JP2003070225A - Path module for linear motor, modular linear motor system, and controlling method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a path module for linear motor, a modular linear motor system, and a control method therefor. SOLUTION: This path module for linear motor system includes a controller coupled to one or more amplifiers that are operative to control associated windings in the module. The controller receives control information via a communications link. The controller controls the amplifier based on the received control information so as to selectively energize the associated windings in the module. In one aspect, a plurality of such modules are connected together to form a path along which one or more stages are moveable according to the energization of the windings in the path.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to motors, and more particularly to modules for linear motors, modular linear motor systems, and methods for controlling modules in linear motor systems.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (Related Application) This application is filed on Feb. 26, 1998, which is currently US Pat. No. 5,942,817, entitled "LINEAR MOTOR HAVING AU".
TOMATIC ARMATURE WINDIG S
WITCHING AT MINIMUM CURREN
No. 09 / US patent application entitled "T POINTS"
031,009, currently US Pat. No. 5,907,200.
Issued on February 26, 1998, "ENCODE
US patent application Ser. No. 09 / 031,287 entitled "R"
No. 199 currently US Pat. No. 5,925,943
“MODULA WIREL” filed on March 17, 8
US Patent Application No. 09 / 040,132 entitled "ESS LINEAR MOTOR" and "WIRELESS PERMANENT MA" filed April 6, 1998, which is currently US Patent No. 5,936,319.
GNET LINEAR MOTOR WITH MA
GNETICALLY CONTROLLED ARM
ATURE SWITCHING AND MAGNE
April 2, 1998, now US Pat. No. 5,994,798, which is a continuation-in-part of US patent application Ser. No. 09 / 055,573 entitled “TIC ENCODER”.
"CLOSED-PATH LINEAR" filed on 9th
Application No. 09 / 069,324 entitled "MOTOR"
Issue, a continuation application, "CLOSED-PATH LI
Application No. 09/41 entitled "NEAR MOTOR"
This is a partial continuation application of No. 5,166.

Fixed armature (statio) with coils
Linear armatures, and linear motors with moveable stages with magnets are well known in the art. A linear motor having a fixed magnet and a movable coil is also known.

US Pat. No. 4,749,921 discloses one such type of linear motor.
The linear motor disclosed in this patent has a series of fixed armature windings mounted on a base plate, and
It has a stage with a series of magnets that allow the base plate to move freely. This stage applies AC or DC excitation to the coil to
It can be moved in the desired direction. When such a linear motor is used in a positioning system, its operation is controlled by utilizing the relationship between the position of the stage and the position of the coil.

In some linear motors, commutator contacts (co
The Mmutator contact is a pendant from the stage. The contacts contact one or more power rails and one or more coil contacts. As the stage moves along the armature, the position of the stage relative to the armature is automatically accounted for by applying power to the fixed armature windings through the contacts of the commutator.

In other linear motors, a service loop of wire is conventionally used between the movable stage and the fixed element. The position of the stage is updated by using a magnetic position encoder or an optical position encoder that detects a mark on an encoder tape fixed on the stage along the path of the stage. The position is connected to a service loop to the fixed motor controller.

The important position information is usually the stage phase relative to the armature phase. In the case of a three-phase armature, for example, the windings are arranged such that the set of three phases A, B and C is repeated. If the phase A winding center is defined as 0 degrees, the B and C winding centers are defined as 120 degrees and 240 degrees. Two, three, or more than four winding sets are possible, depending on the travel of the stage. Usually, the phase A windings are connected in parallel, and so is the phase B and C windings. So, within the influence of the magnets on the stage, if the position of the stage requires a specific voltage configuration for a particular winding other than powering these windings, then all the others in the armature. Power is also supplied to the windings. The maximum force that can be obtained from a linear motor is limited by the allowable temperature rise of the armature winding. When all windings are energized, there will be more heating than is strictly necessary to function as a motor, whether or not the windings contribute to the power of the motor. .

Some prior art linear motors address this heating problem with a switch that closes the armature winding only when it is within the magnet's influence.

The need for a cable loop connecting the movable element and the fixed element is inconvenient and limits the flexibility of the system design. The wiring harness requires extra clearance to avoid entanglement between the linear motor and any device adjacent to the linear motor's path, i.e. the item, and the moving elements of the linear motor have extra clearance. I add a lot of weight. Moreover, the manufacture of linear motors that use wiring harnesses incurs additional material and assembly labor costs. Therefore, the assembly cost is reduced, the total weight of the movable element is reduced, and
To eliminate the clearance that limits the usefulness of linear motors, it is desirable to eliminate the use of wiring harnesses within linear motors.

Most linear motors are manufactured so that the path is straight and the path length is a fixed length, so that the length of the armature and hence the number of armature windings is increased. Has been established. In such a linear motor, the armature windings are all in parallel with each other, and their axes form approximately 90 degrees with respect to the moving direction of the linear motor, in order to make a new linear motor of any specific length. Typically requires production equipment at the new assembly. Each assembly has a set of armature windings, a set of moving magnets, and a fixed length wiring harness that is coupled to the moving elements of a linear motor, and each assembly can be ordered to suit your needs. In the case of design, the manufacturing cost of the linear motor increases, and new production equipment is required for each custom design. Therefore, it is particularly desirable to manufacture linear motors of modular design.

The modular design motor allows easy customization of armature winding assemblies of any desired length, minimizing production equipment costs and thus reducing manufacturing costs for a particular linear motor. . The assembly and outline drawing database is common to all assemblies within the linear motor family, facilitating assembly and manufacturing. The common parts can be kept in stock from among the parts that are readily available at the moment so that a motor assembly of any particular length can be quickly assembled. Also, by keeping common parts in inventory, materials can be purchased in large quantities from a common supplier, reducing overall manufacturing costs. Since it is possible to assemble an armature winding assembly of any desired length, lead time can be shortened. Therefore, the modular design linear motor reduces manufacturing costs, reduces assembly lead time, and improves overall utility.

In the case of a linear motor using a series of stationary armature windings and moving magnets, a means is needed to dissipate the heat from the coils. Linear motors having a cold plate attached to one of the edges of the armature winding are known in the art. Alternatively, armature windings having cooling coils or channels are also well known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,5
No. 45 discloses an example of such an armature. Stacked laminated magnetic bodies are used for these armatures. Linear motors having non-magnetic armatures are also known, an example of which is disclosed in US Pat. No. 4,749,921. The linear motor disclosed in this patent has a non-magnetic armature with a coil support structure consisting of an aluminum frame or a spiral cooling coil. In an example having an aluminum frame, heat is radiated from the armature coil via the aluminum frame and the side plate that functions as a heat sink. Alternatively, a spiral coil is used to more evenly cool the interior of the armature. The spiral coil supports the overlap coil and the coil and armature are cast in a block of settable resin, but the incorporation of such a coil is complicated to assemble and the material is expensive. Therefore, it has the drawback of being expensive. Also, the use of coagulable resin avoids the generation of eddy currents, but because the thermal conductivity of the coagulable resin is significantly smaller than that of metal, the output of the linear motor is replaced by heat, and therefore the output Release capacity is reduced.

[0013]

The use of linear motors in manufacturing equipment is increasing, and in such equipment,
Nominal increases in operating speed mean immediate significant manufacturing cost savings. Therefore, it is particularly desirable to have as much force and acceleration as possible for a given linear motor. In order to increase the generated force, the magnetic field strength must be increased or the current applied to the armature coil must be increased. For a permanent magnet linear motor, the effective magnetic field strength is limited by the magnetic field strength of the effective motor magnet. The power dissipated in the coil increases at a rate equal to the square of the current. Since the force that can be achieved without exceeding the maximum armature temperature is limited by the concomitant generation of heat, improving the output ejection capacity of the linear motor improves the utility of the linear motor.

To understand the basics of some aspects of the present invention, a brief summary of the invention is provided below. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. This summary is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the invention or delineate the scope of the invention. The purpose of this summary is merely to provide some of the concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

[0015]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a module for a linear motor that is connected with one or more other modules to form a path. Modules spaced 1 from each other
It has one or more armature windings. The module also includes an amplifier coupled to the winding and a controller capable of controlling the amplifier based on operational information received from the communication link. The amplifier controls the power supply to the associated winding based on the control information provided by the controller.

According to one aspect, a plurality of modules are connected together to define a path having a desired shape and length. The controller of each module receives control information from the system controller via the communication link. The system controller receives position information indicating the position of each of the one or more stages that can move along the path. The system controller determines the absolute position of each stage with respect to the path and commands the appropriate module controller to power its windings to perform the desired movement for each stage.

According to another aspect, the windings of the module are non-interlaced, ie the windings are arranged next to each other in a non-overlapping manner. The module also has a separate amplifier coupled to each of the windings. Each amplifier operates to control the power supply to its associated winding,
It facilitates individual control of the windings in the module.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for controlling a path module in a linear motor system. A method of controlling a routing module includes receiving control instructions from a motor controller via a communication link. The control data is provided to the amplifier of the path module to selectively power at least one armature winding of the path module based on the control command. According to a particular aspect, the control instruction identifies one or more armature windings within the path module.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certain illustrative aspects of the present invention are described herein, together with the description below and the accompanying drawings. These aspects, to a lesser extent, demonstrate various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed, and the invention is intended to include all of these aspects and equivalents thereof. Other advantages and novel features of the invention will be apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention in conjunction with the drawings.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, a linear motor according to aspects of the present invention is shown generally at 10. Movable stage 12 is supported and guided along path 14 in any convenient manner. Path 14 includes phases A and B generated by motor controller 18, respectively.
And armature winding 1 for receiving three-phase drive power of C
A 6A, 16B and 16C repeat set is provided in the path. The phase A of the drive power from the motor controller 18 is the normally open phase A on the phase A conductor 20A.
It is connected to the terminal of the switch 22A. Each of the Phase A switches is connected to its respective Phase A armature winding 16A. Similarly, the drive power for Phase B and Phase C is
On phase B and phase C conductors 20B and 20C, they are connected to the terminals of phase B switch 22B and phase C switch 22C, respectively. Armature winding 16A, 16B of each set
And 16C are non-interlaced. That is, as in some prior art linear motors, they are adjacent and non-overlapping.

The switches 22A, 22B and 22C are
It remains open except for the switches associated with the particular armature windings 16A, 16B and 16C that are within the influence of the motor magnets on the moveable stage 12. Switch 2
2A ', 22B' and 22C 'show the switches 22A, 22B and 22C closed in this way and have corresponding armature windings 16A', 16B 'and 16C.
Power is applied to C '. Movable stage 12 is path 1
4, the switches 22A, 22B and 22C are newly placed under the influence of the magnet on the movable stage 12.
Closes and the switch opens, which deviates from the effect of the magnet. As described herein, motor magnets, other discrete magnets (eg, switching magnets), or other means may be used to activate switch 22 in the closed state. Thus, at any given time, only the armature windings 16A ', 16B' and 16C 'that can contribute to the generation of forces on the movable stage 12 are powered. The remaining armature windings 16A, 16B and 16C, which are not useful for contributing to the generation of force, remain inactive, unpowered, thereby reducing power consumption and, thus, in positions that contribute to force. Heating is mitigated when compared to prior art devices where all armature windings, with or without them, are powered.

In applications where "open loop" drive of the moveable stage 12 is sufficient, the motor controller 18
Produces the sequence of phases required to drive the stage 12 in the desired direction, but one desirable application is for the motor controller 18 to move the stage 12 from the movable stage 12 to the position of the stage 12 along the path 14. , Or a "closed loop" drive system that receives feedback information indicating either increments of travel along path 14. The closed loop system allows precise control of the position, velocity and acceleration of the moveable stage 12.

The prior art uses the wiring between the movable stage 12 and the motor controller 18 to
It meets the requirements for position feedback, which is
Some applications are inconvenient and impractical. Non-practical applications include moving the movable stage 12 along a closed or curved path 14 on itself. An example of a closed path is the ellipse or "race-track" pattern value in a robot assembly operation, as described in more detail later in this specification. That is, the movable stage 12 continues to repeatedly move forward on the path 14 in the same direction. For such applications, the wiring between the movable element and the fixed element is difficult or impossible to realize. In the following, an effective mechanism according to aspects of the invention for significantly reducing the amount of wiring that can be implemented in a motor will be described.

The example shown in FIG. 1 comprises a communication device 24 which wirelessly informs the motor controller 18 of the position and / or increment of movement of the movable stage 12. The communication device 24 is a linear encoder that does not require a connecting cable between the fixed element and the movable element, as will be described later.

By way of example, at least some position information or movement information is expanded to a fixed position outside the movable stage 12 without the need for transmission of position information.

From the simplified drawing of FIG. 1 and the above description, the linear motor 10 is (1) switches 22A, 22B, 22.
It can be seen that three actions are required: control of C, (2) feedback of position or movement data, (3) generation of drive power related to position (or position derived from movement).

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a cross-sectional view of the end of movable stage 12 taken along line II-II through path 14 of FIG. Motor magnets 160, 162 are shown. The lower surface of the motor magnets 160 and 162 has armature windings 16A and 16
Close to and parallel to the top surface of B and 16C. As an example, the armature winding 16
A, B and C can be wrapped. In this example, the bottom surfaces of the motor magnets 160, 162 are maintained parallel to and in close proximity to the top surface of the stacked laminate. If the armature windings 16A, 16B and 16C do not include a magnetic material, the movable stage 12 may be used depending on the application.
It is possible to enjoy the benefit of reducing the static load on the vehicle. In the following description, the motor magnets 160 and 162 are called motor magnets. The armature windings 16A, B, and C are powered as needed and interact with the motor magnets 160, 162, which creates a transfer force on the moveable stage 12 and moves the stage relative to the path 14.

According to one aspect, the pendant arm 28
Extends downward from the plate 26. The pendant arm 28 has a switching magnet 30 and an encoder magnet 3 that move together with the movable stage 12.
2 is attached. The rail 34 attached to the path 14 stands up substantially parallel to the pendant arm 28. On the rail 34, a plurality of switching sensors 36 that are vertically spaced apart from each other are connected to the switching magnet 30.
And a plurality of encoder sensors 38, which are vertically spaced apart from each other, are attached so as to face the encoder magnet 32.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the switching sensors 36 are evenly spaced along the rail 34. Each of the switching sensors 36 is arranged on the rail 34 in alignment with the respective armature winding 16.
The switching sensor 36 is, for example, a Hall effect device. The switching magnet 30 has a length substantially equal to the moving length in the moving direction under the influence of the magnetic fields of the motor magnets 160 and 162. This length can be changed independently of the number of motor magnets used. As an example, the length of the switching magnet 30 is long enough to affect the nine switching sensors 36. That is, in FIG. 3, nine armature windings 16
(3 sets of phases A, B and C) are always connected to the respective power conductor 20 and are in magnetic interaction with the motor magnets 160, 162.

The switching sensor 36 controls the open and closed states of each switch, as described above. Any convenient type of switch can be used. According to one aspect, the switch is a conventional semiconductor switch such as a thyristor or a power MOSFET transistor. Semiconductor switches and techniques for controlling their open / closed states are well known to those skilled in the art, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted here.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 2, showing the underside of plate 26. As an example,
The plate 26 includes nine motor magnets 160 that are equally spaced along the plate 26. Also, an additional motor magnet 1 is placed on each end of the array of nine motor magnets 160.
62 is arranged. The motor magnets 160 and 162 are
Cogging, as shown in the traditional way
Is added to alleviate. Note that the length of switching magnet 30 is approximately equal to the center-to-center spacing of the end motor magnets of all nine motor magnet 160 sets. This length of switching magnet 30 defines the span S of the active portion of linear motor 10 (FIG. 2). That is, the armature winding 16 to be fed is only the armature winding 16 within the span S. When the armature winding 16 enters the span S, the sensor 36 perceives the magnetic influence of the switching magnet 30 and consequently activates the switch 22 in the closed state, which energizes the winding. When the winding 16 exits the span S, the power supply to the winding 16 is cut off.

The additional motor magnet 162, which is outside the span,
The windings 16 underneath them are not fed and therefore do not contribute to the generation of force, but perform an important function. For the function of the linear motor 10, it is important that the magnetic field strength along the plate 26 be approximately sinusoidal. If there is no additional motor magnet 162, the fringe effect causes
The magnetic field produced by the two motor magnets 160 at the end of the span S will deviate substantially from the sine wave.
Deviation from the sine wave causes a ripple (ripp) in the force output.
le) will occur. The presence of the additional motor magnet 162 maintains a substantially sinusoidal magnetic field change along the motor magnet 160, avoiding this ripple source.

The width of the additional motor magnet 162 shown in the figure is smaller than the width of the motor magnet 160. It has been found that the narrower the width of the additional motor magnet 162, the better the result. However, it is also known that even if the width of the additional motor magnet 162 is large, the function is not hindered. From the perspective of manufacturing economy, the motor magnet 160 and the additional motor magnet 16
It is desirable to use only a single size magnet for both of the two, thereby reducing inventory and assembly costs.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show different positional relationships between the switching magnet 30 and the motor magnets 160, 162. Referring first to FIG. 5, a reduced set of five motor magnets interacts with four armature windings. When the movable stage 12 moves, the switching magnet 30 and the motor magnets 160 and 162 move together with the stage, and the same relative position is maintained. When the movable stage 12 moves, the switching sensor 36 adjacent to the switching magnet 30 turns on (for example, closes) each switch. The switching sensor 36, which is not adjacent to the switching magnet 30, keeps the respective switch turned off (eg open). In the state shown in the figure, the armature winding 16-
A switching sensor 36, located in the center of 2, 16-3 and 16-4, is adjacent to the switching magnet 30 and these armature windings are connected to drive power. Since the switching sensor 36 located in the center of the armature windings 16-1, 16-5, and 16-6 is not adjacent to the switching magnet 30, these switching sensors 36 are -1, 16-5, and 1
Keep 6-6 isolated from drive power. The center of the motor magnet 160 shown in the figure is located immediately adjacent to the armature winding 1.
6 is offset from the center of the 6 and thus the turned-on armature windings 16 produce a force by their magnetic field interacting with the magnetic fields of the three closest motor magnets 160.

Next, referring to FIG. 6, the movable stage 12
Moves from the position of FIG. 5 to the position where the center of the motor magnet 160 on the right side overlaps with the center of the armature winding 16-5. In this relationship, the end of the switching magnet 30 reaches the position adjacent to the switching sensor 36. This is the minimum current position. Therefore, at this moment, the switching sensor 36 closes its switch, connecting the armature winding 16-5 to its power source. With this center overlap, the armature winding 16-5 cannot generate a force on the centered magnet 160. Therefore, the current flowing through the armature winding 16-5 is the minimum, and the armature winding 16-5 is switched with the minimum current. Similarly, at substantially the same time as this moment, the left end of the switching magnet 30 is connected to the armature winding 16-2.
Passing through the switching sensor 36 aligned with, which cuts off power to the armature winding 16-2. The center of the motor magnet 160 on the left side is the armature winding 16-
Aligned with the center of 2. Therefore, the current to the armature winding 16-2 at this point is minimal. The armature winding 16 fed by the above switching with the minimum current
Occurs when the power is switched during the generation of force, or is fed to an unpowered armature winding 16 and the powered armature winding 16 immediately generates the electrical Switching noise is mitigated.

For a three-phase drive system, a minimum of five motor magnets is required to constantly interact with a minimum of four armature windings, and vice versa. If additional force is needed, magnets can be added in four increments. That is, the number of magnets is 5 + 4L, where L is an integer including zero. Number of armature windings in span S =
(Number of motor magnets in span S) -1. Therefore, the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is 5+ (4 * 1) = 9.
Using two magnets. The magnets are positioned so that the center to center spacing of the nine magnets is equal to the center to center spacing of the eight armature windings.

FIG. 7 illustrates a magnetic encoder system according to one aspect of the present invention. Encoder magnet 32
Is provided with an alternating magnetic zone for alternating the N polarity and the S polarity with respect to the opposing encoder sensor 38. Therefore, each encoder sensor 38 is connected to the encoder magnet 32.
Are exposed to alternating positive and negative magnetic fields. The endmost zone of the encoder magnet 32 is a beveled magnetic zone.
e) 42. With the bevel magnetic zone 42,
The magnetic field as the bevel magnetic zone 42 moves over or away from the encoder sensor 38 increases or decreases. Bevel magnetic zone 42
Is shown with a linear ramp. Motors using such linear gradients have been successfully manufactured and tested, but other geometries other than linear gradients will also improve results. It is known that the magnetic field of a motor magnet decreases in proportion to the square of the distance from the magnet. Therefore, the bevel shape for increasing the magnetic field of one bevel zone by an amount substantially equal to the amount of decrease of the magnetic field of the opposing magnetic zone is described by the square law.

Referring now to FIG. 8A for a moment, the shape of the bevel magnetic zone satisfying the rule that when the increments of movement of the bevel magnetic zone 42 'are equal, the changes in the magnetic field at the encoder sensor 38 are equal. , Y = a + bx ² . Where y is the distance from the surface of the magnet to the encoder sensor 38 and x is the position along the bevel magnetic zone 42 '. Moreover, a and b are constants.

It has been empirically found that other factors besides the square law above affect the relationship between magnetic field and distance.
The shape of the bevel magnetic zone 42 'modifies the square law,
These other factors must be considered.

Next, referring to FIG. 8B, when the ideal shape of the bevel magnetic zone 42 'is obtained, the output of the encoder sensor at the left and right ends of the encoder magnet 32 should be roughly as shown in the figure. is there. That is, the sum of the signal from the left bevel magnetic zone 42 'and the signal from the right bevel magnetic zone 42' should be kept approximately constant.

Returning to FIG. 7, each of the encoder sensors 38 is a Hall effect device, for example. Hall effect devices generate an electric current when exposed to one magnetic polarity (N or S polarity), but are insensitive to the other magnetic polarity. The encoder sensor 38 is arranged in an encoder sensor group 40 including four encoder sensors 38 which are spaced apart in the moving direction. Each encoder sensor group 40 is spaced a distance D from an adjacent encoder sensor group. The distance D is
It appears to be equal to the center-to-center distance between the bevel magnetic zones 42 on either end of the encoder magnet 32.
The four encoder sensors 38 in each encoder sensor group 40 are spaced in the direction of movement of the movable stage 12 in relation to the center-to-center distance between the magnetic zones in the encoder magnet 32. For illustration purposes, the distance from center to center between magnetic zones of the same polarity is 360 °.
And Therefore, the center-to-center distance between adjacent magnetic zones is 180 °, and the distance between the zone center and its edges is 90 °.

Conventionally, an encoder is made to generate a sine signal and a cosine signal which are relatively out of phase with each other by 90 ° for use in detecting the direction of incremental movement of a stage. In the case of magnetically actuated Hall effect devices, this conventional technique is that the Hall effect device is sensitive to only one magnetic polarity (N or S polarity) and the other is insensitive. I have a problem. In order to solve this problem, each encoder sensor group 40
Is an encoder sensor 3 for producing a sine + output
There is one 8s + and a second encoder sensor 38s- for producing a sine-output. The encoder sensor 38s− in the encoder sensor group 40 is
180 from the other side encoder sensor 38s + in the moving direction
° Separated. The desired sine wave sine signal is obtained by adding the sine + signal and the sine- signal in the motor controller 18. Cosine + encoder sensor 38
c + is separated from the sine + encoder sensor 38s + by 90 ° in the moving direction. The cosine-encoder sensor 38c-is the counterpart cosine + encoder sensor 3
It is separated from 8c + by 180 ° in the moving direction. The motor controller 18 outputs the cosine + signal and the cosine- signal.
Addition in gives the desired cosine signal.

Interval D between encoder sensor groups 40
When a specific encoder sensor 38 in one encoder sensor group 40 is aligned with the bevel magnetic zone 42 at one end of the encoder magnet 32, the opposite encoder sensor 38 has a bevel magnetic zone 42 at the other end of the encoder magnet 32. The intervals are aligned with. For example, as shown in the figure, when the sine + encoder sensor 38s + in the left encoder sensor group 40 is aligned with the center of the left bevel magnetic zone 42, its companion sine + encoder sensor 38s + is connected to the encoder magnet 32. It aligns with the right bevel magnetic zone 42 at the right end.

The corresponding encoder sensor 38 is connected in parallel to the line connected to the motor controller 18. The four individual lines shown carry the ± sine / cosine signals. As the movable stage 12 moves, the signal of the encoder sensor 38 that becomes aligned with the bevel magnetic zone 42 at one end of the encoder magnet 32 increases,
On the other hand, the encoder sensor 38 signal away from alignment with the co-located bevel magnetic zone 42 is reduced. Corresponding encoder sensor signals are added so that when one encoder sensor group 40 becomes active and an adjacent encoder sensor group 40 becomes inactive,
The signal changes smoothly without any discontinuities that would interfere with the detection of movement. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that for the above spacing, 360 ° can be extended between any ± pair of encoder sensors 38 without affecting the resulting output signal. Also,
The sine encoder sensor outputs are 180 degrees out of phase with each other.
Due to the offset, in some applications theoretically two sine encoder outputs could be applied to a single wire for connection to the motor controller 18. In other applications, it may be desirable to use four individual conductors as shown.

According to the aspect of the linear motor 10, a third encoder sensor group 40 (not shown) is arranged between the two encoder sensor groups 40 shown in the figure. This is because the bevel magnetic zone 42 at the end of the encoder magnet 32 occurs during the transition from one encoder sensor group 40 to the next encoder sensor group 40 and the length tolerance of the encoder magnet 32 and the encoder sensor group 40's. The deviation of the encoder signal due to the close spacing tolerance has the advantage that it is at least partly suppressed by the signal generated by the encoder sensor group 40 arranged intermediate the ends of the encoder magnet 32.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the function of the communication device 24 is to transfer the movement of the moveable stage 12 to the motor controller without the need for any active device on the moveable stage 12 to provide the wireless magnetic system described above. You can see that is satisfied by. One of the limitations of such systems is the difficulty in creating closely spaced alternating magnetic zones in the encoder magnet 32. Therefore, the positional resolution of such a system is relatively poor.

Referring now to FIG. 9, one solution to the resolution problem is to provide a conventional encoder tape 44 in a fixed position along path 14 and to move stage 1
2 is provided with a conventional optical encoder sensor 46. For example, fine parallel ruled lines are drawn on the encoder tape 44. The optical encoder sensor 46 collects one or a plurality of light beams on the encoder tape 44 and detects a change in reflected light from the encoder tape 44 as a linear passage or a non-linear passage on the front surface thereof. Typically, the optical encoder sensor 46 will include the stage 12 and path 1
4 produces sine and cosine signals for measuring relative movement between the four. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, since the parallel lines on the encoder tape 44 are closely spaced, a very fine resolution can be obtained.

Alternatively, an encoder tape 44 may be provided with a sloping gray scale or color scale that varies along the length of the path, and the encoder is sensitive to changes in the wavelength and / or frequency of light reflected from the tape 44. It can also be the sensor 46. As another example, reflective and non-reflective elements could be interleaved along the path to interact with the light beam from encoder sensor 46. Other light, magnetism, induction and / or
Alternatively, it will be understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art that capacitive means may be utilized to appropriately direct the position and / or movement of the stage 12 with respect to the path 14 in accordance with aspects of the present invention. .

According to one aspect, the optical encoder sensor 46.
The sine and cosine outputs of the are applied to a pulse generator 48 which provides a pulse signal in response to the output signal from the encoder sensor, the output of the pulse generator 48 being applied to a transmitter 52. The transmitter 52 is
The pulse data is transmitted as wireless data to the data receiver 54 provided in the motor controller 18. Therefore, the motor controller 18 is programmed and / or configured to control the power supply to the motor winding 16 based on the position information received from the encoder system. The wireless encoder system can be used in addition to the less accurate magnetic encoder system as shown in FIG. 7 to improve position resolution. Alternatively, the magnetic encoder can be omitted and only the wireless encoder system can be used as the device for detecting the position of the stage. However, it will be understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art that other position and / or movement detection devices may be used with the wireless encoder according to aspects of the invention.

In the embodiment shown and described in FIG. 9,
The transmitter 52 is always active. Because the system is wireless, the device on the moveable stage 12 shown is battery operated, and the transmitter 52 is in full-time operation, which reduces battery life.
Also, since the system shown in the figure has an antenna,
While alluding to the use of radio frequencies for transmission and reception, it will be appreciated that any type of wireless communication system may be used. Any type of wireless communication system may include, for example, wireless, light (eg, infrared), ultrasonic waves, or any other technique capable of transmitting information from the moveable stage 12 to the motor controller 18 without the need for connecting electrical wires. included.

As another embodiment, a Bluetooth standard protocol (for example, the website www.blueet) for short-distance data wireless communication.
ooth. com)) can be implemented as the transmitter 52 and the data receiver 54. Bluetooth works well in the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band from 2,400 to 2,483.5 MHz, which is available worldwide and can operate broadband systems without permission. . The wireless unit is adapted to use Bluetooth technology to define a piconet, which is a collection of devices that can be connected in an ad hoc manner. Each Bluetooth device (eg transmitter on stage and controller-
A receiver pair) is a peer unit and has substantially the same implementation, but when setting up a piconet, one unit (eg of the motor controller) acts as a master and synchronizes. And other units will
Act as a slave. The master unit is a device in the piconet and its clock and hopping sequence are used to synchronize all other devices in the piconet. Each device in the piconet that is not the master is a slave.

FIG. 10 illustrates another embodiment of a linear motor system using a wireless encoder system according to another aspect of the present invention, where the same reference numeral with 100 added is identified in FIG. It refers to the same item as the item. Briefly, the encoder system of FIG. 10 includes an optical encoder sensor 146 that directs a light beam onto indicia (eg, parallel scored marks 144) arranged along path 114. Encoder sensor 146 provides an encoder output signal to pulse generator 148.

The pulse generator 148 is coupled to the processor 160 which receives from the pulse generator a pulse output signal indicative of the mark detected by the encoder sensor 146. The processor 160 is coupled to a memory 162 provided on the stage 112 that stores position data for components and / or stores program data used to control operation of the components. For example, processor 160 may be coupled to encoder sensor 146 to control sensor operation and transmitter 152 operation.

According to one aspect of the invention, the processor 16
0 is further coupled to transmitter 152 to control the wireless data output from stage 112 to the associated motor controller 118. Specifically, the transmitter 152 is configured to transmit the data signal received by the data receiver 154 of the motor controller 118 according to the set communication protocol. Processor 160 may, for example, provide the enhanced data signal to transmitter 152, which may modulate the enhanced data signal and transmit it to remote data receiver 154. The emphasis data includes the stage 112.
Information (e.g., a unique address) and / or other information useful for controlling the movement of the stage relative to path 114. This is particularly useful when multiple moveable stages are implemented on a single path, or when a single motor controller is programmed to control one or more stages on multiple paths.

The data receiver 154 is further coupled to the control processor 164 and is capable of processing many received data signals and determining an indication of the position and / or velocity of the stage 112 with respect to the path 114. Accordingly, the motor controller 118 uses the position information to control the powering of the selected motor windings to move the stage in the desired manner along the path, as shown and described herein. You can

Part or all of the position data processing
According to the executable instructions stored in the memory 162,
It will be understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art that the processor 160 can perform the stage 112. Also, for example, the transmitter 15
2, the processor 160 and the memory 162 may also be implemented as a dedicated integrated circuit (ASIC) 166 programmed and / or configured to perform the desired control and data transfer functions according to aspects of the invention. , Will be understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art. Also, the various aspects of the wireless encoder system of FIG. 10 can be implemented as digital circuits, analog circuits, or combinations thereof.

11 and 12 illustrate another embodiment of a wireless encoder system in which one or more components associated with a stage control information received from a motor controller in accordance with aspects of the present invention. There is.

In FIG. 11, 200 is added to the reference numbers in FIG. 9 to correspond to the items identified in FIG. Briefly, the wireless encoder system comprises a stage 212 having an optical encoder sensor 246 coupled to a pulse generator 248 that provides a signal indicative of movement detected by, for example, reflected light from an adjacent encoder tape 244. . Pulse generator 248
Is coupled to a counter 266 that stores a count value based on the pulse signal received from the pulse generator. Counter 266 is coupled to transmitter 252, which is operative to transmit signals received by data receiver 254 of motor controller 218 via an associated antenna.

According to one aspect of the invention, stage 212
Further comprises a receiver 268 coupled to the transmitter 252. The receiver 268 is a command transmitter 27 provided in the motor controller 218.
From 0, the signal is received via the set communication protocol, and the operation of the transmitter 252 is controlled based on the signal from the command transmitter 270. For example, transmitter 252 can remain off (eg, inactive) until commanded by receiver 268 for transmission. Transmitter 252
When activated, it transmits a signal indicating the count value stored in the counter 266. For this mode of operation, the receiver 268 must remain active, but the solid state receiver typically consumes less power than the transmitter.

In a particular embodiment, the receiver 268 is
A tag circuit, such as a closed loop circuit with an inductor and a capacitor, defining an -C tank circuit, and an integrated circuit (not shown). Command signal is received by receiver 2
Received at 68 remote antennas. The remote antenna can be a patch antenna, a coil antenna, or any other structure for receiving command signals. The tag circuit is advantageous in that it extracts energy from the transmitter signal received by the antenna. Therefore, the command transmitter 270 repeatedly transmits the pulse command signal at a predetermined time period of a specific rate suitable for the broadcasting system or based on the position information derived from the count value transmitted to the data receiver 254. be able to. Also, to further reduce power requirements,
It will be appreciated that such tag circuitry may be implemented as part of transmitter 252. The tag circuitry may use the power coupled into the signal received from the command transmitter 270 to activate the transmitter 252, but in addition or alternatively, such circuitry on the stage may be powered by a battery or other energy source. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that storage devices can be included and their operation facilitated.

Alternatively, the receiver 268 may provide the command count value stored in the transmitter 252. The transmitter 252 has a counter 2
The counter value from 66 is compared with the stored command count value, and transmission is controlled based on the value of the counter value with respect to the command count value. Therefore, the command transmitter 270 will
Signals can be provided periodically based on the detected position of the stage relative to path 214 and / or.

In the case of the above-described embodiment, the receiver 58 and the command transmitter 5 are connected to any wireless communication protocol.
6 can be used. As described in connection with FIGS. 9 and 10, for example, amplitude and / or frequency modulation techniques may be utilized, particularly including the Bluetooth communication protocol.

FIG. 12 illustrates another embodiment of a linear motor system embodying a wireless encoder system according to one aspect of the present invention, with the same reference numeral with the addition of 300 indicated in connection with FIG. , And represent similar components as described. The encoder system of FIG.
The optical encoder sensor 346 for irradiating a light beam on a mark (for example, a mark having ruled lines in parallel on the encoder tape 344) arranged along the line 14 is provided.
Encoder sensor 346 receives the reflected light from tape 344 and provides an encoder output signal to pulse generator 348.

The pulse generator 348 is coupled to the processor 360 which receives from the pulse generator a pulse output signal indicative of movement between the stage 312 relative to the path 314, as detected by the encoder sensor 346. The processor 360 is coupled to a memory 362 in which program instructions and / or data useful for collecting motor position data and controlling the operation of an encoder system provided on the stage 312 are stored. There is.

According to one aspect of the invention, the processor 36
0 is the data receiver 354 of the motor controller 318
Is coupled to a transmitter 352 for transmitting a wireless transmitter signal received at. Also, the processor 3
60 is a transmitter 3 of the motor controller 318
A receiver 36 operative to receive control information from 70
It is also connected to 8. In other words, the system of FIG.
It provides two-way wireless communication between an encoder module coupled to the stage and a motor controller.

Transmitter 352 and receiver 368
It should be appreciated that although shown separately in the figure, such components can be implemented as an integrated transmitter. As another example, transmitter 352, processor 360, receiver 368 and memory 362 may be implemented as an ASIC 366 programmed and / or configured to control wireless communication to stage 312 and operation of optical encoder sensor 346. it can.

According to a particular aspect, the encoder system of stage 312 is programmable, eg
Command processor 372 of the motor controller 318
May cause transmitter 370 to send program instructions to stage 312, such as control parameters upon which processor 360 may control transmitter and / or encoder sensor 346. As mentioned above, in a multi-stage system, each transmission is based on the header information contained in the transmitted data,
Alternatively, one or more receive stages are uniquely addressed by modulating the transmissions they transmit so that they are only received by the intended receive stage. For example, the program instructions are received by receiver 368,
After being decoded, the processor 3 converts the digital data into digital data.
60 provided. When the processor 360 recognizes the data as program instructions, it recognizes them as volatile memory 3
62 (eg RAM) or non-volatile memory (eg F
LASH, EPROM, etc.). For example, the program command includes parameters that control the transmission rate (variable, fixed, or condition response parameters) and parameters that control the operation of the encoder sensor 346.

In view of the foregoing, and in accordance with one aspect of the present invention, such a multi-axis encoder system for each of the embodiments shown and described in connection with FIGS. 9, 10, 11 and 12. It will be clear that can be implemented. Other data communication modes, all intended to be within the scope of the invention, that can be utilized to implement a desired level of control and data transfer are understood by those skilled in the art, and , Will be recognized.

Also in view of the above-described embodiments of the wireless encoder system of FIGS. 9, 10, 11 and 12, such an encoder system is a magnetic encoder system as shown and described in connection with FIG. It should also be recognized that it can be used with. Alternatively, the magnetic encoder can be omitted and the wireless encoder system described herein can be used to implement the encoder operation.

In another aspect, the motor controller 18,
118, 218, 318 are further coupled to a local area network (LAN) (not shown). L
The use of AN connections facilitates programming of the motor system, including the operation of wireless encoders at each motor stage.

As a particular example, paths 14, 114,
In situations where 214, 314 have multiple axes, the encoder system can be operated to collect and transfer encoder data. That is, the stages 12, 112, 212, 312, along one or more orthogonal axes X, Y, Z and one or more rotation axes θ circumscribing one of the axes X, Y, Z, It can move in three-dimensional space. Therefore, according to one aspect of the invention, each stage 12, 112, 212, 312 is configured to transmit encoder data indicative of position or movement with respect to each axis.

For example, the stages 12, 112, 212,
312 denotes encoder sensors 46, 14 for each axis.
6, 246, 346, pulse generators 48, 148, 24
8, 348, and transmitters 52, 152, 25
2,352 can be provided. In order to facilitate the reduction of power consumption by the encoder circuit as shown in FIGS. 10 and 12, the memories 162, 362 include processor 1
60, 360, encoder sensors 146, 346, and transmitter 15 that collect and transmit position data on which the stages 112, 312 are based to traverse the axis.
The program instructions for selectively controlling the operations of 2,352 are stored.

As another embodiment, the stages 12 and 11
If 2, 212, 312 are moving along the Z-axis and rotating about the Z-axis in the direction of θ, enable operation of the encoder system relative to the Z-axis and the θ-axis, while It is desirable to disable movement of axes X and Y of. Thereby, the Z transmitter and the θ transmitter transmit the position data of the axes Z and θ, respectively, and the motor controller 18, 118, 218,
318, stages 12, 11 for the Z and θ axes
2,212,312 position data is provided. Also,
Motor controllers 18, 118, 218, 31 for determining the positions of the stages 12, 112, 212, 312 for each encoder system using the position information.
Closed loop control based on 8 can be provided.

Referring now to FIG. 13, there is shown an exemplary aspect of the present invention in which multiple moveable stages 12 can be driven along path 14. Each movable stage 1
2 requires, for example, individual application of armature power from the motor controller 18, individual armature switching, and individual position communication from the moveable stage to the motor controller 18. In addition to the movable stage 12, a second rail 34 'used by a second movable stage (not shown) is provided on the second side surface of the path 14. The second movable stage has a pendant arm 28 'that supports a switching magnet and an encoder magnet (not shown).
If (not shown) is in a visible position,
It is similar to the movable stage 12 except that it is located on the left side of the drawing. The second rail 34 'comprises an encoder sensor 38' and a switching sensor 36 'which correspond to the encoder and switching sensors shown and described in connection with FIG. Conductor 2
0'A, B and C provide the motor drive power individually generated by the motor controller 18 to a switch that feeds the armature windings 16A, B and C along a path separate from the conductors 20A, B and C. Transporting. According to this method, the second stage is individually controlled, and the movement of the stage is individually fed back to the motor controller 18. Additionally or alternatively, FIGS.
It should be appreciated that a wireless encoder system as described above in connection with 0, 11 and 12 may be coupled to each stage of a multi-stage system according to one aspect of the invention.

FIG. 14 illustrates another aspect of the invention adapted to control and drive two moveable stages 12 (and 12 ', not shown). In this embodiment, the rail 34 'carries a second encoder sensor 38' and a second switching sensor 36 'below the encoder sensor 38 and the switching sensor 36 and at a distance therefrom. Armature winding 16A, B
The power to C and C is from the conductors 20A, B and C under the influence of the switching magnet 30 and from the conductors 20'A, B and C under the influence of the switching magnet 30 '.
It will be appreciated that they are individually controlled by individual switches that provide motor power.

Referring to FIG. 15, the rail 3 of FIG.
A second movable stage 12 'for use with 4'is shown. The second movable stage 12 'includes a pendant arm 28'. The pendant arm 28 '
Although provided on the same side surface as the movable stage 12 of FIG. 14, the second encoder sensor 38 'and the second encoder sensor 38' are provided, respectively.
Extending further downward to accommodate the encoder magnet 32 'and the switching magnet 30' in alignment with the switching sensor 36 'of FIG. Additional elements are added to the rails 34 ', and the pendant arms 28, 28'. ． ． It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that more than two moveable stages can be controlled by providing 28 ″.

The present invention is not limited to two movable stages on a single path, and any number of movable stages can be individually controlled along the same path 14.
For example, referring to FIG. 16, three rails 34, 34 'are provided.
And 34 "are spaced parallel to one another outwardly from the path 14. Rails 34, 34 'and 3".
Each of the 4 "is an encoder sensor 38, 38 ', respectively.
And 38 "and switching sensors 36, 36 '.
And 36 "on its rails. Each moveable stage 12, 12 'and 12" (only moveable stage 12 is shown) has a pendant arm adjacent to a sensor on each rail 34, etc. 28, 28 'and 28 "(only pendant arm 28 is shown). Encoder magnets 32, 32' and 32" (only encoder magnet 32 is shown), and switching magnets 30, 30. ′ And 30 ″ (only the switching magnet 30 is shown) are provided on each pendant arm. By inserting the pendant arm 28 or the like between the rails 34 or the like, a desired number of pendants can be obtained. The stage 12 and the like can be housed, driven, and controlled on the single path 14. In addition, the model according to one embodiment of the present invention. Each stage of Tashisutemu by implementing a wireless encoder system, can be easily controlled such stage 12.

Depending on the application, it may be desirable to have closed-loop control of some regions of the path and open-loop control of other regions of the path for accurate positioning. With reference to FIG. 18, the closed loop control region 60, as previously described, follows the path 14 from the motor controller 18 via the magnetic activation switches 22A, B and C to the first.
Receiving drive power on conductor sets 20A, B, and C. As described above, by feeding back the position and movement in the region 60, the motor controller 18 can accurately control the position and speed of the movable stage 12. Open loop control area 62
Along the path 14 from the motor controller 18,
Drive power is received on the second set of conductors 20'A, B and C. When the moveable stage 12 is in the area 62, no movement feedback is generated and no response is made by the motor controller 18. Instead, the motor controller 18 produces a programmed phase train for open loop control of the moveable stage 12. With this phase train, the movable stage is driven at a predetermined speed. When entering the closed loop control, the movable stage 1
2 restarts the operation under the control of the motor controller 18.

Further, similar to the switching used for rail road, it is possible to guide the movable stage 12 along different paths flexibly by providing path switching.

FIG. 17 shows another embodiment of the wireless encoder system, in which reference numerals with 200 added represent the same parts as already identified in FIG. In FIG. 17, the stage 412 emits light to an indicia (eg, a length of tape with fine parallel marks) 444 and the position and / or movement of the stage 412 relative to the path 414. Is provided with an optical encoder sensor 446 that receives reflected light. As mentioned above, within stage 412, a similar encoder array is implemented for each axis of path 414. The encoder sensor 446 is the pulse generator 44.
8 is provided with an encoder signal (eg a sine or cosine signal). The pulse generator 448 provides the counter 466 with a pulse output signal based on the encoder signal. The counter 466 stores, for example, a count value that changes as a function of the pulse signal from the pulse generator 448.

In this embodiment, the stage 412 further comprises a memory 462 operable to receive a count value from the counter 466. The memory 462 is also coupled to a receiver 408 that receives command movement information from the command transmitter 470 of the motor controller 418. According to one aspect of the invention, the command movement information includes the command value stored in memory 462 for comparison with the count value. That is, the command count value is continuously compared to the count value of counter 466 until the count value reaches (or exceeds) the command count value and the corresponding command state is obtained. The transmitter 452 remains dormant for the interval before the information is stored and the command state is achieved. Depending on the application, the receiver 408 may also remain dormant during such intervals, thereby reducing battery power consumption.

The stored command value is further modified according to the command movement information received by the receiver 408 from the command transmitter 470 to control the transmitter 452. For example, a particular count value is used at different locations along the path. Additionally or alternatively, it provides the receiver 408 with different command count values while operating in different modes, thereby providing excellent position resolution in certain modes of operation and degree in other modes. It is also possible to take advantage of the poor resolution of.

Referring now to FIG. 19, the power consumption of the system described above is independent of the length of path 14, because only active armature winding 16 is powered. Therefore, by simply adding the path module 66 end-to-end, the path 14 of arbitrary length can be constructed, which is convenient. Each path module 6
6 comprises at least one armature winding 16, the part associated with the rail 34, and the conductors 20A, B and C. Conductors 20A, B and C on adjacent path modules are connected together by a connector 68. The illustrated routing module 66 includes three armature windings 16A, B and C. It will be appreciated that the included switching sensor for the armature winding, along with the semiconductor switch, is mounted on that portion of the rail 34 associated with the routing module 66. Also, position feedback is further included on the qualified path module 66 if magnetic encoder sensing is used. As pointed out above, the encoder sensors are relatively widely spaced. For example, each path module must be long enough to include at least one encoder sensor group. One such system is 9
It is long enough to contain one armature winding (three repetitions of phases A, B and C armatures). Additionally or alternatively, in the case of a wireless encoder system, suitable markings may be provided along path 14 to interact with encoder sensors implemented on the stage according to one aspect of the invention.

Referring now to the embodiment shown in FIG. 20, the routing module 70, in addition to the armature windings described above,
It comprises three encoder sensor groups 40 spaced apart by D / 2 (D being the center-to-center spacing of the bevel magnetic zones 42 on either end of the encoder magnet 32). The path module 70 extends beyond the outer encoder sensor group 40 by a distance of D / 4. According to this method, when the next path module 70 is connected end-to-end, the matching path module 70
The distance between the closest encoder sensor groups 40 above is D / 2 as desired. The path modules 70 are connected together to form the path 14 'of any desired length or shape.

FIG. 21 shows another embodiment with two path modules 72, 74 having armature windings as described above. One module has an encoder sensor group 40 and the other module does not include an encoder sensor. The path modules 72, 74 are connected together to form a path 14 ″ such that the encoder sensor groups 40 of the path module 72 are spaced D / 2 apart (D is the bevel magnetic zone at each end of the encoder magnet 32). 42 center-to-center spacing.) By using a combination of path modules 72 and 74, any desired path 14 ″ can be achieved. Other arrangements of path modules 72, 74 may be used to create path 1 of any desired shape or length.
4 ″ can be formed, and the spacing of the encoder sensor groups 40 can be any desired spacing provided that the encoder sensor groups 40 are ready to be spaced a desired repeat distance. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, one aspect comprises a modular path module in which the encoder sensor groups are omitted, but the encoder sensor groups 40 may be located anywhere along the assembled modular path. Prepared for clamping or pasting: When pasting encoder sensor group 40, during transition from one path module to another path module
To ensure that the encoded signal is produced without distortion, i.e. without dropping out,
Adequate spacing (D, D / 2, D / 4, etc.) is adhered to.

FIG. 22 shows a path 1 according to another embodiment of the present invention.
4 '''is shown. Path 14 ″ ′ is formed of a plurality of path modules 76 with armature windings and encoder sensor groups 40 described above. The modules 76 are connected together and the path 14 ″ ′ is formed such that the encoder sensor groups 40 within the path module 76 are spaced D / 2 apart (D is the encoder magnet 32 of the stage (not shown)). Is the center-to-center spacing of the bevel magnetic zones 42 on both ends of the). By using a combination of path modules 76, paths of any desired length or shape can be achieved.

For signal and power connections along the linear motor 10, especially in the case of modular devices,
Although described using connections that connect wires and wires of adjacent modules, other techniques for carrying signals and power may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. . For example, instead of using wiring, conductive traces on a rigid or flexible substrate can be used.

A path 14 that includes a curve (eg, FIGS. 1 and 1).
It should be pointed out that 8) is shown. A feature of the present invention is that the path 14 is not limited to a straight line, although the prior art is often limited to a straight line. According to the invention, the nature of the invention allows the linear motor 10 to be arranged to follow any desired path, including a straight path, the curved path 14 shown, or a closed path, thereby allowing the moveable stage 12 to move. Can move in a single direction to repeatedly trace a closed path or move back and forth to any desired location along an open or closed path.

FIG. 28 illustrates another embodiment of a linear motor path 500 formed by a plurality of path modules 502 and 504 according to one aspect of the present invention. Two modules 502 and 504 for clarity
Although shown, it will be appreciated that any number of modules can be used to form a path having a desired shape and length as shown by ellipses. The configuration of each path module 502, 504 is substantially the same. Referring first to module 502, the module is 3
Multiple armature windings 506A, 50, such as a phase network
6B and 506C.

The module 502 also includes a winding 506.
Amplifier 508 coupled to A, 506B and 506C
Is equipped with. The amplifier 508 includes, for example, a switching device (a power supply such as the power bus 510 and the windings 506A,
Electrically coupled between 06B and 506C). The amplifier 508 has windings 506A, 5
It includes a single or multiple gate amplifier and multiple power switches (eg, MOSFET transistors, thyristors, etc.) adapted to selectively supply electrical energy to 06B and 506C. The electrical energy from amplifier 508 is transferred to windings 506A, 506B and 50
6C controls the direction and magnitude of the magnetic field generated by each of the 6Cs that interacts with the stage to move it along path 500.

The module 502 also includes an amplifier 508.
And a module controller 512 that operates to control the amount of electrical energy supplied to the windings 506A, 506B and 506C. The controller 512 includes a communication link 5 for receiving information and / or instructions regarding powering and depowering the windings.
It is connected to 14. Controller 512 is programmed and / or configured, for example, to process the information received from communication link 514 and to determine the appropriate control signal to achieve the corresponding coil power level. The determination by controller 512 is accomplished using a look-up table in a microcomputer having a predetermined stored value or by calculation according to a desired control function based on the information received via communication link 514.

Module 502 further comprises an encoder system 516 positioned along a rail 518 that is coextensive with path 500. Encoder system 516 includes path 5 coupled to module 502.
One or more encoder sensors that provide a signal indicating the position of the stage relative to the 00 portion.
Encoder 516 provides position information to module controller 512 and / or communication link 514. By way of example, the encoder system is a magnet encoder system as shown and described in connection with FIG. 7, although other types and configurations of encoding systems may be used. For example, the encoder system 516 can also include an inductive encoder, an optical encoder, a capacitive encoder, or the like. Additionally or alternatively, the controller 512 may provide location information to the communication link 514 that includes identification data indicating which module and / or encoder sensor originated location information.

The configuration of the other modules 504 and the like is substantially the same as that of the module 502. Briefly described, the module 504 includes a plurality of windings 520A, 520B and 520C coupled to an amplifier system 522.
Is equipped with. Controller 524 is coupled to amplifier 522 and controls the power supply to windings 520A, 520B and 520C based on control information received from communication link 514. An encoder system 526 positioned along rails 518 provides position information to an associated controller 524 and communication link 514. Rail 518, as described herein.
Are formed from corresponding extensions in adjacent modules (see Figure 2).

The motor controller 530 is the communication link 5
14 and controls the operation of path modules 502 and 504 of the linear motor system according to one aspect of the present invention. The motor controller 530 has received information indicating the position of one or more stages that can move along the path. In one aspect, the location information is provided by the encoder system 516, 526 of each module.
It is determined from the encoder signal provided by. For example, the encoder signal provided to the communication link (eg, directly from the encoder and / or from the associated module controller) includes address information identifying the module and / or sensor that provided the position information. Since the motor controller 530 knows the position of each module and the position of the encoder sensor within each module, the position signal can determine the absolute position of the stage relative to the path 500.

To mitigate unwanted position signals from encoder systems 516, 526, activation of encoder systems 516, 526 can be limited to situations where the stage is in the vicinity of encoder sensors. As an example, each encoder sensor 516, 526 includes a switch and / or sensor (eg, switches 22A, 22B, 2 in FIG.
2C) is used. Additionally or alternatively, each encoder system 516, 526 may receive control signals from a respective controller 512, 524 and / or a motor controller 530 via communication link 514. Therefore, the motor controller 530 is configured so that each encoder system 516, 5
The position information from 26 is used to implement an absolute encoding scheme to facilitate improved motion and control of the stage moving along path 500.

As described herein, motor controller 530 is programmed and / or configured such that one or more stages perform the desired movement along path 500. Therefore, the motor controller 530 is based on the determined position of the stage,
Control instructions are provided to one or more selected module controllers 512, 524 via a communication link 514. The control instructions are addressed to the desired controller by providing the appropriate address information in the message header or message packet.
The address (or other identifying data) is also provided to each of the windings to be powered. Each controller 512, 524
Operates on the basis of properly addressed instructions. That is, each of the controllers 512 and 524 determines the magnitude and direction of power feeding based on the control information provided by the motor controller 530, and also determines the winding to be fed to selectively move the stage.

FIG. 29 illustrates another embodiment of path 550 for a linear motor system according to one aspect of the present invention. It should be appreciated that any number of modules can be utilized to form a path, but the path 550 shown is provided with path modules 552 and 554 for clarity. Path module 552 includes a plurality of armature windings 556A, 556B and 556C coupled to amplifier 558. Windings 556A, 556B and 556C are non-interlaced and are spaced in the direction of path 550. Amplifier 558 is from power bus 562 to winding 556.
A module controller 56 operative to control the application of electrical energy to A, 556B and 556C.
It is tied to zero. More specifically, module controller 560 controls amplifier 558 based on control information received from motor controller 564 via communication link 566. The amplifier 558 provides a corresponding excitation current to power the windings based on a command from the controller 560.

Communication link 566 may be a hardwired data communication path (eg, twisted pair wire, shielded coaxial cable, or fiber optic) or wireless, or partially wireless in nature. Various networked environments and (wired and wireless) communication protocols (eg RS232, RS485, TCP / IP, Ethernet, Fiber Channel, Bluetooth, etc.) used to enable communication of the system shown in FIG. Cellular and the like) are all included in the scope of the present invention. Thus, the motor controller 564 can address information to selected path modules 552 and / or 554 and can provide global address information to all modules or modules within a selected group of modules. .

Path module 552 also includes an encoder system 568 that operates to detect the position of the stage relative to the path module. Encoder system 568, as described herein,
Optical encoding scheme, guided encoding scheme,
Capacitive encoding schemes and / or magnetic encoding schemes may also be used. The encoder system may include a motor controller 564 via a module controller 560 and / or a communication link 566.
Sending location information to. The location information further identifies the module and / or sensor that originated such location information, facilitating the absolute encoding scheme according to one aspect of the invention. Also, the module 55
The position information from encoder 568 coupled to 2 may also be utilized with a wireless encoding system as shown and described in connection with FIGS. 9, 10, 11, 12 and 17.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the path module 552 further comprises one or more sensors 570 operative to detect the status of the path module and to provide an indication of the detected status. ing. Sensor 570
Is coupled to communication link 566 and provides an indication of the detected condition. Additionally or alternatively, the sensor 5
70 may also be coupled to a module controller 560 that packages sensor data and sends the packaged data over communication link 566.

As an example, a sensor 570, such as a current sensor that monitors the current through the windings, can be utilized to monitor one or more states of the armature windings 556A, 556B and 556C. The sensed current indication may further be used to detect a leakage current and / or electrical short circuit condition in each of the windings 556A, 556B and 556C. The sensor 570 can also include a temperature sensor to monitor temperature conditions, etc., associated with the amplifier 558 and / or the switching circuits of the windings 556A, 556B and 556C. Those skilled in the art will be familiar with other types of sensors that can be utilized to monitor other conditions (eg, moisture, switching characteristics, vibrations, etc.) associated with the path module 552 in accordance with an aspect of the present invention. Be understood and recognized.

The path module 554 connected adjacent to the module 552 is substantially the other module 552.
Is the same as In short, the path module 55
4 is an armature winding 576A coupled to an amplifier 578,
576B and 576C. Module controller 580 is coupled to amplifier 578 and controls the amplifier to provide the desired power supply to windings 576A, 576B and 576C. Therefore, controller 5
80 implements such control for amplifier 578 based on control information from remote motor controller 564 received via communication link 566. Also,
Path module 554 includes an encoder system 582 for monitoring the position of the stage relative to the position of path 550 defined by path module 554. Encoder system 582 is coupled to module controller 580 and / or communication link 566 and provides an indication of stage position detected by the encoder system. Also, the path module 554
Integrated therein are one or more path module status sensors 584 for monitoring selected operational status of the path module.

Sensor information from the path module sensors 570, 584 is received by the motor controller 564 and / or one or more other devices. For example, one or more diagnostic computers 586 can be coupled to receive sensor information from sensors 570 and 584 of path 550. In one aspect, the computer 586 is a workstation, server computer, router, peer device, or other common network node directly connected to the communication link 566, as shown by the dashed line. Additionally or alternatively, computer 586 may be connected to local communication link 566 via an enterprise-wide computer network, such as 588, an intranet, and / or the Internet. Those skilled in the art will understand and appreciate the various networked environments and (wired and wireless) communication protocols that may be utilized to enable communication in accordance with the present invention.
Will be recognized.

The diagnostic computer 586 can receive information indicating various operating states of each module 552, 554 in the path 550. For each item of information,
For example, the path in which the state is detected, information identifying the module, the type of the detected state, and a value indicating the detected state are included. Table 1 shows the computer 58
6 shows an example of the information that can be received and stored by item 6. The computer 586 is, for example,
Such data can be collected from multiple modules in one or more of the paths shown in Table 1 as paths # 1 to #N. The data associated with this table is always
It is stored in the computer 586 and analyzed. To facilitate communication of module related data, each module controller 560, 580 can provide useful header information to identify what detection information is being shown.

[0105]

[Table 1]

As shown in Table 1, the detection information includes, for example, a route ID corresponding to the IP address of the route, or other information for uniquely identifying the route that transmitted the detection state. . The information can further have a module ID for identifying the module that has transmitted the information. The computer 586 also receives an indication regarding the type of detected condition and the components associated with the detected condition, and a value indicative of the detected condition. The values correspond to raw data collected by the sensor, such as voltage or current values, and based on an evaluation of the sensor data, a more comprehensive view of the health of the components of a given module or selected components. This is what is displayed in the screen. Therefore computer 586
Constantly analyzes the data it collects and provides the necessary recommendations or suggestions.

As an example, the linear motor system vendor maintains a remote computer. The vendor is
For example, it constantly compiles operational data of one or more customers, analyzes these data against experimental data, and provides value-added services to the customers, including advice on preventive maintenance and effective upgrades.

Computer 586, upon compiling the information from the components of the path, can provide a report identifying the areas requiring the proposed upgrades and / or services. As an illustration,
Vendors offering such services are
Providing the customer site with appropriate replacement parts based on the collected data and / or upgrading the customer site. This reduces potential miscommunication between vendors and customers and reduces any factory downtime.

It should be appreciated that certain upgrades or component tweaks can be performed automatically by computer 586 or the vendor monitoring the computer. For example, a particular software version upgrade for the selected module controller 560, 580 can be automatically downloaded to the linear motor. Also, the sensor 570, 584 may be called by downloading a calibration routine to the local motor controller 564 or by calling a calibration routine that already exists on one or more sensors by sending a specific message or signal. The calibration can be performed automatically. In addition, different modules may be reconfigured into different configurations based on their position along the path and the particular application of the motor system to facilitate optimization of system performance.

FIG. 30 illustrates another embodiment of path 600 for a linear motor system according to one aspect of the present invention. Pathway 600 comprises a plurality of path modules 602, 604 connected together to provide a desired shape and length. Path module 602 includes associated amplifiers 608A, 608B and 608C, respectively.
Has a plurality of armature windings 606A, 606B and 606C coupled to. Amplifiers 608A, 608B and 608C are coupled to a module controller 610 that operates to control each amplifier to selectively power respective armature windings 606A, 606B and 606C. Similarly, path module 604 includes a plurality of armature windings 612A, 612B and 61 coupled to associated amplifiers 614A, 614B and 614C.
It has 2C. The module controller 616 is
Coupled to amplifiers 614A, 614B and 614C,
Each amplifier is controlled to selectively power the armature windings 612A, 612B and 612C.

The controllers 610 and 616 of each module receive control information from the system controller 618 of the motor system via the network communication link 620. The communication link 620 is implemented with a wired (eg, conductive or optical) data communication protocol or a wireless (eg, Bluetooth, cellular, etc.) data communication protocol. Various data communication protocols (eg, T
CP / IP, Ethernet (registered trademark), asynchronous transfer mode (Asynchronous Transfer)
Mode (ATM), Fiber Distributed Data Interface (Fiber Distributed Data)
a Interface (FDDI), Fiber Channel, etc.) will be understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art.

Each path module 602, 604 further includes an encoder system 62 for detecting position information as the stage moves relative to its respective module.
2, 624 are provided respectively. Encoder systems 622 and 624 are, for example, magnetic (see, eg, FIG. 7).
Encoder system, or inductive, capacitive, or optical encoder system. Additionally or alternatively, a wireless encoder system as shown and described in connection with FIGS. 9, 10, 11, 12 and 17 may be utilized to position one or more stages along path 600. And / or indications of movement can be collected. In this regard, a plurality of receivers 626, 628 and 630 are coupled to the system controller to provide path 6
From one or more stages that can move with respect to 00, a radio signal is received indicating the movement and / or position of each stage. A communication protocol utilizing a common receiver in accordance with an aspect of the present invention may also be implemented, but with separate reception for each effective axis of movement (eg, X, Y, Z and / or θ) of each stage in path 600. Can be used. The motor controller 618 uses the position information to determine the armature winding to be fed to cause each stage to perform the desired movement.

The motor controller 618 provides corresponding control information to the module controller associated with the winding to be powered. According to certain aspects, the system controller 618 may, for example, control information and target windings on each target module (eg, module ID) and / or on a particular winding (eg, winding ID) provided within the module. A value can be addressed that identifies the desired level and direction of current to be applied to the.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, each armature winding is addressed with control information from the motor controller, so controllers 610 and 616 are based on control information received from motor controller 618. Each associated armature winding can be individually controlled. As mentioned above, the motor controller 618
Determines the winding power feeding method based on stage position information received from encoders 622 and 624 and / or stage position information received by receivers 626-630. The control information is, for example, the motor controller 6
It is derived by using a look-up table with predetermined stored values in 18 microcomputers or by calculation according to the desired control function. Such control information is determined for multiple carts or stages that can move along the path 600. The motor controller 618 provides corresponding instructions to the selected one or more controllers 610, 616, which information is addressed to the selected armature winding or amplifier. Controller 6
10, 616 process the instructions, and the motor controller 6
Based on the windings identified in the command from 18,
The corresponding control information is provided to the corresponding amplifier 608, 614. Upon receiving the control information, each amplifier 608, 614 performs a switching function to power the associated armature winding 606, 612 at the desired level and direction.

Each path module 602 and 6 of FIG.
Although the 04 specific armature windings 606 and 612 are shown as three-phase, it will be understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to three-phase implementations. . That is, according to one aspect of the invention, one or more arbitrary number of phases can be utilized for each path module and each phase or coil can be individually addressed.

Further, each module 602 and 604
Respectively one or more sensors 632 and 63
4 can be associated and various states of the module can be detected. For brevity, reference may be made to the description associated with FIG. 29 and Table 1, so a description of the state of each module that can be detected according to one aspect of the invention is omitted.

In view of the embodiments of FIGS. 28-30, it should be appreciated that the aspects of the invention shown in the figures provide a system in which the routing module operates with enhanced functionality. Integrating the motor control function, the amplifier, and the armature winding into each module facilitates individual control of the armature winding. The absolute encoding scheme is also enhanced by improving the modularity and addressability of the windings. Due to the addressability of the windings in the module, the control of the stage or stages that can move along the path is further improved.

Next, referring to FIG. 23, the linear motor 1
0'includes a closed path 14 'in the pattern of a racetrack. That is, the path 14 'comprises a straight and parallel run 78 associated with the curved end 80. Movable stage 12 is route 14 ', as described.
Driven to any point above. Illustratively, the moveable stage 12 may continue to move in one direction indefinitely, or move in one direction without limitation and then move in the opposite direction. This free movement is enabled by the radio control and feedback described herein.

FIG. 24 is shown in FIG.
3 is an enlarged view of a dash box 82 portion of No. 3.

Armature windings 16A, 16B and 16C
Comprises a shaft 84, shown by the line in each armature winding. The axes 84 in the run 78 lie substantially parallel to each other, as shown in the lower left armature windings 16A and 16B of the figure, while the axes 84 in the curved end 80 lie parallel to each other. I haven't. The axes 84 within the curved end 80 are not parallel and are inclined with respect to each other such that the axes 84 lie between the shortest lateral distances of the path 14 '. In this way
A repetitive set of armature windings 16A, 16B and 16C can generate the desired force to move the moveable stage along path 14 '.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the tilt of the shaft 84 within the curved end 80 must be adjusted during the activation time of the switches 22A, 22B and 22C. One possibility is that the center-to-center dimension of the ends of each set of four such windings in the curved end 80 is center-to-center and the center-to-center of the corresponding turns in the run 78. The armature winding 16 to maintain the same dimension from the
Adjusting the upstream-downstream dimensions of A, 16B and 16C. According to this method, the span S of the four armature windings 16 in the curved end 80 is 5+ (n * 4) (n = 0, 1, 2, ...) Motors in the straight run 78. The same span as the span S of the magnet 160 is maintained.
The switching sensor 36 is provided along the curved end 80, so that each switch operates with a minimum current time, as already explained.

The racetrack geometry as shown in FIGS. 23 and 24 can be any, but not all, of the possible geometries of paths that can be obtained using the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 25, the multi-level path 86
Is also within the intended scope of the present invention. The lower portion 88 of the passage 86 passes under the upper portion 90. The movable stage 12 can be placed at any position on the path 86. If more than one moveable stage 12 is used on the path 86, one moveable stage 12 on the lower portion 88 will pass under the upper part 90 while the other moveable stage 12 will be on the upper side. There is a possibility of crossing on the part 90.

Referring now to FIG. 26, another example of a multi-level path 86 'includes a downward spiral 92 in addition to downward and upward spirals 94. The spirals 92 and 94 are connected to a single path 86 'by intersecting elements 96 and 98. A spiral path is a path often found in conveyor systems for increasing the time of presence of objects within a location.
For example, in the breadmaking process, helices are often used to allow time for the freshly baked bread to cool before it is released to the next step for packaging or other processing.

In order to show the flexibility of the present invention, the path is the Moeius ban shown in FIG.
d) It is laid out as 100. Mobius Band
As with the other path embodiments described above, 2 edges, 2
It is characterized as a band with a single edge, a single surface only, rather than a band with a surface. By twisting a strip of paper in half and then connecting its ends together, a toy Mobius band is created. Drawing a line in the center of the strip proves that the strip has only a single surface. The end of the line will eventually coincide with the starting point of the line without turning the paper inside out. Similarly, by drawing a line along the edges of the strip, it can be seen that the ends of the line join the starting point of the line without traversing from one edge to the other. That is because the strips have only a single edge.

The above path diagrams should not be considered as top views. In fact, important applications of the invention include:
An application is included in which the movable stage 12 is provided below the path. In particular, when the path includes a magnetic body, the movable stage 12 can be supported by utilizing magnetic attraction to the magnetic material in the path by the motor magnet 160 and the additional magnet 162 of the movable stage 12. Other types of support are also within the contemplation of the invention. In some cases, a portion of the path is provided below the movable stage 12 to support the movable stage and another portion of the path is provided above the movable stage 12 so that the movable stage completes the traverse of the entire path. be able to.

In view of the above described structural and functional features described above, a method implemented in accordance with the present invention is:
It will be better appreciated by reference to FIGS. 31, 32 and 33. To make the explanation easier to understand,
Although the methods of FIGS. 31, 32 and 33 are shown and described as being performed sequentially, some aspects may be performed in a different order and / or shown herein in accordance with the present invention. It should be understood and appreciated that the present invention is not limited to the order shown in the figures, as being performed concurrently with the other aspects described. Also, not all illustrated features may be required to implement a method in accordance with an aspect the present invention. It should also be appreciated that many of the methods described below can be implemented as computer-executable instructions, such as software stored on a computer-readable medium, or as hardware, or as a combination of hardware and software. Is.

FIG. 31 shows a procedure for controlling the linear motor system according to one aspect of the present invention. Certain procedures can be implemented in the central motor controller, such as controlling each stage that can move along a linear motor path. The procedure is 700,
Beginning in response to powering up the linear motor system, for example, stage position data is then received at 702. Stage position data is provided by one or more encoder systems. According to one aspect of the invention, examples of encoders that can be utilized include magnetic encoders, inductive encoders, capacitive encoders, and / or optical encoders. Also, such an encoder may provide its position data via physical and / or wireless communication links using known communication protocols. Examples of wireless arrangements in which encoder data is transmitted from the stages, which can be implemented according to the invention, are shown in FIGS.
2 and 17 are shown. The procedure is from 702 to 70
Go to 4.

At 704, the power supply request is determined and the stage is moved along the route. The determination of the power supply requirement is performed, for example, by a microprocessor programmed and configured with a look-up table that provides current or voltage command signals as a function of stage position data. Additionally or alternatively, a motor control algorithm can be incorporated to calculate a control requirement that includes the magnitude and direction of the current to be applied to the windings that results in the desired stage movement. When the control request is determined, the procedure proceeds to 706.

At 706, control instructions are addressed to one or more target modules. According to certain aspects, addressing (706) further includes addressing one or more target windings within the particular module. That is, each winding in the path can be identified, for example, in module I, so that phase A, B or C can be identified.
The path has a unique address corresponding to the D plus winding ID. Next, at 708, the addressed control command data is packetized and sent over a network or other communication link (eg, wired or wireless) to one or more target path modules for selection within the target modules. The supplied winding is supplied with power. Steps 708 to 7
Returning to 02, the process is repeated based on the new location information received.

The above embodiments are implemented for each of the stages that can move along the path. As a result, the absolute encoding scheme for each stage is facilitated. As will be described below in connection with FIG. 32, such a control procedure further facilitates individual control of the windings along the path, and is achieved in a linear motor system implemented according to such a procedure. The accuracy that can be improved. It should be appreciated that if multiple stages can move along the path, position conflict algorithms can be used to mitigate possible collisions.

FIG. 32 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a procedure for controlling one or more windings coupled to a path module of a linear motor system according to one aspect of the present invention. The procedure is started at 720, for example by powering up the linear motor system. Next, at 722, it is determined whether a message, such as a control command, is addressed to the routing module based on, for example, the communication protocol built into the system. If the module has not received the message, the procedure loops back 722 and the diagnostics and other background routines are still running, but the module remains stopped. If the message is received, the procedure proceeds to 724.

At 724, control data is extracted from the received message. Control data may include, for example, power supply commands, calibration data for adjusting operating characteristics of the module and its associated components, other target path modules,
More generally, it contains useful data for linear motor systems. Next, at 726, the type of control information is determined. In particular, determining the type of control information includes identifying whether the command includes a request to power one or more windings in the module. If the control information includes that one or more windings in the module should be powered, then the procedure proceeds to 728.

At 728, the target winding to be powered is determined from the control information, for example based on the address information in the received message. As mentioned above, each of the windings is addressable so that the windings can be easily individually controlled. The amplifier associated with each target winding is then controlled at 730 to provide the desired power supply to the winding. Such control includes, for example, control of a switching network (eg, PWM) for passing a current of a desired magnitude and direction to each target winding in the module for a certain period of time.
Control) is included. Thus, each target winding in the module is powered (732) based on the control signal provided to the amplifier to provide an electric field that results in a corresponding movement of the stage along the path. Steps 732 to 722
Returning to 722, the procedure is repeated from 722.

If the result of the determination at 726 is negative, it indicates that the message does not include a command to power one or more windings in the module, and the procedure proceeds to 734. At 734, other tasks are performed on the module based on the control information provided in the message. As an example, the controller of the module may be programmed with updated data to improve performance, and / or the associated sensor may be recalibrated to enhance the associated detection capability. Other types of information that can be provided to facilitate operation of the routing module will be understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art. The procedure returns from 734 to 722 and message monitoring continues.

FIG. 33 shows a procedure of wireless encoding according to one aspect of the present invention. The procedure is 750,
For example, it is started by activating the stage of the linear motor according to the application of electric power. As mentioned above, according to one aspect, the wireless encoder system is programmed to transmit wireless encoder data periodically or after meeting other predetermined conditions. As an example, at 752, a wireless command signal having command data indicating operational characteristics that the wireless encoder system should perform is received by the stage. The command data may define operating parameters of the wireless transmitter of the encoder system and / or may indicate operating parameters of encoder sensors coupled to the transmitter.

Next, at 754, the command data is stored as program data in the memory of the stage or the like. The memory may be part of the transmitter, for example, or it may be coupled to the control processor. In order to reduce the energy loss due to programming, the program data includes data identifying one of the individual constants of a given program. Alternatively, the individual operating parameters can be provided in the command signal and the desired operating parameters can be set to values different from the default values. Examples of such parameters include transmission rate, modulation technique, communication protocol, receiver address, encoder sensor detection characteristics, and the like.

Once the encoder system is activated and properly configured (eg, based on received command data, or based on previously stored program data), relative movement between the stage and path and / or The position is detected (756). As described herein, relative movement and / or position detection is implemented as an optical system, a guidance system, a magnetic system and / or a capacitive system, and the sensor can move with the stage. Next, at 758, it is determined if a transmission condition exists.

Illustratively, the determination at 758 includes comparing the value of the counter with the stored command count value, which is adjusted based on the movement of the stage relative to the detected path. Can be done (increment or decrement). Alternatively, a receiver that can move with the stage can receive a command signal that triggers the transmitter to transmit a radio signal. In another aspect, a processor, which may also move with the stage, controls the operation of the transmitter based on the detected encoder data and / or based on a wireless command signal received from the motor controller. If the result of the determination at 758 is negative, the procedure returns to 756 and if the movement / position is still detected and the transmission condition exists, the procedure is 76.
Go to 0.

At 760, the wireless transmitter signal is transmitted. The transmitter signal includes, for example, a value indicating the position / movement of the stage with respect to the path.

As another example, the transmitter signal includes a unique ID or address that identifies the stage that issued the signal. Such address information facilitates control of a system having multiple stages operated by a common remote motor control system. Also, the unique ID can be further associated with the encoder detection system for each axis so that the motor controller can discriminate the encoder data for each axis that is traversing.

At 762, the transmitter signal is received, for example, by a remote data receiver coupled to the motor controller. When the motor controller receives the transmitter signal, it then processes the received signal to determine the position / movement of the stage. As a result, the motor controller selectively controls (764) the power feed to the armature windings to provide the desired movement of the stage along the path. Step 7
Returning from 64 to 752, the procedure is repeated from 752.

The above description includes exemplary embodiments of the present invention. It is of course not possible to describe each and every possible combination of components or procedures for the purpose of describing the invention, but that many other combinations and permutations of the invention are possible. It will be recognized by engineers in the field. Accordingly, the present invention is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications, and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic diagram of a linear motor system according to one aspect of the present invention.

2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along AA of FIG. 2 showing a switching magnet and a switching sensor operable to control the application of drive power to the armature winding.

FIG. 4 shows a relationship between a switching magnet and a motor magnet,
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line C-C in FIG. 2.

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line C-C in FIG. 2, showing the positional relationship between the switching magnets and the motor magnets.

FIG. 6 shows that the movable stage has moved to the right from the position shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line C-C in FIG. 2.

7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 2, showing the relationship between the magnetic zone of the encoder magnet and the encoder sensor.

8A and 8B are views for explaining the encoder sensor shown in FIG. 7, FIG. 8A showing an example of the shape of a bevel magnetic zone for one of the encoder sensors in FIG. 7, and FIG.
8A shows an example of the relationship between the outputs of the encoder sensors located at the left and right ends of the encoder magnet of FIG. 8A and the bevel magnetic zone of FIG. 8A, and FIG.
It is a figure which shows the other example of the shape of the bevel magnetic zone with respect to one.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a wireless linear motor using a wireless encoder according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a wireless linear motor using a wireless encoder according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of another embodiment of a wireless linear motor using a wireless encoder according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a wireless linear motor using a wireless encoder according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of a linear motor operable to control two moveable stages along the same path.

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of a linear motor that can operate to control any desired number of stages along the same path.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of a linear motor operable to control two or more stages along the same path.

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of a linear motor that can operate to control three or more stages along the same path.

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a wireless linear motor using a wireless encoder according to the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a path adapted to open loop control a stage for a portion of a section and closed loop control for another portion of the section.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a plurality of path modules connected together to form a path.

FIG. 20 is a diagrammatic view of an embodiment of a path module having three encoder sensor groups spaced along the path of the module.

FIG. 21: Two combined into one with one module having a sensor and the other module having no sensor
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of one path module.

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment of a routing module having a single sensor.

FIG. 23 is a diagram of a linear motor with a racetrack shaped path.

FIG. 24 is an enlarged view of a portion of the curved section of the path of FIG. 23.

FIG. 25 is a diagrammatic view of a linear motor having multi-level paths, with some of the paths intersecting above or below other parts of the path.

FIG. 26 is a diagram of a linear motor path in which two helices are connected, including a plurality of intersections.

FIG. 27 is a diagram of a Mobius band shaped linear motor path.

FIG. 28 is a diagrammatic view of a portion of a linear motor path showing an embodiment of a path module according to the present invention.

FIG. 29 is a diagrammatic view of a portion of a linear motor path showing another embodiment of a path module according to the present invention.

FIG. 30 is a diagrammatic view of a portion of a linear motor path showing an embodiment of a path module according to the present invention.

FIG. 31 is a flowchart showing a procedure for controlling a linear motor system according to the present invention.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart showing a procedure for controlling a path module of a linear motor system according to the present invention.

FIG. 33 is a flowchart showing a procedure for controlling a linear motor system according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10, 10 'linear motors 12, 12', 112, 212, 312, 412 stages 14, 14 ', 14 ", 14'", 86, 86 ', 11
4, 214, 314, 414, 500, 550, 600
Routes 16, 16A, 16B, 16C, 16A ', 16B',
16C ', 506A, 506B, 506C, 520A,
520B, 520C, 556A, 556B, 556C,
576A, 576B, 576C, 606A, 606B,
606C, 612A, 612B, 612C Armature winding 18, 118, 218, 318, 418 Motor controller 20A, 20B, 20C, 20'A, 20'B, 20 '
C conductors 22A, 22B, 22C, 22A ', 22B', 22
C'switch 26 plate 28, 28 'pendant arm 30, 30' switching magnet 32, 32 'encoder magnet 34, 34', 34 ", 518 rail 36, 36 ', 36" switching sensor 38, 38s +, 38s-, 38c + , 38c-, 3
8 ', 38 "Encoder sensor 40 Encoder sensor group 42, 42' Bevel magnetic zone 44, 244, 344 Encoder tape 46, 146, 246, 346, 446 Optical encoder sensor 48, 148, 248, 348, 448 Pulse generator 52 , 152, 252, 352, 370, 452 Transmitter 54, 154, 254, 354, 454 Data Receiver 60 Closed Loop Control Area 62 Open Loop Control Area 66, 70, 76, 502, 504, 552, 554,
602, 604 Path module 78 Run 80 Curved end 84 Axis 88 Path lower part 90 Path upper part 92, 94 Spiral 96, 98 Element 100 Morbius band 144 Mark 160, 162 Motor magnet 160, 360 Processor 162, 362, 462 memory 164 control processor 266, 466 counter 268, 368, 408, 626, 628, 630 receiver 270, 470 command transmitter 366 ASIC 372 command processor 444 indicia 516, 526, 568, 582, 622, 624 encoder system (encoder, Encoder sensor) 508, 522, 558, 578, 608A, 608
B, 608C, 614A, 614B, 614C Amplifier 510, 562 Power bus 512, 524, 560, 580, 610, 616 Module controller (controller) 514, 566, 620 Communication link (local network / communication link) 530, 564, 618 Motor controller (system controller) 570, 584, 632, 634 Sensor (module sensor) 586 Computer (diagnostic computer) 588 Enterprise-scale computer network

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Mustangil Phase Love Hui             United States 11790 New York               Stony Brook Hargrove             Drive 24 (72) Inventor Anwachi Thayat             United States 11788 New York               Fort Salonga Beechtle Dry             Bou 20 (72) Inventor Joseph Cardamom             United States 11967 New York               Shirley Musket Drive 47 F-term (reference) 5H641 BB06 BB19 GG02 GG15 GG20                       GG24 GG26 GG29 HH03

Claims (33)

[Claims] 1. A path module for a linear motor comprising at least one armature winding, an amplifier connected to the at least one armature winding, and a module controller coupled to the amplifier. The module controller is operative to control the amplifier to selectively power the at least one armature winding based on a command received from a motor controller, the path module defining a path. For connecting to at least one other path module, each module in the path having a different address, so that the armature windings in the path can be easily individually controlled. And the path module. 2. The amplifier further comprising a plurality of armature windings, wherein the module controller selectively powers each of the plurality of armature windings based on a command received from the motor controller. The routing module of claim 1, wherein the routing module is operative to control the. 3. An amplifier coupled to each of the plurality of armature windings in the path module, each amplifier being associated with an electric machine in the path module based on control information from the module controller. The routing module according to claim 2, wherein the routing module is operative to control power supply to the child winding. 4. Each armature winding has a unique address, whereby based on a command received from the motor controller addressed to each armature winding,
The path module according to claim 3, wherein each armature winding can be easily individually controlled. 5. A plurality of path modules connected together are provided, wherein the at least one armature winding of each of the plurality of path modules is arranged to define the path and within the path. The armature winding of
The routing module of claim 1, wherein the routing module is individually addressed via each associated module controller, thereby facilitating individualized control of the armature windings. 6. The encoder sensor of claim 1, further comprising an encoder sensor operative to provide an output signal to the communication link indicative of at least one of incremental and absolute change in stage position relative to the path module.
The path module described in. 7. The path module of claim 6, wherein the encoder sensor further comprises a magnetic encoder sensor having an effective length and responsive to an encoder magnet of a stage. 8. The path module is connectable to an adjacent path module having at least one encoder sensor, and when the path module is connected to the adjacent path module, the at least one of the path modules. An encoder sensor and the at least one sensor of the adjacent path module,
The path module according to claim 7, wherein the path modules are separated by a length that does not exceed the effective length. 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one sensor operable to detect a condition of the path module and to provide a signal indicative of the detected condition to the module controller. The path module described in. 10. A path module for a linear motor, comprising a plurality of non-interlaced armature windings, an amplifier connected to the plurality of armature windings, and a module controller coupled to the amplifiers. The module controller is programmed to control the amplifier to selectively power the plurality of armature windings based on a command received from a remote motor controller, the path module A path module connectable to at least one other path module to define the path module. 11. An amplifier coupled to each of the plurality of armature windings in the path module, each amplifier of the plurality of armature windings based on control information from the module controller. 11. The routing module of claim 10, operative to control the power supply to one of the associated ones. 12. Each armature winding has a unique address,
12. The path of claim 11, wherein each armature winding can be easily individually controlled based on instructions from the motor controller addressed to each armature winding. module. 13. A linear motor system, wherein each path module comprises at least one armature winding, an amplifier connected to the at least one armature winding, and optionally the at least one armature. A plurality of path modules comprising: a module controller coupled to the amplifier, the module controller operative to control the amplifier based on a control command via a communication link to power the windings. Each of the path modules comprises a plurality of path modules, each path module being connected to at least one adjacent path module to form a path; and a stage movable along the path. Of the module controller of each of which operates to receive respective control instructions via the communication link. The module controller of each of the plurality of path modules controls an associated amplifier based on control instructions received by the associated module controller to selectively power the associated at least one armature winding. Further operating so as to move the stage along the path. 14. The at least one armature winding comprises:
A plurality of armature windings, wherein the module controller of each of the plurality of path modules selectively selects each of the plurality of armature windings based on a control command received by the associated module controller. 14. The system of claim 13, operative to control each amplifier to power. 15. The plurality of armature windings in an associated path module, wherein the module controller of each of the plurality of path modules operates to control power supply to an associated armature winding, respectively. 15. The system of claim 14, further comprising an amplifier coupled to each. 16. Providing control instructions to each of the plurality of path modules via the communication link to control the at least one armature winding coupled to each of the plurality of path modules. 14. The system according to claim 13, further comprising an operating system controller.
The system described in. 17. The communication link uses an addressable communication protocol in which each of the plurality of routing modules in the path has a different address, and the system controller follows an address of each of the plurality of routing modules. 17. The system of claim 16, providing control instructions. 18. Each armature winding in the path has a different address, and the system controller utilizes the address of each of the armature windings in the path, thereby providing the armature winding. 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the lines are controlled substantially individually. 19. The at least one armature winding comprises:
Each of the plurality of armature windings further comprises: a plurality of armature windings, wherein the module controller of each of the plurality of path modules is based on an address coupled to a control command received by the respective module controller. 19. The system of claim 18, operable to control a respective amplifier to selectively power the respective amplifiers. 20. The armature winding of each of the plurality of path modules, wherein the module controller of each of the plurality of path modules operates to control power supply to its respective associated armature winding. 20. The system of claim 19, further comprising an amplifier coupled to each. 21. The system controller is operative to receive encoder data indicative of at least one of incremental and absolute changes in the position of the stage relative to the path, the system controller based on the encoder data. The system of claim 16, providing the control instructions. 22. Further comprising at least one receiver coupled to the system controller, the at least one receiver operative to receive a wireless signal having at least some encoder data. 22. The system according to claim 21. 23. At least some of the plurality of path modules are operative to detect a status of the respective path module and provide sensor data indicative of the detected status via the communication link. The system of claim 13, further comprising at least one sensor. 24. The system of claim 23, further comprising a computer coupled to the communication link and operative to collect the sensor data. 25. The computer further comprises computer-executable instructions for analyzing operating characteristics of the linear motor system based on the sensor data and providing an indication of the operating characteristics. The system of claim 24. 26. A path module for a linear motor comprising: field means for providing an electric field; amplifier means for controlling the electric field provided by the field means; Control means for selectively controlling the amplifier means based on a command to identify an external field means, the path module being connectable to at least one other path module for forming a path, A path module, wherein each module in the path has a different address, so that different field means in the path can be easily individually controlled. 27. A linear motor system, each path module comprising: field means for supplying an electric field; and amplifier means for controlling the electric field provided by the field means. A plurality of path modules, each of the plurality of path modules defining at least one path, the control means for selectively controlling the amplifier means based on a command identifying the external field means. A plurality of path modules connected to one adjacent path module, a support means capable of moving along the path, and communication for communicating control information to each of the control means in the linear motor system. And each of the control means selectively supplies power to the associated external field means based on a control command received by the respective control means. Linear motor system in which the work to control the respective amplifier means, thereby characterized in that movement of said support means along said path is controlled such. 28. A method for controlling a path module of a linear motor system, the method comprising: receiving a control command from a motor controller at a controller of the path module via a communication link; and an amplifier of the path module. Providing selectively control data for powering the at least one armature winding of the path module based on a control command identifying at least one armature winding. And how to. 29. Receiving at the motor controller encoder data provided by the linear motor system indicating at least one of stage movement and position relative to a path, the control instructions based on the encoder data. 29. The method of claim 28, wherein: 30. The method of claim 29, wherein the encoder data is received at the motor controller via the communication link. 31. The method of claim 29, wherein the encoder data is received at the motor controller via a wireless receiver operably coupled to the motor controller. 32. The path module comprises a plurality of armature windings and an amplifier coupled to each of the plurality of armature windings in the path module, an associated one of the plurality of armature windings. 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the method further comprises controlling each amplifier based on a control command received by the path module from the motor controller to control power to the amplifier. 33. To provide power to at least one of the selected armature windings in the path module,
33. The method of claim 32, further comprising addressing the control instructions received by the controller of the routing module.