© 2008 Festo Corporation 85 U
Getting Started with Festo MecLab
Lesson Planning
Combining stations to form a production line
In this exercise, students must solve interfacing problems. The components must be aligned
to provide a “handover” or “transfer” of the work piece. There must also be a data link be-
tween the stations. This means that since the stations are controlled by different PCs, data
must be exchanged so that each controller knows when its own action is required.
Figure 7.3: Linking several stations
If one or more stations are to be linked, data must be exchanged between the stations. There
are three options for this:
Two stations are controlled by one PC. In this case all signals from both stations must be
wired to one multi-pin plug distributor.
Sensors in the stations detect when work pieces enter or leave the processing area. In this
case the stations actually work independently of each other. Programming must ensure that
collisions do not occur.
Data exchange between controllers. In this case a special cable is placed between the input
of one multi-pin plug distributor and the output of the other multi-pin plug distributor. When
the output is activated, the other controller can process this like a sensor signal. This facili-
tates communication between the controllers.
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