October 2010
PAC has Internal Database
SoftPLC's
"Property Tables" make sorting, automated warehouse, and recipe
management applications easier and more efficient
All
SoftPLC controllers include an
embedded Internal Relational Database. Called "Property Tables",
the internal database allows crucial process data to be accessed in one
or two high speed program scans, rather than requiring the process to
wait for data to come over a communication network from an external
source (eg: another computer or
controller).
Property Tables open the door to a whole host of cost
savings by minimizing the steps and hardware required to store and
manage the data, as well as reducing processing time to move data from
one location to another. Having the data in the SoftPLC also
eliminates the need for an IT department to manage the hardware and
software for a separate database.
Controls engineers are finding many applications where this feature provides
more cost effective and efficient automation systems:
-
Warehousing applications
-
Sorting and/or shipping applications
-
Machines that build
multiple products
-
Processes that use recipes
-
Projects that require setting of
variables for configuration of a machine
-
Fast look-ups of
control values
-
Managing parameters for user developed ladder instructions
For
example, in a warehouse receiving application, a scan of the part's bar
code provides the part number to SoftPLC. The part number is the
key value of a property table. The property file holds the
location of the part
(eg: aisle, shelf and bin numbers).
A similar lookup can be performed on zipcode to obtain City and State
for automatic printing of a shipping label, or for high-speed mail
sorting by regional/district centers to obtain maximum discounts.
There are ladder instructions in SoftPLC that operate on property
files, such as retrieving a record based on the key and loading the
data into data table so that the SoftPLC's logic can use it to affect
the machine/process control.
SoftPLC is the only industrial controller which offers
this powerful and useful capability, and since all SoftPLC's have at
least 64MB user memory, capacity is not an issue. Properties are
partitioned into separate tables, called property files. You can have
up to 1000 property files, each with thousands of properties!
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SoftPLC Helps Provide a Healthy Diet
Application Story -
Property Tables in Action
Clients who want
to lose/manage their weight
subscribe to this company's managed menu plan, weekly ordering their
choice of meals via
the internet. Orders are stored in a SQL database.
At the beginning of each
production shift, SoftPLC downloads the new orders and customer
information from the database into Property Tables.

SoftPLC then runs the warehouse's automated "pick, pack,
print" system which uses bar codes in the Property Table entries to
load boxes with the proper items, seal the box, print the shipping
label and deliver it to the shipping area. The SQL database is
updated with the order status information.
This fully automated system eliminates the need for
constant back/forth communication between bar code scanners and the SQL
database, allowing the conveyors to run faster and without errors in
loading due to communication faults.
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