Omron CJ2 PLC

Omron have announced the release of a new PLC, namely the CJ2. See this link for more info.



SYSMAC CJ2 CPU Units

1. Greatly increased program capacity and data memory capacity. The largest-capacity CPU unit, the CJ2H-CPU68-EIP, has a program capacity of 400K steps (1.6 times the capacity) and a data memory capacity of 832K words (twice the capacity of previous OMRON products).Higher system throughput speed for I/O and faster immediate refreshing for basic I/O in addition to faster basic and special instructions. (Execution time is 20 times faster than previous OMRON models, e.g., reduced from 20 µs to 1 µs for the LD instruction.)

2. A multifunctional Ethernet port compatible with EtherNet/IP is built in and can be used simultaneously for FTP communications, data links, and Support Software connections.

3. Errors reduced when modifying designs because tags are used for actual I/O and internal I/O, eliminating the need for address allocation. Also, PLC programming and PT display screens can be developed in parallel.



Of the points listed above, I find no.3 to be interesting. It sounds to me that it will make programming a PLC similar to writing a C# or Visual Basic program for example, where variables are named and used without the underlying address being important. Very interesting, and I hope that I may have the chance to give it a try.