocated more funds to be able to expand the system. The next step is adding a batch metering feature to control how many gallons is filled in each truck. This will virtually eliminate the chances of a spill altogether and make it a part-time 1 person job. 

Pictures





Summary

The best choice I made during this project was to clearly label each wire all the way through the system from each button to each output. That made troubleshooting easy and quick when it could have taken hours or even days. I also believe I did very well to complete the project on time and about 100 dollars under budget. 
The first thing I would change is saving changes and versions at each stage of the programming process. I did save versions along the way, but sometimes I made changes without saving a version before it and if it didn't work, it made it difficult to revert those changes.
Overall, this project was a success.




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