Electricity: motive power systems – Plural – diverse or diversely controlled electric motors – Starting and/or stopping
Patent
1995-02-07
1997-09-30
Ro, Bentsu
Electricity: motive power systems
Plural, diverse or diversely controlled electric motors
Starting and/or stopping
318112, 307 40, 200 5105, G05B 1904
Patent
active
056729430
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to electronic control apparatus, and particularly, but not exclusively, to programmable electronic industrial control and protection apparatus.
Such control and protection apparatus may be, for example, in the form of a control unit or a system incorporating such control units for industrial low voltage control gear. The system may typically have motor control centres for the grouped control of a.c. machines in a voltage range of say 380-660 V, or the system may have control units for the control of fixed speed d.c. machines in the range of say 110-300 V. Such control and protection apparatus within the scope of this invention may also be for other installed equipment, such as low voltage air circuit breakers.
Such known programmable electronic industrial control and protection apparatus which includes control units associated on a one to one basis with individual items of installed equipment (motors, distribution panels etc) commonly contains the parameters specific to that equipment locally in onboard software memory incorporated in the control apparatus. This means that when that electronic control apparatus fails and a replacement is installed there is a significant chance of the parameters being entered incorrectly. Even where that equipment can have its parameters entered remotely via a serial link its unique address still needs to be set up locally.
IEC specifications refer to installed equipments mentioned above of whatever type as functional units. We can conveniently refer to the programmable electronic industrial control and protection apparatus described above of whatever type, and associated with each such functional unit, as a control unit. Thus where a number of functional units are at different locations, each having a control unit associated with the specific functional unit at its unique location, and the functional units are all linked to a programmable logic controller or are all linked in a computer system then the first essential information for correct operation of the functional units is that the correct address of each functional unit is held at its location. As mentioned above each such location address of a functional unit has hitherto been held in software in the associated control unit; and furthermore it has been necessary for a skilled person to be present at that location to input the correct address into the control unit software. Thus when a control unit fails at a particular location and it is replaced by a new control unit, it has needed a skilled person to input software in the new control unit with all the parameters which were in the old control unit. Thus undesirable results will occur if any parameters are entered incorrectly by human error into the new control unit. In particular if the wrong address is entered then the result, which could for example be the wrong functional unit in a linked system of units in an industrial installation being brought into operation by its motor being started by its new control unit, could be catastrophic. Such problems are no less, and perhaps more, likely if the control units are grouped together in a control centre remote from distributed funtional units.
An object of this invention is to overcome the above-described problem.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention electronic control apparatus for the control of functional electrical power units comprises a respective control unit for each functional unit, the control unit identifying the associated functional unit to central logic control means by means of a logic address, the control apparatus further comprising a respective non-volatile memory physically associated with each function unit, said logic address being available to the respective control unit and to any replacement control unit.
According to an aspect of the invention, in a motor control system including an electric control apparatus as aforesaid, electric motors contitute the functional electric power units.
According to a further aspect of
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patent: 4675582 (1987-06-01), Hommes et al.
patent: 5138548 (1992-08-01), Kienle
GEC Alsthom Limited
Ro Bentsu
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