Universidad Tecnologica de Altamira

Mechatronic
Programmable Logic Controllers
(PLC)

Activity 1. PLC BASICS

Teacher:
Jose Luis Ocampo Casados

Student name:
Fabian Herbert Avila

Group:
MEC-4B

Date:
07/09/2022

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 PLC Basics
The basics of a PLC, the programmable logic controller or PLC is a special purpose
computer has no display or keyboard or printer or hard drive and is hidden in the
control panel on the factory floor but it is was still a computer initially, the PLC was a
replacement for relay device panels that turn on and off making a machine run using
relays as logic was time consuming and challenging and making a change to the logic
or operation of the machine was almost as complicated as starting over.

Figura 1.PLC Logo Siemens

Relays also fail much more frequently than computer components, so the relay logic
required more downtime to keep it running the newer PLC base controls on top of a
All those relays use a lot of electricity, generate a lot of heat and soot, and take up a
lot of space. An installed PLC looks deceptively simple. It has a CPU module and
input/output devices called IO. Sometimes the IO is part of the CPU and sometimes,
in other modules, the CPU communicates with the I/O.

So in most systems they share a backplane that holds them physically in place and
connects them electronically on other equipment. The I/O modules can be miles away
from the CPU and connected with data cables so the PLC is not limited to a single
cabinet or even the same building since the PLC is a computer there is no need to
limit it only to digital inputs and outputs over the years manufacturers added analog
inputs and other numeric inputs and outputs to make these numeric devices useful.

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They also include a calculation capability in the programming so now we can

calculate, since this is called a programmable logic controller, we need to program it.
Most PLCs are programmed using an application that runs on a standard desktop or
laptop PLC. They communicate with the PLC via Ethernet or a proprietary
communication bus, depending on the manufacturer; most manufacturers seem to
have settled on Ethernet and/or USB in recent years, unfortunately.

Figura 2.PLC Communication

PLC manufacturers have not agreed on how we program the control logic, although
most manufacturers claim some form of ladder logic , the specifications of that
language are different for each manufacturer includes different capabilities, different
ways of doing the same thing and even differences in the order in which the CPU
processes the various pieces of logic.

Figura 3.PLC Siemens

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