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Sinking and Sourcing Concepts

When choosing the type of input or outputmodule for your PLC system, it is veryimportant to have a solid
understanding ofsinking and sourcing concepts. Use ofthese terms occurs frequently in discussionof input or
output circuits. It is the goal ofthis postto make these concepts easy tounderstand, so you can make the
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rightchoice the first time when selecting the typeof I/O points for your application. This post provides short
definitions, followedby general example circuits.

First you will notice that the diagrams onthis

page are associated with only DC circuits and
not AC, because of the referenceto (+) and (-)
polarities. Therefore,sinking and sourcing
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terminology appliesonly to DC input and output
circuits. Inputand output points that are sinking Issue 37 2017
orsourcing can conduct current in one
directiononly. This means it is possible Issue 36 2016
toconnect the external supply and fielddevice
to the I/O point, with current tryingto flow in the wrong direction, and thecircuit will not operate. However, All Back Issues
thesupply and field device can be connectedevery time based on an understanding ofsourcing and sinking.
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The figure below depicts a sinking input.To properly connect the external supply, itmust be connected so the
input provides apath to supply common(-). So, start at thePLC input terminal, follow through theinput sensing
circuit, exit at the commonterminal, and connect the supply (-) to thecommon terminal. By adding the Archives
switchbetween the supply (+) and the input, thecircuit is completed. Current flows in thedirection of the arrow
when the switch isclosed.
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By applying the circuit principlesto the fourpossible combinations of input/outputsinking/sourcing types, there System Integrators
are fourcircuits, as shown above. The commonterminal is the terminal that serves as thecommon return path for
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all I/O points inthe bank.

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Sink/source I/O circuits combine sinkingand sourcing capabilities. This means thatthe I/O circuitry in the PLC will
allowcurrent to flow in either direction, as shown below. The common terminalconnects to one polarity, and the
I/O pointconnects to the other polarity (through thefield device). This provides flexibility inmaking connections
to your field powersupply. Please note:

Wire all I/O points with a shared common as either sinking or sourcing.
Do not use an AC power supply on a DC sink/source I/O point.

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Below are detailed electrical diagrams for sinking and sourcing configurations, showing typical PLC input module
and field device circuitry.

Commonterminals andhow to use them

In order for a PLC I/O circuit to operate,current must enter at one terminal andexit at another. This means at
least twoterminals are associated with every I/Opoint. In the figure below, the inputor output terminal is the
main path for thecurrent. One additional terminal mustprovide the return path to the powersupply. Together,
the main path and thereturn path create a loop, or a completecircuit for current to flow.

If there was unlimited space and budgetfor I/O terminals, then every I/O pointcould have two dedicated
terminals.However, providing this level of flexibilityis not practical or even necessary for mostapplications. So,
most input or outputpoints on PLCs are in groups that sharethe return path (called commons). Thefigure at the
right shows a group (orbank) of four input points that share acommon return path. In this way, the fourinputs
require only five terminals insteadof eight.

NOTE: Assuming all input circuits have a similarresistance, the current at the common terminal isfour
times greater than the current at any one of theinputs. This effect is especially important to note
foroutput circuits, where the current through a commonterminal can reach several amperes. You will
needto decide whether to fuse each output point individually,or to put a fuse in the common terminal
path.

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