JP3114889B2 - Automatic control method for programmable controller system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic control method for a programmable controller system for automatically controlling equipment having a main unit and auxiliary units using a plurality of programmable controllers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 shows a typical circuit configuration example of a programmable controller system for automatically controlling equipment having a main unit and auxiliary units.

In FIG. 3, a first programmable controller 6 and a plurality of second programmable controllers 8 are commonly connected by a first transmission line 10.

[0004] The first programmable controller 6 controls the operation of the entire equipment, and executes the interlocking control of the main unit 4 and the auxiliary unit 5 described later.

A plurality of second programmable controllers 8 independently control the main unit 4 or the auxiliary unit 5, and receive operation instructions (control information) relating to the interlocking operation of the main unit 4 and the auxiliary unit 5 from the first programmable controller 6. I do.

[0006] A remote input / output device 9 is connected to the second programmable controller 8 via a third transmission line 12 to output the operating state of the main unit 4 and the auxiliary machine 5 to the remote input / output device 9, A control signal that defines the operation state of the auxiliary device 4 and the auxiliary device 5 is received from the remote input / output device 9.

A wiring breaker 1, an electromagnetic contactor 2, and a thermal relay 3 are connected in series to the main unit 4 and the auxiliary unit 5, and the electromagnetic contactor 2 is opened and closed by an instruction from a second programmable controller 8, The operation of the main machine 4 and the auxiliary machines 5 is controlled.

[0008]

The above-mentioned second programmable controller 8 receives an operation instruction relating to the interlocking operation from the upper first programmable controller 6 while performing the independent operation of the connected main unit / auxiliary unit. For this reason, if the first programmable controller 6 goes down (stops) for some reason, the second programmable controller 8 cannot operate, and the main engine / auxiliary equipment must be stopped.

For this reason, the whole system stops, and it takes time to find out the cause of the failure and restart the operation, and there is still room for improvement in the automatic control method of the conventional system.

A programmable controller system has been proposed which can independently operate the main engine / auxiliary machine when the upper-level programmable controller goes down. However, it has not been possible to operate the main engine / auxiliary machine in an interlocked manner.

In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic control system for a programmable controller system capable of operating a plurality of electronic devices such as a main engine and auxiliary machines in an interlocked manner even if a higher-level programmable controller goes down. It is to provide a method.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention executes operation control of the entire equipment by a first programmable controller, and configures a part of the equipment to perform an interlocking operation. In a programmable controller system in which a plurality of second programmable controllers execute independent control of the plurality of electronic devices by using a plurality of second programmable controllers, any one of the plurality of second programmable controllers and the third programmable controller may be used. Connected to the first programmable controller by a first transmission line for transmitting control information;
The third programmable controller and another second programmable controller are connected by a second transmission line for transmitting the control information, and when the first programmable controller goes down, the third programmable controller is connected to the third programmable controller. By supplying control information related to the interlocking operation from the programmable controller to the other second programmable controller via the second transmission path, the interlocking operation of the plurality of electronic devices is continued. And

[0013]

According to the present invention, in the conventional system, the programmable controllers are commonly connected by a single signal line and information is transmitted in a time-division manner. Are not able to transmit information using the signal lines. Therefore, information is not directly transmitted from the upper first programmable controller to each of the second programmable controllers, and the control information relating to the interlocking operation is transmitted through a specific second programmable controller (third programmable controller). By enabling transmission, it is possible to transmit control information to the second programmable controller regardless of whether the upper-level programmable controller is stopped. Further, the third programmable controller supplies control information relating to the interlocking operation instead of the first programmable controller, so that the interlocking operation of a plurality of electronic devices can be continued even if the first programmable controller stops. .

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.
Shown in

In FIG. 1, the same parts as those in the conventional system in FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed circuit description will be omitted.

The first programmable controller 6 controls the operation of the entire facility as a higher-level programmable controller as in the prior art.

The third programmable controller 7 comprises:
Unlike the conventional example in which only the main engine 4 operates alone, the main engine 4
Of the first programmable controller 6
When the power goes down, the control relating to the interlocking operation of the main unit 4 and the auxiliary unit 5 is performed via the second programmable controller 8.

For this reason, the first programmable controller 6 and the third programmable controller are connected by the first transmission line 10 as in the conventional case, and the third programmable controller 7 and the plurality of second programmable controllers 7 are connected to each other. Another second transmission path 11 between the controller and the programmable controller;
Are connected in common.

As described above, the first programmable controller 6 and the second programmable controller 8 have transmission lines 10 and 11 of different systems, respectively, so that the third programmable controller 7 is a higher-level first programmable controller. Even if 6 goes down, control information necessary for interlocking operation can be supplied to a plurality of second programmable controllers 8 in place of the upper first programmable controller 6.

The third control for performing such automatic control is as follows.
FIG. 2 shows an example of the control procedure of the programmable controller 7 of FIG.

In this example, the control procedure of FIG. 2 is executed at regular intervals, and control information for continuous operation is received from the first programmable controller 6 (S100). Next, it is determined whether the first programmable controller 6 is down by checking the format of the control information or the like. If the first programmable controller 6 is operating normally, the reception control information is transmitted to a plurality of second programmable controllers. Assigned to the controller 8 (S100 → S130).

On the other hand, when the first programmable controller 6 is down, the control information for the interlocking operation stored in the memory in its own programmable controller is distributed to the plurality of second programmable controllers 8 (S100). → S120 → S130).

The following example can be carried out in addition to this embodiment.

1) In this embodiment, the upper first programmable controller 6 generates control information relating to the continuous operation of the main engine and the auxiliary equipment during normal operation as in the conventional case, and the third programmable controller 7 generates a plurality of pieces of control information. Second
Is transferred to the programmable controller 8.

On the other hand, it is also possible to make the third programmable controller 7 execute the control of the interlocking operation of the main unit and the auxiliary units even in the normal state. In this case, a first sequence program for performing the above-described interlocking operation in response to an operation instruction of the first programmable controller 6 and a first sequence program for performing the above-described interlocking operation when there is no operation instruction of the first programmable controller 6 are provided. Prepare a second sequence program. The third programmable controller 7 switches the execution of the first and second sequence programs according to the presence / absence determination of the upper first programmable controller 6 being down.

2) In this embodiment, the main unit and the auxiliary units which are often operated in an interlocking manner are described as examples. However, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the main unit and the auxiliary units, but can be applied to a plurality of electronic devices which operate in an interlocking manner.

[0028]

As described above, even if the upper (first) programmable controller goes down, the lower (third) programmable controller can perform the interlocking operation control instead, so that the operation of the equipment can be further improved. It can be maintained in a state close to normal operation. Further, since the entire system is not stopped, it is easy to find the cause of the failure of the upper-side programmable controller.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a programmable controller 7 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a system configuration example of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Circuit breaker for wiring 2 Magnetic contactor 3 Thermally 4 Main machine 5 Auxiliary equipment 6 1st programmable controller 7 3rd programmable controller 8 2nd programmable controller 10 1st transmission line 11 2nd transmission line 12 3rd Transmission line

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An operation control of the whole equipment is executed by a first programmable controller, and for a plurality of electronic equipment which constitutes a part of the equipment and performs an interlocking operation, a single control of the electronic equipment is performed by a plurality of second equipments. In a programmable controller system executed by a programmable controller, a first transmission for transmitting control information between any one of the plurality of second programmable controllers and the first programmable controller. When the third programmable controller is connected to another second programmable controller by a second transmission path for transmitting the control information, and when the first programmable controller goes down, , The third programmable controller From
Supplying the control information relating to the interlocking operation to the other second programmable controller via the second transmission path, thereby continuing the interlocking operation of the plurality of electronic devices. Automatic system control method.