Is Arduino considered robust enough for industrial application?

[Bob E]

I need to quote for design and manufacture of a product life-cycle test machine that will need automation for 3 output and 3 input signals plus a cycle counter.

This will only be used for development testing to determine the best polymer for an injection molded product.

I have built these before, but my customer was responsible for supplying the control part of it. This time he wants me to do it all.

I have absolutely no PLC experience...but from what I have read on the Arduino (or even the Basic Stamp), it seems they are very capable for my needs.
I have done quite a bit of BASIC programming and am fairly comfortable with electronics, so I think I can handle the programming and DYI aspect.

This will not be used on the shop floor, it will just be used by my engineering customer. (so it doesn't need to be completely dummy proof )

I will be controlling fairly low pressure pneumatics but still have a concern with the safety and reliability of the Arduino module. Anyone have experience with these as far as function and resistance to normal electrical noise?

Thnks

 

[Miguels244]

No.
Sorry.

 

[motion guru]

For the cost of the cheapest PLC from Automation Direct you can learn a valuable skill and save yourself and everyone else a huge headache, especially if you get hit by a bus someday on the way to work.

 

[kustomizingkid]

Not at all... they are great for quicky shit in the lab but beyond that not at all.

 

[sniper1rfa]

For the cost of the cheapest PLC from Automation Direct you can learn a valuable skill and save yourself and everyone else a huge headache, especially if you get hit by a bus someday on the way to work.

Yup. A "click" PLC from automation direct, with a power supply, can be had for about a hundred bucks with enough IO for your project, and about $130 with enough IO + 2x analog IO. The programming software is free. Really hard to beat for simple automation.

Hell, click PLC's and their modules are easily cheap enough to use even for personal projects.

 

[Nick Mueller]

I have programmed something for a friend (was his choice, not mine) on a Arduino. I'll never use one!
There are a lot of libraries, but looking at the source-code, they all must have been "programmed" by hobbyists. If you want to avoid headaches, stay away from that platform.

Use a PLC and be on the reliable side.


Nick

 

[Cornilsn]

I have programmed something for a friend (was his choice, not mine) on a Arduino. I'll never use one!
There are a lot of libraries, but looking at the source-code, they all must have been "programmed" by hobbyists. If you want to avoid headaches, stay away from that platform.

Use a PLC and be on the reliable side.


Nick

Indeed. The other thing to consider, though enforcement may be lax, is that the "free" licenses on the libraries and programming software may not be free for commercial use...

 

[DBurnette]

From a software standpoint, you will be dealing with code and instruction sets that are not controlled in a manner suitable for commercial use.

For instance (From the annals of having to be part of the fix-it team for an inherited project) : program in an old version (say 0013) of Arduino IDE, dump the code to your board.

Come back 6 months later, pull the code (or the customer pulls the code) from the board, but you are now using version 1.0.1. There is a fair chance it won't work without a rewrite, because instruction sets or libraries have changed that drastically.

It might become stable in the future, but it isn't the right tool right now.

 

[Bob E]

Thanks all....I'm looking into the Click system.

 

[sniper1rfa]

A PLC is, basically, older.

They can't do nearly what arduinos and the like can do, but they're refined to a pretty extreme extent now, have very few bugs in either hardware or software, and they're all programmed and configured approximately the same way so anybody with industry automation experience can pick a new one up with relative ease. From a robustness standpoint they're much more suitable for industrial use.

That said, your iPhone or 'droid or whatever is about a million times more powerful. That's not usually a big problem for simple automation though.

 

[Nick Mueller]

I would think that Arduino has much more available tutorials and guides.

100 sites, 1000 versions, 10000 libraries that conflict and a zillion wrong answers in any forum.
OK, slightly exaggerated.


Nick

 

[jimfnd]

Plus one for me on the Automation Direct hardware and software.
Easy to learn and use. Buy a complete "learner" system on eBay.

We build our own custom factory automation and have units with 100's of thousands of cycles.

 

[Tommy_T]

I have absolutely no PLC experience...but from what I have read on the Arduino (or even the Basic Stamp), it seems they are very capable for my needs.
I have done quite a bit of BASIC programming and am fairly comfortable with electronics, so I think I can handle the programming and DYI aspect.

While I agree for most industrial applications the PLC is the best tool, but there are applications where a micro(single board computer) may be better.
https://wilke.de/en/embedded-computer/computer-modules.html

Tommy