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PLC Analog Input Scaling PLC Conversion PLC Scaling Formula

The document discusses how an Allen-Bradley PLC uses its analog input card to convert 4-20 mA signals to digital values ranging from 3277 to 16384. These raw numbers must be scaled within the PLC to represent real-world units like GPM. It provides a scaling equation to program into the PLC to register 4 mA as 0 GPM and 20 mA as 700 GPM. The slope is calculated as 700/13107 and expressed as a fraction with a denominator of 10000 for the PLC's SCL instruction.

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Vraja Kisori
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812 views3 pages

PLC Analog Input Scaling PLC Conversion PLC Scaling Formula

The document discusses how an Allen-Bradley PLC uses its analog input card to convert 4-20 mA signals to digital values ranging from 3277 to 16384. These raw numbers must be scaled within the PLC to represent real-world units like GPM. It provides a scaling equation to program into the PLC to register 4 mA as 0 GPM and 20 mA as 700 GPM. The slope is calculated as 700/13107 and expressed as a fraction with a denominator of 10000 for the PLC's SCL instruction.

Uploaded by

Vraja Kisori
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PLC Analog Input Scaling

An Allen-Bradley SLC500 programmable logic controller (PLC) uses a 16-bit analog-


to-digital converter ( in its model 1746-NI4 ) in analog input card to convert 4-20 mA
signals into digital number values ranging from 3277 (at 4 mA) to 16384 (at 20 mA).

However, these raw numbers from the PLC’s analog card must be mathematically
scaled inside the PLC to represent real-world units of measurement, in this case 0 to
700 GPM of flow.

PLC Analog Input Scaling

Formulate a scaling equation to program into the PLC so that 4 mA of current registers
as 0 GPM, and 20 mA of current registers as 700 GPM.

We are already given the raw number values from the analog card’s analog-to-digital
converter (ADC) circuit for 4 mA and 20 mA: 3277 and 16384, respectively.

These values define the domain of our linear graph:


Calculating and substituting the slope (m) value for this equation, using the full rise-
over-run of the linear function:

This type of scaling calculation is so common in PLC applications that Allen-Bradley


has provided a special SCL (“scale”) instruction just for this purpose.
Instead of “slope” (m) and “intercept” (b), the instruction prompts the human
programmer to enter “rate” and “offset” values, respectively.

Furthermore, the rate in Allen-Bradley’s SCL instruction is expressed as the numerator


of a fraction where the denominator is fixed at 10000, allowing fractional (less than
one) slope values to be specified using integer numbers.

Aside from these details, the concept is exactly the same. Expressing our slope of
700/13107 as a fraction with 10000 as the denominator is a simple matter of solving
for the numerator using cross-multiplication and division:

Thus, the SCL instruction would be configured as follows

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