How to Add a PLC to Your SOLIDWORKS Electrical Project

When you are designing a SOLIDWORKS Electrical project, many times you will use a Programmable Logic Control for automation. To make this process more streamlined we can add the PLC into our project and configure the I/O's (Inputs and Outputs). This article will show you how to easily achieve this.

Where to find it

To locate the PLC Manager:

• Open SOLIDWORKS Electrical Interface
• Open your Project through the Projects Manager\
• Select the Project tab
• Select PLC

Adding a PLC

• Select Add PLC
• Select PLC manufacturer part… from the drop-down menu that appears when you select Add PLC

Selecting Manufacturer Part Number 

• Within the Manufacturer part selection manager, you will be asked to chose a manufacturer part from the list of parts on your system 
• Use the filters to find your PLC part
  • You may need to go to the SOLIDWORKS Electrical Portal and download your series of parts that you will need to use in your project
• Select your desired PLC Part 
• Select “+” to add the PLC from the library to the PLC component in your project that you are adding
• You will see all of the terminals preloaded into the PLC

Adding Inputs/Outputs 

• Select your newly added PLC 
• Select the terminals that you wish to add Inputs/Outputs to from the list of circuits 
• Right-click on the selected circuits 
• Select Add a new PLC Input / Output

I hope you found learning to to add a PLC to your SOLIDWORKS Electrical project helpful. For more SOLIDWORKS Electrical articles, check out the links below.

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