Detailed Description
The following description of the embodiments of the present application will be made clearly and fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which it is evident that the embodiments described are some, but not all, of the embodiments of the present application. All other embodiments, which can be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without undue burden from the present disclosure, are within the scope of the present disclosure.
It should be understood that the terms "comprises" and "comprising," when used in this specification and the appended claims, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
It is also to be understood that the terminology used in the description of the present application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
It should be further understood that the term "and/or" as used in this specification and the appended claims refers to any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items, and includes such combinations.
Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a PTC power control system based on multiple PWM according to an embodiment of the present application. The PTC power control system comprises a plurality of PTC heating branches based on PWM (Pulse Width Modulation ) control, a sampling loop, a driving loop and an MCU (Microcontroller Unit, micro control unit), wherein each PTC heating branch comprises a PTC chip and an IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor ).
The MCU is connected to the sampling loop, the sampling loop is connected to the PTC heating branches based on PWM control, the PTC heating branches based on PWM control are connected to the driving loop, and the driving loop is connected to the MCU.
Wherein the MCU is used for realizing relevant control on the PTC power control system;
the driving circuit is used for driving the PTC heating branches based on PWM control;
The sampling loop is used for sampling parameters such as current and the like;
wherein, the PTC heating branches based on PWM control are used for heating;
wherein, the IGBT in each PTC heating branch is used for controlling the corresponding PTC chip to heat.
Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a flow chart of a PTC power control method based on multi-path PWM according to an embodiment of the present application. The PTC power control method based on the multi-path PWM (Pulse Width Modulation ) is applied to a PTC power control system based on the multi-path PWM, the PTC power control system comprises a plurality of PTC heating branches based on PWM control, a sampling loop, a driving loop and an MCU (Microcontroller Unit, micro control unit), and each PTC heating branch comprises a PTC chip and an IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor ); the MCU is connected to the sampling loop, the sampling loop is connected to the PTC heating branches based on PWM control, the PTC heating branches based on PWM control are connected to the driving loop, and the driving loop is connected to the MCU.
Specifically, as shown in fig. 2, the method includes steps S101 to S104.
S101, acquiring reference PTC power required by the PTC power control system and acquiring PTC power of each PTC heating branch when all the PTC in the PTC heating branches based on PWM control are conducted.
The reference PTC power is the minimum power required by the PTC power control system and capable of ensuring normal operation of the system.
In this embodiment, when all the PTCs in the plurality of PTC heating branches based on PWM control are turned on, each PTC heating branch has its own PTC power, and the PTC power of each PTC heating branch may be the same or different, and may be specifically determined according to parameters such as a chip and an operation requirement adopted by each PTC heating branch.
S102, comparing the reference PTC power with the PTC power of each PTC heating branch circuit to obtain a comparison result.
In this embodiment, the comparing the reference PTC power with the PTC power of each PTC heating branch comprises:
comparing the reference PTC power with the PTC power of each PTC heating branch.
Wherein, the comparison result may include:
(1) The reference PTC power is smaller than or equal to the PTC power corresponding to the PTC heating branch circuit with the smallest power when all the PTC in the PTC heating branch circuits based on PWM control are conducted.
(2) The reference PTC power is larger than the PTC power corresponding to any PTC heating branch when all the PTC in the PTC heating branches based on PWM control are conducted.
It should be noted that the PWM control strategies adopted subsequently for different comparison results are also different, so that the PTC power can be adjusted specifically under different comparison results.
S103, determining a PWM control strategy of the PTC heating branch circuit based on the comparison result.
In this embodiment, the determining the PWM control strategy of the PTC heating branch based on the comparison result includes:
(1) When the comparison result is that the reference PTC power is smaller than or equal to the PTC power corresponding to the PTC heating branch with the smallest power when all the PTC in the PTC heating branches based on PWM control are conducted, determining the PTC heating branch with the smallest power as a first branch, and determining the PWM control strategy as a first strategy; the first strategy is to control the first branch to be conducted, and to control the power of the first branch in a PWM chopping mode, and to control the other PTC heating branches of the plurality of PTC heating branches based on PWM control except the first branch to be turned off.
Wherein, the PWM chopping refers to a technique of controlling the magnitude of voltage or current by changing the pulse width of a signal.
For example: when the reference PTC power is 40W, if the PTC power corresponding to the PTC heating branch having the smallest power when all the PTCs in the plurality of PTC heating branches based on PWM control are turned on is 50W, since 40W is smaller than 50W, the system requirement can be met by only opening the PTC heating branch having the smallest PTC power (i.e., the first branch), at this time, the first policy can be determined to control only the first branch to be turned on, and the first branch is controlled by adopting the PWM chopping mode, and meanwhile, other PTC heating branches except for the first branch in the plurality of PTC heating branches based on PWM control are controlled to be turned off, so that unnecessary consumption is avoided.
(2) When the comparison result shows that the reference PTC power is larger than the PTC power corresponding to any PTC heating branch when all the PTC in the PTC heating branches based on PWM control are conducted, determining the PWM control strategy as a second strategy; the second strategy is to control the configuration PTC heating branch circuit in the PTC heating branch circuits based on PWM control to be fully opened, control the preset PTC heating branch circuit in the PTC heating branch circuits based on PWM control to be conducted, and control the power of the preset PTC heating branch circuit in a PWM chopping mode, and control other PTC heating branch circuits except the configuration PTC heating branch circuit and the preset PTC heating branch circuit in the PTC heating branch circuits based on PWM control to be turned off.
Wherein, after the PWM control strategy is determined as the second strategy, the method further includes:
acquiring PTC power of the PTC heating branch circuit as first power;
calculating the difference between the reference PTC power and the first power to obtain residual power;
and selecting a branch circuit from other PTC heating branch circuits except the PTC heating branch circuit according to the residual power from the PTC heating branch circuits based on PWM control as the preset PTC heating branch circuit.
Specifically, the selecting, according to the residual power, a branch from other PTC heating branches of the plurality of PTC heating branches based on PWM control, except for the configuration PTC heating branch, as the preset PTC heating branch includes:
any combination is carried out on other PTC heating branches except the PTC heating branch configuration in the PTC heating branches based on PWM control, so that a plurality of branch combinations are obtained; wherein the sum of PTC power required by each branch in each branch combination is greater than or equal to the residual power;
selecting a branch combination with the smallest sum from the plurality of branch combinations as the target combination;
and determining each PTC heating branch in the target combination as the preset PTC heating branch.
For example: when the reference PTC power is 100W, if the PTC power of the configured PTC heating branches is 50W, the remaining power is 100W-50 w=50w, then any combination of any form and any number of branches is performed on other PTC heating branches of the plurality of PTC heating branches based on PWM control, except for the configured PTC heating branches, so that the sum of the required PTC powers of all the branches in each combination after the combination is greater than or equal to the remaining power 50W, and further, a branch combination with the smallest sum of the required PTC powers of all the branches in the combination is selected from the obtained combinations as the target combination, and each PTC heating branch in the target combination is determined as the preset PTC heating branch. Further, it may be determined that the second control policy is to control the configuration PTC heating branch to be fully opened, control the preset PTC heating branch to be turned on, and perform power control on the preset PTC heating branch by using a PWM chopping manner, and control other PTC heating branches, except for the configuration PTC heating branch and the preset PTC heating branch, among the plurality of PTC heating branches based on PWM control to be turned off. The second strategy can configure the PTC heating branch combination with the lowest sum of PTC power on the premise of ensuring the power required by the system, so that the energy consumption of the system is ensured to be the lowest while the power requirement of the system is met, and the cost is saved.
S104, calculating target PTC power of the PTC power control system based on the PWM control strategy.
In this embodiment, the calculating the target PTC power of the PTC power control system based on the PWM control strategy includes:
when the PWM control strategy is the first strategy, acquiring CNT values from an internal symmetric carrier counter of the MCU to a carrier midpoint by using the sampling loop as first CNT values;
acquiring a pre-configured control period;
calculating the product of the control period and 0.5 as a first value;
calculating the sum of the first CNT value and the first numerical value as a first current sampling time point;
triggering the acquisition of the current at the first current sampling time point to obtain a first current;
acquiring a duty ratio corresponding to the first branch as a first duty ratio;
collecting the voltage of the PTC power control system as a target voltage;
and calculating the product of the target voltage, the first current and the first duty ratio to obtain the target PTC power.
For example: fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a current sampling time point corresponding to the first strategy according to the embodiment of the present application. The first current sampling time point is Tb, the first CNT value is Ta, and the control period is a duration corresponding to each high-level waveform in the IGBT driving waveforms. It can be seen that when the PTC of a single leg is controlled in PWM fashion, the current sampling time point is the midpoint of the IGBT drive waveform.
In this embodiment, the calculating the target PTC power of the PTC power control system based on the PWM control strategy further comprises:
when the PWM control strategy is the second strategy, calculating a second current sampling time point and a third current sampling time point;
triggering current collection at the second current sampling time point to obtain total current of the PTC heating branches based on PWM control;
triggering current collection at the third current sampling time point to obtain the full-open current corresponding to the configuration PTC heating branch;
calculating the difference between the total current and the full-open current to obtain PWM control current corresponding to the preset path PTC heating branch circuit;
acquiring a duty ratio corresponding to the preset path PTC heating branch circuit as a second duty ratio;
calculating the product of the target voltage and the full-open current as full-open power;
calculating the product of the target voltage, the PWM control current and the second duty ratio as PWM control power;
and calculating the sum of the full-open power and the PWM control power to obtain the target PTC power.
Specifically, the calculating the second current sampling time point includes:
In the IGBT driving process, acquiring a CNT value from an internal symmetric carrier counter of the MCU to a midpoint of a carrier by using the sampling loop as a second CNT value;
calculating the sum of the first numerical value and the second CNT value as the second current sampling time point;
the second current sampling time point is a midpoint of an IGBT driving waveform generated in the IGBT driving process.
Specifically, the calculating the third current sampling time point includes:
in the IGBT turn-off process, acquiring the time interval between every two second CNT values as a total period;
calculating the difference between the total period and the control period to obtain a second value;
calculating the product of the second value and 0.5 as a third value;
calculating the sum of the second CNT value, the control period and the third numerical value to obtain the third current sampling time point;
the third current sampling time point is a midpoint of an IGBT driving waveform generated in the IGBT turn-off process.
For example: fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a current sampling time point corresponding to the second strategy according to the embodiment of the present application. The second current sampling time point is T2, the second CNT value is T1, and the third current sampling time point is T3. It can be seen that when there are multiple PTC heating branches, a determination is made according to the power required by the system, which is equal to the sum of the power of the fully-open branch and the power of the PWM control branch.
By the embodiment, the accuracy of power control can be ensured by combining different driving phases and different sampling moments.
In this embodiment, after calculating the target PTC power of the PTC power control system based on the PWM control strategy, the method further comprises:
and controlling the PTC heating branches based on PWM control to heat by utilizing the target PTC power.
Through the embodiment, the effective control of the heating process can be further realized through the effective control of the PTC power so as to meet the heating requirement.
According to the technical scheme, the reference PTC power and the PTC power of each PTC heating branch circuit when all the PTC heating branch circuits based on PWM control are conducted can be compared, so that the PWM control strategy of the PTC heating branch circuit is determined, the target PTC power of the PTC power control system is calculated based on the PWM control strategy, accurate sampling and control of the PTC power based on multipath PWM are achieved, and accuracy of power control is improved.
The embodiment of the application also provides a PTC power control device based on the multi-path PWM, which is used for executing any embodiment of the PTC power control method based on the multi-path PWM. Specifically, referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a PTC power control apparatus 100 based on multiple PWM according to an embodiment of the present application.
The PTC power control device based on the multi-path PWM (Pulse Width Modulation ) operates in a PTC power control system based on the multi-path PWM, wherein the PTC power control system comprises a plurality of PTC heating branches based on PWM control, a sampling loop, a driving loop and an MCU (Microcontroller Unit, micro control unit), and each PTC heating branch comprises a PTC chip and an IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor ); the MCU is connected to the sampling loop, the sampling loop is connected to the PTC heating branches based on PWM control, the PTC heating branches based on PWM control are connected to the driving loop, and the driving loop is connected to the MCU.
As shown in fig. 5, the PTC power control apparatus 100 based on the multi-path PWM includes an acquisition unit 101, a comparison unit 102, a determination unit 103, and a calculation unit 104.
The acquiring unit 101 is configured to acquire the reference PTC power required by the PTC power control system, and acquire the PTC power of each PTC heating branch when all the PTC heating branches of the plurality of PTC heating branches based on PWM control are turned on.
The reference PTC power is the minimum power required by the PTC power control system and capable of ensuring normal operation of the system.
In this embodiment, when all the PTCs in the plurality of PTC heating branches based on PWM control are turned on, each PTC heating branch has its own PTC power, and the PTC power of each PTC heating branch may be the same or different, and may be specifically determined according to parameters such as a chip and an operation requirement adopted by each PTC heating branch.
The comparing unit 102 is configured to compare the reference PTC power with the PTC power of each PTC heating branch, to obtain a comparison result.
In this embodiment, the comparing unit 102 compares the reference PTC power with the PTC power of each PTC heating branch includes:
comparing the reference PTC power with the PTC power of each PTC heating branch.
Wherein, the comparison result may include:
(1) The reference PTC power is smaller than or equal to the PTC power corresponding to the PTC heating branch circuit with the smallest power when all the PTC in the PTC heating branch circuits based on PWM control are conducted.
(2) The reference PTC power is larger than the PTC power corresponding to any PTC heating branch when all the PTC in the PTC heating branches based on PWM control are conducted.
It should be noted that the PWM control strategies adopted subsequently for different comparison results are also different, so that the PTC power can be adjusted specifically under different comparison results.
The determining unit 103 is configured to determine a PWM control strategy of the PTC heating branch based on the comparison result.
In this embodiment, the determining unit 103 determines the PWM control strategy of the PTC heating branch based on the comparison result, including:
(1) When the comparison result is that the reference PTC power is smaller than or equal to the PTC power corresponding to the PTC heating branch with the smallest power when all the PTC in the PTC heating branches based on PWM control are conducted, determining the PTC heating branch with the smallest power as a first branch, and determining the PWM control strategy as a first strategy; the first strategy is to control the first branch to be conducted, and to control the power of the first branch in a PWM chopping mode, and to control the other PTC heating branches of the plurality of PTC heating branches based on PWM control except the first branch to be turned off.
Wherein, the PWM chopping refers to a technique of controlling the magnitude of voltage or current by changing the pulse width of a signal.
For example: when the reference PTC power is 40W, if the PTC power corresponding to the PTC heating branch having the smallest power when all the PTCs in the plurality of PTC heating branches based on PWM control are turned on is 50W, since 40W is smaller than 50W, the system requirement can be met by only opening the PTC heating branch having the smallest PTC power (i.e., the first branch), at this time, the first policy can be determined to control only the first branch to be turned on, and the first branch is controlled by adopting the PWM chopping mode, and meanwhile, other PTC heating branches except for the first branch in the plurality of PTC heating branches based on PWM control are controlled to be turned off, so that unnecessary consumption is avoided.
(2) When the comparison result shows that the reference PTC power is larger than the PTC power corresponding to any PTC heating branch when all the PTC in the PTC heating branches based on PWM control are conducted, determining the PWM control strategy as a second strategy; the second strategy is to control the configuration PTC heating branch circuit in the PTC heating branch circuits based on PWM control to be fully opened, control the preset PTC heating branch circuit in the PTC heating branch circuits based on PWM control to be conducted, and control the power of the preset PTC heating branch circuit in a PWM chopping mode, and control other PTC heating branch circuits except the configuration PTC heating branch circuit and the preset PTC heating branch circuit in the PTC heating branch circuits based on PWM control to be turned off.
After the PWM control strategy is determined to be a second strategy, PTC power of the PTC heating branch circuit is obtained as first power;
calculating the difference between the reference PTC power and the first power to obtain residual power;
and selecting a branch circuit from other PTC heating branch circuits except the PTC heating branch circuit according to the residual power from the PTC heating branch circuits based on PWM control as the preset PTC heating branch circuit.
Specifically, the selecting, according to the residual power, a branch from other PTC heating branches of the plurality of PTC heating branches based on PWM control, except for the configuration PTC heating branch, as the preset PTC heating branch includes:
any combination is carried out on other PTC heating branches except the PTC heating branch configuration in the PTC heating branches based on PWM control, so that a plurality of branch combinations are obtained; wherein the sum of PTC power required by each branch in each branch combination is greater than or equal to the residual power;
selecting a branch combination with the smallest sum from the plurality of branch combinations as the target combination;
and determining each PTC heating branch in the target combination as the preset PTC heating branch.
For example: when the reference PTC power is 100W, if the PTC power of the configured PTC heating branches is 50W, the remaining power is 100W-50 w=50w, then any combination of any form and any number of branches is performed on other PTC heating branches of the plurality of PTC heating branches based on PWM control, except for the configured PTC heating branches, so that the sum of the required PTC powers of all the branches in each combination after the combination is greater than or equal to the remaining power 50W, and further, a branch combination with the smallest sum of the required PTC powers of all the branches in the combination is selected from the obtained combinations as the target combination, and each PTC heating branch in the target combination is determined as the preset PTC heating branch. Further, it may be determined that the second control policy is to control the configuration PTC heating branch to be fully opened, control the preset PTC heating branch to be turned on, and perform power control on the preset PTC heating branch by using a PWM chopping manner, and control other PTC heating branches, except for the configuration PTC heating branch and the preset PTC heating branch, among the plurality of PTC heating branches based on PWM control to be turned off. The second strategy can configure the PTC heating branch combination with the lowest sum of PTC power on the premise of ensuring the power required by the system, so that the energy consumption of the system is ensured to be the lowest while the power requirement of the system is met, and the cost is saved.
The calculating unit 104 is configured to calculate a target PTC power of the PTC power control system based on the PWM control strategy.
In this embodiment, the calculating unit 104 calculates the target PTC power of the PTC power control system based on the PWM control strategy, including:
when the PWM control strategy is the first strategy, acquiring CNT values from an internal symmetric carrier counter of the MCU to a carrier midpoint by using the sampling loop as first CNT values;
acquiring a pre-configured control period;
calculating the product of the control period and 0.5 as a first value;
calculating the sum of the first CNT value and the first numerical value as a first current sampling time point;
triggering the acquisition of the current at the first current sampling time point to obtain a first current;
acquiring a duty ratio corresponding to the first branch as a first duty ratio;
collecting the voltage of the PTC power control system as a target voltage;
and calculating the product of the target voltage, the first current and the first duty ratio to obtain the target PTC power.
For example: fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a current sampling time point corresponding to the first strategy according to the embodiment of the present application. The first current sampling time point is Tb, the first CNT value is Ta, and the control period is a duration corresponding to each high-level waveform in the IGBT driving waveforms. It can be seen that when the PTC of a single leg is controlled in PWM fashion, the current sampling time point is the midpoint of the IGBT drive waveform.
In this embodiment, the calculating unit 104 calculates the target PTC power of the PTC power control system based on the PWM control strategy further includes:
when the PWM control strategy is the second strategy, calculating a second current sampling time point and a third current sampling time point;
triggering current collection at the second current sampling time point to obtain total current of the PTC heating branches based on PWM control;
triggering current collection at the third current sampling time point to obtain the full-open current corresponding to the configuration PTC heating branch;
calculating the difference between the total current and the full-open current to obtain PWM control current corresponding to the preset path PTC heating branch circuit;
acquiring a duty ratio corresponding to the preset path PTC heating branch circuit as a second duty ratio;
calculating the product of the target voltage and the full-open current as full-open power;
calculating the product of the target voltage, the PWM control current and the second duty ratio as PWM control power;
and calculating the sum of the full-open power and the PWM control power to obtain the target PTC power.
Specifically, the calculating the second current sampling time point includes:
In the IGBT driving process, acquiring a CNT value from an internal symmetric carrier counter of the MCU to a midpoint of a carrier by using the sampling loop as a second CNT value;
calculating the sum of the first numerical value and the second CNT value as the second current sampling time point;
the second current sampling time point is a midpoint of an IGBT driving waveform generated in the IGBT driving process.
Specifically, the calculating the third current sampling time point includes:
in the IGBT turn-off process, acquiring the time interval between every two second CNT values as a total period;
calculating the difference between the total period and the control period to obtain a second value;
calculating the product of the second value and 0.5 as a third value;
calculating the sum of the second CNT value, the control period and the third numerical value to obtain the third current sampling time point;
the third current sampling time point is a midpoint of an IGBT driving waveform generated in the IGBT turn-off process.
For example: fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a current sampling time point corresponding to the second strategy according to the embodiment of the present application. The second current sampling time point is T2, the second CNT value is T1, and the third current sampling time point is T3. It can be seen that when there are multiple PTC heating branches, a determination is made according to the power required by the system, which is equal to the sum of the power of the fully-open branch and the power of the PWM control branch.
By the embodiment, the accuracy of power control can be ensured by combining different driving phases and different sampling moments.
In this embodiment, after the target PTC power of the PTC power control system is calculated based on the PWM control strategy, the plurality of PTC heating branches based on PWM control are controlled to heat by using the target PTC power.
Through the embodiment, the effective control of the heating process can be further realized through the effective control of the PTC power so as to meet the heating requirement.
According to the technical scheme, the reference PTC power and the PTC power of each PTC heating branch circuit when all the PTC heating branch circuits based on PWM control are conducted can be compared, so that the PWM control strategy of the PTC heating branch circuit is determined, the target PTC power of the PTC power control system is calculated based on the PWM control strategy, accurate sampling and control of the PTC power based on multipath PWM are achieved, and accuracy of power control is improved.
The data in this case were obtained legally.
It will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, specific working procedures of the apparatus, device and unit described above may refer to corresponding procedures in the foregoing method embodiments, which are not repeated herein. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied in electronic hardware, in computer software, or in a combination of the two, and that the elements and steps of the examples have been generally described in terms of function in the foregoing description to clearly illustrate the interchangeability of hardware and software. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.
In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus, device, and method may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, for example, the division of the units is merely a logical function division, there may be another division manner in actual implementation, or units having the same function may be integrated into one unit, for example, multiple units or components may be combined or may be integrated into another apparatus, or some features may be omitted, or not performed. In addition, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices, or elements, or may be an electrical, mechanical, or other form of connection.
The units described as separate units may or may not be physically separate, and units shown as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purposes of the embodiments of the present application.
In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit. The integrated units may be implemented in hardware or in software functional units.
The integrated units may be stored in a storage medium if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as stand-alone products. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application is essentially or a part contributing to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, comprising several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a background server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a magnetic disk, an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.
While the invention has been described with reference to certain preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and substitutions of equivalents may be made and equivalents will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.