Advanced Manufacturing Technology is a maker of air conveying systems used to transport lightweight bottles and cans across distances ranging up to 1,200 ft. All along these lengthy conveyor connections are sensors that need to send information back to a controller—typically a Rockwell ControLogix platform—so that the controller knows when the containers being conveyed should be advanced and at what speed.
Beginning around July of 2012, AMT began using Brad HarshIO harsh-duty I/O modules from Molex to optimize the flow of information from sensors to controller. Each module has eight ports, and each port is capable of handling dual I/O, so it’s a 16-point I/O module. It has a web-embedded server in it, too, so that it can be programmed to take discreet inputs and outputs. Inside the module is a Rockwell-certified Ethernet IP switch, so the module acts as a communications node on the Ethernet IP network.
