1. What Are the Operating Environment Specs On TRi PLCs?
| Temperature Operating (Super PLCs) Operating (Classic PLCs) Storage (All PLCs) |
-20 to +85 degree C 0 to +70 degree C -20 to +85 degree C |
| Electrical Noise resistance IEC801-4 (Fast transient) |
2KV to power supply, 50 microsecond pulse width, 1 minute. 1KV to I/O by capacitive coupling, 50 microsecond pulse width, |
| Vibration resistance IEC 68-2-6/1980 |
Vibration 1.6mm 25Hz to 100Hz Amplitude = +1. acceleration = + 4.0g |
2. Do TRi PLCs Have UL or CE Approval?
All TRi PLCs carry CE marking for conforming to the requirement of provision s in the EMC Directive 89/336/EEC as amended by 92/31/EEC, 93/68/EEC and 93/97/EEC.
As TRi PLCs operate below the current threshhold stipulated for UL Class 2 device, it does not need UL listing and approval for safe operation. This has no impact on the equipment that require UL certification since many of our PLCs have already been deployed in equipment and machinery that have undergone UL certification.
3. Do TRi PLCs Comply with the IEC61131-2 Standard?
TRi PLCs are designed and built to comply to applicable sections in the IEC61131-2 standard, and are intended to be used in industrial environments. As per the IEC61131-2 standard, our PLCs are designed to safely operate within the specified operating temperature, voltage and current ranges and they are built to withstand momentarily over voltage, over current, reverse polarity and environmental contamination up to pollution degree 2 with no safety issues. Various tests are conducted during design and manufacturing to ensure the PLCs operate properly within their stated specifications.
However, at the moment TRi PLCs are not yet externally certified as a UL-listed component. But that would not prevent their use in most of the UL listed OEM equipment. We have many OEM users who have incorporated TRi PLCs in their UL-listed or even FAA certified equipment and, regardless of certification requirements, have deployed these products in a variety of industrial environments. A few examples of the range of industrial environments in which TRi PLCs have been deployed are: airline (FAA), oil and gas (class 1 division 2 explosion proof), automobile finishing (class 1 hazardous), elevator control.
The actual technical requirement of the PLC would be dependent on the particular UL standard applicable to the industry in which the OEM equipment is built to operate. You can inquire with your UL rep for any specific technical requirement that the PLC must meet in order to satisfy the applicable UL standard and we would be able to advise you if the PLC is suitable for the application, and what, if any, external protections may need to be added.
4. Can I Do Floating Point Computation on My PLC?
Yes the new Fx2424 and Fx1616-BA as well as customized PLC made with the SmartTILE all support IEEE754 single-precision floating point computation. i-TRiLOGI version 7 is required to write program using floating-point variables and math.
The FMD series (and M-series), and Nano-10 PLCs only compute using 32-bit integer arithmetics and do not support floating point computation. They are only programmable using i-TRiLOGI version 6 software.
Note that many computational task that seems to involve floating point math can also be handled using "fixed point" math, in which case a unit integer represents, say 0.01, and since a 32-bit integer can represent numbers of up to +/- 2 billion you can get a lot of fractional arithmetics computation done this way.
5. How Do I Select the Right TRi PLC to Meet My Need for I/Os, Timers Counters etc?
You can check the selection chart for each PLC family for an overall view of the number of digital I/Os, analog I/O, serial/Ethernet comm ports, etc available to the PLCs. Then go the "Product Home" page and select the respective PLC family and then select the PLC model of interest for viewing.
We have made all hardware manuals available online for all the PLC and peripherals, including installation guide, user manual, programmer's reference etc. So be sure to find them when you browse the detail for each PLC model.
We have a comparison chart for our Super PLCs that lists a summary of specs for each model below:
Fx-series / FMD series / EZWire1616 / Nano-10 |
6. What's the Difference Between a PAC (Programmable Automation Controller) and a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller)?
PAC was a newly coined term in the last few years to describe more sophisticated controllers that share the same hardware architecture as the 'Win-Tel' PC. These PAC were better equipped in terms of capability than traditional microcontrollers. They often operated on more advanced microprocessors and programming languages. Even though the TRi Fx-series, FMD series (and M-series), and Nano-10 'Super PLCs' are not based on PC architecture, they do, however offer lots of features that are found in a typical PAC and suit the control needs for many different industries.