Dear Sir/ Madam,

I would appreciate if you may provide a few names of
manufacturers/distributors of ruggedized PLCs. The PLC I try to identify shall be capable to operate on mobile vehicle (defense application) in rough environmental conditions (e.g. -30°C to +70° C), high EMI, variable supply voltage (18 to 32 VDC), packed in IP67 protection, etc.

FYI: efm-efector does not support military applications, as you might know.

Regards,

Paul V. Terek, P. Eng.

ED&D - Tactical Systems
General Dynamics, Land Systems - Canada

e-mail: [email protected]
Tel: (519) 964-5900 ext. 6773
Fax: (519) 964-5210

 

Hello Paul;
Here is a link to a military-speced PLC+HMI that we examined for one of our projects. Never got to use, finally, so I can't comment further.
http://www.industcomputing.com/ruggedplc.html

Hope this helps,
Daniel Chartier

 

Hello,

A few years back the company linked below used to advertise there control processors as PLCs but now they seem to be calling them DCS so this may not be what you are looking for. One of there claims to fame when I was looking at them was that they were somehow certified to be used in nuclear power plants.

http://www.rtpcorp.com/site/content.aspx?cid=13

Larry

 

You haven't said how many I/O or what features you need. If we assume though that you just need a small PLC with no special features, then the Siemens has an extended temperature range version of the regular S7-200 series called the SiPlus series.

Temperature range = -25C to +70C.
Input Voltage = 20.4V to 28.8V.
For the inputs, logic "1" is greater than 15V, logic zero is less than 5V.
For your application, you are also going to want to look at the mechanical shock and vibration ratings.

The boards are conformal coated, but the PLC has a ventilated plastic case. If you are going to use any conventional off the shelf industrial PLC, you are going to need to put it in an enclosure to protect it from physical damage, as well as protecting the wiring terminations.

The above doesn't strictly meet your specs, but Siemens might be able to re-qualify the specs or modify the product to meet your range. Your local Siemens dealer is Axiom (near Highbury and Bradley).

As for "support(ing) military applications", I would be very surprised if any PLC manufacturer did. Vehicle applications for a general purpose PLC are fairly small, and military vehicles are an even smaller and more specialised market sub-set. I don't know what this "support" would consist of, and likely they don't either.

As far as specs and packaging themselves go though, I don't know if you can really do better than Ifm-effector. If one of your customers is requiring that the hardware for their contract must come from a list of existing qualified vendors, then you might consider looking at using a vehicle mount computer with a soft logic system (PLC emulator in software). If the problem is long term support for parts and service, that may be your best bet.

 

I am also looking for ruggedized PLC's. We are currently using Automationdirect D0-05's with 8 inputs, 6 outputs and an 4 channel analog input card. We are using them on berry harvesters. They're actually pretty good, their impact and shock ratings are good. However, as I found out this morning, they don't take a hosing very well. They're currently in a fairly well sealed console but I'm thinking a tighter enclosure might be necesary. So the challenge would become operating temperature and air flow. Any ideas what brand PLC's would stand up to that kind of environment better?

 

In reply to Tom Rabe - Standard industrial PLCs aren't intended to be hosed down, but they can be put into sealed enclosures which are intended to be hosed down. The food processing industry use these enclosures extensively, as they have to wash down their equipment quite regularly. The enclosures used by the food industry are stainless steel or plastic (for corrosion resistance), but the equivalent in ordinary painted enclosures may be good enough (I don't know if the seals are a different material). I haven't worked in the food industry, so I can't give you details on this. I imagine the proper sealing of the cable glands is also quite important.

As for operating temperature and air flow, I previously mentioned that Siemens has an extended temperature range version of the regular S7-200 series called the SiPlus series. Temperature range is -25C to +70C. The problem might be the operating voltage range, which is still the standard industrial range (20.4V to 28.8V).

The AD DL-05 is rated for 12 to 24 volts, which might work better for your vehicle mount application. I don't know what else is in your enclosure, but I expect the heat generated by the DL-05 itself should be fairly negligible, so you may not need ventilation. The DL-05 specs list a maximum temperature rating of 55C.

The enclosure manufacturer should have equations or software which will let you calculate how much cooling you can get from conduction through the enclosure walls. Possibly, the biggest problem may be ambient sunlight heating the enclosure rather than heat generated by the PLC itself. You may need to seal the cabinet fairly well, and then provided well baffled ventilation which resists water ingress.

Another possibility is to simply put the PLC into its own sealed enclosure inside the existing one. You can get plastic electrical enclosures which are fairly compact. Some have transparent covers so you can see the PLC I/O without opening the box. This may not help however if water is a concern for anything else besides the PLC.

 

You can even use MIII from CROUZET, I have used them on Trains and also on buses

 

Take at look at Fairmount Automation PLC/PAC systems.