Looking for hardware programmable with labview

[johnsold]

At NI Week I saw some exhibits which might be similar to what you are trying to do.  Cyth Systems (cyth.com) showed a dishwasher converted to a sterilizer.  It may have used cRIO or an embedded processor.  Schmid Engineering AG (schmid-engineering.ch) has deployed LabVIEW to Blackfin and ARM processors.

I have no connection with either of these companies.  This was not a primary interest of mine at NI Week, so I did not go into depth about their offerings.

Lynn

[ErnieH]

NI does not have anything I am aware of in that price range. PC based systems are troublesome in manufacturing environment. Their CRIO hardware is good, but not in the price range you are talking about. I have created some "home brewed" solutions for the low end. We have started to use some simple PLC's for simple things like sequencers and such. I would like to LabVIEW on everything, but, as it is now, it is not always the best choice. Most of the stuff I do is higher end, so it is not a problem for us now, since we mainly use CRIO.

[aeastet · Accepted solution]

I think that you also need to understand what LabVIEW is good at and what PLC's are good at. You need to understand how you can run in an environment that does not have PLC's and one that does.

If you are using a PLC for any safety related systems then a computer running LabVIEW is not a good replacement. LabVIEW on a PC is slave to Windows and should never be used in a case where safety is important!!! If you want to get rid of the PLC then you need to run on a real time system cRIO for FPGA so something like this. I a case where I have safety an interlock I use the PLC to do the safety side of things and LabVIEW to do the GUI and data processing. One rule of thumb is if you need it to run for ever and never want to think about it again PLC is the way to go. The real time solutions that NI provides can get expensive but are necessary where you need safety and high speed combined.

Having many different languages allows you to be more flexible and to provide the right solution. You are not slave to one company because that is all you know. I am not sure why you are looking to eliminate the ladder side of things but I believe that you would be better off to have ladder and LabVIEW in harmony.

[Trinity32244]

Well said and I really appreciate the response!!  It would be convieniant but trying to force a one size fits all situation where it doesn't fit would hurt us and our customers in the end I believe.  For commercial "down and dirty" industries I will stick with the plc's and ladder logic and for the more sophisticated control systems will use Labview and NI hardware.  Thanks to all who commented

[MoReese]

You mentioned low-end projects and cheaper instruments.  Have you looked at Measurement Computing?  Most of there stuff runs off of USB but they have VIs built and ready to go.  They are very easy to use, considering they have VI support for there hardware.  We use I/O modules for around $125.00.  Some of their stuff can range up to $1200.00 or so, it just depends on what you are wanting to do.  I wasn't really sure based on the comments if you are looking to start using something other than PLCs in your applications, or wanting to replace them (I wouldn't).  But MCC might give you some alternatives for new apps that don't require a PLC.