Motor Starter

While the lighting control system previously discussed is useful to explain basic PLC operation,
a more practical, and only slightly more complex, application is start-stop control of an AC
motor. Before examining the PLC program, first consider a hard-wired approach.

Basic PLC program for control of a three-phase AC motor - for beginners (on photo: Simatic S7-
1500 PLC; credit: SIEMENS)

The following line diagram illustrates how a normally open and a normally closed pushbutton
might be connected to control a three-phase AC motor.

In this example, a motor starter coil (M) is wired in series with a normally open, momentary
Start pushbutton, a normally closed, momentary Stop pushbutton, and normally closed overload
relay (OL) contacts.
Motor starter wiring diagram

Momentarily pressing the Start pushbutton completes the path for current flow and energizes the
motor starter (M). This closes the associated M and Ma (auxiliary contact located in the motor
starter) contacts.

When the Start button is released, current continues to flow through the Stop button and the
Ma contact, and the M coil remains energized.

The motor will run until the normally closed Stop button is pressed, unless the overload relay
(OL) contacts open. When the Stop button is pressed, the path for current flow is interrupted,
opening the associated M and Ma contacts, and the motor stops.
This is how hard-wired motor starter functions. Now, let’s discuss a little bit about PLC
running the same //

 PLC and motor control application

 PLC program operation
 Adding Run and Stop indicator lights to program
 Adding a limit switch to program
 Further expansion of a PLC program

PLC and motor control application

This motor control application can also be accomplished with a PLC. In the following example,
a normally open Start pushbutton is wired to the first input (I0.0), a normally closed Stop
pushbutton is wired to the second input (I0.1), and normally closed overload relay contacts (part
of the motor starter) are connected to the third input (I0.2).

These inputs are used to control normally open contacts in a line of ladder logic programmed
into the PLC.

PLC Motor Control scheme

Initially, I0.1 status bit is a logic 1 because the normally closed (NC) Stop Pushbutton is closed.
I0.2 status bit is a logic 1 because the normally closed (NC) overload relay (OL) contacts are
closed. I0.0 status bit is a logic 0, however, because the normally open Start pushbutton has not
been pressed.
Normally open output Q0.0 contact is also programmed on Network as a sealing contact. With
this simple network, energizing output coil Q0.0 is required to turn on the motor.

Go back to main topics ↑

<="" ins="" data-adsbygoogle-status="done">

PLC program operation

When the Start pushbutton is pressed, the CPU receives a logic from input I0.0. This causes the
I0.0 contact to close. All three inputs are now a logic . The CPU sends a logic to output Q0.0.
The motor starter is energized and the motor starts.

PLC Program Operation

The output status bit for Q0.0 is now a . On the next scan, when normally open contact Q0.0 is
solved, the contact will close and output Q0.0 will stay on even if the Start pushbutton is
released.

PLC Program Operation

When the Stop pushbutton is pressed: input I0.0 turns off, the I0.0 contact opens, output coil
Q0.0 de-energizes, and the motor turns off.

PLC Program Operation

Go back to main topics ↑

Adding Run and Stop indicator lights

The application can be easily expanded to include indicator lights for run and stop
conditions. In this example, a RUN indicator light is connected to output Q0. and a STOP
indicator light is connected to output Q0.2.

The ladder logic for this application includes normally open Q0.0 contact connected on Network
2 to output coil Q0. and normally closed Q0.0 contact connected on Network 3 to output coil
Q0.2. When Q0.0 is off, the normally open Q0.0 contact on Network 2 is open and the RUN
indicator off. At the same time, the normally closed Q0.0 contact is closed and the STOP
indicator is on.
Adding Run and Stop Indicator Lights

When the Start button is pressed, the PLC starts the motor. Output Q0.0 is now on.
Normally open Q0.0 contact on Network 2 is now closed and the RUN indicator is on. At the
same time, the normally closed Q0.0 contact on Network 3 is open and the STOP indicator light
connected to output Q0.2 is off.

Adding Run and Stop Indicator Lights

Go back to main topics ↑

Adding a limit switch

The application can be further expanded by adding a limit switch. The limit switch could be used
in this application for a variety of functions. For example, the limit switch could be used to stop
the motor or prevent the motor from being started.

In this example, the limit switch is associated with an access door to the motor or its associated
equipment. The limit switch is connected to input I0.3 and controls a normally open contact in
the program. If the access door is open, limit switch LS is open and normally open contact I0.3 is
also open. This prevents the motor from starting.

Adding a Limit Switch

When the access door is closed, limit switch LS is closed and normally open contact I0.3 is also
closed. This allows the motor to start when the Start pushbutton is pressed.
Adding a Limit Switch

Go back to main topics ↑

Further expansion of a PLC program

The PLC program can be further expanded to accommodate a wide variety of commercial
and industrial applications.

Start/Stop pushbuttons, selector switches, indicator lights, and signaling columns can be added.
Motor starters can be added for control of additional motors. Over-travel limit switches can be
added along with proximity switches for sensing object position. Various types of relays can be
added to expand the variety of devices being controlled.

As needed, expansion modules can be added to further increase the I/O capability. The
applications are only limited by the number of I/Os and amount of memory available for the
PLC.
Further expansion of a PLC program

Go back to main topics ↑

Reference // The basics of PLCs by SIEMENS

Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC)
Chapter 6 - Ladder Logic

Before the advent of solid-state logic circuits, logical control systems were designed and built
exclusively around electromechanical relays. Relays are far from obsolete in modern design, but
have been replaced in many of their former roles as logic-level control devices, relegated most
often to those applications demanding high current and/or high voltage switching.

Systems and processes requiring “on/off” control abound in modern commerce and industry, but
such control systems are rarely built from either electromechanical relays or discrete logic gates.
Instead, digital computers fill the need, which may be programmed to do a variety of logical
functions.

The History of Programmable Logic Controllers

In the late 1960’s an American company named Bedford Associates released a computing device
they called the MODICON. As an acronym, it meant Modular Digital Controller, and later
became the name of a company division devoted to the design, manufacture, and sale of these
special-purpose control computers. Other engineering firms developed their own versions of this
device, and it eventually came to be known in non-proprietary terms as a PLC, or Programmable
Logic Controller. The purpose of a PLC was to directly replace electromechanical relays as logic
elements, substituting instead a solid-state digital computer with a stored program, able to
emulate the interconnection of many relays to perform certain logical tasks.

Ladder Logic and Programming PLCs

A PLC has many “input” terminals, through which it interprets “high” and “low” logical states
from sensors and switches. It also has many output terminals, through which it outputs “high”
and “low” signals to power lights, solenoids, contactors, small motors, and other devices lending
themselves to on/off control. In an effort to make PLCs easy to program, their programming
language was designed to resemble ladder logic diagrams. Thus, an industrial electrician or
electrical engineer accustomed to reading ladder logic schematics would feel comfortable
programming a PLC to perform the same control functions.

PLCs are industrial computers, and as such their input and output signals are typically 120 volts
AC, just like the electromechanical control relays they were designed to replace. Although some
PLCs have the ability to input and output low-level DC voltage signals of the magnitude used in
logic gate circuits, this is the exception and not the rule.

Signal connection and programming standards vary somewhat between different models of PLC,
but they are similar enough to allow a “generic” introduction to PLC programming here. The
following illustration shows a simple PLC, as it might appear from a front view. Two screw
terminals provide connection to 120 volts AC for powering the PLC’s internal circuitry, labeled
L1 and L2. Six screw terminals on the left-hand side provide connection to input devices, each
terminal representing a different input “channel” with its own “X” label. The lower-left screw
terminal is a “Common” connection, which is generally connected to L2 (neutral) of the 120
VAC power source.

Inside the PLC housing, connected between each input terminal and the Common terminal, is an
opto-isolator device (Light-Emitting Diode) that provides an electrically isolated “high” logic
signal to the computer’s circuitry (a photo-transistor interprets the LED’s light) when there is
120 VAC power applied between the respective input terminal and the Common terminal. An
indicating LED on the front panel of the PLC gives visual indication of an “energized” input:
Output signals are generated by the PLC’s computer circuitry activating a switching device
(transistor, TRIAC, or even an electromechanical relay), connecting the “Source” terminal to any
of the “Y-” labeled output terminals. The “Source” terminal, correspondingly, is usually
connected to the L1 side of the 120 VAC power source. As with each input, an indicating LED
on the front panel of the PLC gives visual indication of an “energized” output:
In this way, the PLC is able to interface with real-world devices such as switches and solenoids.

The actual logic of the control system is established inside the PLC by means of a computer
program. This program dictates which output gets energized under which input conditions.
Although the program itself appears to be a ladder logic diagram, with switch and relay symbols,
there are no actual switch contacts or relay coils operating inside the PLC to create the logical
relationships between input and output. These are imaginary contacts and coils, if you will. The
program is entered and viewed via a personal computer connected to the PLC’s programming
port.

Consider the following circuit and PLC program:

When the pushbutton switch is unactuated (unpressed), no power is sent to the X1 input of the
PLC. Following the program, which shows a normally-open X1 contact in series with a Y1 coil,
no “power” will be sent to the Y1 coil. Thus, the PLC’s Y1 output remains de-energized, and the
indicator lamp connected to it remains dark.

If the pushbutton switch is pressed, however, power will be sent to the PLC’s X1 input. Any and
all X1 contacts appearing in the program will assume the actuated (non-normal) state, as though
they were relay contacts actuated by the energizing of a relay coil named “X1”. In this case,
energizing the X1 input will cause the normally-open X1 contact will “close,” sending “power”
to the Y1 coil. When the Y1 coil of the program “energizes,” the real Y1 output will become
energized, lighting up the lamp connected to it:
It must be understood that the X1 contact, Y1 coil, connecting wires, and “power” appearing in
the personal computer’s display are all virtual. They do not exist as real electrical components.
They exist as commands in a computer program—a piece of software only—that just happens to
resemble a real relay schematic diagram.

Equally important to understand is that the personal computer used to display and edit the PLC’s
program is not necessary for the PLC’s continued operation. Once a program has been loaded to
the PLC from the personal computer, the personal computer may be unplugged from the PLC,
and the PLC will continue to follow the programmed commands. I include the personal computer
display in these illustrations for your sake only, in aiding to understand the relationship between
real-life conditions (switch closure and lamp status) and the program’s status (“power” through
virtual contacts and virtual coils).
Control System Behavior

The true power and versatility of a PLC is revealed when we want to alter the behavior of a
control system. Since the PLC is a programmable device, we can alter its behavior by changing
the commands we give it, without having to reconfigure the electrical components connected to
it. For example, suppose we wanted to make this switch-and-lamp circuit function in an inverted
fashion: push the button to make the lamp turn off, and release it to make it turn on. The
“hardware” solution would require that a normally-closed pushbutton switch be substituted for
the normally-open switch currently in place. The “software” solution is much easier: just alter
the program so that contact X1 is normally-closed rather than normally-open.

In the following illustration, we have the altered system shown in the state where the pushbutton
is unactuated (not being pressed):
In this next illustration, the switch is shown actuated (pressed):

One of the advantages of implementing logical control in software rather than in hardware is that
input signals can be re-used as many times in the program as is necessary. For example, take the
following circuit and program, designed to energize the lamp if at least two of the three
pushbutton switches are simultaneously actuated:
To build an equivalent circuit using electromechanical relays, three relays with two normally-
open contacts each would have to be used, to provide two contacts per input switch. Using a
PLC, however, we can program as many contacts as we wish for each “X” input without adding
additional hardware, since each input and each output is nothing more than a single bit in the
PLC’s digital memory (either 0 or 1), and can be recalled as many times as necessary.

Furthermore, since each output in the PLC is nothing more than a bit in its memory as well, we
can assign contacts in a PLC program “actuated” by an output (Y) status. Take for instance this
next system, a motor start-stop control circuit:
The pushbutton switch connected to input X1 serves as the “Start” switch, while the switch
connected to input X2 serves as the “Stop.” Another contact in the program, named Y1, uses the
output coil status as a seal-in contact, directly, so that the motor contactor will continue to be
energized after the “Start” pushbutton switch is released. You can see the normally-closed
contact X2 appear in a colored block, showing that it is in a closed (“electrically conducting”)
state.

If we were to press the “Start” button, input X1 would energize, thus “closing” the X1 contact in
the program, sending “power” to the Y1 “coil,” energizing the Y1 output and applying 120 volt
AC power to the real motor contactor coil. The parallel Y1 contact will also “close,” thus
latching the “circuit” in an energized state:
Now, if we release the “Start” pushbutton, the normally-open X1 “contact” will return to its
“open” state, but the motor will continue to run because the Y1 seal-in “contact” continues to
provide “continuity” to “power” coil Y1, thus keeping the Y1 output energized:
To stop the motor, we must momentarily press the “Stop” pushbutton, which will energize the
X2 input and “open” the normally-closed “contact,” breaking continuity to the Y1 “coil:”
When the “Stop” pushbutton is released, input X2 will de-energize, returning “contact” X2 to its
normal, “closed” state. The motor, however, will not start again until the “Start” pushbutton is
actuated, because the “seal-in” of Y1 has been lost:
Fail-safe Design in PLC-Controlled Systems

An important point to make here is that fail-safe design is just as important in PLC-controlled
systems as it is in electromechanical relay-controlled systems. One should always consider the
effects of failed (open) wiring on the device or devices being controlled. In this motor control
circuit example, we have a problem: if the input wiring for X2 (the “Stop” switch) were to fail
open, there would be no way to stop the motor!

The solution to this problem is a reversal of logic between the X2 “contact” inside the PLC
program and the actual “Stop” pushbutton switch:
When the normally-closed “Stop” pushbutton switch is unactuated (not pressed), the PLC’s X2
input will be energized, thus “closing” the X2 “contact” inside the program. This allows the
motor to be started when input X1 is energized, and allows it to continue to run when the “Start”
pushbutton is no longer pressed. When the “Stop” pushbutton is actuated, input X2 will de-
energize, thus “opening” the X2 “contact” inside the PLC program and shutting off the motor.
So, we see there is no operational difference between this new design and the previous design.

However, if the input wiring on input X2 were to fail open, X2 input would de-energize in the
same manner as when the “Stop” pushbutton is pressed. The result, then, for a wiring failure on
the X2 input is that the motor will immediately shut off. This is a safer design than the one
previously shown, where a “Stop” switch wiring failure would have resulted in an inability to
turn off the motor.
In addition to input (X) and output (Y) program elements, PLCs provide “internal” coils and
contacts with no intrinsic connection to the outside world. These are used much the same as
“control relays” (CR1, CR2, etc.) are used in standard relay circuits: to provide logic signal
inversion when necessary.

To demonstrate how one of these “internal” relays might be used, consider the following
example circuit and program, designed to emulate the function of a three-input NAND gate.
Since PLC program elements are typically designed by single letters, I will call the internal
control relay “C1” rather than “CR1” as would be customary in a relay control circuit:

In this circuit, the lamp will remain lit so long as any of the pushbuttons remain unactuated
(unpressed). To make the lamp turn off, we will have to actuate (press) all three switches, like
this:

Advanced PLC Functionality

This section on programmable logic controllers illustrates just a small sample of their
capabilities. As computers, PLCs can perform timing functions (for the equivalent of time-delay
relays), drum sequencing, and other advanced functions with far greater accuracy and reliability
than what is possible using electromechanical logic devices. Most PLCs have the capacity for far
more than six inputs and six outputs. The following photograph shows several input and output
modules of a single Allen-Bradley PLC.
With each module having sixteen “points” of either input or output, this PLC has the ability to
monitor and control dozens of devices. Fit into a control cabinet, a PLC takes up little room,
especially considering the equivalent space that would be needed by electromechanical relays to
perform the same functions:
Remote Monitoring and Control of PLCs Via Digital Computer Networks

One advantage of PLCs that simply cannot be duplicated by electromechanical relays is remote
monitoring and control via digital computer networks. Because a PLC is nothing more than a
special-purpose digital computer, it has the ability to communicate with other computers rather
easily. The following photograph shows a personal computer displaying a graphic image of a
real liquid-level process (a pumping, or “lift,” station for a municipal wastewater treatment
system) controlled by a PLC. The actual pumping station is located miles away from the personal
computer display: