Industrial applications: 50 real examples by sector

What is an industrial application?

Every industrial application has the same four parts. Sensors measure the process: a photocell, a load cell, a pressure transmitter, an energy meter. A controller, usually a PLC, runs the logic in a fixed cycle. Actuators do the work: motors, drives, valves, cylinders, relays. A communication link sends the data to people and systems: an HMI, a SCADA, a database or the cloud.

The 50 applications below come from real projects with Industrial Shields PLCs. For each one you see what it controls or measures, the typical signals and protocols, the PLC family that fits, and a link to the full case study. When there is a simulator of the same logic, you can try it before you buy any hardware. For machines with many signals, the M-Duino 58 is a programmable logic controller with many I/O based on Arduino.

50 industrial applications in 6 families

• Machines and production linesMonitoring, OEE, testing, cells, retrofit10 applications
• Moving materialConveyors, sorting, storage, labelling, gates8 applications
• Process and batchingRecipes, dosing, boilers, biogas, fermentation6 applications
• Controlled climateGreenhouses, farms, HVAC, cold rooms8 applications
• Remote and mobile sitesWater, energy, weather, fleets, vessels10 applications
• Buildings, access and energyAccess, alarms, rooms, metering, counting8 applications

The six families at a glance

In machines and production lines, the PLC runs the sequence of the machine and turns its signals into data: state, counts, good and bad parts, cycle time and energy. That data goes to a database, an MES or a screen next to the line.

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When the job is to move material, the PLC drives motors, drives and pneumatic valves from photocells, encoders, scales and code readers. Speed, position and the decision of where each product goes are the core of the program.

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In process and batching plants, the PLC follows a recipe or a sequence: it doses by weight or level, heats, keeps a pressure or a temperature and stops in a safe state when a value leaves its range.

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In controlled climate, the PLC compares temperature, humidity, CO2 or pressure with set values and drives fans, valves, heating and lights. It also keeps the record that proves the conditions were right.

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At remote and mobile sites nobody is on site, so the PLC measures, acts on its own and sends the data over LoRaWAN, 4G or another radio link. It must keep working and keep its data when the link is down.

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In buildings, the PLC opens doors and barriers, reads alarms, runs rooms by presence and measures energy. Most of these jobs need a local decision that still works without network, plus a log of every event.

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More industrial applications with a case study

More real projects we have published, each with its own case study.

• Automatic car wash
• Semiconductor clean room
• Wire electrode residual analyzer
• Sonic bird barriers on a wind farm
• Petrol station traffic
• Autonomous solar panels
• Sugar beet piles
• Arctic climate study
• Smart hotel
• Home automation
• Restaurant ordering
• Winery labelling and storage
• Smart current metering
• Automotive production line
• Wind study station
• Fleet route efficiency
• Vehicle tracking

Choosing a PLC family for each application

The application decides the PLC, not the other way round. Start from the signals, the link and the software you need. The table shows the pattern in the 50 projects above.

Safety functions stay in a certified safety circuit. Emergency stops, light curtains and guard locks go through a safety relay or a safety controller. The PLC reads their state to stop the sequence and show the cause, as in the welding cell (07) and the AGV (18).

Signals and industrial protocols that repeat