I have an application that has 4 in/2 out and has 65 locations along a linear path. Commonality is that the power system is the same, and the current
connectivity is buried in concrete and 30 yrs. old.

My thought was to put an i/o board of sorts at each location and network them using the existing power lines back to a PLC.

This is a distribution center so commercial grade 'boards' would work.

Does anyone have any thoughts or guidance?? Plenty of power line technology and RS-4222/485 I/O, but looking for an integrated solution.

Thx in advance!!

Cheers from: Jeremy Pollard, CET The Caring Canuckian!
www[.]tsuonline.com

Control Design www[.]controldesign.com
Manufacturing Automation www[.]automationmag.com

 

Jeremy,

Are you asking for a power line carrier system? Is there any possibility of adding a communication cable, twisted pair or Fiber optics?

Have you considered Spread Spectrum Wireless?

Roy

 

Hey Roy - trying to interface with a legacy system that is 'in-floor' in concrete and conduit and is 40 years old. No option to disturb the exising wiring etc.. just use the 120 VAC wiring as a carrier for a network of sorts...

Kinda like a building automation system which uses the power system for control using a modulated signal.. Lonworks has chips etc that use this technology, but I haven’t found an 'product' as such.

Wireless cant be had due to location - thx for your feedback Roy!!

Cheers from: Jeremy Pollard, CET The Caring Canuckian! www[.]tsuonline.com

Control Design www[.]controldesign.com Manufacturing Automation www[.]automationmag.com

3 Red Pine Court, RR# 2 Shanty Bay, Ontario L0L 2L0 705.739.7155 Cell # 705.725.3579

 

Jeremy,
Perhaps this might be of interest
http://www.powercorp.com.au/pdf/bpl.pdf
I'm sure there are lots similar
Once you have TCP/IP then you could use Modbus or some other protocol that has cheap converters to TCP/IP

Interesting project

Good Luck
Roy

 

Jeremy -
The most commercially viable solution for this is Homplug, which carries Ethernet over 120VAC powerline. However, I don't think there are any industrial versions available.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeplug

Here's an example of a commercial-grade bridge:

http://www.netgear.com/Products/PowerlineNetworking/PowerlineEthernetAdapters/XE103G.aspx

Paul...