Data processing: generic control systems or specific application – Specific application – apparatus or process – Product assembly or manufacturing
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-24
2001-07-31
Nerbun, Peter (Department: 3765)
Data processing: generic control systems or specific application
Specific application, apparatus or process
Product assembly or manufacturing
C700S141000, C066S232000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06269282
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to an electrical control apparatus for the output of textile pattern data to groups of mechanical actuation elements that actuate needles for guiding thread in a textile machine.
A warp knitting machine with at least one laying bar and a control apparatus is known from the document DE 44 42 555 C2. The control apparatus therein has a main computer to which subordinate computers are attached in star formation via a serial bus. A subordinate computer is assigned to each member of a set of flexible converters disposed on the laying bar to drive that flexible converter. A serial-parallel converter is furthermore assigned to each flexible converter for addressing and data transmission. Each subordinate computer prepares data so that the flexible converter attached thereto is addressed individually and is subsequently provided with the control data.
It is disadvantageous to require a subordinate computer for each laying bar because of the high processing speed that is necessary. However, in the case of a large number of laying bars, as in the case of large textile machines, a correspondingly high number of subordinate computers is disadvantageously needed. The sequential addressing of the individual flexible converters requires the subordinate computers and electronic components to have a high processing speed because the flexible converters must be controlled rapidly and synchronously. Thus, an expansion of the number of laying bars also disadvantageously requires additional high-speed subordinate computers.
A control apparatus for piezoelectric actuators for a knitting machine is known from the document JP 82 18 255. The piezoelectric actuators each have a driver circuit which is connected to a control unit via a parallel bus. In this case the control unit selects a definite driver circuit of a piezoelectric actuator in a first step by the output of a parallel address signal and then transmits the pattern data to it in a second step.
It is disadvantageous that each piezoelectric actuator must first be activated for addressed data transmission via an additional address signal before it can receive the actual pattern information. Due to the relatively long data transmission times a controller of this type is not applicable without high technological expenditure for rapidly running textile machines or larger textile machines that require a large number of piezoelectric actuators.
An electronically controlled Jacquard machine, for controlling the warp thread of a weaving loom, is known from the document DE-OS 2 330 420. Therein, a serial-parallel converter is formed as a shift register, and is connected between an information transmitter and the flexible vibrators. It is disadvantageous that the shift register for each of the flexible vibrators has a register unit and all the flexible vibrators are driven simultaneously by the information transmitter per transmission cycle. Because of the foregoing, the number of transmissions per unit time, and thus the maximal operating speed of the Jacquard machine, is limited.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to achieve a faster electrical control apparatus.
Further, it is an object of the invention to achieve a faster electrical control apparatus which allows easy control of the textile machine even when any number of laying bars are added or removed from the textile machine.
It is a further object of the invention to achieve a faster electrical control apparatus which reduces data transmission time and which also reduces the technological expenditure for rapidly running textile machines and large textile machines that require a large number of actuators.
These and other objects are achieved by the embodiments of the present invention. According to one formulation of the invention, there is provided an electrical control apparatus, for a textile machine, which outputs textile pattern data to a plurality of groups of mechanical actuation elements for actuating thread guiding elements. This electrical control apparatus includes a plurality of serial-parallel converters each of which is connected to at least one of the groups of mechanical actuation elements. Each serial-parallel converter is configured to accept, for each connected group of mechanical actuation elements, at least one pattern data block form the textile pattern data. This electrical control apparatus further includes a serial data bus to which the serial-parallel converters are sequentially connected. An electronic processing unit, having a first connection to the data bus, in transmission cycles forms—from the textile pattern data—pattern data chains containing pattern data blocks for driving the mechanical actuation elements. Further, the electronic processing unit—in transmission cycles—inserts the pattern data chains into the serial data bus so that at the end of each transmission cycle at least one pattern data block is contained in each serial-parallel converter. Then, at the end of each transmission cycle, the electronic processing unit outputs a central release signal to a plurality of assignment devices. The assignment devices are connected to the serial-parallel converters, and to the groups of mechanical actuation elements. Upon receiving the central release signal, the assignment devices synchronously cause the serial-parallel converters to output the pattern data block currently contained in each serial-parallel converter to an actuation element in the group of mechanical actuation elements connected to that serial-parallel converter.
It is an advantage that an electronic control apparatus according to the present invention includes a single central, electronic processing unit that drives the mechanical actuation elements via a serial data bus. Thus, the number of actuation elements on the serial bus is arbitrarily set, and that number is easily expandable. Inserting pattern data blocks within one transmission cycle into the sequentially connected serial-parallel converters, which are assigned to groups of actuation elements, effects fast data transmission. It is particularly advantageous that no additional addressing of the individual actuation elements or serial-parallel converters needs to be done but, rather, the control data at the end of one transmission cycle is automatically present in the correct serial-parallel converter.
Further, it is particularly advantageous that—in the case of data transmission per corresponding transmission cycle—the control unit only transmits those data which are necessary to drive the actuation elements that are actually to be driven. According to the invention, merely one single actuation element per group is driven by mechanical actuation elements with one pattern data block per transmission cycle. Thus, only the data information for a single actuation element per group is transmitted and, thereby, the data transmission expenditure is advantageously kept to a minimum whereas the data transmission rate is maximized.
Furthermore, it is advantageous that for each central release signal, an actuation element of the associated group is addressed. Thereby the actuation elements of one group are driven one after the other in a sequence which corresponds to the sequential arrangement of the actuation elements in the group. Preferably, in this case, one storage element is assigned to each actuation element, and that storage element buffers the driving of that actuation element in one transmission cycle. Thus, for each transmission cycle only one actuation element per group is driven, and the state of the actuation element caused thereby, for example “set” or “not set”, remains buffered until the corresponding actuation element is driven anew in a later transmission cycle.
Assignment means, preferably a multiplexer and a counter connected to it, are advantageously provided for each group of actuation elements. The counter is timed via a central release signal, and thus serves to drive the assigned multiplexer whereby a definite actuation element of a grou
Burger Wilhelm
Stuewe Hans-Joachim
Nerbun Peter
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
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