Roll-on machine

Abstract

The present invention provides a hoisting machine capable of saving information regarding abnormalities, etc., to non-volatile memory when the power is shut down. [Solution] The hoisting machine 10 includes a battery mounting section 80, a memory 140 on which abnormal data 400 and operation history data are written, a microcontroller 130 that controls the writing of abnormal data 400 and operation history data when a power shutdown occurs while there is a request to write abnormal data 400, a first power supply unit 110 that outputs power of a first voltage based on the power supplied from the battery 200, and a second power supply unit 120 that outputs power of a second voltage lower than the first voltage to the microcontroller 130 based on the power output from the first power supply unit 110. The first power supply unit 110 is provided with a voltage monitoring unit 111 that transmits a voltage drop signal corresponding to the drop in the first voltage to the microcontroller 130 when the power is shut down.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a hoist.

Background Art

[0002] Among hoists that lift and lower a load using the driving force of a motor, as shown in Patent Document 1 for example, there exists a type that is provided with a battery (1) and is capable of supplying electric power to the motor (4) via the battery (1).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problem to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] Incidentally, in the configuration of Patent Document 1, only a schematic configuration of the battery-powered hoist is disclosed. Therefore, no details are disclosed regarding circumstances when the power supply is shut down due to, for example, the battery being unexpectedly removed.

[0005] However, even if the power supply shuts down when some kind of abnormality or the like occurs in the hoist, it is desirable that information related to the abnormality or the like can be stored in a non-volatile memory.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a hoist capable of storing information related to abnormalities and the like in a non-volatile memory while being compact and keeping costs low when the power supply shuts down.

Means for Solving the Problem

[0007] To solve the above problem, according to a first aspect of the present invention, A hoisting machine is provided, comprising an electrically driven drive part that is driven when lifting or lowering a load, and a control circuit that controls the drive of the drive part, wherein the hoisting machine includes: a battery mounting section into which a battery for supplying power to the drive part and the control circuit is attached and detached; a non-volatile memory provided in the control circuit on which at least abnormal data and operation history data when the hoisting machine is operated are written; a microcontroller provided in the control circuit that controls the drive of the drive part and controls the writing of abnormal data and operation history data when the power is shut down while there is a request to write abnormal data; a first power supply unit provided in the control circuit that outputs power of a first voltage based on the power supplied from the battery; a second power supply unit provided in the control circuit that outputs power of a second voltage different from the first voltage to the microcontroller based on the power output from the first power supply unit; and a voltage monitoring unit provided in the control circuit or the first power supply unit that monitors the voltage of the battery or the first voltage of the first power supply unit, wherein the voltage monitoring unit transmits a voltage drop signal to the microcontroller corresponding to the drop in the voltage of the battery or the first voltage of the first power supply unit. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a hoisting machine that is compact and can store information regarding abnormalities, etc., in non-volatile memory while keeping costs down when the power is shut down. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] This figure shows a schematic configuration of a hoisting machine according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] This figure shows the functional configuration of the hoisting machine shown in Figure 1. [Figure 3] This figure shows a portion of the data written to the memory in the hoisting machine of this embodiment. [Figure 4] This figure shows the data related to anomalies (anomaly data) among the data written to the memory shown in Figure 3. [Figure 5]This figure shows the voltage drop in the microcontroller and its progression over time when the battery is removed (power shutdown) in the hoisting machine of this embodiment. [Figure 6] This figure shows the state in which priority levels have been set for the data to be written to the memory of the hoisting machine of this embodiment. [Figure 7] This flowchart shows the determination and writing processes related to abnormal data items written to the memory of the hoisting machine in this embodiment, specifically from step S01 to step S08 and from step S31 to step S34. [Figure 8] This flowchart shows the determination and writing processes related to abnormal data items written to the memory of the hoisting machine in this embodiment, specifically from step S09 to step S18 and from step S35 to step S39. [Figure 9] This flowchart shows the determination and writing processes related to abnormal data items written to the memory of the hoisting machine in this embodiment, specifically from step S19 to step S20 and from step S40 to step S42. [Figure 10] This diagram shows an image of the skipping process performed on abnormal data written to the memory of the hoisting machine in this embodiment. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] Hereinafter, a hoisting machine 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the hoisting machine 10 will be described as an electric chain hoist that hoists up a load chain C1, but the hoisting machine 10 may also be a hoist capable of winding up and winding down a wire rope by rotating a rope drum.

[0011] (1. Regarding the overall configuration of the hoisting machine 10) FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a hoist 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the hoist 10 includes an upper hook 20, a hoist main body portion 30, a load chain C1, a lower hook 21, and the like. Further, a battery 200 is attached to the hoist 10. For this reason, the battery 200 is not a component of the hoist 10, but the battery 200 may be a component of the hoist 10. In addition, the hoist 10 can be operated by an external operation device 300.

[0012] The upper hook 20 is a part for hanging the hoist main body portion 30 on a predetermined portion such as a ceiling, and is attached to the hoist main body portion 30.

[0013] The lower hook 21 is a part to be hung on a load or the like, and is connected to an end portion of the load chain C1. Then, in a state where the load is hung on the lower hook 21, the hoist 10 can raise and lower the load by winding up and winding down the load chain C1.

[0014] The hoist main body portion 30 includes a drive motor 40, a speed reduction mechanism 50, a brake mechanism 60, a load sheave 70, a battery mounting portion 80, and a control circuit 100. Among these, the drive motor 40 is a motor that provides driving force for driving the load sheave 70. As the drive motor 40, for example, a three-phase AC synchronous motor can be used, but the drive motor 40 is not limited to a synchronous motor, and various types can be used.

[0015] Further, the speed reduction mechanism 50 is a part that reduces the speed of rotation of the drive motor 40 and transmits the rotation to the load sheave 70 side. Further, the brake mechanism 60 is a part capable of releasing the braking force by electromagnetic force when the drive motor 40 is in operation, and is a part that generates the braking force so as to hold the load even in a state where the drive motor 40 is not in operation.

[0016] The load sheave 70 is a part that winds up and winds down the load chain C1, and a plurality of chain pockets into which metal rings of the load chain C1 enter are provided along the outer periphery of the load sheave 70.

[0017] The battery mounting portion 80 is a part to which the battery 200 is mounted. The battery 200 is detachably attached to the battery mounting portion 80. Therefore, when the remaining charge of the battery 200 is low, the battery 200 can be removed from the battery mounting portion 80 and replaced with a new battery 200.

[0018] The control circuit 100 is a part that controls the operations of the drive motor 40 and the brake mechanism 60. Note that this control circuit 100 corresponds to the control means. The functional configuration of this control circuit 100 is shown in Figure 2. As shown in Figure 2, the control circuit 100 mainly includes a first power supply unit 110, a second power supply unit 120, a microcontroller 130, a memory 140, a wireless communication unit 150, a motor driver 160, and a brake driver 170 as main constituent elements.

[0019] The first power supply unit 110 is a part that steps down the voltage output from the battery 200 to a predetermined voltage, and supplies power for operating predetermined parts such as the second power supply unit 120 and the wireless communication unit 150. This first power supply unit 110 is capable of supplying power at a voltage of, for example, 12V (corresponding to the first voltage), and this voltage can be changed as appropriate.

[0020] This first power supply unit 110 is provided with a voltage monitoring unit 111. The voltage monitoring unit 111 is a part that outputs a voltage drop signal to the microcontroller 130 when the voltage of the power output from the first power supply unit 110 drops. Then, the microcontroller 130 can start writing predetermined data to the memory 140 by receiving this voltage drop signal.

[0021] Furthermore, the second power supply unit 120 is a part that supplies power to operate a predetermined component, such as a microcontroller 130, based on the power supplied from the first power supply unit 110. This second power supply unit 120 can step down the voltage output from the first power supply unit to a predetermined voltage, for example, 5V, and this voltage can be changed as appropriate.

[0022] Here, the second power supply unit 120 is provided with a capacitor 121. The capacitor 121 is capable of supplying power of a predetermined voltage to the microcontroller 130 for a short period of time when the battery 200 is removed or for other reasons.

[0023] The microcontroller 130 is the part that reads predetermined data and programs from the memory 140 and controls the operation of the hoisting machine 10. The microcontroller 130 receives operation signals from the wireless control device via the wireless communication unit 150, and outputs operation signals to the motor driver 160 and brake driver 170 based on these operation signals.

[0024] In this embodiment, memory 140 is an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), a type of non-volatile memory. Although the time required for writing is long, it is inexpensive, allows for a large number of rewrite cycles, and enables the storage of data in small units, so only the necessary data can be rewritten. Various data and programs are stored in this memory 140, and the microcontroller 130 writes data to and reads data and programs from this memory 140. Details of the data written to and read from memory 140 will be described later.

[0025] The wireless communication unit 150 is the part that receives signals transmitted from the external operating device 300, which will be described later. The signals received by this wireless communication unit 150 are transmitted to the microcontroller 130, and the microcontroller 130 controls the operation of the drive motor 40 and the brake mechanism 60 based on these signals (operation commands).

[0026] The motor driver 160 controls the power supplied from the battery 200 to an appropriate level based on command values ​​for motor drive control provided by the microcontroller 130, and supplies that power to the drive motor 40 to rotate the drive motor 40.

[0027] The brake driver 170 controls the power supplied from the battery 200 to an appropriate level based on command values ​​for brake control provided by the microcontroller 130, and supplies that power to the brake mechanism 60 to operate the brake mechanism 60.

[0028] The battery 200 is the power source for the hoisting machine 10, storing power and supplying it to the drive motor 40, the brake mechanism 60, and the control circuit 100. This battery 200 has a detachable configuration, similar to those widely used in power tools, and can supply power at a voltage of, for example, 36V.

[0029] The external operating device 300 receives an input signal from an operating switch (not shown) and wirelessly transmits a predetermined operating signal to the wireless communication unit 150.

[0030] (2. Operation of memory 140 and data stored in memory 140) Next, let's explain the data stored in memory 140. Memory 140 can hold, for example, up to five 4-byte data items at a time (a total of 20 bytes). Writing to memory 140 takes 5 milliseconds. To determine if a data item has been successfully written to memory 140, the data is written to three different addresses within memory 140. When reading from memory 140, if the data items written to the three addresses do not match, the write operation is considered to have failed. Therefore, when writing one piece of data, there is a 5-millisecond wait after the main data write operation, a 5-millisecond wait after the first write operation for determining write failure, and a 5-millisecond wait after the second write operation for determining write failure before the next piece of data can be written. Thus, a single write operation takes a total of 15 milliseconds.

[0031] Figure 3 shows a portion of the data written to this memory 140. Figure 3 shows the types of data related to the operation and settings of the hoisting machine 10, and the address of the memory 140 to which that data is written. Note that the address shown is the address of the beginning of every 4 bytes. In the example shown in Figure 3, it is shown that there is a total of 64 bytes of memory area, including the data related to the operation and settings of the hoisting machine 10 and the unused area.

[0032] In the example shown in Figure 3, the operating speed parameters are stored in a memory area totaling 16 bytes, starting from address 0X0000 to 0X000C. The operating speed parameters consist of four-byte data items: low-speed hoisting speed, high-speed hoisting speed, low-speed unwinding speed, and high-speed unwinding speed. When the setting value for each operating speed is changed, the information of the changed setting value is written to memory 140.

[0033] Additionally, a 16-byte memory area starting at addresses 0X0010 to 0X001C stores operation history data. This operation history data is written at predetermined intervals, including when the battery 200 is removed, and is also written to memory 140. This operation history data includes four-byte data items: the current hook position, operating time (seconds), number of starts (times), and cumulative winding distance (m).

[0034] Additionally, the 8-byte memory area starting at addresses 0X0020 to 0X0024 stores the operating time parameters. These operating time parameters consist of two 4-byte data items: operating time (hour) and operating time (minute). Each operating time is updated and written to memory 140.

[0035] Other memory areas specified by other addresses store various necessary information regarding the operation and settings of the hoisting machine 10, but details of these are omitted.

[0036] Furthermore, the data written to memory 140 includes information about malfunctions of the hoisting machine 10. This malfunction-related data (malfunction data 400) is shown in Figure 4. Figure 4 shows the types of malfunction data items 420 in the malfunction data 400 and the addresses of the memory 140 to which these malfunction data items 420 are written. The addresses shown are the starting addresses of every 4 bytes, and each malfunction data item 420 is 2 bytes. In the example shown in Figure 4, the malfunction data 400 for the hoisting machine 10 totals 64 bytes. The malfunction data items 420 include the number of malfunction occurrences and the malfunction history.

[0037] The number of occurrences of an anomaly indicates how many times a particular anomaly has occurred. For example, if the number of occurrences of anomaly C is 5, it means that anomaly C has occurred 5 times. The anomaly history is a record of the most recent anomalies, written in chronological order from newest to oldest. For example, the history of the last 10 anomalies is written. For instance, if the history of anomalies D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, and N is stored as the first 10 anomalies, and then anomaly C occurs, the history of the last 10 anomalies will be stored in chronological order as follows: anomaly C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, and L.

[0038] Note that the anomaly data item 420, which is written as an anomaly history, is a code that indicates the type of anomaly, but other information may also be written there.

[0039] In the example shown in Figure 4, a 4-byte memory area with a starting address of 0X0040 stores the number of occurrences of abnormality A and abnormality B as abnormality data items 420, each consisting of 2 bytes. Abnormality A is a connection error that occurs when a non-standard battery 200 is connected, and the condition for determining abnormality A is whether or not communication with battery 200 fails. Abnormality B is a read error in memory 140 (EEPROM), and the condition for determining abnormality B is that the data (data items) read from three different locations within memory 140 are inconsistent.

[0040] Furthermore, a 4-byte memory area designated with starting address 0X0044 stores the number of occurrences of abnormality C and abnormality D, each recorded in 2 bytes. An abnormality C is a write error to memory 140 (EEPROM), and the condition for determining abnormality C is that the value written to memory 140 and the value read after writing do not match. An abnormality D is a DC overvoltage error, and the condition for determining abnormality D is that the voltage of battery 200 is above a threshold.

[0041] From this point onward, data relating to the occurrence count of anomalies E through Z, each consisting of two bytes, is stored in memory areas whose starting addresses are specified from 0X0048 to 0X0070. While the alphabetical order of these anomalies A through Z corresponds to numerical order, they may also be ordered numerically in ascending or descending order.

[0042] Furthermore, a 4-byte memory area designated with a starting address of 0X0074 stores one byte each of error history[0], error history[1], error history[2], and error history[3]. Additionally, a 4-byte memory area designated with a starting address of 0X0078 stores one byte each of error history[4], error history[5], error history[6], and error history[7]. Finally, a 2-byte memory area designated with a starting address of 0X007C stores one byte each of error history[8] and error history[9], with the remaining 2 bytes being unused.

[0043] Note that abnormality A is only detected when battery 200 is installed. Similarly, abnormality B is only detected when the hoisting machine 10 is started. In other words, the number of occurrences of abnormality A and abnormality B are not written when the power is shut down, such as when battery 200 is removed. On the other hand, abnormalities C through Z, and abnormality history [0] through abnormality history [9], can occur not only when the hoisting machine 10 is started, but also when the microcontroller 130 is shut down by removing battery 200, etc., and may be written to memory 140.

[0044] Furthermore, the amount of data from the number of occurrences of abnormality A to the number of occurrences of abnormality Z is 52 bytes, and the amount of data from abnormality history[0] to abnormality history[9] is 10 bytes. However, 64 bytes (of which 62 bytes are used) are allocated as the memory area 140 for the abnormality data 400, which is composed of these 420 abnormality data items.

[0045] (3. Regarding the handling of a request to write abnormal data 400 (abnormal data item 420) when the power is shut down) Next, we will explain how to handle the case where a request to write abnormal data 400 (abnormal data item 420) is received during power shutdown.

[0046] (3-1. Processing when a request is made to write the current abnormal data 400 (abnormal data item 420)) Figure 5 shows the voltage drop in the microcontroller 130 and its progression over time when the battery 200 is removed from the hoisting machine 10 (when the microcontroller 130 is power-shut down). In Figure 5, the vertical axis represents the voltage drop in the microcontroller 130, and the horizontal axis represents time. In Figure 5, the pulsed boost portion corresponds to the writing process to the memory 140.

[0047] As shown in Figure 5, in the event of a power shutdown, such as by removing the battery 200, under normal circumstances (when no abnormality occurs), the microcontroller 130 determines that a power shutdown has occurred by detecting, for example, a drop in the power supply voltage supplied to the microcontroller 130. In this case, the above-mentioned operation history data is written to the memory 140. As already explained, the writing process to the memory 140 requires a writing time of 5 milliseconds. In addition, to determine if a data writing failure to the memory 140 has occurred, data is written to three different addresses within the memory 140. Therefore, the writing of only the operation history data requires a total writing time of 15 milliseconds.

[0048] Here, the time during which the capacitor 121 can supply power at a voltage above the operating threshold (e.g., 5V) required to operate the microcontroller 130 (the time to reach the operating voltage threshold; the writeable time) is, for example, 20 milliseconds after the microcontroller 130 detects a voltage drop. After this time, data cannot be written to the memory 140; it is a write-free period. Therefore, under normal circumstances, only operation history data is written, and the time required for writing is 15 milliseconds, so the memory 140 is writable.

[0049] However, if a power shutdown occurs not under normal circumstances, but when there is a request to write abnormal data 400, the data is written to memory 140 in the following order. (Write 1) For data that has been requested to be written, the data will be written in the order in which the requests were received. (Write 2) When it is time to write abnormal data 400, first write the number of occurrences of abnormality A to the number of occurrences of abnormality Z, and each abnormal data item 420 from abnormality history [0] to abnormality history [9]. (Writing 3) Next, the driving history data is written.

[0050] As explained above, when writing data, it is possible to write up to five 4-byte data points (a total of 20 bytes) to memory 140 at once.

[0051] Here, when writing abnormal data 400 and the operation history data, the following steps (Write 2-1) through (Write 2-5) and (Write 3) will be performed. (Writing 2-1) For example, if a total of 20 bytes of abnormal data items (420) from the number of occurrences of abnormality A to the number of occurrences of abnormality J are written a total of 3 times to determine if a write has failed, each write will take 5 milliseconds, resulting in a total writing time of 15 milliseconds. (Writing 2-2) Similarly, when writing a total of 20 bytes of abnormal data items (420) from the number of abnormal K occurrences to the number of abnormal T occurrences, a total writing time of 15 milliseconds is required. (Writing 2-3) Similarly, writing a total of 20 bytes of abnormal data items 420, from the number of abnormal U occurrences to the number of abnormal Z occurrences, and from abnormal history[0] to abnormal history[3], also requires a total writing time of 15 milliseconds. (Writing 2-4) Additionally, writing 420 abnormal data items totaling 18 bytes from abnormal history [4] to abnormal history [9] also requires a total writing time of 15 milliseconds. (Writing 3) Even when writing the above operating history data to memory 140 after writing the abnormal data 400 as described above, a total writing time of 15 milliseconds is required.

[0052] In other words, after writing the data with a higher priority in the write request order, the abnormal data 400 and the operation history data will be written to memory 140. In this case, it will take a total of 60 milliseconds to write all the abnormal data items 420 of the abnormal data 400, and then another 15 milliseconds to write the operation history data, for a total of 75 milliseconds. Therefore, when shutting down the power, including the time to write the data with a higher priority in the write request order, it will take more than 75 milliseconds.

[0053] As a result, the capacitor 121 of the second power supply unit 120 may not be able to finish writing all of the abnormal data items 420 of the abnormal data 400 within the writeable time, for example, 20 milliseconds, and may reach a write-unwriteable time where only part of the data is written.

[0054] (3-2. Processing in the event of a write request regarding an abnormality during power shutdown according to this embodiment) To address the problem described above, where only part of the data is written when the power is shut down, this embodiment attempts to resolve the problem by implementing the following (Countermeasure 1) to (Countermeasure 3). (Solution 1): Setting write priority Figure 6 shows the state in which priority levels have been set for the data to be written. As shown in Figure 6, if a power shutdown occurs when some kind of abnormality occurs and a request to write abnormal data 400 is made, the writing of abnormal data 400 is set as "priority 1". The writing of operation history data is set as "priority 2". The writing of other data such as the number of alarm occurrences is set as "priority 3" or higher, but the microcontroller 130 processes and ignores the writing of data with "priority 3" or higher.

[0055] By setting the write priority in this way, if a power shutdown occurs while there is a write request for abnormal data 400 related to some kind of anomaly, the number of writes can be limited to 5 or less, thereby shortening the write time.

[0056] (Countermeasure 2): Execute skip processing If a power shutdown occurs while a write request for abnormal data 400 is received, and the abnormal data 400 is to be written to memory 140, a skip process is executed. This skip process performs the following steps:

[0057] First, from the number of occurrences of abnormality A to the number of occurrences of abnormality Z, and from the abnormality data items 420 from abnormality history [0] to abnormality history [9], the number of occurrences of abnormality A and the number of occurrences of abnormality B are excluded. This is because, as already mentioned, abnormality A is a connection abnormality that occurs when a non-standard battery 200 is connected, and is only judged when the battery 200 is installed, so it is not judged when the power is shut down, such as when the battery 200 is removed. Also, abnormality B is a read abnormality of memory 140 (EEPROM), and is only judged when the hoisting machine 10 is started, so it is not judged when the power is shut down, such as when the battery 200 is removed.

[0058] As described above, the occurrence of each anomaly is determined while excluding the anomaly data items 420 for the number of occurrences of anomaly A and anomaly B. If an anomaly occurs, the anomaly data item 420 related to that anomaly is written. This determination and writing process will be explained based on the flowcharts in Figures 7 to 9.

[0059] First, it is determined whether or not an abnormality C has occurred (step S01). If it is determined that an abnormality C has occurred (if NO), a total of 20 bytes of data (abnormality data item 420) from the number of abnormality C occurrences to the number of abnormality L occurrences is written to memory 140 (step S31). Two such abnormality data items 420, totaling 4 bytes of data, are designated as data section 425, and multiple such abnormality data items 420, totaling 20 bytes of data, are designated as data section 430 (see Figure 10). After step S31 is completed, the process moves to the determination in step S11, which will be described later, and the determinations in steps S02 to S10, which will be described later, are skipped.

[0060] Here, the determination of abnormality C in step S01 and the updating of the abnormality history in step S41, which will be described later, are carried out as follows. (a) First, the hoisting machine 10 detects an abnormality in the relevant part. (b) Next, the microcontroller 130 updates the error flag to the number at the time of error C. (c) Next, in the microcontroller 130, the abnormality flag in the volatile memory within the microcontroller 130 is updated with the number of abnormality C occurrences and the past 10 abnormality history variables (codes corresponding to each abnormality). At this time, abnormality C is written to the variable corresponding to abnormality history[0]. (d) When the microcontroller 130 detects an abnormality flag corresponding to the number at the time of occurrence of abnormality C in (b) above, it sets an abnormality history related parameter write request flag to the memory 140.

[0061] In other words, the microcontroller 130 can determine whether or not abnormality C occurred in step S01 by referring to the abnormality flag, which has been updated with the number corresponding to the occurrence of abnormality C. Similarly, the microcontroller 130 can determine whether or not abnormalities D through Z other than abnormality C have occurred by referring to the abnormality flag, which has been updated at the time of the occurrence of the corresponding abnormality D through Z.

[0062] Furthermore, the error flag is represented by a 32-digit, 4-byte binary number, and the error flag is set by changing the value of the digit corresponding to the error item from 0 to 1. For example, the error flag for error C is represented as (00000000000000000000000000000100). Also, the error flag for when error C and error F occur simultaneously is represented as (00000000000000000000000000100100), and by determining which digit of the binary number is 1, it is possible to check which error occurred.

[0063] Furthermore, regarding the writing of data sections 430 from data section 425, which includes the number of occurrences of abnormality C, to data section 425, which includes the number of occurrences of abnormality L, in step S31 described above, the microcontroller 130 writes to the memory 140 by referring to the abnormality history related parameter write request flag described above.

[0064] Furthermore, if it is determined in step S01 that no abnormality C has occurred (YES), then it is determined whether or not abnormality D has occurred (step S02). If it is determined that abnormality D has occurred (NO), the process proceeds to step S31. That is, a data section 430 consisting of multiple abnormality data items 420 totaling 20 bytes, from data section 425 containing the number of occurrences of abnormality D and abnormality C to data section 425 containing the number of occurrences of abnormality L, is written to memory 140.

[0065] In other words, each abnormality data item 420 from the number of occurrences of abnormality A to the number of occurrences of abnormality Z is 2 bytes each. However, if, for example, the 4 bytes for the number of occurrences of abnormality C and the number of occurrences of abnormality D are treated as one section, and it is determined that an abnormality has occurred in at least one of the items in that section, then a total of 20 bytes of data section 430 is written, starting from the beginning address of that section (4 bytes).

[0066] In this case as well, the abnormal history parameter write request flag related to abnormality D is referenced, but as described above, the 4 bytes for the number of occurrences of abnormality C and the number of occurrences of abnormality D are grouped together in one section, so the number of occurrences of abnormality C and the number of occurrences of abnormality D are included in the same section. For this reason, a total of 20 bytes of data section 430 is written to memory 140, starting from the starting address of the number of occurrences of abnormality C.

[0067] Similarly, if it is determined based on the abnormality flag that no abnormality occurred in the previous abnormality D to abnormality U determination (steps S02 to S19) (if YES), then in the new determination step, it is determined based on the abnormality flag whether or not abnormalities E to abnormality V have occurred (steps S03 to S20). If it is determined in that determination that abnormalities E to V have occurred (if NO), the abnormality history related parameter write request flag is referenced, and a data section 430 of up to 20 bytes in total is written, starting from the beginning address of the section (4 bytes) containing that abnormality (steps S32 to S40).

[0068] After the writing of data section 430 in step S32 is completed, the process proceeds to the judgment in step S13, and the judgments in steps S05 to S12 are skipped. Similarly, after the writing of data section 430 in step S33 is completed, the process proceeds to the judgment in step S15, and the judgments in steps S07 to S14 are skipped. Similarly, after the writing of data section 430 in step S34 is completed, the process proceeds to the judgment in step S17, and the judgments in steps S09 to S16 are skipped. Similarly, after the writing of data section 430 in step S35 is completed, the process proceeds to the judgment in step S19, and the judgments in steps S11 to S18 are skipped.

[0069] Here, we will explain the case where abnormalities C and E occur simultaneously. If it is determined in step S01 that abnormality C has occurred (if NO), the process proceeds to step S31. In this case, the abnormality E determination step S03 is skipped, but at the time abnormality E occurs, the microcontroller 130 has detected abnormality E, and the abnormality flag, the number of abnormality E occurrences, and the past 10 abnormality history variables in the volatile memory of the microcontroller 130 are updated, and abnormality E is written to the variable corresponding to the abnormality history. Therefore, in the writing of abnormalities C to L in step S31, although the abnormality E determination step S03 is skipped, the number of abnormality E occurrences and the past 10 abnormality history variables, including abnormality E, are updated and the data is written to memory 140.

[0070] Furthermore, after the writing of data section 430 in step S36 is completed, the process moves to the writing in step S41, which will be described later, and the judgments in steps S13 to S20 are skipped. Similarly, after the writing of data section 430 in step S37 is completed, the process moves to the writing in step S41, which will be described later, and the judgments in steps S15 to S20 are skipped. Similarly, after the writing of data section 430 in step S38 is completed, the process moves to the writing in step S41, which will be described later, and the judgments in steps S17 to S20 are skipped. Similarly, after the writing of data section 430 in step S39 is completed, the process moves to the writing in step S41, which will be described later, and the judgments in steps S19 to S20 are skipped. Furthermore, after the writing in step S41 is completed, the process moves to the writing in step S41, which will be described later.

[0071] Here, as shown in Figure 4, the total amount of data from abnormality W to abnormality Z, and from abnormality history [0] to abnormality history [9], is 20 bytes. This amount of data is the maximum amount of data that can be written to memory 140 at once, as explained earlier.

[0072] Furthermore, the fact that there was a request to write abnormal data 400 means that some kind of abnormality has occurred, and therefore the abnormality history for at least the last 10 entries will also be updated. Consequently, even if it was determined that no abnormality occurred up to abnormality V, it means that there is an abnormality at some point between abnormality W and abnormality Z.

[0073] Furthermore, as described above, when one of the abnormalities C to Z occurs, and the microcontroller 130 detects the abnormality flag corresponding to the number of the abnormality C to Z that occurred, the abnormality history related parameter write request flag corresponding to that abnormality C to Z is set.

[0074] Therefore, a data section 430 is written (updated) (step S41) which includes anomaly data items 420 for the occurrence counts of each anomaly W to anomaly Z, based on an anomaly flag, and multiple anomaly data items 420 for bytes from anomaly history[0] to anomaly history[9], totaling 20 bytes of data. At this time, the step of determining anomalies W to anomaly Z is not performed, but by referring to the anomaly history related parameter write request flag, it is possible to update the anomaly history[0] to anomaly history[9], which are the most recent 10 anomaly histories, in memory 140.

[0075] After step S41, the operation history data is written (step S42). This completes the series of writes to memory 140 when the microcontroller 130 is powered down.

[0076] Figure 10 shows an image of the process when creating a data section 430 and performing a skip operation when writing abnormal data 400 related to an anomaly. As shown in Figure 10, when it is determined that an anomaly I or anomaly J has occurred, a data section 430 of 20 bytes is shown, starting from the beginning address of one section (4 bytes) containing anomalies I and J. This data section 430 will be written to memory 140 when the power is shut down. Figure 10 also shows a data section 430 that includes anomaly data items 420 for the occurrence counts of each anomaly from W to Z, and multiple anomaly data items 420 for bytes from anomaly history[0] to anomaly history[9]. This data section 430 will also be written to memory 140 when the power is shut down.

[0077] As described above, the occurrence counts of abnormality A and abnormality B are excluded (skipped), and if abnormalities C to V are determined to have occurred, a data section 430 of up to 20 bytes is written to memory 140, starting from the beginning address of the 4-byte section containing abnormalities C to V. However, if none of these abnormalities C to V have occurred, no writing to memory 140 is performed (skipped). In addition, the occurrence counts of abnormalities W to Z, and the data section 430 containing the abnormal data items 420 from abnormal history [0] to abnormal history [9] are written. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the number of times the abnormal data item 420 is written to memory 140 from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 3. This makes it possible to shorten the writing time.

[0078] (Countermeasure 3): Processing in the voltage monitoring unit 111 Next, the processing in the voltage monitoring unit 111 shown in Figure 2 will be explained. The voltage monitoring unit 111 monitors whether the voltage output from the first power supply unit 110 is within an appropriate range, and outputs a voltage drop signal when it detects that the output voltage has dropped below the appropriate range. As already explained, the time for which the second power supply unit 120 can supply power at a voltage above the operating threshold voltage (e.g., 5V) required to operate the microcontroller 130 is, for example, 20 milliseconds, depending on the amount of charge stored in the capacitor 121. Therefore, if a power shutdown occurs while there is a request to write abnormal data 400 related to some kind of abnormality, it is difficult to write all the abnormal data items 420 of the abnormal data 400 to the memory 140 within the above 20 milliseconds.

[0079] More specifically, since the second power supply unit 120 is supplied with power from the first power supply unit 110, the voltage output from the first power supply unit 110 drops to below the operating threshold required for the operation of the second power supply unit 120 before the voltage output from the second power supply unit 120 drops. Therefore, the voltage drop occurs first in the first power supply unit 110. In particular, since the second power supply unit 120 is equipped with a capacitor 121, the timing of the voltage drop that can be detected by the microcontroller 130 is even later than the timing of the voltage drop in the first power supply unit 110.

[0080] Here, the time for which capacitor 121 can supply power at a voltage above the operating threshold voltage (e.g., 5V) required to operate the microcontroller 130 is selected considering the price and size of capacitor 121, and is, for example, 20 milliseconds after the microcontroller 130 detects a voltage drop.

[0081] Furthermore, the voltage output by the first power supply unit 110 to the second power supply unit 120 (e.g., 12V) is higher than the voltage output by the second power supply unit 120 to the microcontroller 130 (e.g., 5V). Therefore, the voltage drop time until the voltage falls below the operating threshold required for the second power supply unit 120 to operate can be made longer.

[0082] Therefore, in order to ensure sufficient time for writing the abnormal data 400, the first power supply unit 110 is equipped with a voltage monitoring unit 111, which transmits a voltage drop signal from this voltage monitoring unit 111 to the microcontroller 130. As a result, the microcontroller 130 can detect the voltage drop in the first power supply unit 110 faster than it can detect the voltage drop in the second power supply unit 120. When the microcontroller 130 receives the voltage drop signal from the voltage monitoring unit 111, it writes the abnormal data 400 to the memory 140.

[0083] Therefore, the time during which power at a voltage above the operating threshold (e.g., 5V) required to operate the microcontroller 130 can be supplied can be extended, for example, from 20 milliseconds (with only the current capacitor 121) to 70 milliseconds. Consequently, even if the abnormal data item 420 has been written to a maximum of 3 times, the time required to write to the memory 140 is 45 milliseconds, and even when combined with the 15 milliseconds required to write the operation history data (16 bytes), the total time is 60 milliseconds, thus ensuring sufficient time to write to the memory 140.

[0084] (4. Variant) Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention can be modified in various other ways. These modifications will be described below.

[0085] In the above embodiment, the remaining 2 bytes of memory for data section 430 were unused areas, but the remaining 2 bytes may be used to store abnormal data items 420 or abnormal history.

[0086] In the above embodiment, the occurrence of abnormalities C through Z is determined, and if it is determined that a specific abnormality from abnormalities C to V has occurred, the total of 4 bytes, which is the number of occurrences of the abnormality related to that abnormality and the number of occurrences of the set of abnormalities (for example, the number of occurrences of abnormality C and the number of occurrences of abnormality D), is treated as one section, and a total of 20 bytes of data section 430 is written starting from the beginning address of that section (4 bytes). In this case, the beginning address of one section of data section 430 may change depending on which abnormality has occurred.

[0087] However, it is also possible to perform the following "categorization process" and, based on that, write abnormal data 400 to memory 140.

[0088] In other words, if we exclude the number of occurrences of Anomaly A and Anomaly B, the total amount of data related to the anomalies becomes 60 bytes or less (58 bytes). Therefore, when dividing the anomaly data 400, which excludes the number of occurrences of Anomaly A and Anomaly B, into 20-byte segments, it is possible to divide it into three data segments 430. As a result, compared to writing the total of 62 bytes of anomaly-related data to memory 140 in 20-byte segments, the time required for writing can be reduced by at least 15 milliseconds.

[0089] Furthermore, if it is determined that any one of the abnormalities C to V contained in this data section 430 has occurred, the data section 430 containing that abnormality may be written to memory 140. In this case, the starting address of one section of data section 430 will be fixed.

[0090] Furthermore, if it is determined that any of the abnormalities from abnormality C to abnormality Z has occurred, the abnormality data 400 and abnormality history items, excluding the number of occurrences of abnormality A and the number of occurrences of abnormality B, may be written to memory 140 without performing a check on each abnormality item.

[0091] Furthermore, the above-described embodiment describes a hoisting machine 10 that is powered by a battery 200. However, the present invention may also be applied to a hoisting machine 10 that is powered by commercial power when a power shutdown occurs.

[0092] Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the voltage monitoring unit 111 detects that the voltage output from the first power supply unit 110 is being reduced and outputs a voltage drop signal. However, it may also detect a drop in the voltage input to the first power supply unit 110 and output a voltage drop signal.

[0093] Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the voltage monitoring unit 111 is provided in the first power supply unit 110, but it may also be provided in the control circuit 100 to monitor the voltage of the battery 200 independently of the first power supply unit 110, and when the voltage drops below the voltage required for the operation of the first power supply unit 110, such as when the battery 200 is removed, it may transmit a voltage drop signal to the microcontroller 130.

[0094] Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the voltage monitoring unit 111 is provided in the first power supply unit 110, but it is also possible to transmit the voltage drop signal output from the battery 200 to the microcontroller 130.

[0095] Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the voltage output from the second power supply unit 120 is set to be lower than the voltage output from the first power supply unit 110. However, the voltage output from the second power supply unit 120 may be boosted to a higher voltage than the voltage output from the first power supply unit 110.

[0096] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the abnormal data item 420, whose number of abnormal occurrences has been rewritten by the abnormal flag, is stored in memory 140. However, when shutting down, instead of the abnormal data item 420, the four bytes of the abnormal flag may be written to memory 140.

[0097] In this case, the number of occurrences of an anomaly will not be reflected in the anomaly data item 420 and the anomaly history when the system is shut down. However, when the system is restarted, the number of occurrences of the anomaly data item 420 and the anomaly history data may be saved by referring to the saved anomaly flag.

[0098] (5. Addendum) The contents described in the above-mentioned embodiment can be understood, for example, as follows: [1] That is, A hoisting machine 10 comprising a drive motor 40, a brake mechanism 60, and a control circuit 100 that controls the driving of the drive motor, which are electrically driven parts that are driven when lifting or lowering a load, A battery mounting section 80 into which a battery 200 is attached and detached for supplying power to drive parts such as the drive motor 40 and brake mechanism 60 and the control circuit 100, The control circuit 100 includes a memory 140 which is a non-volatile memory on which at least abnormality data 400 related to abnormalities and operation history data when the hoisting machine is operated are written, A microcontroller 130 is provided in the control circuit 100, which controls the driving of drive parts such as the drive motor 40 and the brake mechanism 60, and also controls the writing of abnormal data 400 and operation history data when the power is shut down while there is a request to write abnormal data 400. A first power supply unit 110 is provided in the control circuit 100 and outputs power of a first voltage based on the power supplied from the battery 200, A second power supply unit 120 is provided in the control circuit 100 and outputs power of a second voltage different from the first voltage to the microcontroller based on the power output from the first power supply unit 110, A voltage monitoring unit 111 is provided in the control circuit 100 or the first power supply unit 110 to monitor the voltage of the battery 200 or the first voltage of the first power supply unit 110, Equipped with, The voltage monitoring unit 111 transmits a voltage drop signal to the microcontroller 130 that corresponds to the voltage drop of the battery 200 or the first voltage of the first power supply unit 110.

[0099] Therefore, the microcontroller 130 can detect the voltage of the battery 200 or the voltage drop at the first power supply unit 110 faster than it can detect the voltage drop at the second power supply unit 120. When the microcontroller 130 detects a voltage drop signal from the voltage monitoring unit 111 regarding the voltage drop of the battery 200 or the voltage drop at the first power supply unit 110, it can write abnormal data 400 to the memory 140.

[0100] Therefore, it becomes possible to extend the time during which power at a voltage above the operating threshold voltage required to operate the microcontroller 130 can be supplied without changing the capacitor 121 of the second power supply unit 120 to a larger capacity capacitor. As a result, it becomes possible to keep costs down and maintain a small size while still ensuring sufficient time to write abnormal data 400 and operation history data to the memory 140.

[0101] [2] In addition, in the above embodiment, in addition to the contents described in [1] above, The microcontroller 130 is, If a power shutdown occurs while a write request for abnormal data 400 is received, the system will be controlled to write abnormal data 400 with "priority 1". The system is controlled to write the driving history data as "priority 2". It is preferable to control the system so that data other than abnormal data 400 and driving history data is ignored when written, with a priority of 3 or lower.

[0102] In this way, by setting write priority levels and ignoring writes with a priority of "3" or lower, if a power shutdown occurs while there is a write request for abnormal data 400 related to some kind of anomaly, the number of write operations can be reduced. Therefore, it becomes possible to shorten the time it takes to write data to memory 140 when the power is shut down.

[0103] [3] In addition, in the above embodiment, in addition to the contents described in [1] and [2] above, or a combination thereof, Anomaly data 400 consists of multiple anomaly data items 420 related to each anomaly. The microcontroller 130 is, The system controls the writing of multiple abnormal data items 420 in numerical order to a specific memory area of ​​the non-volatile memory 140. Furthermore, when the power is shut down, the microcontroller (1) Exclude writing to memory 140 the number of occurrences of abnormality A and abnormality B among the abnormality data items 420 related to abnormalities A and B that occur only at times other than power shutdown, (2) Determine whether a specific abnormality has occurred in order of the number of abnormalities that may occur when the power is shut down. (3) If it is determined in the numerical order determination that no specific abnormality has occurred, the system will control the writing of the number of abnormality occurrences among the abnormality data items 420 related to that specific abnormality to memory 140 to be skipped. (4) When it is determined in the numerical order determination that a specific abnormality has occurred, it is preferable to control the system to write a data section 430, which is a collection of abnormal data items 420 that can be written to the memory 140 at once, to the memory 140, starting from the first address of one section containing the number of occurrences of abnormalities among the abnormal data items 420 related to that specific abnormality, in numerical order, and including multiple numbers of occurrences of abnormalities related to abnormalities after the specific abnormality.

[0104] In this way, the number of occurrences of abnormalities A and B, which only occur at times other than power shutdown, are excluded (skipped) from being written to memory 140. Furthermore, if it is determined that abnormalities C to V have occurred, the data section 430 (maximum 20 bytes) containing the abnormalities C to V is written to memory 140, starting from the beginning address of that data section 430 (maximum 20 bytes). However, if none of these abnormalities C to V occur, no writing to memory 140 is performed (skipped). In this case, it is not relevant whether the beginning address of one section of data section 430 changes depending on which abnormality occurred, or whether it remains fixed regardless of which abnormality occurred. This skipping makes it possible to reduce the number of writes to memory 140. As a result, the writing time can be shortened.

[0105] [4] In addition, in the above embodiment, in addition to the contents described in the combination of [3] above, When the microcontroller 130 shuts down power, It is preferable to control the system so that, without determining whether a specific anomaly has occurred in the numerical order determination, a data section 430 is written to the memory 140, which is a collection of anomaly data items 420 that can be written to the memory 140 at once, and which includes multiple anomaly occurrence counts related to the anomaly, as well as an anomaly history which is a history of the most recent anomaly among the anomaly data items 420.

[0106] In this way, by controlling the writing of the number of abnormal occurrences (for example, the number of abnormal occurrences for each of abnormalities W through Z) and the data section 430 containing the abnormal data items 420 from abnormal history [0] to abnormal history [9], it is possible to reduce the number of writes to memory 140. This makes it possible to shorten the writing time.

[0107] [5] In addition, in the above embodiments, in addition to the contents described in [1] and [2] above, or a combination thereof, Anomaly data 400 consists of multiple anomaly data items 420 related to each anomaly. The microcontroller 130 is, The system controls the writing of multiple abnormal data items 420 in numerical order to a specific memory area of ​​the non-volatile memory 140. Furthermore, if the microcontroller 130 detects that any abnormality has occurred during power shutdown, (1) Exclude writing to memory 140 of the number of occurrences of abnormalities (number of occurrences of abnormality A, number of occurrences of abnormality B) among the abnormality data items related to abnormalities that occur only at times other than power shutdown, (2) Regarding the abnormal data item 420, without determining whether a specific abnormality occurred or not, for the multiple abnormalities that may occur during power shutdown, (3) It is preferable to control the system so that all abnormal data items 420 that may occur during power shutdown are written to the memory 140.

[0108] In this case, excluding the occurrence counts of Anomaly A and Anomaly B, the total amount of data related to the anomalies becomes 60 bytes or less (58 bytes). Therefore, when dividing the anomaly data 400, excluding the occurrence counts of Anomaly A and Anomaly B, into 20-byte segments, it becomes possible to divide it into three data segments 430. Consequently, as described above, if all possible anomaly data items 420 that may occur are written to memory 140 without determining whether a particular anomaly occurred, the number of writes to memory 140 can be reduced by one compared to writing the total 62 bytes of anomaly-related data to memory 140 in 20-byte segments, thereby shortening the writing time. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0109] 10... Hoisting machine, 20... Upper hook, 21... Lower hook, 30... Hoisting machine body, 40... Drive motor, 50... Reduction mechanism, 60... Brake mechanism, 70... Load sheave, 80... Battery mounting section, 100... Control circuit, 110... First power supply unit, 111... Voltage monitoring unit, 120... Second power supply unit, 121... Capacitor, 130... Microcontroller, 140... Memory, 150... Wireless communication unit, 160... Motor driver, 170... Brake driver, 200... Battery, 300... External operating device, 400... Anomaly data, 420... Anomaly data item, 425... Data section, 430... Data category, C1... Load chain

Claims

1. A hoisting machine comprising an electrically driven part that is driven when lifting or lowering a load, and a control circuit that controls the driving of the driven part, A battery mounting section into which a battery for supplying power to the drive unit and the control circuit is attached and detached, The control circuit is provided with a non-volatile memory on which at least abnormal data related to abnormalities and operating history data during the operation of the hoisting machine are written, A microcontroller is provided in the control circuit, which controls the driving of the drive part and controls the writing of the abnormal data and the operation history data when the power is shut down while a request to write the abnormal data has been made. The control circuit is provided with a first power supply unit that outputs power of a first voltage based on the power supplied from the battery, A second power supply unit is provided in the control circuit and outputs power of a second voltage different from the first voltage to the microcontroller based on the power output from the first power supply unit, A voltage monitoring unit provided in the control circuit or the first power supply unit, which monitors the voltage of the battery or the first voltage of the first power supply unit, Equipped with, The voltage monitoring unit transmits a voltage drop signal corresponding to the voltage of the battery or the first voltage of the first power supply unit to the microcontroller. A hoisting machine characterized by the following features.

2. A hoisting machine according to claim 1, The aforementioned microcontroller is If the power is shut down while a request to write the aforementioned abnormal data has been made, the system will be controlled to write the abnormal data with "priority 1". The control is set to write the aforementioned driving history data as "priority 2". The system controls the writing of data other than the aforementioned abnormal data and the aforementioned driving history data to ignore them, with a priority of 3 or lower. A hoisting machine characterized by the following features.

3. A hoisting machine according to claim 1, The aforementioned abnormal data consists of multiple abnormal data items related to each abnormality, The aforementioned microcontroller is The system controls the writing of multiple abnormal data items in numerical order to a specific memory area of ​​the non-volatile memory. Furthermore, when the power is shut down, the microcontroller (1) Exclude writing to the non-volatile memory the number of occurrences of the abnormality data item related to abnormalities that occur only at times other than the power shutdown, (2) Determine whether a specific abnormality has occurred with respect to the multiple abnormalities that may occur when the power is shut down, in the order of the numbers above. (3) If it is determined in the numerical order determination that no particular abnormality has occurred, control is set to skip writing the number of occurrences of the abnormality among the abnormality data items related to that particular abnormality to the non-volatile memory. (4) When it is determined in the numerical order determination that a specific abnormality has occurred, the system controls the writing of a data section to the non-volatile memory that includes multiple instances of the abnormality related to the abnormalities after the specific abnormality, starting from the first address of one section of the abnormality data items related to that specific abnormality that includes the number of occurrences of the abnormality, and which can be written to the non-volatile memory at once. A hoisting machine characterized by the following features.

4. A hoisting machine according to claim 3, The microcontroller, upon power shutdown, Without determining that a specific abnormality has occurred in the numerical order determination, the system controls the writing of a data category, which is a group of abnormal data items that can be written to the non-volatile memory at once, to the non-volatile memory. This data category includes multiple occurrence counts of the abnormality related to the abnormality, as well as an abnormality history which is the history of the most recent abnormality among the abnormality data items. A hoisting machine characterized by the following features.

5. A hoisting machine according to claim 1, The aforementioned abnormal data consists of multiple abnormal data items related to each abnormality, The aforementioned microcontroller is The system controls the writing of multiple abnormal data items in numerical order to a specific memory area of ​​the non-volatile memory. Furthermore, if the microcontroller detects that any abnormality has occurred during the power shutdown, (1) Exclude writing to the non-volatile memory the number of occurrences of the abnormality data item related to abnormalities that occur only at times other than the power shutdown, (2) With respect to the multiple abnormalities that may occur when the power is shut down, the abnormal data items are determined without determining whether a specific abnormality has occurred. (3) Control the system to write all of the abnormal data items that may occur during the power shutdown to the non-volatile memory. A hoisting machine characterized by the following features.

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