KINCO HMI/PLC
Since 2022 we have been working with
nice little combination HMI/PLC manufactured by Kinco in China and supplied and supported in the US by Anaheim Automation.
We selected this unit after an extensive search in early 2022 to determine what was available in this sort of
product, what the capabilities of the various market offerings were, and how those capabilities matched up with
our immediate needs and with the long term needs of our customers. The immediate need was to replace failing
small PLC/HMI units which we had used circa 2000 in several pieces of custom machinery we built. After about 20
years the original controllers manufactured by Eaton Durant, Allen Bradley, and Keyence began failing on the
equipment we had manufactured and the controller models we had selected from the three manufacturers listed were no longer
supported. Not wanting to reward manufacturers who do not provide long time support for the products they sell,
and seeking a single modern, more capable solution to replace controllers in several different families of equipment,
we opened an entirely new search and discovered the Kinco controllers and quickly settled on their model MK070E-33DT
as being the best single choice to replace controllers in our older cut-to-length equipment, test equipment,
and small scale SCADA projects. The array of features allowed us to select and concentrate on this one model for several
projects. The particular features which meshed with our needs across all of the families of equipment we service are:
a single box solution, high speed counter inputs (necessary for cut-to-length applications), analog I/O, floating point
math supported in the PLC, expandable for additional remote I/O (for the SCADA projects), extensive and varied networking
capabilities (needed to network some equipment to fit into customers' long term integrated manufacturing goals). A particularly
appealing feature for us is the abiity to use USB memory sticks for several purposes including data logging, ability to design
an operator screen for test equipment that resembles the customer's existing paper reports and then export that screen as a
screenshot to the USB memory as a report on a single test, and ability to use USB sticks to backup and transfer data, recipes,
and user programs.
I was quite pleasantly surprised to find a single product which met all of these requirements.
One disadvantage of the Kinco product which caused a longer than expected learning curve on the first project [circa 2022] was
the documentation provided by Kinco. [As of 2022] two separate programing tools are required to program the box, one for the PLC
and another for the HMI. It is up to the programmer to design the two user programs to communicate with each other. The
documentation is Chinese translated to English and it appears that two diffeerent translators were used. So there can be some
confusion about inconsistent terminology in the documentation for the two programming tools. Also, even though [circa 2023]
Kinco and Anaheim Automation provide some useful basic instruction in written form and on UTube, the more complicated programming
tasks required to support datalogging and report generation are not well documented nor are they supported by example code which can
be used in customer projects. All automation equipment has a learning curve and once our first project with the Kinco equipment was
completed with assistance from Anaheim and Kinco tech support, we now find the controllers as user friendly as those from the
manufacturers mentioned above and others. I decided, with the permission of my customer, to provide this sample project to help
other users. In the sample project you will see working code that supports: part recipes, use of screenshots to save single test results,
ability to create, display, and export results of multiple tests in spreadsheet format, and use of the USB stick for datalogging and for
recipe backup and restore.> The sample program operates a screw testing machine which allows the operator
to select a preprogrammed screw type from a recipe list or to create new recipe entries. The machine then drills ten sample drill-point screws
into a sample plate and records the time required for each screw. The time is compared to a 'pass limit' time and any measurement longer than
the pass limit is marked in the report. When 10 screws have been tested some statistical values are calculated and the results are presented on a
single screen and exported as a screenshot of that test's results. The data is also entered in a local spreadsheet of up to 50 tests which can be
viewed on the controller or exported to the USB stick. Failure of any screw to meet the pass limit causes the test result to be 'FAIL', while a
run of 10 screws which all meet the limit results in a 'PASS' result. Since this is a fairly simple program (3 outputs and 2 inputs operate the machine),
it also includes the ability to force inputs and outputs, which means that the program can be tested in simulation on an actual controller without
having the rest of the machine connected. In addition (I have not tested this) the Kinco programming software supports simulation of the controller so that
programs can be tested and demonstrated without having an actual controller in hand. You can download the entire sample project in a .zip file here: http://falconlabs.com/KINCO/ScrewTesterProject.zip The .zip file contains the user programs with internal comments, a more extensive
document of programmer comments (also on a link below), screenshots of all of the operator screens organized and annotated to also serve as a user instruction manual for
experienced users of the screw testing machine (also on a link below), sample controller produced data files and screenshots, and documentation and programming tools downloaded
from the Kinco website circa 2022 that were used to create the project. LINKS: Kinco product description page : https://www.kincoautomation.com/marketing/hmi/MK series/MK070E-33DT/ Free latest version of the programming tools from Kinco website : https://kincoautomation.com/software/DTools and Kinco Builder.zip Operator screen descriptions and instructions : http://falconlabs.com/KINCO/screens.htm Programmer notes on the sample project : http://falconlabs.com/KINCO/notes.htm Anaheim Automation website : https://www.anaheimautomation.com/products/hmi-plc/hmi-plc-combo-list.php?cID=561