Micro PLC offers expansion card slots, low price

The newest member of the DirectLogic line of programmable logic controllers, the DL06, is an expandable micro PLC that combines 20 inputs and 16 outputs of fixed I/O points, with up to four option card slots for discrete, analog, and communication modules, providing up to 100 total I/O points.

This new PLC family builds on a 20-year history of PLCs designed and manufactured by Koyo (Tokyo, Japan). Suppliers such as GE, GE Fanuc, Texas Instruments, and Siemens have private labeled Koyo PLCs since the early 1980s. In 1994, Koyo began to market its PLCs through what’s now AutomationDirect (Cumming, Ga.).

The DL06 is offered in a variety of fixed I/O combinations and power supply options, including eight models of either ac- or dc-supplied units with combinations of ac, dc or relay I/O. The same PLC panel layout can be used for all applications from 36 to 100 I/O points. Prices start at $199.

“The new DL06 micro PLC provides incredible features not found in other micro PLCs, and it’s offered at half the price of the competition,” says Tim Hohmann, founder and company captain of AutomationDirect. Mr. Hohmann says the features and price make the DL06 the “best choice for a large variety of applications.”

Built-in autotune

Other features include 14.8K total memory, a built-in real-time clock/calendar and 229 instructions, including eight PID loops with automatic loop scheduling and charts to fill out for alarms and ramp/soak profiles. Built-in autotune capability allows the CPU to determine the near-optimum loop settings, based on the process time constant when the autotune procedure is performed. The DL06 also offers two communication ports for programming and operator interface connectivity, as well as RS-232/422/485 networking, ASCII in/out, and Modbus RTU master/slave.

This micro has integrated high-speed inputs up to 7 kHz and pulse outputs up to 10 kHz, along with four external interrupts or pulse catch inputs at a minimum pulse width of 100 microsec.

A new line of miniature I/O modules (3 x 21/8 in.) can be installed into the four option card slots of the DL06. Nine different discrete option card modules, starting at $42, are available in 8-, 10-, and 16-point input, output and combination models. These are offered in dc and relay versions and include removable terminal blocks, or can be used with several pre-wired terminal block and cabling systems for the 16-point models.

Four analog option cards modules are available, starting at $79, including a 4-channel input model, and combination modules in 2-channel input/ 2-channel output and 4-channel Input/2-channel output versions. All modules include jumper selectable ranges for 0-20 mA and 4-20 mA, along with 0-5 V and 0-10 V versions. A $75 DeviceNet slave module can connect to any DeviceNet Master and turn this micro PLC into a smart node capable of executing local logic or serving as simple slave I/O.

Snap-on display

An LCD panel priced at $59, featuring two rows by 16 characters, snaps onto the front of the unit. It contains seven function keys and supports password functions for changing data register set- points, and allows setting date and time from the keypad. User-defined messages can be programmed in the ladder logic for display on the LCD panel.

DirectSoft32 programming software supports more than 220 instructions, including floating-point math, for/next loops, drum timer, subroutines, immediate I/O, and ASCII in/out instructions. Programming can be done in ladder logic or RLL Plus Stage, which combines ladder with flowchart-style programming.

For more information go to www.controleng.com/freeinfo . Visit AutomationDirect at www.automationdirect.com .

Author Information

Gary A. Mintchell, senior editor gmintchell@cahners.com

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