Particle counter, anyone?

Thread Starter

strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
I'm looking at taking some side work and I have very little idea what it's about at this point. I have a meeting later today to discuss it but I would like to be able to speak intelligently about it. I was told only very basic info from a non-technical type. He said it involved PLC programming for a particle counter. I thought he was talking about some kind of device for the Nuclear industry. I've done some preliminary research and realized he's probably talking about a device that measures contaminants in hydraulic fluid or in clean room air. I've found that some companies are making 4-20mA remote particle counters for this purpose, and that's probably where the PLC comes in.

So does anybody know how these devices are normally used? I'm picturing a network of detectors in various areas of a clean room facility connected to central server that stores logs of data and sends email alerts upon high levels of contamination. Am I barking up the right tree?
 

Thread Starter

strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
I've just come back from the meeting and it is a particle counter to sample from multiple points in a liquid chemical plant.

The particle counter sends info to the PLC via ASCII serial and the PLC controls solenoids to purge and select sample points.
 

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,220
I've just come back from the meeting and it is a particle counter to sample from multiple points in a liquid chemical plant.

The particle counter sends info to the PLC via ASCII serial and the PLC controls solenoids to purge and select sample points.
Is this going to be a one time thing?
 

MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,619
This is commonly known as CIM, Computer Integrated Manufacturing.
There are a few formal system available, but the smaller systems can start small with DIY systems such as this.
Also NI, National Instruments have a system.
Max.
 
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