Cycle counting is a vital method for monitoring machine utilization and ensuring operational efficiency across various industrial sectors. By tracking the number of machine cycles, operators can gain valuable insights into equipment performance, identify maintenance needs, and optimize production processes. Many existing machines are currently being retrofitted with cycle counting equipment, giving existing equipment new IoT capabilities.
How to Count Cycles with TPS Devices
Use a Digital Input Tibbit
Detects: Digital input.
Digital input Tibbits, such as #00, #04 and #54 allow you to easily measure digital inputs and perform cycle counting with TPS devices. A terminal block connector Tibbit such as #20 or #21 is also required. For example, Tibbit #54 has four dry contact input lines; applying ground to any of these four lines updates its boolean variable to 0, and in AppBlocks you can configure this variable changing event to be recorded as a cycle count and displayed on a TPS display or web dashboard.
Schematic:
Basic Example:
Click here to see an example project that adds 1 to a cycle counter whenever line 1 of Tibbit #54 is connected to ground, and prints the total to console.
In the above example we store the cycle count as a variable for simplicity, but a better approach would be to store the count as a "Setting" data type. Settings are kept in your device's EEPROM. They are referred to as "persistent storage" because they retain their values even when the device is powered off. In real life we also need a way to check the cycle count remotely, and that's where AppBlocks Cloud (ABC), our cloud monitoring and management service comes into play.
Advanced Example:
Click here to see an advanced example, where we are instead storing the cycle count as a Setting, and have enabled AppBlocks Cloud for remote monitoring.
