PLC History

[piapia]

did you email =S= as they are the ones that will have it

Yes, I email to Shneider. They can suport from 984 model.
thx

Are you sure that you used Google?
Controleng.com has an interesting read.
Here

I have this data but there is no details.
thx

http://www.plcdev.com/plc_timeline

That one is a good read, but it gives you some key points in time to research individually.

Good luck on your assignment. I had the same one! It was a powerpoint and 5 minute presentation I believe.

I have this one.
thx

 

[piapia]

Dear All,
Do You have any picture/document how was programming first PLC ? ex. Modicon 084

br
Peter

 

[sigmadelta]

I have personally worked with 5TI, PM550, TI100, TI500, TI510. I have a contact who still has a Texas Instruments VPU (hopefully still functioning). Just in case there is anyone out there with one of these older controllers.

 

[Phil Buchanan]

Yes!!! That's the one. It sure brings back some memories.

It was not the first PLC but it seems like it may have been one of the first small PLCs, less of a computer.

I found this on Texas Instruments website:

1974

TI introduced the cost-competitive 5TI Programmable Control System for small manufacturers who previously couldn't justify the high-cost of solid-state control. The cost was directly comparable to a conventional 15-to 20-relay control panel, yet the system delivered all the operating cost benefits and flexibility of solid-state controls.

Previous programmable controllers were designed essentially for sophisticated machinery. For the first time, the new control system made solid state practical for ordinary machinery performing such tasks as injection molding, materials handling, testing, grinding and drilling. Machine operators required no special computer or software knowledge, just an understanding of conventional ladder logic diagrams or Boolean equations to learn to program the 5TI.

Images and some more info
http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=172

I know of a manufacturing plant here in the metro Atlanta area that still has a ton of these things running their day to day operations. The Maintenance group has 2 or 3 of the hand programmers and 2 of the cassette taps loaders in the big aluminum briefcase.

A lot of salesmen and Integrators have been trying to get them to upgrade for years but so far no one has been successful.

 

[jraef]

Dear All,
Do You have any picture/document how was programming first PLC ? ex. Modicon 084

br
Peter

The 084 was the first to use ladder programming, but was done on a computer terminal using ASCII characters as ladder elements. I'm not exactly sure what they used but Bedford Associates, who spawned Modicon, were integrators for DEC so it's likely that they used something like a DEC VT100 terminal. You can do an image search for that to see what one looked like.

 

[Oo-v-oO]

Yes!!! That's the one. It sure brings back some memories.

It was not the first PLC but it seems like it may have been one of the first small PLCs, less of a computer.

I found this on Texas Instruments website:

1974

TI introduced the cost-competitive 5TI Programmable Control System for small manufacturers who previously couldn't justify the high-cost of solid-state control. The cost was directly comparable to a conventional 15-to 20-relay control panel, yet the system delivered all the operating cost benefits and flexibility of solid-state controls.

Previous programmable controllers were designed essentially for sophisticated machinery. For the first time, the new control system made solid state practical for ordinary machinery performing such tasks as injection molding, materials handling, testing, grinding and drilling. Machine operators required no special computer or software knowledge, just an understanding of conventional ladder logic diagrams or Boolean equations to learn to program the 5TI.

Images and some more info
http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=172

We inherited a couple of 600 ton downacting molding presses from a company we bought out that had 5TI controls. We used the VPU (about the size of a large suitcase) that we already had for the 520s and 530s to program them.
The 5TIs didn't have a watchdog timer, so they would just lose part of the program occasionally and not drop out of run or generate a fault. The press would just get to the point in the cycle where the logic ended and go no further.
Retrofitting controls for those two presses and another two that had Modicon 584s was my first big PLC / HMI project. We installed Automation Direct 305s and Zoid operator interfaces. Much better!

I also remember that some of our finishing equipment way back when had the very first TI "brick" controllers, with I/O built into the CPU as one. They were relatively thin but had a footprint about as big as a laptop. Can't remember the model number right now... I know it wasn't the 315, that came later.