Control of Automated Guided Vehicle with PLC SIMATIC ET200S CPU

Abstract

Automated guided vehicle systems currently represent modern technology of industrial transportation, which meets criteria for time demanding requirements for material handling. They are particularly useful in operation with focus on field of discrete manufacturing especially in plants, where transport scheme is persistently repeated. This article is focused on development of mobile automated guided vehicle (AGV) controlled by decentralized periphery PLC SIMATIC ET200S CPU. The design of AGV vehicle lies in choosing appropriate driver motor type, design of motor driver for direction and speed control, design of safety components, and in choosing ET200S station modules configuration. The control algorithm for motion control of differential drive chassis is programmed in SIMATIC STEP 7 in LAD, FBD and STL languages. Graphical user interface for vehicle handling is created in WinCC Flexible environment which is implemented into wireless mobile panel MP277F IWLAN with touch screen. The communication between mobile panel and AGV vehicle is realized via industrial wireless LAN (IWLAN) based on SIMATIC NET product of the SCALANCE W series.