Allen-Bradley is known around the world for its Logix 5000 PLC product line. This product line is made up of CompactLogix and ControlLogix PLCs, which are designed to tackle large and medium-sized industrial automation applications.
But Allen-Bradley also manufactures a wide range of components that are designed for smaller applications.
In fact, in the last number of years, Allen Bradley has been investing heavily in its micro control portfolio and now has a portfolio of low-cost components that work together seamlessly and offer a good price-to-performance ratio.
In this article, I’ll introduce you to the products that make up Allen-Bradley’s micro control portfolio.
Why Micro Control Systems?
Allen-Bradley is investing in its micro control portfolio because the demand for small PLCs is growing.
This growth is driven by three factors.
First, the performance of small PLCs has improved greatly over the last few years. Many small PLCs are now capable of performing control that was only possible with large PLCs, such as process control and motion control.
Secondly, more systems are being designed in a modular way. Modular designs typically feature many small PLCs that control a subsystem and communicate with each other, instead of one large PLC that controls the full process.
Thirdly, small PLCs provide a way to add new functionality to older systems without a huge investment. This idea of bolting small PLCs to existing processes is very popular in Internet of Things applications, where a small PLC may be used to collect data, aggregate that data, and then send it to the cloud.
Now that we understand why small PLCs are becoming more popular, let’s have a look at Allen-Bradley’s micro control offering.
Allen-Bradley’s Connected Components
Allen-Bradley’s micro control offering is called Connected Components. This is a portfolio of low-cost products that integrate well together.
The key products in the Connected Components platform are;
- Micro800 PLCs
- PanelView800 HMIs
- PowerFlex drives
- Kinetix servo drives
- Configurable safety relays
These products can be combined to provide the control for small standalone machines and process skids.
A few years ago, the functionality of the Connected Components platform was very limited, but as the demand for small PLCs has grown, the platform has expanded to include more powerful controllers, better integration of components, and cloud connectivity.
Let’s look at a typical architecture of an Allen-Bradley Micro Control system to see how these components can be integrated into a system.
Micro Control Architecture
This diagram shows the architecture of a typical micro control system. In this example, there are several key components that deliver the functionality of the system.
The control is handled by a Micro800 PLC. These are cost-optimized, modular PLCs with an easy-to-use architecture.
Visualization is handled by PanelView800 HMIs. These HMIs offer high-performance displays in multiple sizes.
Motor control is handled by PowerFlex variable frequency drives and Kinetix Servo drives. PowerFlex drives offer a wide range of power control with communication options, and Kinetix servo drives provide a scalable, cost-effective drive for motion control.
Safety is handled by Guardmaster 440C-CR30 configurable safety relays.
Distributed IO is handled by Point IO modules. These are low-density IO modules that communicate with a PLC over an EtherNet/IP network.
The system is rounded out with other components like soft starters, motor protection devices, sensors, safety devices, and power supplies.
Connected Components Workbench
The real value of Rockwell Automation’s Connected Components offering is that all of the intelligent devices in a micro control system are programmed and configured in a single piece of software called Connected Components Workbench.
Since only one piece of software is used, development time and training requirements are reduced.
Rockwell Automation also provides a free library of reusable code blocks that can be used for common applications. This library of reusable code can speed up the integration of devices like Kinetix and Powerflex drives and enables cloud-connectivity through MQTT communication.
Wrap-Up
In this article, I explained what a micro control system is, why the demand for micro control systems is increasing, and explained how the products in Allen Bradley’s Connected Components portfolio can be combined to build a micro control system.
Micro control is a huge area of growth for both Rockwell Automation, who own the Allen Bradley brand, and PLC programmers in general.
If you want to learn more about how to build, program, configure, and test micro control systems with Micro800 PLCs, check out our PLC Programming from Scratch series of courses. This series teaches you everything you need to know about programming Micro800 PLCs from first principles in an easy to understand and digest way.
Your team can get access to this series and all of our other great courses with a RealPars Business membership. To learn more about RealPars Business, head over to realpars.com/business.
