Technology is increasingly transforming industry practices, especially in the production sector. The competitiveness of organizations is closely linked to the optimization of production processes and control over each aspect of this chain. To provide a cohesive environment that operates in an aligned and 100% functional manner, it is extremely important to have a precise monitoring and data collection routine, which allows decision makers to have real information about the status of the plant and make specific corrections to its processes.
This data collection can be carried out using different types of instruments that we call dataloggers.
What is a datalogger and what is it for?
Datalogger, as its name suggests, is a data recorder, an electronic device that monitors and records data in real time over time or in relation to a certain geographic position. Generally used in long-term measurement applications, the equipment uses instruments to collect information on field variables, such as voltage, temperature, corrente, among others. This information makes it possible to determine the behavior of a variable over time, a resource used in the industry to make a historical assessment of the evolution of a specific aspect of the production process.
Suitable for the most different processes that require some type of automation, a datalogger can be used in meteorological applications, to measure the level of rain and analyze atmospheric parameters; laboratory, to keep the temperature and humidity of samples stable; in the process industry, recording machine data for diagnostic purposes or to identify areas of energy savings; among many other purposes, such as monitoring:
- Temperature and humidity levels in manufacturing environments, storage facilities, hospitals and other public facilities
- HVAC conditions in industrial and commercial facilities
- Growing conditions in greenhouses and farms and the temperature of food at all stages of processing and transportation
- Environmental conditions of pharmaceutical products during manufacturing and storage
For simpler applications that use only one or two monitoring channels, it is common to use dataloggers with a low level of data processing and storage. However, for more complex applications, with a large volume of control variables and high demand for accuracy and availability, it is increasingly common to use PLCs to perform this type of operation. task.
How to use Nexto Xpress as a DataLogger
Historically, data loggers have avoided the automation industry's most common communications standards, such as Modbus TCP/IP and CANopen . However, this is changing and the adoption of these interfaces is increasingly increasing. By supporting a wide variety of communication protocols, fast data processing and excellent cost-benefit for the small and medium applications market, Compact PLCs from the Nexto Xpress solution are prepared to meet this growing market demand.
Products from the Xpress family, as well as others Nexto Series programmable controllers can act as dataloggers through a function library created by our team of experts. The feature allows the user to create their own data records and write to log files in the CPU's internal memory or on a pendrive coupled to the Nexto Xpress's USB interface.
The functionality is not natively embedded in Altus controllers, but it can be configured in an extremely simple way through MasterTool IEC XE, programming software for Nexto PLCs.
In our Knowledge Base, We provide a tutorial that shows you step by step how to use the Datalogger function block.
If you want to further deepen your knowledge about PLCs and dataloggers, we recommend that you watch webinar Your PLC can be a datalogger, available on the Altus YouTube channel. In it, you will learn quickly and didactically how to configure the function block to use this resource in your Nexto CLP.
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