Extending the Life Of GE Fanuc Series Six PLC System

How much the cost is possible to totally replace a 20-year-old PLC system with hundreds or even thousands of I/O points in multiple racks in a critical process? Plenty. Besides buying all new hardware and enclosures and programming software, you would need to rebuild all the panels, ring out the I/O wiring, rewrite the PLC code, not to mention the cost of downtime required to changeover the field wiring and to troubleshoot the new system.

Not many PLC manufacturers will be excited about such a project. But what benefits could a new PLC provide over the 20-year-old version? Ethernet connectivity, faster processing speeds, more memory, more robust instruction set, and programming software that runs on today’s operating systems. But these are all CPU functions – why should you have to tear out your whole system when all you really need is better CPU.

Qualitrol International offers a conversion program whereby any Series Six CPU can be replaced with a current GE Fanuc Series 90–70 CPU.A special interface card residing in the 90–70 CPU rack interfaces directly to the Series Six parallel I/O structure. No field I/O requires to be rewired and the conversion can be done with minimal system downtime and with assurance that the new system will work as well, if not better, than the existing control system.

As the conversion result, the new system will have the following features:
• More set of robust instruction, including trigonometric functions, PID function blocks, and parameterized subroutines
• User defined C programming function blocks
• Programming via any standard laptop computer
• Programming software that runs on recent Operating Systems
• Ethernet communications fully supported
• Readily available spare parts
• Future expansion capabilities
• No require to remove existing Series Six I/O modules, racks, or power supplies
• No elimination of field wiring
• Use of existing CPU cabinets
• Specialty cards and third party processing can be added to the 90-70 CPU rack for increased system functionality

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GE Fanuc PLC