JP2983513B2 - Ultrasonic transducer abnormality detection device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for detecting an abnormality of an ultrasonic transducer, and more particularly, to detecting an abnormal ultrasonic transducer when a plurality of ultrasonic transducers are used in parallel. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic transducer abnormality detection device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ultrasonic vibrator has an allowable input per unit, and a BLT used in a washing machine or the like has a large BLT of about 50 W at most. Therefore, in a large-sized washing machine such as a washing machine used in a wafer processing step, a plurality of ultrasonic transducers are usually connected in parallel and used simultaneously. In the field of plastic working, the working power is often several tens of kW or more. In this field, a powerful ultrasonic power is needed in order to use the power of the ultrasonic wave dynamically to exert an effect. Currently, one ultrasonic vibrator can use such power. There is no such device, and a plurality of ultrasonic transducers are used to efficiently integrate individual outputs.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, an ultrasonic oscillator 1 (1a, 1b, 1c, 1d) is connected in parallel, and an oscillation circuit 2, a voltage amplification circuit 3, a power amplification circuit 4, an impedance matching circuit 5 Are driven simultaneously by an ultrasonic driving device having the same.

[0004] By the way, it is conceivable that an ultrasonic vibrator naturally fails. For example, when an overload is applied to the ultrasonic vibrator, there is thermal stress destruction due to heat generation (mainly cracking of ceramics). I do.

[0005] When a plurality of ultrasonic transducers are used simultaneously in parallel, even if, for example, one of the ultrasonic transducers fails, the use cannot be continued. . With continued use, not only is the intended purpose not attained, but it is not without doubt that overcurrents may cause other failures.

Therefore, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 2, a sensor (current transformer) 7 for detecting a value of a current flowing through a main wiring 6 of a driving wiring for supplying high-frequency power to these ultrasonic transducers.
And detects the current flowing through the main wiring 6 and sends it to the comparison circuit 8. The sum of the current values flowing when all the ultrasonic transducers 1 are operating normally is input to the comparison circuit 8 as a reference value in advance. The comparison circuit 8 compares an analog signal indicating a current value from the sensor 7 with an analog value input as a reference value, and AD-converts a difference between the values to obtain a CP value.
Send to U9. The CPU 9 determines whether or not the input numerical value falls within a preset range, and if not, outputs a signal to the alarm device 10. In the alarm device 10, C
Upon receiving a signal from the PU 9, the controller 10 displays an alarm indicating that an abnormality has occurred in the ultrasonic vibrator, and instructs to stop the entire apparatus using the ultrasonic vibrator.

[0007]

However, in the above-described method for detecting an abnormality of the ultrasonic transducer, it is known that an abnormality has occurred in any of the ultrasonic transducers. It is not clear whether or not this occurred. For this reason, for example, in the case of a washing machine, it is not possible to determine which part of the cleaning object has failed cleaning, and it is necessary to check a plurality of ultrasonic transducers one by one upon repair. There is a problem that it takes time

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic vibrator abnormality detecting apparatus which can determine which ultrasonic vibrator has an abnormality among ultrasonic vibrators used in parallel connection. .

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention employs the following means. That is,
The abnormality detecting device for an ultrasonic transducer according to claim 1 includes means for individually detecting drive current values of a plurality of ultrasonic transducers used in parallel, a current value detected by these detecting means, Means for comparing each with the normal current value of the ultrasonic transducer, determining whether the numerical difference of the comparison result is within a predetermined range, and if there is any out of range, corresponding to the corresponding ultrasonic transducer and computing means for outputting a signal, the operation manual
The ultrasonic transducer number corresponding to the signal output of the stage
Or display the position on the display as an alarm
At the same time, the operation of the device using these ultrasonic transducers is stopped.
And an alarm device for stopping the operation.

With this configuration, the current of each ultrasonic transducer is always detected and compared with the current value (reference value) when the ultrasonic transducer is normally driven. When the difference between the detected current value and the reference value is out of a predetermined range set in the arithmetic means, the arithmetic means can be identified by a signal corresponding to the abnormal ultrasonic transducer, for example, a difference in the number of pulses. Output such a signal.
By using this signal, it is possible to determine which ultrasonic transducer has an abnormality.

[0011] Further , with this configuration, an abnormality occurs.
The number or position of the ultrasonic transducer
Since it is displayed above, for example, if it is a washing machine,
It is possible to determine in which part of the object the cleaning was defective.

[0012] In addition, failure repair can be performed quickly,
Furthermore, the drive of the device using the ultrasonic transducer is stopped.
Therefore, there is no danger that processing that may cause problems will be continued.
It becomes.

[0013]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an ultrasonic transducer abnormality detecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The same or corresponding members as those described in the section of the related art are denoted by the same reference numerals.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the ultrasonic transducer abnormality detecting apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the ultrasonic transducer 1 (1a, 1b, 1)
c, 1d) are connected in parallel. An ultrasonic driving device for supplying high-frequency power to these ultrasonic transducers 1 includes:
An oscillation circuit 2, a voltage amplification circuit 3, a power amplification circuit 4, an impedance matching circuit 5 and the like are provided, and each of the ultrasonic transducers 1 (1a, 1b, 1c, 1
The wiring to d) is routed through the main wiring 6 to the branch wiring 11 (11
a, 11b, 11c, 11d). That is, a plurality of ultrasonic transducers 1 are driven in parallel by one ultrasonic driving device.

Each ultrasonic transducer 1 (1a, 1b, 1c, 1
Each of the branch wirings 11 (11a, 11b, 11c, 11d) through which the terminal current (drive current) d) flows has a current transformer sensor 7 (7a, 7b, 7c) for detecting a current value flowing therethrough. , 7d), and sends a signal having a value proportional to the value of the current flowing through the branch wiring 11 to the comparison circuit 8 (8a, 8b, 8c, 8d). The current values flowing when the respective ultrasonic transducers 1 are operating normally are input to the corresponding comparison circuits 8 as reference values a, b, c, and d in advance. It should be noted that, for example, the reference value “a” means that when the ultrasonic transducer 1a is operating normally, the branch wiring 11
The value is the same as the value that is detected by the sensor 7a and that is input to the comparison circuit 8 by the sensor 7a. Reference value b, reference value c,
The same applies to the reference value d. Even when the ultrasonic vibrators are used in parallel connection, the power of each ultrasonic vibrator is not always the same, so that a reference value suitable for each ultrasonic vibrator is input.

The comparison circuit 8 compares the analog signal from each sensor 7 corresponding to the value of the current flowing through the branch wiring 11 with the analog value input as a reference value, and AD-converts the difference between the values to the CPU 9. send. The CPU 9 individually determines whether each of the input numerical values falls within a predetermined range set in advance. Here, the predetermined range may be, for example, uniformly within ± 10% of the reference value, or may be separately set corresponding to each ultrasonic transducer. If it is outside the predetermined range, a signal corresponding to the ultrasonic transducer 1 in which an abnormality has occurred, for example, a signal that can be identified by the difference in the number of pulses is output to the alarm device 10. Upon receiving a signal from the CPU 9, the alarm device 10 displays an alarm on the display indicating the number or position of the ultrasonic transducer in which an abnormality has occurred, and stops the entire apparatus using the ultrasonic transducer. Command to stop the device.

As described above, since the ultrasonic vibrator in which an abnormality has occurred is displayed, for example, in the case of a cleaning machine using ultrasonic vibrators in parallel, it is possible to determine in which portion the cleaning object has failed cleaning. Since the determination can be made, the repair can be performed quickly, and the drive using the ultrasonic vibrator is stopped, there is no fear that the processing that causes a problem will be continued later.

Note that the sensor 7 (7
a, 7b, 7c, 7d) correspond to means for individually detecting the drive current value of the ultrasonic transducer according to the present invention, and the comparison circuit 8 (8a, 8b, 8c, 8d) refers to the present invention. The CPU 9 corresponds to the means for comparing the current value detected by the detection means with the normal current value of the ultrasonic transducer, and the CPU 9 corresponds to the calculation means according to the present invention.
It corresponds to the alarm means according to the present invention.

In the above-described embodiment, four ultrasonic transducers 1 are connected in parallel.
Obviously, a large number of parallel connections can be accommodated. Further, a current transformer type is used as the sensor 7 for current detection, but is not limited to this type as long as it can detect a current value. In this ultrasonic vibrator abnormality detection device, the CPU 9 does not operate when the ultrasonic vibrator 1 is not driven, so that the alarm device 10 operates even if there is a comparison difference with the reference value. Not to be.

[0020]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the drive current values of a plurality of ultrasonic transducers used in parallel are individually detected and the normal current value of the ultrasonic transducers is detected. And a signal corresponding to the corresponding ultrasonic vibrator is output if there is a numerical difference that is out of a predetermined range set in advance. It becomes possible.

Further, according to the present invention , since the ultrasonic transducer in which the abnormality has occurred is displayed, it is possible to determine in which portion of the processing object the processing was defective, and to quickly repair the failure. Further, since the driving of the apparatus using the ultrasonic vibrator is stopped, there is no possibility that the processing causing the problem is continued.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an abnormality detection device for an ultrasonic transducer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a conventional ultrasonic transducer abnormality detection device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ultrasonic vibrator 2 Oscillation circuit 3 Voltage amplification circuit 4 Power amplification circuit 5 Impedance matching circuit 6 Main wiring 7 Sensor 8 Comparison circuit 9 CPU 10 Alarm device 11 Branch wiring

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A means for individually detecting drive current values of a plurality of ultrasonic transducers used in parallel, and comparing a current value detected by these detecting means with a normal current value of the ultrasonic transducer. Means for determining whether the numerical difference of the comparison result is within a predetermined range, and outputting a signal corresponding to the corresponding ultrasonic vibrator if there is a value outside the range; and Ultrasound corresponding to the signal output of the means
Vibrator number or position alert on display
Display and use these ultrasonic transducers
An ultrasonic vibrator abnormality detecting device, comprising: an alarm device for stopping the driving of the device.