I'm afraid I'm a woodworker by trade and I'm getting in over my head but I have a project and would love to solve it using a light gate.
I have 4 doors each 1500mm wide. I have trolleys going in and out of these doors all day long, when the trolleys go through the door they cannot return for a minimum of 10 minutes. Here's what I think I need programming wise
When light gate interrupted, start timer
If LG is broken before 10 mins, alarm sounds
When LG is broken after 10 mins, timer resets, waits for next run
Time to be displayed throughout
Keyed reset switch in case of accidental trigger
Does that sound feasible and what gear would I need?
Thanks in advance
The trolleys (20 or so) are all the same size, roughly 1200mm(w) x 600mm(d) and all trolleys must be parked for 10mins. It's a strict curing time. Will only ever be 1 trolley at a time in any given door
One of 20 or so trolleys will pass through a door and a 10 minute timing period will start. Should the trolley attempt to pass back through the door within the 10 minute timing period then an alarm will sound
You can guarantee that no other trolley will pass through the door in either direction unless/until the first trolley has returned through it either during the timing period or after it
Are the 4 doors independent of one another or does the 10 minute rule apply to all of them once started by a trolley passing through one of them ?
Will the trolley return through the same door as it used on entry ?
Can anything, or anyone, other than the trolleys pass through the doors in either direction ?
Are the doors open all the time or does it need to open to allow the trolley to pass ?
The doors lead into ovens (around 50c) the foam on top of the ovens will then cure over 10 mins and be taken out, ready for the next to go in. the 4 ovens are separate and will need to work independently of one another. The alarm will let me know if the trolleys are coming out early (the problem we're trying to solve) Nothing else will go into the ovens.
If you want to stick with Arduino for some reason, there is the Arduino OPTA, a kind of industrial PLC.
Otherwise a plain old PLC (programmable logic controller) or PCA (programmable automation controllers) will do.
Do you have ANY experience with programming ANY type of PLC or microcontroller?
Think I would detect if the trolley was IN the oven rather than just passing through the door, 2 break beam sensors in each oven looking crosswise, one near front, other near back.
What material are the trolleys made of?