GEM 80 PLC Systems and Programmers

GEM 80 PLC Systems and Programming Devices.

The GEM 80 range of programmable logic controllers began their life in the late 1970’s, as a development of GEC Industrial Controls at Kidsgrove, Stoke on Trent and GEC Projects at Rugby. It quickly took off and by the mid 1980’s GEM 80 had approximately a 25% share of the UK’s fledgling automation industry. Large companies such as Shell, Texaco, Ford, British Steel and Cadburys signed up to the GEM 80 as the controller of choice. These were alongside utility companies, power stations and water companies that also decided to opt for GEM 80 during this 1980’s automation revolution. GEM 80 flourished not only in the UK but also worldwide through a network of GEC owned subsidiaries. Installations were made in the automotive, oil and gas, mining, steel production and food facilities all around the world.

Into the 1990’s the GEM 80 range continued in its development of new features such as floating point maths, integration with hard disk off line storage and Ethernet communication options to name a few. These newer GEM 80 systems adopted the same operating systems, communications and I/O structures as the earlier GEM 80 systems, this led to easy upgrade options and interoperability of both the old and new systems working together.

Backwards Compatibility.

All GEM 80 controllers that were produced were exceptionally good in terms of backwards compatibility with the older models they were designed to replace. These new systems required very few software modifications to allow an early 1980’s GEM 80 ladder program to run on the latest GEM 80 controllers. Because of this compatibility as the GEM 80 systems reached the end of their development in 1993 with the modular GEM 80 400 controller and 2002 with the all in one GEM 80 500 controller. Many of the earlier GEM 80 systems were upgraded to one of these two types of GEM 80.

Company Name Changes.

All the way through the GEM 80 development and production time line the company producing the GEM 80 took on many different names as the Kidsgrove factory producing the GEM 80 controllers was sold on to various major players in the automation and control marketplace.

GEC Industrial Controls originally launched the GEM 80 in 1979. Then in 1989 GEC Industrial Controls became CEGELEC. In 1999 CEGELEC becomes part of Alstom Power Conversion. Then in 2006 The ALSTOM Power Conversion group was sold off from Alstom to become an independent business called Converteam. In 2011 Converteam was bought by GE Energy and was then re-branded GE Power Conversion in 2012. In March 2017 GE Power Conversion closed the “GEM 80 factory” at Kidsgrove.

GEM 80 Controllers.

The list below shows GEM 80 controller model numbers and the approximate years of their main production. (Note * all production date ranges are approximate.)

GEM 80 8-Bit Controllers 1979-82*

100 SERIES (100,130) Basic I/O.

200 SERIES (210,220,230,225,235,245) Basic I/O & Fast I/O.

GEM 80 16-Bit Controllers 1982-86*

140 SERIES (140,141,142) Basic I/O, Concentrated I/O.

250 SERIES (251,252,253) Basic I/O, Fast I/O.

300 SERIES (301,302,303) Basic I/O, Concentrated I/O, Fast I/O.

350 SERIES (351,352,353) Basic I/O, Concentrated I/O, Fast I/O.

700 SERIES (701,702,703) Basic I/O, Concentrated I/O, Fast I/O.

GEM 80 16-Bit Controllers 1986-90*

131 SERIES (131) Basic I/O.

160 SERIES (163,164,165,166) Basic I/O, Verification I/O.

310 SERIES (311,312,313) Basic I/O, Verification I/O, Fast I/O.

730 SERIES (734) Basic I/O, Verification I/O, Fast I/O.

MULTIGEM (Rugby) (M Series) Basic I/O, Verification I/O, Fast I/O.

GEM 80 16-Bit Controllers 1993-2017*

400 SERIES (Standard, Enhanced) Basic I/O, Verification I/O, Fast I/O.

400 SERIES VME Basic I/O, Verification I/O.

500 SERIES Basic I/O, Verification I/O.

GEM 80 Programming Devices and Software.

There have been a total of 8 different GEM 80 programming devices or software packages produced over the years that allow for the programming and monitoring of all GEM 80 controllers. All of the programming units/software will connect to any of the range of GEM 80 controllers. Although an RS232 to 20mA conversion lead may be required for PC based programmer operation to connect to older controllers (Pre 131 controllers).

GEM 80 Portable Programmer.

The original GEM 80 programming unit, not particularly portable! You also needed a cassette tape recorder and a DIN lead to load and store your GEM 80 programs!

GEM 80 System Programmer.

Introduced in the mid 80’s the system programmer was a fully integrated programming unit. It had an in built digital cassette deck for program storage. Affectionately known as a “yellow telly” or “bumble bee” because of the distinctive yellow and black GEC livery. Later models introduced a floppy drive as well as the cassette for program storage.

GEM 80 System Programmer Emulator.

With the advent of cheap desktop PC’s in the latter part of the 1980’s a third party company, Advanced Technical Software developed a PC based DOS program that emulated the operation of the System Programmer. This software became known as the Emulator. The operation was essentially the same as the system programmer except that the programs could be stored on the PC’s hard disk or a floppy disk.

GEC Projects Programmer (GPP).

GEC Projects based at Rugby, developed their own version of a system programmer emulator and called it GPP. This again emulated the operation of the original System Programmer. GEM CAD from GEC Project as used in Pilot still utilises the basic GPP menus at the ladder level. This was primarily sold as part of a project and therefore was not available as a product

Universal GEM 80 Programmer.

Advanced Technical Software updated their Emulator with more features and easier menu navigation and launched it as the universal GEM 80 programmer (UGP). Still essentially a DOS based programming device that refined some of the menus and operations of the original emulator.

P80 Pilot with GEM CAD.

Cegelec Projects at Rugby developed the GGP product further adding enhancements to GPP called GEM CAD, this GEM 80 programming software is then encapsulated in a Windows front end. The P80 Pilot front end enables the programmer to only go online if the offline and online programs are identical. Pilot also offers the programmer the ability to launch other programming packages as well as GEM CAD.

Gemesys 3.

Developed by Cegelec/GEC Industrial Controls at Kidsgrove the Gemesys 3 programmer was the first full Windows programmer for GEM 80. It didn’t have a particular large take up as most companies were still happy to use the older but faster DOS based programmers. This was due in some part to the operating speed of PC’s at the time and their ability to run Windows at a reasonable speed.

Advanced GEM 80 Programmer (AGP).

The latest programming package that runs on a Windows PC from Windows 2000 to Windows 10. AGP was developed by Advanced Technical Software in partnership with Alstom it takes the GEM 80 programming package to a new level. It has a number of extra features that allow for quicker searching, monitoring and diagnostics. Some of these facilities are specific to the 400 and 500 controllers, but the overall package will work with any GEM 80 controller. The latest AGP version 4 is now the widely accepted favourite GEM 80 programming package that can run on a Windows 10 PC. It can be used to import programs from any of the previous programming packages such as UGP, GPP, Gemesys and with a suitable serial lead connecting the PC to the old dedicated programmers even system programmer files on cassette tape from 1979, true backwards compatibility.