Skeletons in my Closet!

[Jsneaker]

CHINA? AARGH!

I am so sick of seeing everything made in the United States of China! Thanks to bureaucratic, money-hungry unions, the USA is no longer competitive.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

Competitive? That depends on where you look! They send tons of their kids over here to OUR colleges. They have agencies that forge and create false information just so their kids look good enough on paper to get in the finest schools here. Most of the chinese kids in the US for education purposes are nice, but they lack common sense. The US hasn't been milked dry yet, but we aren't far from it.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

Time to get rid of more unnecessary useless proprietary GE crap! I make my own generic idler pulley. I use 1/4"? thick angle iron left over from another project.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

/

 

[supremewhirlpol]

Time to cut it. Lots of flying metal and sparks!

 

[supremewhirlpol]

Very hot! Still glowing.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

]

 

[supremewhirlpol]

Time to paint the bracket.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

painted black!

 

[supremewhirlpol]

use threaded rods and locking nuts.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

Start relay moved, more things added. Space starting to get tight, still have things to add.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

Idler pulley has internal bearing.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

Use the lock nuts to your advantage to change the position of the pulley.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

I use a spring for tension.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

Oh gee, should I really reveal what I use to control the VFD?

 

[qualin]

This is a much more elegant system, I'll admit. I had to scroll through your whole thread and see how you've evolved this machine. It is incredible the amount of work you've put into this machine so far.

Keep it up.. I'm certainly interested in seeing the final product!

 

[supremewhirlpol]

Oh gee, should I really reveal what I use to control the VFD

Ummmm... hello. Anyone?

 

[toploader55]

Hi Melvin

What are you going to use to control the VFD ?

Your work is truly facinating. Eddie

 

[supremewhirlpol]

I think I may have fallen off my limb.

Eddie:
I thought you'd never ask! What kept you?

I use Siemens LOGO! brick PLC.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

the LOGO! mounting is DIN rail, requires 12/24VDC power. I mount it on the end next to the option switches on the console.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

The LOGO! needs a power supply, the machine start relay needed to be moved.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

VFD control is LVDC. The LOGO! interfaces the signals of the machine to something that is understandable to the VFD. On the VFD, I use terminals 8-14.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

terminals 8, 10 are connected together. Terminal 9 is the 12V+ DC signal, is gets used with the rest of the terminals.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

At this point, configuration of the VFD is finished!

 

[supremewhirlpol]

Now its time to wire the LOGO!

At the bottom of the LOGO!:
Start (FEW) signal is wired to Q1 with +12VDC signal
Start (REV) signal is wired to Q2 with +12VDC signal
Constant speed 1 is wired to Q3 with +12VDC signal
Constant speed 2 is wired to Q4 with +12VDC signal

At the top of the LOGO!:
I1 is +24VDC signal from the tumble relay
I2 is +24VDC signal from the spin relay

Logic(from LOGO! to VFD):

For tumble:
Q1=high
Q2=low
Q3=high
Q4=low

To stop: Q1=low

For spin:
Q1=high
Q2=low
Q3=low
Q4=high

To stop: Q1=low

 

[supremewhirlpol]

Now! I need logic from the machine to tell the LOGO! what to do. For that I use 2 more relays with 110V coils. These relays act on the contactors that power the VFD and drain pump. The coils are powered by the actions of the contactors, but these two relays switch LVDC going to the inputs of the LOGO!.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

I could have used the extra terminals in the contactors to do this, but I make it a point to isolate the DC signals from the AC signals!

 

[supremewhirlpol]

They are labeled accordingly.

Logic(input to LOGO!):
Tumble relay = high = I1: high
Spin relay = high = I2: high

tumble sequence:
I1 = high
I2 = low

spin sequence:
I1 = high
I2 = high

nothing:
I1 = low
I2 = low

I1 = low
I2 = high

 

[qualin]

Are you still going to use the original timer which came with the machine? I'm confused because you are using a PLC, but wouldn't the timer be enough to send the right signals to the VFD? Couldn't the PLC just be replaced with relay logic?

Stupid question, I know.. but this is downright fascinating.

 

[tolivac]

I like how this project unfolds-peice at a time-won't ask questions until Melvin completes it.