Innovative PLC training laboratory as a part of the Center of Excellence in the context of the ASEAN Factori 4.0 project

The Erasmus+ Capacity-building in the field of higher education (CBHE) joint Asean Factori 4.0 project contribute to the design of a set of industrial automation labs with a corresponding staff training program to initiate the foundation of Center of Excellence (CE) in the field of Automation in three countries: Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. The University of Ruse contributes in the design and creation of two of the six PLC laboratories, building the planed CE, which will be distributed in 6 universities from the partner countries. The paper introduction considers the capacity building in the higher education and specification of the South-East Asia region. It presents the main project objectives and activities. The article further describes one of the benchmark parts of the planned CE for which specialists from two departments of the University of Ruse: Automation and Mechatronics Dpt. and Telecommunications Dept. are responsible. The benchmark is oriented to the sequential control of processes in automation and the use of sequential functional diagrams and Grafset diagrams. The pedagogical benchmark design was based on the Eaton-Moeller brand PLCs and will include all learning sources for an intensive training course. The hardware architecture and the necessary software of the benchmark are specified in order to meet the expected functionalities and learning outcomes and is described in the paper. The future work is presented and conclusions are made in the paper.