We will make the automation of a labeling machine based on the M-Duino PLC from Industrialshields. The labeling machine will label bottles of a plant.
Hardware I: Equipment to be used Basically, the labeling machine system consists of:
- An M-Duino PLC: This controller is the heart of the system. It controls the display, generates interrupts, and controls the communication.
- A Panel PC: Used to read and display the status of the system over the Panel Pc.
- A detection Sensor: We will make use of optical fork sensors based on infrared (non visible) light sources because they are easy to be programmed and they allow us a manual adjustment to the sensitivity via potentiometer.
- A motor: The motor is used to fix a constant speed in the conveyor belt. –
- A relay: Used to activate the labeling piston.
Hardware II: System Regarding the system, in this section we will explain the interface between the M-Duino PLC and the other elements:
- We have one detection sensor that we will program it as a Digital Input. Each time a bottle is placed in fornt of the detector, the conveyor belt will stop and wait for label the bottle.
- The PLC will control the motion of the conveyor belt activating a motor through a relay. This will be programmed as a Digital Output.
- The PLC will control too the labeling piston. This system will be activated through a relay too, and therefore, programmed as a Digital Output too.
- As we made in other newsletters, the communication between Panel PC and the M-Duino will be made with I2C.
Furthermore, the system will be able to be stopped through the Panel PC. Let´s see a picture of the system to be automated: 
Software and code As we explained before, the system has a Panel PC which will allow us to visualize the system status (not implemented in this code) and stop the system whenever we need. The communication between the PLC and the Panel PC will be with I2C, so we will use the Wire library (you can get more information about the library here). The system will have 3 states:
- STOP: When the command is received from the Panel PC. This state will enable us to make maintenance activities on the system and other related tasks.
- Running and Bottle detected: When a bottle is detected, the system will stop the motor and activate the labeling piston.
- Running: This state activates the motor.
As in other newsletters, we recommend using Tesla Scada, which is able to work on Android systems. You can download the code here: 
Key Benefits The main benefits of the Opiron purposed solution are:
- Open Hardware: Which reliable, cheap and expandable
- Real time measurement: Panel PC enable users to visualize the system status and stop it easy.
- Easy to be integrated: If you plant has already installed an automation system, M-Duino can be integrated using Ethernet.
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Do you have a process to be automated? Contact Opiron to implement the entire solution and Industrialshields to buy the proper hardware.
