FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT AND IMPROVEMENT OF A CONTROL STRATEGY FOR AUTOMATED PART SORTING ON A DIDACTIC WORKBENCH USING A SIEMENS S7-1200 PLC

Resumo

This article presents the functional evaluation and improvement of a control strategy for automated part sorting on an AUAPL4000 modular educational workbench. The platform integrates a Siemens SIMATIC S7-1200 programmable logic controller (CPU 1214C DC/DC/DC), industrial sensors, pneumatic actuators, and a conveyor belt driven by a direct current motor. The strategy initially implemented was developed in Ladder logic in TIA Portal V17 and subjected to 90 experimental cycles with manual feeding, in which 90 correct sortings were recorded. For the observed proportion, the exact 95% confidence interval was 95.98% to 100%, a result restricted to the experimental conditions evaluated. The functional analysis identified limitations associated with the use of fixed timing, the conveyor stop sequence, and actuator interlocking. Based on the physical characterization of the workbench and the verification of the input and output mapping, an event-driven sequential strategy was developed, grounded in sorting memorization, exclusive actuation of the actuators, and confirmation of the advance and retract positions and of the passage of the parts through the discard chutes. The results demonstrate the workbench's potential for practical industrial automation activities and indicate the need for experimental validation of the improved strategy in future studies.