On Tue, Feb 16, 2021 at 10:22 AM o1bigtenor <o1bigtenor@gmail.com> wrote:
Greetings
I'm wanting to use micro controllers in more of an industrial setting. Don't want to spend the $$$$$$$$$$$ to get the officially hardened etc etc etc models.
Looking for information - - - - - there's piles on using Arduino, Raspberry Pi but they're not really developed for serious use (one point - - - - almost always have to add a cape or a shield to get real connectivity - - - - don't need the the hp waste that's RPi so I"d rather not use that . . . .) Trying to find other ucontroller boards - - - - can find plenty of SoB - - - - but not boards. Hoping to use open source tools for the programming and control.
Any suggestions as to where to look for this kind of stuff?
I'm not sure I'm doing this right - - - - no - - - - I"m not answering my own question (have had to do that a few times - - - grin) but there are some great ideas in the thread - - - - but - - - - . Yes I had red of the RPi Pico. RPi is rather interesting in that you can buy quantity 1 of the board reasonably and then if you want more than 1 - - - - - well you have to buy their cables and wall wart and and and making the purchase not so reasonable! One project - - - - there have been questions over what I'm trying to do - - - sorta like this. If anyone knows what a gang saw is then you have some idea of what I'm doing. I want to have one electric motor for moving like a large mass of material forwards (and back if I wish), then there is a higher hp motor to power a whole bunch (2 m worth) of blades and then there is a third moderately sized motor that moves the gang setup up and down. The gang is turning at a fairly high rpm (7500 rpm in the prototype and 10k in the design) and moving quite quickly, 2 m in under 10 to 12 seconds. So the load on the gang is monitored so that if the load moves over say 103% of rated that the gang movement speed is slowed or if the load is under 80% that the gang movement speed is increased. So there, planning is anyway, a vfd on all three items - - - - with a ucontroller per motor (maybe I don't need to do one on each- - - - dunno) and the whole being controlled from some small system. This system may be working for as much as hours per time and multiple times per day. Overloads/heating will also be monitored. This is the kind of equipment that I don't want to have to babysit but it must work. (another project is a small animal feeder - - - weighing in and out, body temperature, control the mixing, id reading water heating, - - - may not sound to complicated but there would be at least 6 or 7 different functions that need to work is a particular sequence - - - - - ja - - - I know I'se more than a little touched - - - grin!) So I have some Arduino kind of boards here - - - - they may work but they need added cape for this and shield for that. Looked in PLCs and in some ways they are more robust - - - - but pricing - - - - ouch! It is possible to get an arduino clone for likely under $5 can w/o shipping on the web - - - - a cheap plc is $85 usd and a good one might be some $250 USD. Does that help point more as to the issues? I can find a lot of information on the SoC for the umpteen different variants of ucontrollers. Sure can't find much info for boards - - - maybe large companies can roll their own designs - - - - but I'm hoping that there is some info hidden someplace for smaller companies. I just haven't been able to find anything - - - yet! Thanks to one and all for the suggestions and assistance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!