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LadderLogicBasics

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LadderLogicBasics
ElectricalConstructionandMaintenance
SteveVidal

SteveVidal,P.E.,JosephJ.Vidal&Sons,Inc.
Sun,2007040112:00

Tipsforlearningthesymboliclanguageofmotorcontrol
Aspecializedsegmentoftheelectricalconstructionandmaintenanceindustry,ACmotorcontrolisanarea
thatrequiresspecificknowledgeinordertotroubleshootmotorseffectivelyandensuresmoothoperations.
Thismeansgainingaclearunderstandingofladderdiagramsandladderlogic,whichenabletheautomation
thatdrivesmotors.Thecombinationofinputdevicesthateithermanuallyorautomaticallysensea
conditionandthecorrespondingchangeinconditionperformedbytheoutputdevicemakeupthecore
ofmotorcontrol.Let'stakeacloserlookatwhat'sinvolvedinlearningthesymboliclanguageofmotor
control.
First,it'simportanttodiscussthetermlogicforamoment.Inthestudyofdigitalelectronics,devicesare
usedthatoperateineitheranONorOFFstate.AspecializedbranchofmathematicscalledBooleanalgebra
analyzesthisrelationshipwithtwonumbers:azero(representingtheOFFstate)oraone(representingthe
ONstate).Thesetwonumberscomprisethebinarynumbersystem.
ThemostcommonlogicfunctionsaretheAND,OR,andNOTfunctions.Thinkofasinglepolelightswitch
inyourhomethatcontrolsa100Wlightbulb.Theswitchcaneitherbeofforon,therebyrepresentinga
zerointheoffstateandaoneintheonstate.Nowimagineplacingtwosinglepoleswitchesinseriesto
controlthesame100Wlightbulb.Inthiscondition,switchNo.1andswitchNo.2havetobothbeontolight
the100Wbulb.ThisisanexampleofanANDoperation.Figure1representstheANDcircuitjust
mentioned.LogicrelatestoladderdiagramsbecauseinputfunctionsinseriesconstituteanANDoperation,
whileinputfunctionsinparallelconstituteanORoperation.

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Youwillencountertwotypesofladderdiagrams:the2wirecontrolcircuitandthe3wirecontrolcircuit.
The2wirecontrolcircuitisshowninFig.2.Thiscircuitisusedtostartamotorforsomeindustrial
process.Thecomponentsina2wirecontrolcircuitareamaintainedcontactswitchingdevice(S1),arelay
coil(M1),andthethermaloverloadrelaycontact(OL).Thesequenceofoperationsisfairlysimple.WhenS1
isclosed,thecoilofmagneticmotorstarterM1isenergizedandthemotorstarts,providedtherunning
overloadcurrentiswithinthevaluesoftheoverloadrelayOL.Tostopthemotor,S1issimplyopened.

A3wirecontrolcircuitisshowninFig.3.Again,thiscircuitisusedtostartamotorforsomeindustrial
process.Thecomponentsina3wirecontrolcircuitareamomentarypushbutton(STOP),amomentary
pushbutton(START),anormallyopenrelaycontact(M1),arelaycoil(M1),andthethermaloverloadrelay
contact(OL).Thesequenceofoperationshereisalittlemorecomplex.Whenthestartbuttonispressed,the
coilofmagneticmotorstarterM1isenergizedandthemotorstarts,providedtherunningoverloadcurrent
iswithinthevaluesoftheoverloadrelayOL.However,thereisoneveryimportantdifference:Anormally
opencontactofmagneticmotorstarterM1sealsaroundthestartbuttontolatchthecircuit.Tostopthe
motor,theSTOPbuttonispressed,which,inturn,breaksthelatchanddeenergizesthecoilofmagnetic
motorstarterM1,stoppingthemotor.

Whatcomponentsmakeupafullblownladderdiagram?Thereareseveraltypesofinputandoutput

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Whatcomponentsmakeupafullblownladderdiagram?Thereareseveraltypesofinputandoutput
devices.Forthepurposeofthisarticle,wewillfocusonconventionalelectromechanicaldevices.SeeFig.4
foralistofcommonsymbolsusedinladderdiagramsandmotorcontrolcircuits.

Inputdevicescanfirstbeclassifiedasmomentarycontactandmaintainedcontactdevices.Momentary
contactdevicesarespringloadedandareclassifiedasnormallyopenandnormallycloseddevices.The
designationnormallyreferstothestateofthedeviceinitsrestingpositionwhennoexternalstimulusis
actinguponit.ThecontactarrangementofswitchingdevicescanalsobeclassifiedasSPST,SPDT,DPST,
DPDT,3PDT,etc.Thefirsttwolettersrefertothenumberofpoles,andthelasttwolettersrefertothe
numberofthrows.Forexample,SPSTreferstoasinglepole,singlethrowcontactwhile3PDTreferstoa
3pole,doublethrowcontact.Afractionalmanualmotorstarterusefulforsinglephasemotors(1hpand
lower)caneitherbeanSPSTfor120VapplicationsorDPSTfor240Vapplications.Agreenstartbuttonis
anexampleofanormallyopenmomentarypushbutton,whilearedstopbuttonisanexampleofanormally
closedmomentarypushbutton.
Maintainedcontactdevicesarenotspringloaded.Instead,theyremainineitheranONorOFFstate.They
canalsobeclassifiedasnormallyopenandnormallyclosed.Anemergencystopisanexampleofa
maintainedcontactdevice.
Temperaturesensingdevicescommonlyusedinmotorcontrolapplicationsarethermostatsand
thermocouples.Athermostatreliesonthethermalexpansion/contractionofabimetal,whilea
thermocouplereliesonaprincipleknownastheSeebeckeffect.Twodissimilarmetalwiresarejoined
togetherinaloopwithoneendbeingthehotjunctiontheotherbeingthecoldjunction.Adifferenceof
potentialisgeneratedintheloopinresponsetotemperaturechange.Eachofthesedevicessense
temperaturechangeandthenpresentsacontactclosureforuseinacontrolcircuit.
Motionsensingdevicescommonlyusedarephotoelectriccontrolsandproximitycontrols.Earlyversionsof
photoelectriccontrolshadanincandescentlamptransmitterandacadmiumsulfidephotocellreceiver.
Modernversionsofthephotoelectriccontrolhavepulsedinfraredtransmittersandsolidstatephoto
detectorreceivers.Theyworkontheprincipleofbeaminterruptiontosensemotionandthenpresenta
contactclosuretothecontrolcircuit.
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Proximitycontrolssensemotionwhenanobjectpassesbythesensingtargetonthedevice.Theycandetect
metallicaswellasnonmetallicobjects.Theyoperateontheprinciplesofmagnetismandcapacitance,and
thenpresentacontactclosuretothecontrolcircuit.
Limitswitchesarethemostversatiledevicesintermsofmotiondetection.Availableinavarietyofoperator
mechanismsandcontactarrangements,theyworkontheprincipleofphysicalcontactbetweenanobjectand
theoperatormechanismtopresentacontactclosuretothecontrolcircuit.
Themostcommonlyusedliquidlevelsensingdeviceisthefloatswitch,whichoperatesontheprincipleof
buoyancy.Thefloatissuspendedinaliquidbath.Aslevelsoftheliquidriseandfall,thefloatmoves.This
movementpresentsacontactclosuretothecontrolcircuit.
Themostcommonlyusedpressuresensingdeviceisthepressureswitch.Thediaphragminapressure
switchmonitorsthechangeinpressureandpresentsacontactclosuretothecontrolcircuit.
Othertypesofinputdevicesincludethefootswitch,theselectorswitch,oreventhecontactofacontrol
relayoratimingrelay.Theseareallmechanicaldevicesthatpresentacontactclosuretothecontrolcircuit.
Outputsofthecontrolcircuitcanberelaycoils,pilotindicatinglights,oraudibledevices.Tousethegeneric
termrelaycoil,weneedfurtherclassificationintomagneticmotorstarter,contactor,andrelay.A
magneticmotorstarterisarelaywithacoilandcontactsaswellasrunningoverloadprotectionbymeansof
thermaloverloadrelays.Bimetallicthermaloverloadrelaysareunitsmadeofaheatercoilthatheatsacoil
ofwiretoaspecifiedtemperaturebasedonoverloadcurrent,andabimetalunitthatexpands/contracts
andoperatesacontact.Solderpotthermaloverloadrelaysuseasimilarheatercoilandaeutecticsolderthat
meltsunderoverloadconditionsandcorrespondinglyturnsaratchetwheeltooperateacontact.The
contactarrangementonthethermaloverloadrelayisnormallyclosed.However,itwillopenunder
excessivecurrentconditionsanddeenergizethecoilofthemagneticmotorstarterandconsequently
disconnectthemotor.Contactorsarealsorelaysthatswitchhighloadcurrentsbutdonotproviderunning
overloadprotectionviathethermaloverloadrelay.Controlrelaysareusuallydesignedtoswitchsmall
controlcircuitcurrents.CommontypesoftimingrelaysareONdelay(delayonoperate),OFFdelay(delay
onrelease),intervaldelay,andrepeatcycledelay.Timedelayrelaysareusedfortiminginacontrolcircuit.
Pilotindicatinglightsareusedtoprovidevisualindicationofafunctionortoverifythatacertainoperation
iseitheronoroff.Audiblesoundingdevicesareusedtoindicatetroublewithaprocessoralerttheusertoa
particularsituation.
Nowthatyou'vebeenintroducedtothemorecommoninputandoutputdevicesthatmakeupaladder
diagram,nexttimewe'llexploreinmoredepthhow2and3wirecontrolcircuitstiethecontrolcircuitwith
ladderdiagramsintomotoroperation.LookforthenextinstallmentofMotorFactsintheJune2007
issue.
VidalispresidentofJosephJ.Vidal&Sons,Inc.,Throop,Pa.
SourceURL:http://ecmweb.com/basics/ladderlogicbasics

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