While the memory available with programmable controllers adequately serves most of Crisplant's sortation systems, the engineers of the CCS sought to expand the number of sorter belts to more than 1,000. The high speed of the CCS can be credited to PC-based control scan times that are 10 to 15 times faster than with traditional programmable controls. Because the SoftLogix 5 controller is compatible with the PLC-5, Crisplant was able to reuse much of its existing programming. Maintaining the sorting status Throughout the sorting cycle, the SoftLogix 5 controller tracks belt status, including location, with or without item, belt and motor temperature, performance, and motor battery status. All data can be accessed quickly through the operator workstation.
Operators can determine when each item reaches a particular destination.
They can set a belt as active or inactive to accommodate maintenance. A stop mode program allows for immediate stop or delayed stop, which causes the sorter to halt only when empty. One key challenge with many sorters is the inability to put priority on certain inductions, especially those with many inductions in a row. Typically, a sorter automatically makes the last induction the smallest change to induct and therefore slows capacity. This and all the other key functions are accessible with online table editing.