What You Need to about PLC and the PLC Programming Languages

Best PLC Programming Course for Beginners

PLCs are everywhere in modern industries. Interacting with then successfully requires an intricate understanding of how they work. You must also possess the expertise to program them to work for you. There are many PLC courses designed for beginners. It is natural to want the best course.

Which Is the Best PLC Course on the Market?
PLC I, a course created by Paul Lynn available on Udemy. So far, 16,324 students have enrolled making it the best seller among the PLC courses on Udemy. PLC I is the first place to start before advancing to PLC-II, III, and IV, all by Paul Lynn.

His background includes industrial automation and design. In the past, he has worked on numerous projects within the realm of chemical processing and filtration. The course has an excellent rating at 4.6 highlighting its exceptional quality.

What People Have Said
A user observed that the course is clear, good, facilitated with resources, and guidelines.

“Best PLC course ever taken, absolutely worth it,” was another comment made regarding the course.

Another appreciative student found the course engaging enough and proceeded with PLC II-IV. A five-star reviewer also remarked on Paul’s excellent use of examples.

About the Course
The course includes 10 hours on-demand video, full lifetime access, Access on mobile and TV, 9 Articles, 19 Supplemental Resources and a Certificate of Completion. Some of the topics covered include PLC Programming Overview, IO (Inputs and Outputs), Data Management, Process Logic, and more.

PLC I offer novices with no prior programming experience with all the right tools and resources to get started. The programming language used is ladder logic, currently used by most modern platforms.

The course also includes the FactoryTalk View Studio and Rockwell software RSLogix 500 overview. These programs allow you to understand topics such as alarm/notification handling, emulation, ladder logic programming, and more areas available on the course’s profile.

Towards the end, Paul takes student systematically through the working of an entire PLC program and HMI, line by line. That allows the fulfillment of the primary objective that is giving a novice an understanding of PLC programming. In addition, the novice will learn about the inner workings of an HMI (Human-Machine Interface).

Summary of the Objective of the Course
The objectives of the course include enabling students to:

Create a PLC system program entirely from scratch
Explore standard controls such as pump control, HOA control, level control, and basic PID control loops
Differentiate analog and digital signals, bring them to the PLC, process and send them back
Understand alarm and notification programming
Familiarize themselves with ladder logic instructions
And more

Industries rely on robust systems for the production of various industrial products. With high demand for finished industrial products, it is impossible to fully rely on human beings so as to be able to run the operations. Hence, there is need to automate so as to meet the expectations on time and in the highest quality possible. This created the importance of having PLC run the industrial application. So what does PLC stand for and what is the role?

Meaning of PLC

PLC is an acronym for Programmable Logic Controller. In most cases, it can be thought of as an electronic device that is used in industries so as to be able to run systems. The role of PLC systems includes performing single specific tasks that include monitoring and controlling the building systems and the production processes of an industry. It is important to recognize the difference between the computer application/Smartphone applications and the PLC systems. The notable difference is that the PC systems are designed to run multiple roles at the same time.

However, a single PLC system will run a single set of tasks unless it is altered to run multiple tasks. Only under specific circumstances will the programmers of PLC`s make the system perform under abnormal constraints or what is referred to as real-time constraints and superior reliability and performance. PLC`s are used in the glass industry, the paper industry, and also in cement manufacturing. There are other several areas where the PLC`s are applied.


The PLC Programming Languages

Now that you know what the PLC applications are used for in the industrial setting, it is important to dive deeper into the Programmable Logic controllers so as to understand how they come to be. In short, What are the languages used to program the PLC`s? Here are the common PLC programming languages you need to know about/that you will commonly encounter.

Ladder Logic

This is the most common PLC programming language used in the world. The ladder logic PLC programming language was developed to mimic the relay logic. The Ladder Logic language is commonly used because it reduces the need to have engineers and the trade’s people onsite and therefore reducing the cost of operations. When the first ladder logic application was designed, it was based on the same semantics as the logic wiring eliminating the need to have electricians and technicians trained.


Mnemonic Instruction

This is an alternative PLC programming language and is one of the earliest. It is derived from the ladder logic diagrams and applied on the PLC through the programming terminal.



The Structured Text

The structured text is more like the common programming languages and can be compared to BASIC and Pascal. It is a high-level textual language just like those used in PC programming. Being intuitive for writing control algorithms, it is commonly used in PLC.

These are some of the basics you need to know about PLC. The above PLC programming languages can be easily learned and applied in the industries. They comprise some of the highly sought after skills in various areas within the manufacturing industry.

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