Fluid handling – Convertible – Units interchangeable between alternate locations
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-20
2001-01-16
Lee, Kevin (Department: 3753)
Fluid handling
Convertible
Units interchangeable between alternate locations
C137S560000, C137S884000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06173731
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to an electrofluidic modular system.
The electrofluidic part of such modular system consists of a controlling external bus or multipole terminal and an internal bus, with electric relaying by wiring or circuit boards.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
By conventional means, electric input/output blocks and fluidic blocks of differing manufacturers are implemented and wired on separate bars. The fluidic ports are not directly linked to the bus system, i.e. they are signaled via the electric input/output blocks of other manufacture.
Since the interfaces of the modules are not subject to any standard, each manufacturer realizes his own concept. This results in added costs and labor when use is made of electric and fluidic components of differing manufacturers in a single system, the wiring being just as much an expensive item as is the fact that exchanging the components necessitates qualified specialist personnel. As a result of this, the costs of installing and servicing such a system are high.
In fluidic systems the users need a system to be fed with differing pressures. In conventional systems this problem can only be solved at high cost and labor expenditure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention provides an electrofluidic modular system which may be directly integrated in the electric system of other manufacture made up of electric input/output modules. The modular system in accordance with the invention is defined in claim
1
. One preferred embodiment is, for the purpose of controlling the actuators, directly integrated in an external bus system, e.g. AS-I, Interbus-S etc. for the transfer of the control and data signals to and from the controller. For this purpose the electric standard module of the electrofluidic modular system comprises a protocol chip with which it communicates with the controller. Further embodiments are connected to line group or multipole modules and are powered via an internal bus, via circuit boards and/or wiring and/or are able to transfer data. The module width may vary in accordance with the invention in a grid dictated by the actuators, single modules with a single actuator and multiple modules with two, three or more actuators being possible.
In a further development of the invention each electrofluidic module may be interconnected with an emergency OFF module. For this purpose a special feeder module is integrated which, when necessary, disconnects or adds on the function of individual actuators or of any number thereof by means of, for example, a mechanical safety relay with forced coupling.
The modular system in accordance with the invention comprises at least one, but as a rule two mirror-inverted interface modules to the electric modules of other manufacture. This interface module preferably contains a circuit board with terminal contacts on both sides in adaptation to the contacts of the various manufacturers. The interface module is connected to the module of other manufacture as specified by the manufacturer, e.g. by means of latch, screw or plug-in type connections. On the electrofluidic side any desired electrofluidic module of the modular system may be mounted, preferably by latching elements.
Furthermore, the interface module comprises in a preferred embodiment the ports and channels for the fluidic infeed of the adjoining fluidic modules and their actuators.
A standard electrofluidic module which may be used in the modular system in accordance with the invention is preferably composed of three parts, namely a fluidic part comprising the collecting conduits for the P, R and S ports, an electric part in which the internal or external bus runs and which is equipped with a protocol chip for communication with the controller, as well as a function part including the actuators, e.g. valves or actuating drives.
Splitting up the standard electrofluidic module preferably into three parts, namely an electric, a fluidic and a function part, provides furthermore the advantage of standardization of the parts in terms of production engineering, so that a few sub-modules suffice to permit achieving a large number of functions, thus making it easy, e.g. merely by changing the electric module, to adjust the system to various internal or external bus protocols or, in conjunction with a line group module or multipole module, to provide the power for switching the actuators in electric modules.
By reconfiguring and varying the composition of the sub-modules, further functions are possible in accordance with the invention, this being in the case of the electric modules e.g. an electric bypass which simply passes on the bus or the operating and control voltage to the adjoining electric modules, or a module for supplying external emergency OFF signals. These may have components assigned to them in the fluidic part which require no electric connection, e.g. a fluidic bulkhead, a fluidic interfeed or a fluidic module having a blind plate to bypass one or more modules without function modules.
It has further proven to be of particular advantage to combine the fluidic bulkhead with an interfeed, this combination enabling differing pressures to be fed into the system.
In a further development of the invention, provision is furthermore made for a feedback module which may be directly coupled to the electrofluidic module, this having the advantage that the user is now able to directly assign the feedback, e.g. by LEDs, to the actuator function by simple ways and means.
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patent: 5519636 (1996-05-01), Stoll et al.
patent: 5529088 (1996-06-01), Asou
patent: 5918629 (1999-07-01), Hayashi et al.
patent: 5950661 (1999-09-01), Kirchhoff-Stewens
patent: 683 021 A5 (1993-12-01), None
patent: 0 624 832 A2 (1994-02-01), None
patent: 0 621 407 A1 (1994-03-01), None
patent: 0 703 391 A1 (1995-08-01), None
Burkert Werke GmbH & Co.
Friedman Stuart J.
Lee Kevin
Nixon & Peabody LLP
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