Programmable Logic Controller
Struger is sometimes known as the "father of the programmable logic controller" as is Dick Morley. Struger was involved in the invention of the Allen-Bradley programmable logic controller (PLC) during 1958 to 1960. Struger is often called the father of Allen-Bradley's programmable logic controller ("PLC") and credited with creating that acronym. The abbreviation "PLC" and the term "Programmable Logic Controller" are registered trademarks of the Allen-Bradley Company. Rockwell (Allen-Bradley) became the programmable logic controller device leader in the United States during the tenure of Struger.
This is a device that is part of computers used today in nearly every machine automated factory worldwide. It is an electronic device that allows precise numerical control of machinery. It makes possible modern factory automation, as well as heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, plastic injection molding machines, commercial washing machines, and amusement park rides. It is even found in lavish stage effects of Broadway productions. The devices are designed to work in real time, taking in information, processing it and producing commands to control a mechanical process as it happens. The Programmable Logic Controller ("PLC") came about as a replacement for automatic control systems that used tens and hundreds (maybe even thousands) of relays, motor driven cam timers, and rotary sequencers.
Murray Slovick (Spectrum editor, a magazine of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers) has been reported as saying,
| “ | Programmable logic controllers are what industry uses to automate factories. They are used to control a wide range of equipment, everything from heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, to plastic injection molding machines to commercial washing machines. | ” |
William Little (Rockwell Automation chief technical officer) quoted to reporters,
| “ | Programmable logic controllers are pervasive. They show up in the road production of 'Phantom of the Opera' and in rides at Disney World. | ” |
Struger based his computer technology on a concept developed in his doctoral dissertation at the Vienna University of Technology titled, The Process for Quantitative Handling of Positioning Errors of Numerical Control Machines. He obtained a doctorate degree in 1970 at the Vienna University of Technology from this thesis.
The device Struger invented is essentially a rugged industrial computer that controls machinery. It is in most machine factories throughout the world today, especially those of high technology. The programmable logic controller computer technology is now a billion-dollar-a-year industry.
Read more about this topic: Odo Josef Struger
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