Control system for an electrical or electro mechanical device respectively.

p0001The invention relates to a control device for an electrical or electromechanical device having a plurality of in each case operated by a control circuit in functional dependence of reciprocal components whose function parameters are specified in the respective control circuit.

p0002Electrical or electromechanical devices are used in virtually all fields of technology. For example only, are the areas of data processing technology, communications engineering, mechanical engineering and household appliances mentioned. The controller is used in such devices to control the functions of the individual components, taking into account their mutual interaction so as to give a predetermined workflow. Such control for components with very different modes of action is necessary, for example in a printer zeichenseriellen of data processing technology. Such a printer is an electro-mechanical device that has to perform several different functions, which are interdependent. One function is that a recording medium such as a sheet of paper fed into the printer and is brought into a printing position. Another function is the movement of a print head in the row direction. Further, the operation of the printing elements of the print head is required as a further function. Finally, after a printing operation is the transport of the recording medium to perform out of the printer. Such different functions each require a control circuit with which the operation of a component is controlled, which causes the respective movement. The mutual functional dependence of the individual movements is taken into account. The transport of the print head in the row direction must be coordinated with the operation of the print head to achieve a predetermined type display on the record carrier. Further, the transport of the record carrier must be coordinated by the printer using the printing process and the transport of the print head in order to achieve a faultless line representation. This mutual functional dependencies are taken into account by appropriate electrical connections between the individual control circuits to each other.

p0003The development of particular electromechanical devices so far is usually carried out so that firstly a prototype of the device is built, which is then provided with a control device. Here developers from different disciplines must work together. The control device is a prototype created specifically adapted and developed. You will first creates in a laboratory setting, and then the prototype of the device is operated under different conditions and adapted the controller continuously to thereby out alternate end requirements. Overall, this results in a very high amount of development time and development staff and a high demand for components.

p0004These disadvantages could be avoided if it were possible to give after creation of a prototype of the electronic developer information allowing him to build the control circuit of each component of the device in its final form required.

p0005It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a control device, which allows the equipment developers to operate the unit with different operating characteristics and it provides data that reflect the fundamental for each set working characteristic circuit parameters for each control circuit.

p0006This object is solved for a control device of the initially mentioned kind according to the invention in that the control circuits communicate with each other and a data processing device via a bus system, that the operating parameters of each component as well as their functional dependence on other components through data exchange between the data processing means and the respective control circuit are changeable that this change is caused by entering values ​​in the data processing device, which indicates a desired operating characteristics of the device, and that an output device for the output from the data processing device to the respective control circuit data is provided.

p0007A control device according to the invention allows the designer of a device to operate the device with circuitry differently configured control circuits to find those characteristics of the control circuits, which results in an optimal working of the device. These characteristics of the control circuits in the data come to expression, which are output from the data processing device to the respective control circuit, and determine the circuitry configuration. If these data are available on the output device, so they can be provided to the electronic field as default values ​​for the creation of a final, for the prototype of the device optimally sized controller available.

p0008The controller includes control circuitry which can perform via the bus system to exchange data with each other and with the data processing device. In addition, the control circuits by feeding data into its circuitry configuration can be changed. The required functional units, such as memory, shift registers, processors, etc. are commercially available. The data exchange via the bus system can run to one of the known methods.

p0009The data processing device serves to convert values ​​of an operating characteristic of the device in such data, which are suitable to change the circuitry configuration of a control circuit. Values ​​of a desired operating characteristics are, for example coordinates of the acceleration or deceleration curve of a transport system, Bestromungszeiten electromechanical transducer and operating values ​​for the electrical supply of the individual components. The data processing device takes into account the mutual functional dependence of the control circuits with one another by suitable programming. When successively several different operating characteristics of the device can be realized with this controller, so it is possible to optimize the operation of the device depends on the respective different control circuit characteristics. then the data transmitted by the data processing means to each control circuit data can be provided to the electronics design engineers are available for the thus determined optimum operating characteristics, so that it can use them to build the required for optimum operating characteristics controller. In this data, the mutual functional dependence of the individual control circuits is already today considered.

p0010Thus, the invention is a control device is provided that allows the design engineer a device, largely on the development of the device to be provided for control means to influence without owning this special knowledge. Only when the characteristic quantities for the final control device are fixed depending on mechanical requirements, the controller will be established without further experimentation.

p0011The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to FIG. There is schematically shown as an overview controller shown with its essential functional units for the application at a zeichenseriellen printer.

p0012The figure shows a data processing device 10 with a computer 11, a display unit 12 and an input keyboard 13 to the data processing device 10 via a data connection 15, a printer 14 connected. This printer 14 is suitable for displaying alpha-numeric and graphic information. The data processing device 10 is connected via a data connection 16 to a bus system 17, are connected to the plurality of control circuits 20, 21, 22, 23, 24th These control circuits are used to control the components of a not shown in the figure zeichenseriellen printer. These components are a stepping motor 30 for transporting a print head carrier in the row direction, a DC motor 31 for transporting a recording medium, a plurality of electromagnetic needle drives 32 for the needles of the print head, limit switch 33 for signaling when reaching predetermined positions of movable elements and a power supply device 34 to the bus system 17 are also two transducers 25 and 26 is connected, which are used for feedback analog actual values ​​such as voltage, current, speed and acceleration to the data processing device 10 and contain control circuit components, which enable them to exchange data via the bus system 17th

p0013The control device shown in the figure is connected to the components 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 of a printer thus on the individual control circuits 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, which does not contain any control means itself. In this interconnection of the printer with different operating characteristics may be operated by the control circuits 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 are configured by the data processing means 10 here circuitry vary accordingly. To this end, in the data processing device 10 respectively entered values ​​corresponding to a desired operating characteristics. The data processing means 10 converts these values ​​then into data that separately arrange such a circuitry configuration in each control circuit 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 that the state of all the control circuits 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 in total to the desired operating characteristic leads. After several such work characteristics were adjusted and driven with the control device, the most favorable for the printer operating characteristics can be determined.

p0014The data that are received from the data processing device 10 to the control circuits 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, also appear on the printout of the printer 14. Thus, those data are available to the determined in the manner described above best operating characteristics to lead. This data is then available for final circuit implementation of a controller for the printer is not shown in the figure available. This control device is adapted to the printer optimal.

p0015The data exchange via the bus 17 between the control circuits 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 amongst themselves and with the data processing device 10 is carried out with data which contains target and / or source addresses that identify the respective control circuit, and in this contained variable circuit components. Such circuit components include a FIFO memory for characters to be printed, RAM memory for motion path lengths, programmable counter for counting to be executed movement steps, digital / analog and analog / digital converter with adjustable resolution and allocator. In addition to these circuit parts and the actual control functions 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 contains the control circuits necessary for the exchange of data and addressing the above-mentioned modules.

p0016The transducers 25 and 26, which give the resulting sensors with analog signals to corresponding digital signals to the data processing device 10 can be advantageously used for a SET-ACTUAL comparison in the data processing device 10th Thus it is possible, the respective desired to compare the obtained then operating characteristics of the printer and perform the above-described optimization of operating characteristics more convenient. Otherwise, the operating characteristics obtained in each case would have been found with separate measuring devices and a separate comparison with the values ​​entered in the data processing device 10 can be made. The SET-ACTUAL comparison, the data processing device 10 is able to link desired and actual operating characteristics directly with each other and represent the result of such a link table or a graph.

p0017The transducers 25 and 26 also permit a so-called IS-edition.