# Allen Bradley compact logix controlling JS6000



## oliquir (Jan 13, 2011)

what is the board controlling the valve, it could tell us what type of input it can accept


----------



## ShawnP (Jul 21, 2017)

I'm not sure how to answer that question. It's a bi directional valve where 12 volts is neutral and and 6 to 12 volts pushes one direction and 12 - 18 the other way. The valve itself is a PVEA. Below is the technical data. I hope this helps.

PVEA, PVEH, PVES and PVEU control specification
PVEA, PVEH, PVES and PVEU control specification
Supply voltage UDC rated 11 → 32 V
max. ripple 5 %
Current consumption at rated voltage 0.57 (33) A @ 12 V
0.3 (17) A @ 24 V
Signal voltage neutral 0.5 x UDC (PVEU 5V)
A-port ↔ B-port 0.25 → 75 • UDC
Signal current at rated voltage 0.25 → 70 mA
Input impedance in relation to 0.5 • UDC 12 kΩ
Power consumption 7 (3.5) W
Error pin max current 100 mA


----------



## sparkiez (Aug 1, 2015)

Okay, so the first thing that needs to be done here is to completely forget the joystick. You need to be focused on the valve(s). Can we get a make and model number for the valve or a link to the manual?


----------



## sparkiez (Aug 1, 2015)

Alright, so I put a bit of thought into this, and here is how I would approach this situation. You are dealing with specialty valves here that use PWM controls. These types of controls aren't typically used in the PLC world. They tend to be used in electronics/embedded systems. If you want to use a PLC to control this system and get the benefit of off-the-shelf and the IDE's that commonly come with widely-used PLC's, you are going to have to make some changes to the hydraulic system. This isn't ideal, but I think it may be your best solution to automate this process. You see, PWM signals (which is what this valve is using) are VERY fast, and you can easily lose quite a bit of accuracy and speed in the scaling of your analog IO due to resolution issues, but it can be done. If you google "PWM modules for compactlogix" you should get some results to point you in the right direction.

The route I would go for, is using your Manual/Auto switch to shift a dent-type solenoid valve and bypass the current hydraulic valve so that the flow then goes to your basic 4-20mA proportioning valves. I would also add a directional flow control inline with the output ports on the PWM valve the joystick is communicating with so that you don't have backflow when you T into the lines controlling your actuators. Then, the original system will stay intact, but you also have the bypass for your automatic controls.

Now, you can use a standard IO to automate the process, and leave the original process in place.


----------



## splatz (May 23, 2015)

I was thinking about it too, it's not an easy problem. 

Taking a step back, you've probably already done so, but before engineering something, make sure there isn't an upgrade actuator or joystick that allows an analog input to - don't reinvent the wheel. 

I didn't find a signal conditioner that would do what you want. It occurred to me that if you used a voltage doubler / booster, you could take an analog output and boost it from 0-10v to get to the needed 6-18V range, but would it supply enough power to "look" like the joystick? 

There are DC drives that will take an analog input and drive a DC output but the ones I found were speed controllers, so they wanted a 0-5V sensor on the shaft of a motor for feedback. There is probably some way to put that together so it's doing what you want, but it seems janky.


----------



## ShawnP (Jul 21, 2017)

Thank you guys for all the info. I've been doing my own research and came up with pretty much the same. The bottom line is that these components the customer is using were just not built to be controlled by a plc. They may be able to manipulated as you guys were saying, but then this wouldn't be a custom built system, it would be a jerryrigged system. They are going to have to redesign their system if they want this to be done correctly. Thank you again for your time and advice.


----------



## splatz (May 23, 2015)

How about a DC motor 

http://controlresources.com/dc-motor-speed-control-smartfan-aurora/


----------



## splatz (May 23, 2015)

splatz said:


> How about a DC motor
> 
> http://controlresources.com/dc-motor-speed-control-smartfan-aurora/


(oops ... Wrong thread...)


----------

