Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A programmable logic controller (PLC) or programmable controller is an industrial computer that has been ruggedized and adapted for the control of manufacturing processes, such as assembly lines, machines, robotic devices, or any activity that requires high reliability, ease of programming, and process fault diagnosis.
A push-button (also spelled pushbutton) or simply button is a simple switch mechanism to control some aspect of a machine or a process. Buttons are typically made out of hard material, usually plastic or metal. [1] The surface is usually flat or shaped to accommodate the human finger or hand, so as to be easily depressed or pushed.
They are found in factories to monitor and control machines or production lines and in places such as nuclear power plants, ships, aircraft and mainframe computers. Older control panels are most often equipped with push buttons and analog instruments, whereas nowadays in many cases touchscreens are used for monitoring and control purposes.
Each key of a computer keyboard, for example, is a normally-open "push-to-make" switch. A "push-to-break" (or normally-closed or NC) switch, on the other hand, breaks contact when the button is pressed and makes contact when it is released. An example of a push-to-break switch is a button used to release a door held closed by an electromagnet.
Pushing the raised button opens or closes the contacts and pops out the previously depressed button so the process can be reversed. In the U.S., the buttons were commonly black; the "on" button typically had a white mother-of-pearl (real or simulated) inlay to indicate its function. By convention, the switch was customarily installed with the ...
In manufacturing, andon (Japanese: アンドン or あんどん or 行灯) is a system which notifies managerial, maintenance, and other workers of a quality or process problem. The alert can be activated manually by a worker using a pullcord or button or may be activated automatically by the production equipment itself.
Please see external links for images of buttons (front & back) made from the material(s) in question. ("NBS name" refers to labelling used by the National Button Society, USA.) ("NBS name" refers to labelling used by the National Button Society, USA.)
Lights-out manufacturing is the methodology of fully automating the production of goods at factories and other industrial facilities, such as to require no human presence on-site. Many of these factories are considered to be able to run "with the lights off," but few run exclusively lights-out production.