Multiplex communications – Wide area network – Packet switching
Patent
1992-06-17
1995-10-24
Olms, Douglas W.
Multiplex communications
Wide area network
Packet switching
370 8515, 370 857, H04L 1242
Patent
active
054616174
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention generally relates to serial controllers which can be suitable used for a centralized control system of such various types of machines as presses, machine tools, construction machines, ships or airplanes and for a centralized control system or unmanned or automatic transportation machines or unmanned storehouses, and particularly, to a serial controller in which a main controller and a plurality of nodes are connected in series in the form of a closed loop and each of the nodes is connected with one or a plurality of sensors for outputting data and also with one or a plurality of actuators for inputting data.
BACKGROUND ART
When it is desired to centralizedly control presses, machine tools, construction machines, ships, airplanes, unmanned transportation machines or unmanned storehouses, a multiplicity of sensors for detecting states of the respective machines and a multiplicity of actuators for controlling the states of the respective machines are required. In the case where such a controller is applied to presses, for example, the number of such sensors and actuators amounts to more than 3000, and in the case of other machines, the number becomes larger than 3000.
There has been proposed a centralized control system for centralizedly controlling such sorts of machines, in which a plurality of nodes are connected in series and one or a plurality of sensors and one or a plurality of actuators are connected to each of the nodes and are also connected to a main controller in the form of a ring so that a signal issued from the main controller causes the respective nodes to be controlled.
in the case where the nodes are arranged to be connected in series in this way, how to secure the simultaneousness of outputs of the respective sensors and the simultaneousness of outputs of the respective actuators become important. For example, when such an arrangement is employed that addresses are allocated to the respective nodes to control the nodes on the basis of the addresses, a time delay caused by this address processing becomes a problem and it becomes impossible to secure the satisfactory simultaneousness of collection of outputs of the sensors and of the control of the actuators.
To avoid this, the inventors of the present application have proposed a serial controller in which nodes are connected in series, no addresses are allocated to the respective nodes and instead the nodes are identified by their connection order, whereby the need for the address processing can be eliminated, the problem of the time delay caused by the address processing can be solved, and the configuration of the nodes can be remarkably simplified.
Such a serial controller is arranged as shown in FIG. 1. In the drawing, a main controller 100 performs general control over respective machines to be managed, groups of sensors 1-1, 1-2, . . . , and 1-N are connected to the respective machines to detect the states of the machines, and groups of actuators 2-1, 2-2, . . . , and 2-N controllably drive the respective machines in its arrangement, the sensor groups 1-1 to 1-N and the actuator groups 2-1 to 2-N are connected to nodes 10-1 to 10-N respectively, and the nodes 10-1 to 10-N are connected in series with the main controller 100 to form a loop including the main controller.
in the operation of the system, signals indicative of the states of the machines issued from the respective sensors 1-1, 1-2, . . . , and 1-N are sent through the nodes 10-1, 10-2, . . . , and 10-N to the main controller 100 to collect and process the received signals at the main controller; whereas signals for driving of the respective actuators 2-1, 2-2, . . . , and 2-N are generated at the main controller 100 and then sent to the respective actuators 2-1, 2-2, . . . , and 2-N to drive the actuators 2-1, 2-2, . . . , 2-N.
FIG. 2 shows the fame structure of a data frame signal used in the system when the number N of nodes is 5. The data frame signal is issued from the main controller 100, passed through the nodes 10-1, 10-2, . .
REFERENCES:
patent: 4763320 (1988-08-01), Rudolph et al.
patent: 4855729 (1989-08-01), Takeuchi et al.
patent: 5151898 (1992-09-01), Kondo
patent: 5163056 (1992-11-01), Hagiwara et al.
patent: 5170338 (1992-12-01), Moritoki et al.
patent: 5204865 (1993-04-01), Moritoki et al.
Hagiwara Masao
Takebe Makoto
Kabushiki Kaisha Komatsu Seisakusho
Nguyen Chau T.
Olms Douglas W.
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