4.5 Programmable Logic Controllers

A programmable logic controller (PLC) is a microprocessor-based control unit designed for an industrial installation (housing, terminals, ambient resistance, fault tolerance) in a power switchboard to control machinery or an industrial process. It consists of a CPU with memories and an I/O interface housed either in a compact box or in modules plugged in a frame and connected with proprietary buses. The compact box starts with about 16 I/O interfaces, while the module design can have thousands of I/O interfaces. Isolated inputs usually recognize industrial logic, 24 V DC or main AC voltage, while outputs are provided either with isolated solid state switches (24 V for solenoid valves and contactors) or with relays. Screw terminal boards represent connection facilities, which are preferred in PLCs to wire them to the controlled systems. I/O logical levels can be indicated with LEDs near to terminals.

Since PLCs are typically utilized to replace relays, they execute Boolean (bit, logical) operations and timer/counter functions (a finite state automaton). Analog I/O, integer or even floating point arithmetic, PWM outputs, and RTC are implemented in up-to-date PLCs. A PLC works by continually scanning a program, such as machine code, that is interpreted by an embedded microprocessor (CPU). The scan time is the time it takes to check the input status, to execute all branches (all individual rungs of a ladder

diagram) of the program using internal (state) bit variables if any, and to update the output status. The scan time is dependent on the complexity of the program (milliseconds or tens of msec). The next scan operation either follows the previous one immediately (free running) or starts periodically.

Programming languages for PLCs are described in IEC-1131-3 nomenclature:

LD—ladder diagram (see Fig. 4.5)

IL—instruction list (an assembler)

SFC—sequential function chart (usually called by the proprietary name GRAFCET)

ST—structured text (similar to a high level language)

FBD—function block diagram

PLCs are programmed using cross-compiling and debugging tools running on a PC or with programming terminals (usually using IL), both connected with a serial link. Remote operator panels can serve as a human-to-machine interface. A new alternate concept (called SoftPLC) consists of PLC-like I/O modules controlled by an industrial PC, built in a touch screen operator panel.

4.6 Digital Communications

Intercommunication among mechatronics subsystems plays a key role in their engagement of applica-tions, both of fixed and flexible configuration (a car, a hi-fi system, a fixed manufacturing line versus a flexible plant, a wireless pico-net of computer peripheral devices). It is clear that digital communication depends on the designers demands for the amount of transferred data, the distance between the systems, and the requirements on the degree of data reliability and security.

The signal is represented by alterations of amplitude, frequency, or phase. This is accomplished by changes in voltage/current in metallic wires or by electromagnetic waves, both in radiotransmission and infrared optical transmission (either “wireless” for short distances or optical fibers over fairly long distances). Data rate or bandwidth varies from 300 b/s (teleprinter), 3.4 kHz (phone), 144 kb/s (ISDN) to tens of Mb/s (ADSL) on a metallic wire (subscriber line), up to 100 Mb/s on a twisted pair (LAN), about 30–100 MHz on a microwave channel, 1 GHz on a coaxial cable (trunk cable network, cable TV), and up to tens of Gb/s on an optical cable (backbone network).

Data transmission employs complex methods of digital modulation, data compression, and data protection against loss due to noise interference, signal distortion, and dropouts. Multilayer standard protocols (ISO/OSI 7-layer reference model or Internet 4-layer group of protocols including well-known TCP/IP), “partly hardware, partly software realized,” facilitate an understanding between communication systems. They not only establish connection on a utilizable speed, check data transfer, format and compress data, but can make communication transparent for an application. For example, no difference can be seen between local and remote data sources. An example of a multilayer communication concept is depicted in Fig. 4.6.

Depending on the number of users, the communication is done either point-to-point (RS-232C from PC COM port to an instrument), point-to-multipoint (buses, networks), or even as a broadcasting (radio). Data are transferred using either switched connection (telephone network) or packet switching (computer networks, ATM). Bidirectional transmission can be full duplex (phone, RS-232C) or semi-duplex (most of digital networks). Concerning the link topology, a star connection or a tree connection employs a device (“master”) mastering communication in the main node(s). A ring connection usually requires Token Passing method and a bus communication is controlled with various methods such as Master-Slave pooling, with or without Token Passing, or by using an indeterministic access (CSMA/CD in Ethernet).

An LPT PC port, SCSI for computer peripherals, and GPIB (IEEE-488) for instrumentation serve as examples of parallel (usually 8-bit) communication available for shorter distances (meters). RS-232C, RS-485, I²C, SPI, USB, and Firewire (IEEE-1394) represent serial communication, some of which can bridge long distance (up to 1 km). Serial communication can be done either asynchronously using start and stop bits within transfer frame or synchronously using included synchronization bit patterns, if necessary. Both unipolar and bipolar voltage levels are used to drive either unbalanced lines (LPT, GPIB vs. RS-232C) or balanced twisted-pair lines (CAN vs. RS-422, RS-485).

5

An Introduction to Micro- and Nanotechnology

5.1 Introduction

Originally arising from the development of processes for fabricating microelectronics, micro-scale devices are typically classified according not only to their dimensional scale, but their composition and manu-facture. Nanotechnology is generally considered as ranging from the smallest of these micro-scale devices down to the assembly of individual molecules to form molecular devices. These two distinct yet over-lapping fields of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and nanosystems or nanotechnology share a common set of engineering design considerations unique from other more typical engineering systems. Two major factors distinguish the existence, effectiveness, and development of micro-scale and nano-scale transducers from those of conventional scale. The first is the physics of scaling and the second is the suitability of manufacturing techniques and processes. The former is governed by the laws of physics and is thus a fundamental factor, while the latter is related to the development of manufacturing technology, which is a significant, though not fundamental, factor. Due to the combination of these factors, effective micro-scale transducers can often not be constructed as geometrically scaled-down versions of conventional-scale transducers.

The Physics of Scaling

The dominant forces that influence micro-scale devices are different from those that influence their conventional-scale counterparts. This is because the size of a physical system bears a significant influence on the physical phenomena that dictate the dynamic behavior of that system. For example, larger-scale systems are influenced by inertial effects to a much greater extent than smaller-scale systems, while smaller systems are influenced more by surface effects. As an example, consider small insects that can stand on the surface of still water, supported only by surface tension. The same surface tension is present when

humans come into contact with water, but on a human scale the associated forces are typically insignif-icant. The world in which humans live is governed by the same forces as the world in which these insects live, but the forces are present in very different proportions. This is due in general to the fact that inertial forces typically act in proportion to volume, and surface forces typically in proportion to surface area. Since volume varies with the third power of length and area with the second, geometrically similar but smaller objects have proportionally more area than larger objects.

Exact scaling relations for various types of forces can be obtained by incorporating dimensional analysis techniques [1–5]. Inertial forces, for example, can be dimensionally represented as Fi =rL³ x , where Fi is a generalized inertia force, ρ is the density of an object, L is a generalized length, and xis a displacement. This relationship forms a single dimensionless group, given by

Scaling with geometric and kinematic similarity can be expressed as

where L represents the length scale, x the kinematic scale, t the time scale, the subscript o the original system, and the s represents the scaled system. Since physical similarity requires that the dimensionless group (P) remain invariant between scales, the force relationship is given by Fs/Fo = N⁴, assuming that the intensive property (density) remains invariant (i.e., ρs = ρo). An inertial force thus scales as N ⁴, where N is the geometric scaling factor. Alternately stated, for an inertial system that is geometrically smaller by a factor of N, the force required to produce an equivalent acceleration is smaller by a factor of N ⁴. A similar analysis shows that viscous forces, dimensionally represented by Fv = µLx˙, scale as N², assuming the viscosity µ remains invariant, and elastic forces, dimensionally represented by F= ELx, scale as N²,

e

assuming the elastic modulus E remains invariant. Thus, for a geometrically similar but smaller system, inertial forces will become considerably less significant with respect to viscous and elastic forces.

General Mechanisms of Electromechanical Transduction

The fundamental mechanism for both sensing and actuation is energy transduction. The primary forms of physical electromechanical transduction can be grouped into two categories. The first is multicomponent transduction, which utilizes “action at a distance” behavior between multiple bodies, and the second is deformation-based or solid-state transduction, which utilizes mechanics-of-material phenomena such as crystalline phase changes or molecular dipole alignment. The former category includes electromagnetic transduction, which is typically based upon the Lorentz equation and Faraday’s law, and electrostatic interaction, which is typically based upon Coulomb’s law. The latter category includes piezoelectric effects, shape memory alloys, and magnetostrictive, electrostrictive, and photostrictive materials. Although mate-rials exhibiting these properties are beginning to be seen in a limited number of research applications, the development of micro-scale systems is currently dominated by the exploitation of electrostatic and electromagnetic interactions. Due to their importance, electrostatic and electromagnetic transduction is treated separately in the sections that follow.

Sensor and Actuator Transduction Characteristics

Characteristics of concern for both microactuator and microsensor technology are repeatability, the ability to fabricate at a small scale, immunity to extraneous influences, sufficient bandwidth, and if possible, linearity. Characteristics typically of concern specifically for microactuators are achievable force, displacement, power, bandwidth (or speed of response), and efficiency. Characteristics typically of con-cern specifically for microsensors are high resolution and the absence of drift and hysteresis.