Start networking and exchanging professional insights

Register now or log in to join your professional community.

Follow

What is the major difference between PLC and Micro Controller?

user-image
Question added by raza zulfiqar , PROJECT ENGINEER , TELECOM ENGINEERING COMPANY
Date Posted: 2013/10/26
حسام ناجى
by حسام ناجى , testing and commissioning engineer II , SENDAN INTERNATIONAL COMPANY

the difference between PLC and Microcontroller, we can say that they are the same but there are some differences between them We can say that PLC works with power and Microcontroller works with electronic i.e. PLC works with relays while Microcontroller works with transistors (even it may work with electronic relays) Usually the Microcontroller doesn’t work as a stand alone controller but it came as a part of electronic circuit or device while the PLC is a stand alone controlling device that I can program it for any process that I have

also number of i/o in plc is more than microcontroller

Ahmad Al-Hamdan
by Ahmad Al-Hamdan , Instrument & Control Engineer I , JGC

PLC is a special microcontroller designed for industrial applications.It is for controlling processes or machineries(Using Ladder logics, & Diagrams  Programming and can be done using functions which nowadays going on in the manfacturing) .Microcontroller is a microprocessor which can be used for specific and limited type of application.PLC internally uses a microcontroller to handle all inputs,outputs & logical scans.Microcontrollers are cores which is not easy as PLC to be programmed.The basic difference between the two is only the way of programming and mainly based on user requirments.

Amr Saleh
by Amr Saleh , Senior I&C technical office engineer , ENPPI

PLC is used for industrial signals , programmed with usb cable or eithernet etc easy language can take analog signals easily change the program can be connected with HMI systems and interact easily , it consists of a processor and modules , has big memory

 

MicroController is for programming the chips on boards to do specific jobs and the you should complete the circuit on the board with relays and other stuff to regulate the current , used in other things that doesn't need changes , it consist of IC with various number of I/O

Ahammed Najeeb Machingalakath
by Ahammed Najeeb Machingalakath , Service engineer , Biogentek BG (I) Pvt Ltd

A microcontroller is a chip. A PLC is a finished product which happens to use a number of chips. You could use a microcontroller to built a PLC. Aperson who buys a microcontroller wants to build an electronic controller. A person who buys a PLC wants to build a machine which uses an electroniccontroller

Farhan Baig
by Farhan Baig , LEAD INSTRUMENT ENGINEER , FARABI PETROCHEMICALS

The PLC is a dedicated controller designed for industrial usage. It contains the various types of I/Os that are very suitably matching with the industrial instrumentation and plant control interfaces. It provides the flexibility in the programming options specially the "ladder language" that is similar to industrial standard "ladder Network" used for designing automatic control schemes in the plants. The overall system is modular and the user need to add modules to increase the I/Os. It  has the standard programming interface along with the online monitoring features of the various plant parameters.

However the microntroller provides the TTL outputs used and can be programmed in assembly, and C langauges. It has less programming memory, available as a single chip solution for smaller applications. Hardware periphery requires a low level design to get the extended functionality and and there is no support for the industrial conventional control scheme,the "ladder networks". The I/O extension is also not available in standard modular form.

Hari R
by Hari R , Assistant Engineer , Mohan Breweries and distilleries Ltd

both PLC and Micro controller are more are less same. only difference is micro controller is programmed using embedded C language , but in PLC it is only programmed by Ladder logic diagram.

Feljune Matugas
by Feljune Matugas , Maintenance (Electronics) , Middle East Battery Company(Johnson's Control Inc.)

A PLC is  a gigantic mircocontroller but with higher speed, performance, and reliability. A microcontroller is a low power CPU or computer with some output registers wired to pins instead of other registers or devices

MOIN  KHALID
by MOIN KHALID , assistance engineer , advance automation Pvt

PLC is EXPENDABLE I/O module's, It is industrial freindly attributes.

MUBASHIR AHMED KHAN MOHAMMED
by MUBASHIR AHMED KHAN MOHAMMED , Senior Engineer , Sendan International

Micro Controllers will have limited and less task operation, PLC is used for wide range of Tasks. Micro-controllers designed for specific process whereas plc can be reuse in different types of process.

In microcontroller we can dump the coding using embedded,in PLC ladder language is used.

microcontroller ports are changeable whether we can take inputs or outputs.But in PLC the input port and output port are fixed and addressing also fixed.

The difference seem evidente. Here (http://plccompare.com/) you can see a amazing webbsite where they compare PLCs. Some of them seem not so far from the Microcontrollers, maybe just between microcontroller and PLCs.

More Questions Like This

Do you need help in adding the right keywords to your CV? Let our CV writing experts help you.