Joseph_F

We usually conformal coat all of our equipment before sending it out. I'll ask my boss if we've ever taken apart a screen that was out of warranty, but most of our work is done remotely, so our customers usually hold on to pieces of equipment if they've gone out of warranty.

Hello, kvlada! I believe the B10 would be better for HMI loading. This article shows that the B10s have twice as much Ram, which may help load those bulkier elements faster. I don't think you can "upgrade" to B10 features using the B10 OS because of this hardware difference. I couldn't find any information on differences in clock speeds between the two, though. Maybe it's the same? Try running a program on both PLCs that has one instruction: increment an UINT32 every scan. You should get a good idea of how fast both PLCs process information if you compare those numbers after letting it run for a minute.

Do "Operations" constitute every state change? Is a relay opening and a relay closing two separate operations? Is this for the card, or per terminal? Just trying to make sure I understand, thank you.

For clients who have experienced degradation of their screens (and for recent clientele), we have used Weintek screens with a VNC passthrough, instead of using Unitronics screens - both as the panel screens, and as VNC remote viewers located in different locations across the facility. We have also been placing our equipment in "clean rooms" with air purging / ventilation, and this has resulted in fewer maintenance calls related to screen malfunction. I called the clients I had referred to in the original post and asked them this! (Thanks for the idea 😃) However, they told me that they didn't see any corrosion on the outside of the panel / on the terminals. One client has their panel in a cleanroom with ventilation; another has his panel in the same room as the Seperators, but also has clean air pumped in and out of the room. I'm not sure whether this is an environment or PLC issue at this point - for now, though, we have found success using the Weintek screens. I've noticed that those screens have smaller ventilation on their backs compared to Unitronics screens. This may help in keeping corrosive gasses out of the internal circuitry. I'm not a hardware engineer, though, so this is just an idea.

Hello, all! I am currently performing preventative maintenance on a system running in a caustic environment. The solution is being driven by a USP-156-B10 Built-in HMI + PLC. I have noticed that, after a certain point, typically within a 3-5 year range, Unitronics brand panels used in such environments experience slower processing times / fault more frequently. My coworker and I believe this is due to the controller's close proximity to the environment when the panel door is opened, allowing the caustic air to corrode the system. On another system in a similar environment utilizing the UIS-WCB1, the screen lasted for about 4 years before going bad. Is this the life expectancy of such built-in style panels? Is this a result of being in a gaseous / caustic environment? If so, what are some steps that could be taken to remedy this? Thanks!