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Tech Thread continued
industrial controls industry has also taken notice, partially due to this open concept but especially due to the extremely attractive price tag of single-board controllers.
Reducing the risk of open source
Industrial applications using “off-the-shelf” Arduinos are being deployed now, but there is a risk with installing these single-board controllers
in industrial environments. Many of these control- lers are not field tested and in most instances are just downtime waiting to happen. Vibration, noise, and temperature fluctuations can have a negative effect on consumer-grade microcontrollers, causing unexpected equipment failures and costly production shutdowns.
The need for an open-source controller that
can hold up in the most extreme conditions is what prompted AutomationDirect, in conjunction with FACTS Engineering, to produce the ProductivityOpen controller. The $49, UL and CE certified P1AM-100 CPU combines the best of both worlds - Maker inge- nuity coupled with the Productivity controller family’s proven reliability.
What's inside?
Figure 3: ProductivityOpen industrial-rated, open-source CPU
Tech Thread www.automationnotebook.com | Issue 43
1. Arduino within - The processor circuit of
the P1AM-100 is designed to mimic the Arduino MKRZero microcontroller. By doing this, the P1AM- 100 is able to recognize most available Arduino MKR format shields, and/or all of the industrial- ly-hardened Productivity shields and can utilize most Arduino sketch programs found on open-source websites. Using the same IDE, the P1AM-100 is pro- grammed using C++ code, or you can use the ProductivityBlocks graphical programming interface to quickly code the controller to operate your appli- cation.
2. Industrial power supply stage - The robust power supply filtering stage produces a regulated 5VDC output from a 24VDC input, isolating the CPU and I/O power. To generate the 24VDC input, use any of the field-proven Productivity1000 industrial power supplies or supply your own using the terminal block connection.
3. Productivity1000 industrial I/O interface -
The I/O interface chipset supports the full suite of Productivity1000 I/O expansion modules, including:
• Discrete
• Analog
• Temperature
• Relay
• High-speed Input
• PWM
Things to consider when choosing between a PLC and Maker controller
Let’s be honest, a $49 CPU is definitely something worthy of a closer look. But for those coming from a strictly PLC background there are some things to be aware of. Besides the obvious difference of program- ming methods (C++ vs. Ladder Logic) there are some other functional differences that also need to be addressed and we’ve included them in Table 1 on the next page.
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Editor's Note
New Product Focus
- Headless C-more Remote HMI without attached display
- Continuous Flexing Profinet Cable
- ProductivityOpen Arduino-compatible Controller
- Hammond Industrial Enclosures
Tech Thread
Productivity®Open - Maker In, Industrial Out
Business Notes
Cover Story
Does Your PLC Talk JSON?
What's New
User Solutions
Roller Coaster Overhaul
Student Spotlight
Industrial Automation with a Mission
Break Room
Brain Teasers
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