Method of transferring data from a conditioning link to a controller, conditioning link and controller

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for transmitting data from a regulating loop (2) to a controller (1) which operates the regulating loop (2), wherein the controller (1) operates an inductance (3) contained in the regulating loop (2), wherein for the transmission of data in the regulating loop (2) a load (7) is connected in parallel to the inductance (3) or not connected in parallel thereto.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The invention relates to a method for transferring data from a regulating loop to a controller and to a corresponding regulating loop and to a corresponding controller. BACKGROUND

[0002] It is known to have regulating loops whose properties are determined at the end of manufacture and are deposited on the outside of the regulating loop by means of a dot matrix as corresponding data. The corresponding data are then read out by an assembly worker from the dot matrix and transferred to the controller at the time of commissioning. SUMMARY

[0003] The technical solution in the background art is improved according to the invention by a method for transferring data from a regulating loop to a controller which operates the regulating loop, wherein the controller operates an inductance contained in the regulating loop, wherein, for the purpose of transferring data in the regulating loop, a load is connected in parallel to the inductance or not connected in parallel thereto, wherein the parallel connection of the load causes a reduced duration of a reduction of a loaded voltage signal by means of a current regulation, wherein the controller has learned a time length of a signal which depends on whether the load is connected in parallel to the inductance or not.

[0004] The method according to the invention or the regulating loop according to the invention or the controller according to the invention has the advantage over the prior art that data are transferred from the regulating loop to the controller automatically by means of an electrical signal. As a result, it is no longer necessary to read out a dot matrix and to transfer it to the controller. In this way, in particular, a manual work step when combining the regulating loop and the controller can be avoided.

[0005] The invention also relates to further advantages and refinements. A particularly easy operation of the regulating loop is achieved by the way in which the current flowing through the inductance of the regulating loop is regulated by the controller. During the transfer of data from the regulating loop to the controller, the current is regulated here to a value which is smaller than the value required for operating the regulating loop. In this way, unintentional operation of the regulating loop is avoided. The current regulation of the controller can also be used particularly easily for evaluating the data transmitted by the regulating loop to the controller. As a result, it is not necessary to provide a self-contained software or hardware for evaluating the data. Here, the length of the voltage pulse which is adjusted by the regulating mechanism of the controller can be determined particularly easily. The transfer of data is particularly easily requested by the controller by means of a clear signal. The data transmitted by the regulating loop are used by the controller in particular for operating the regulating loop. As a result, it is possible to take into account manufacturing fluctuations of the regulating loop when operating the regulating loop. The corresponding data are determined particularly easily at the time of manufacture of the regulating loop. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0006] Embodiments of the application are illustrated in the attached drawings and will be described in the following detailed description.

[0007] wherein:

[0008] Figure 1 schematic circuit diagram of the controller and the regulating loop is shown, and

[0009] Figure 2 various electrical signals exchanged between the controller and the regulating loop are shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0010] In Figure 1 the controller 1 and the regulating loop 2 are shown schematically, wherein only the important electronic components of the controller 1 or of the regulating loop 2, respectively, are shown. In Figure 1 the illustration, the components of the controller 1 are shown to the left of the dashed dividing line 12, while the components of the regulating loop 2 are shown to the right of the dashed dividing line 12. The regulating loop 2 refers to a regulating loop having an inductance 3. Such an inductance 3 can for example refer to the coil of an electromagnetic actuator. When this coil is closed by a sufficiently strong current, it generates a force action on a soft-magnetic element, through which the movement is applied. Such an actuator is for example used as a valve for metered injection of a liquid.

[0011] By controlling the current flowing through the inductance 3, the actuation of the inductance 3 is achieved by the controller 1. For this purpose, the controller 1 has a switch 4, which is configured as a MOS-FET, which is connected on one side to a positive battery voltage and on the other side to a first connection of the inductance 3. Furthermore, the controller 1 has a second switch 5, which is configured as a MOS-FET, through which a second connection of the inductance 3 can be connected to ground via a measuring resistor 6. If the switches 4 and 5 are actuated in the on state by a not shown control logic of the controller 1, the current flowing through the inductance 3 is controlled by the voltage difference between the battery voltage and ground. The voltage drop over the measuring resistor 6 can be measured by a measuring line before and after the measuring resistor 6 and thus the current flowing through the resistor 6 and thus also through the inductance 3 can be determined. Typically, the controller 1 contains as control logic a microcontroller with corresponding programming, which controls the desired current flowing through the inductance 3 depending on the operating conditions. The controller 1 can thus control the desired movement of the regulating loop 3.

[0012] For this control of the regulating element 2 by the controller 1, the problem is the manufacturing-induced change in the properties of the regulating element 2. In order to compensate for this change, it is desirable for the manipulation of the regulating element 2 that information about the change in the properties of the regulating element 2 is known in the controller 1. At the end of the manufacture of the regulating element 2, the properties of the regulating element 2 can be determined and used for the control of the current through the inductance 3. For this purpose, in Figure 1 the regulating element 2 has a control logic 9 which contains a memory internally, in which information about the change in the properties of the regulating element is stored. Furthermore, the regulating element 2 has further means which can transfer the information stored in the control logic 9 back to the controller 1.

[0013] The load 7 and the inductance 3 are arranged in parallel with the switch 8 in series circuit. Thus, by means of the on connection of the switch 8, the load 7 can be connected in parallel with the inductance 3. Furthermore, in series with the load 7 and the switch 8 there is also provided a resistance 14 which serves to adjust the resistance of the series circuit of the load 7 and the switch 8. The switch 8 is preferably constructed as a MOS-FET and is manipulated by means of a manipulation line from the control logic 9. By means of a corresponding signal of the control logic 9, the switch 8 can be brought into the on state or the off state. Furthermore, a voltage divider with 2 resistances 11 is arranged in parallel with the inductance 3. Between the two resistances 11 there is provided an electrical connection to the control logic 9, by means of which the control logic 9 can check the voltage level. If the two switches 4, 5 of the controller 1 are in the on state, a voltage difference is loaded on the inductance 3. Since the two resistances 11 are connected in parallel with the inductance 3, the line arranged between the two resistances 11 also has a voltage level. If one or both of the switches 4, 5 are in the off state, the line arranged between the two resistances 11 will have no voltage. Thus, the control logic 9 can determine by means of an inquiry of this line between the two resistances 11 whether the controller 1 is manipulating the inductance 3.

[0014] Furthermore, the regulating element 2 also has a voltage supply 10 which, in addition to a regulator 15, has some capacitances for stabilizing the regulated voltage. As long as a voltage signal is loaded onto the regulating element 2 by the controller 1 sufficiently frequently, a sufficient voltage supply for the control logic 9 is ensured by the voltage supply 10. By means of the voltage supply 10, a supply voltage for the control logic 9 is thus ensured even if no voltage signal is loaded onto the regulating element 2 by the controller 1 for a short time.

[0015] Furthermore, the control logic 9 has three external connections 13 for the external programming or storage of data. For this purpose, information about the properties of the regulation loop 2 determined during the manufacture of the regulation loop 2 is stored in the control logic 9 via the connections 13. A supply voltage is applied to one of the connections 13, another connection 13 is connected to ground and a corresponding data signal is applied to the other connection 13.

[0016] The working principle of the individual components and the interaction between the controller 1 and the regulation loop 2 is explained in terms of the signal curves according to Figure 2 Figure 2 A. In Figure 2 B, the current in the inductance 3 caused by the voltage difference is plotted against time. In Figure 2 C, the control signal of the control logic 9 at the switch 8 is shown as a time curve. If the signal of Figure 2 C has the "low" level, the switch 8 is open, i.e. not conducting. If the signal of Figure 2 C has the "high" level, the switch 8 is closed, i.e. conducting and thus the load 7 is connected in parallel to the inductance 3.

[0017] In the time curve according to Figure 2 , no control is performed before the time tl. At the time Tl, both switches 4, 5 of the controller 1 are controlled into the conducting state and thus a voltage difference at the level of VBat is applied to the inductance 3. The control can be performed simultaneously on both switches 4, 5 or only one of the two switches 4, 5 can already be conducting and then the other switch can be switched. Usually, the switch 5 for establishing a connection to the ground line or ground terminal is always switched into the conducting state in order to continuously have a connection to the ground line or ground terminal as such. The control is then only performed by the switching of the conducting or non-conducting state of the switch 5.

[0018] The controller evaluates the current flowing through the measurement resistance 6, which is plotted against time in Figure 2 ​The time curve of B is shown in Fig. 2. The current flowing through the inductance 3 results from the non-existing current flow and rises over time. As soon as the current reaches the value IHigh at the time T2, the switch 4 is opened again and no voltage difference is then loaded on the inductance 3. Therefore, after the time T2, the current flowing through the inductance 3 falls again and is observed by the controller 1 by evaluation at the measuring resistor 6. As soon as the current flowing through the inductance 3 reaches the value ILow, the switch 4 is switched into the conducting state again. The value ILow is not zero here, but has a value which exceeds zero. This re- switching of the switch 4 starts with the value ILow of the current flowing through the inductance 3 and is shown between the times T3 and T4. As the current flowing through the inductance is not zero at the time T3, but has the value ILow, the current flowing through the inductance 3 will reach the value IHigh again significantly faster than in the time window Tl to T2. Therefore, the time length of the time period T3 to T4 is shorter than the time period Tl to T2.

[0019] Therefore, a current regulation is carried out by the controller 1 by which the current flowing through the inductance 3 is regulated to a nominal value between the values ILow and IHigh. In the normal operation of the desired actuating regulation link, the current flowing through the inductance 3 is thus regulated such that an actuation of the regulation link 2 is associated therewith. In particular, if the regulation link is configured as an electromagnetic actuator, a sufficiently high magnetic field is generated by the current flowing through the inductance 3 configured as a coil in order to move a magnetic regulation element or to generate a corresponding force action. But in the method according to the application, the regulation link 2 is not to be actuated, so that the current flowing through the inductance 3 is preferably regulated in such a way for the operating phase T0 to T4 that no actuation of the regulation link 2 is caused thereby. The phase T0 to T4 is then only provided for signalling to the regulation link 2 or to the control logic 9 in the regulation link 2 that a data transmission from the regulation link 2 to the controller 1 should follow. For this purpose, the voltage level loaded in the time phase T0 to T4 must be selected in such a way in terms of the time length of the voltage level that this pattern does not occur in the normal operation. As the control logic 9 is able to recognize this pattern by evaluation of the signal on the voltage divider for the resistor 11, the control logic 9 is able to recognize the desired transmission of the data stored in the control logic 9.

[0020] Then, immediately following this time period T1 to T4 is another time period T4 to T5, during which no voltage difference is applied to inductor 3. This period T4 to T5 is also used to signal the control logic circuit 9 to transmit data from the control logic circuit 9 to the controller 1. Then a learning phase is performed, in which the controller 1 learns the duration of the voltage signal 2A, depending on whether the load 7 is connected in parallel with inductor 3. In the first phase between time T5 and T6, the current flowing through inductor 3 is first set back to the value Ihigh. Because there is no current flowing at time T0, this duration T5 to T6 is extended again relative to the normal operation between the current values ​​ILow and Ihigh. In the time window T6 to T7, no voltage is applied to inductor 3, causing the current to drop back to the value ILow. Then, at time T7, the voltage difference is applied back to inductor 3, so that the current flowing through inductor 3 between T7 and T8 rises back to the value IHigh. At time T8, that is, with Figure 2 At the falling edge of the voltage signal A, the control logic circuit 9 switches switch 8 to the on state, thereby connecting the additional load 7 in parallel with the inductor 3. This initially has no effect on the reduction of the current flowing through the inductor 3, until at time T9 the voltage is applied again due to the current value ILow being reached.

[0021] However, at this moment, the current flows not only through inductor 3 but also through the parallel-connected load 7. This is evident from the significantly higher current measured at the surface of resistor 6. Therefore, as in Figure 2 The current change curve shown in B exhibits a sudden step to a higher level at time T9. From this higher level, the current value IHigh is reached in a significantly shortened time, and the current regulation of the controller 1 responds accordingly to the interruption of the voltage difference across inductor 3. This is as shown by... Figure 2 As can be seen from observation A, the parallel connection of load 7 therefore caused Figure 2 The duration of a significantly reduced voltage signal applied by current regulation in A is due to this. Figure 2 The evaluation of the voltage signal of A, therefore, for the controller 1, may involve determining whether the load 7 is connected in parallel with the inductor 3 via the control logic circuit 9. This is then used to transmit data from the control logic circuit 9 to the controller 1.

[0022] Therefore, at time T9, the controller 12 has learned the duration of the signal, which depends on whether the load 7 is connected in parallel with the inductor 3.

[0023] To transmit the low-bit, switch 8 is turned off again at time T10, allowing controller 1 to apply voltage only to inductor 3. This results in a normally long voltage level being required to charge inductor 3 during time periods T10 to T12. Then, at time T12, the high-bit is transmitted by control logic circuit 9 by closing switch 8 and thus switching it to the on state. This results in a significantly shorter voltage signal passing through controller 1, as indicated by durations T13 to T14. Therefore, controller 1 can clearly distinguish between the high-bit and low-bit transmitted by control logic circuit 9. Figure 2 An alternative to the high-level duration of A can also be observed from the falling edge to the falling edge. Figure 2 Signal A. Within time window T10 to T12. ​ The voltage change curve of A is low for one-third and high for two-thirds, and within the time window T12 to T14, it is low for two-thirds and high for one-third. This also allows for the identification of different switching states of switch 8.

[0024] The method according to the invention is particularly useful when specific characteristics of the regulating element 2 deviate from each other due to manufacturing variations. For example, the regulating element 2 can be designed as a valve for injecting liquid, and the amount of liquid injected by the valve may vary with the same load control signal due to manufacturing fluctuations. This variation of the valve can then be determined by test injections and corresponding measurements at the end of manufacturing, and the corresponding parameters describing this variation are then stored in the logic circuit 9. For this purpose, the logic circuit 9 has an external connector 13 through which the logic component 9 can be put into operation and the corresponding measurement data can be programmed. If the regulating element 2 is then operated with the controller 1, the data stored in the control logic circuit 9 is transmitted either during initial operation or, however, frequently during continuous operation. Therefore, the negative impacts caused by manufacturing fluctuations during the manufacturing of the regulating element can be avoided.

Claims

1. Method for transmitting data from a regulating loop (2) to a controller (1) which operates the regulating loop (2), wherein the controller (1) operates an inductance (3) contained in the regulating loop (2), wherein a load (7) is connected in parallel to the inductance (3) or not connected in parallel to the inductance (3) in order to transmit data in the regulating loop (2), wherein the parallel connection of the load (7) causes a reduced duration of a voltage signal which is loaded by a current regulation, wherein the controller (1) has learned a time length of a signal which depends on whether the load (7) is connected in parallel to the inductance (3) or not. Regulating the current in the inductance (3) to a predetermined value by the controller (1). characterized in that The inductance (3) is configured as a coil of an electromagnetic actuator, and the current in the inductance (3) is regulated to a value which is smaller than the value of the current for operating the regulating loop (2) by the controller (1) during the transmission of data. The regulation of the current flowing through the inductance (3) is influenced by the parallel connection of the load (7) in such a way that: The length of a voltage pulse which is loaded on the inductance (3) by the controller (1) in order to regulate the current flowing through the inductance (3) is changed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The length of a voltage pulse is determined before the transmission of data with the load (7) connected in parallel and without the load (7) connected in parallel.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, A signal is loaded on the regulating loop (2) by the controller (1) by means of which the regulating loop (2) emits data.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, The regulating loop (2) has a control logic (9) in which information about the properties of the regulating loop (2) is stored, the information about the properties is transmitted to the controller (1) together with the data, and the controller (1) uses the transmitted data for operating the regulating loop (2). Information about the properties of the regulating loop (2) is stored in the control logic (9), which information is determined by a measurement of the properties of the regulating loop (2) when the regulating loop (2) is manufactured.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein, A device is provided for connecting a load (7) in parallel to an inductance (3) or not connecting it in parallel in order to transmit data.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, A device is provided for operating an inductance (3) and a further device is provided which determines the state of parallel connection or the state of no parallel connection of a load (7) to the inductance (3) and thus receives data transmitted by the regulating loop (2).

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, ​ 8. The method of claim 7, wherein, ​ 9. A regulating link (2) with an inductance (3) for use in accordance with the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that, ​ 10. Controller (1) for operating the regulating link (2) according to claim 9, characterized in that ​

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