Programmable logic controller
US4178634A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 11, 1977 |
| Grant date | Dec 11, 1979 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 11, 1997 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG05B2219/162
- WIPO fieldControl
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A programmable logic controller includes a plurality of input interfaces and a plurality of output interfaces for connection to industrial equipment such as automatic assembly equipment, textile machinery, materials handling equipment, and chemical processes. The input and output circuits can be randomly addressed as to their state through an eight bit bus, which connects in parallel with up to 16 groups of eight input and/output circuits. The controller includes groups of timers which are each manually adjustable as to the timing operation and which are sequentially addressed each time a timing function is called for by the program. The timers are designed to be cascaded in groups to virtually any number of timers. The controller includes a scratch pad memory, half of which retains memory upon power failure and half of which does not. The control of the controller by the operator is made more nearly foolproof by interlocking the operations of control switches. Three programming instructions are available which are conditional upon the data in the accumulator of the controller.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.