JP3330291B2 - Load control method and load control receiver by communication - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a load control method for controlling a load of a water heater or the like based on a signal transmitted by a distribution line or a communication line, and to an improvement of a load control receiver.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional load control receiver, which is shown as a receiver 31 in FIG. 7, receives a signal input from a high-order system to a communication path connection terminal 32, and opens and closes in response to the signal. The switching drive section 33a of the switch 33 is controlled, and the contact section 33b is switched to control the turning on and off of the power supplied from the power terminal 34 to the load 35. When a schedule operation is required, as shown in FIG. 8, a time switch 36 having a receiving function receives a signal input from a higher-level system to the communication path connection terminal 32,
The switch 33 was controlled according to the signal.

[0003]

In the conventional load control method using communication, when the control schedule changes depending on the day, the receiver receives a control signal at each time,
In order to control the switch, the communication path and the transmitter must always be in a normally operable state, and there is a problem in that maintenance and inspection are restricted.

[0004] In addition, in the case of control using a complicated pattern, particularly when the control patterns of individual receivers are different,
It was necessary to increase the communication speed for control.

Further, in the case of control by one-way communication, there is a problem that whether or not the control is actually performed is unknown.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a load control method and a load control receiver by communication that can perform reliable control even if a communication path temporarily becomes defective.

[0007]

To achieve the above object of the Invention The present invention according to claim 1, the transmitter transmits a control schedule signal and the direct control signals by the communication path, receiver, said control When a schedule signal is received ,
The control schedule signal is stored, the load is controlled according to the control schedule signal, it is confirmed that the control operation has been normally performed, and the direct control signal is received.
Immediately, the load will be applied in accordance with the direct control signal.
And the control operation is returned to the transmitter .

[0008] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is claimed in claim 2, wherein, in addition to those of claim 1, wherein, serial
The control schedule signal or the received
If the control according to the connection control signal is not executed, the <br/> executes control receiver again, still when not executed stores the abnormal time as abnormal, operation confirmation from the transmitter
When a signal is received, the stored abnormal time is returned to the transmitter.

[0009]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a system for implementing the method of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a receiver, and FIG. 3 is an operation check circuit in FIG. FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a specific example of the embodiment.

A transmitter 1 and a receiver 2 are connected to a distribution line 3 used as a communication path, and a receiver 2 receives a signal input from the transmitter 1 and drives a switch 4 according to the signal. By controlling the section 4a and switching its contact section 4b, the turning on and off of the power supplied from the distribution line 3 to the load 5 such as a water heater is controlled. As shown in FIG. 2, the receiver 2 includes a receiving circuit 7, a transmitting circuit 8,
It comprises an operation circuit 11 incorporating a timer 9 and a memory 10 and an operation confirmation circuit 12 for detecting the operation of the load 5 (ie, the operation of the switch 4).

As shown in FIG. 3, for example, when the contact portion 4b of the switch 4 is turned on and a voltage is applied to the load 5, the operation check circuit 12 operates the photocoupler 13 as shown in FIG. A low-level signal is output from the output terminal 14 to transmit the operation of the load 5 to the arithmetic circuit 11. Contact part 4 of switch 4
When b is turned off and the load 5 stops operating, the photocoupler 13 also stops operating, and the output of the output terminal 14 becomes a high-level signal.

FIG. 4A shows the structure of a signal transmitted from the transmitter 1 to the receiver 2. The signals include a start signal STX, a control schedule signal, a direct control signal, a mode signal indicating an operation confirmation signal, an address signal indicating an address of the receiver 2, a data signal indicating control contents, an end signal ETX, and an error check signal. Consists of BCC.

For example, the structure of the control schedule signal is as follows:
As shown in FIG. 4B, the mode signal indicates the control schedule signal, and the data signal indicates the closing time and the cutoff time. If the number of controls is more than two, the control time is sent continuously.

As shown in FIG. 4C, the configuration of the direct control signal is such that the mode signal indicates the direct control signal and the data signal indicates either the input or the cutoff.

The communication control procedure between the transmitter 1, the receiver 2, and the switch 4 is as shown in FIG. That is,
The transmitter 1 transmits a control schedule signal 21 in advance, and the receiver 2 returns a response signal 22. The receiver 2 controls the switch 4 according to the control schedule signal 21,
The operation 24 detected by the operation confirmation circuit 12 is confirmed. As a control not in the schedule, when a control signal 25 is directly sent from the transmitter 1, the receiver 2 immediately controls the switch 4 and sends a return signal 28 indicating the operation 27 to the transmitter 1.

The operation of the receiver 2 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In step 1, the receiving circuit 7 receives the signal from the transmitter 1. In step 2, when the arithmetic circuit 11 determines that the reception is normal, in step 3, the transmitting circuit 8 sends out a response signal. In step 4, the arithmetic circuit 11 determines whether or not the signal is a direct control signal. If not, the process proceeds to step 5, where it is determined whether or not the signal is an operation confirmation signal. If not, proceed to step 6 to determine whether the signal is a control schedule signal. If the received signal is a control schedule signal, the contents of the control schedule signal are stored in the memory 10 in step 7. Then, the process returns to step 1.

If no signal is received in step 1, the process proceeds to step 8, and if the time of the timer 9 matches the control time of the stored control schedule, the arithmetic circuit 11 switches the switch according to the control schedule in step 9 according to the control schedule. 4 is executed. In step 10, the operation confirmation circuit 12 confirms whether or not the control has actually been executed correctly. If the control has not been executed, it is determined in step 11 whether or not re-execution has already been performed. If not, the process returns to step 9 to execute control again. If the normal operation is not performed even after the re-execution, the abnormal time is stored in the memory 10 as abnormal in step 12. After step 12 or when it is determined in step 10 that the operation is normal, the process proceeds to step 13 where it is determined whether or not the signal received in step 1 is a direct control signal. Since it is assumed, the process returns from step 13 to step 1.

If the signal received in step 1 is an operation confirmation signal, the process proceeds from step 5 to step 14, where
The abnormal time stored in the memory 10 in step 12 is read out and transmitted from the transmission circuit 8.

If the signal received in step 1 is a direct control signal, the process proceeds from step 4 to step 9 to execute steps 9 to 12 as described above. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step 15 via step 13, and the operation check circuit 1
The control operation detected by the transmitter 2 is transmitted from the transmitter 8 to the transmitter 1.
Send to

If the signal indicates another operation, the operation instructed in step 16 is executed, and the process returns to step 1.

[0021]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, since the control schedule is stored in the receiver in advance, the communication path may temporarily have a communication failure. Also, reliable control can be performed. Further, by transmitting the control schedule signal before the control point, even when the control is complicated, the signal can be reliably transmitted from the transmitter to the receiver without being restricted by the communication speed. . Furthermore, control by the control schedule signal
In addition to control, return of control and operation by direct control signal
Enabled to increase the degree of freedom of control.
You.

According to the second aspect of the present invention,
Stored control schedule signal or received direct control
If the control according to the signal is not executed, the receiver executes the control again.
Abnormal time is stored and operation confirmation signal is received from transmitter
In such a case, the stored abnormal time is returned to the transmitter, so that the abnormality can be detected quickly and the estimation of the cause can be clarified.

[0023]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a system for implementing a method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a receiver in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a specific example of an operation check circuit in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a signal configuration.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a communication control procedure between a transmitter, a receiver, and a switch.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation of the receiver.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a conventional load control receiver.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a conventional circuit for load control by a time switch.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Transmitter 2 Receiver 3 Distribution line 4 Switch 4a Switching drive part 4b Contact part 5 Load 6 Distribution line connection terminal 7 Receiving circuit 8 Transmission circuit 9 Timer 10 Memory 11 Arithmetic circuit 12 Operation check circuit 13 Photocoupler 14 Output terminal

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A transmitter transmits the control schedule signal and the direct control signals by the communication channel, the receiver, when receiving the control schedule signal, the control schedule
The load control signal according to the control schedule signal, to confirm that the control operation has been performed normally, when the direct control signal is received,
Immediately, the load is controlled according to the direct control signal,
A load control method by communication , wherein a control operation is returned to the transmitter . Wherein said control schedule signal stored also
If the control in accordance with the direct control signal received is not performed may execute the receiver control again, still when not executed stores the abnormal time as an abnormal, from the transmission <br/> signal unit when receiving the operation check signal, before storing
The abnormal time is returned to the transmitter.
A load control method using the communication described in the above. 3. A control transmitted from a transmitter through a communication channel.
Receives schedule signal, direct control signal and operation confirmation signal
And a control circuit for storing the control schedule signal.
And a control schedule signal stored in the memory.
Signal or load control according to the received direct control signal.
Control to confirm whether the load control has been executed,
If it has not been executed, re-execute the control.
When not performed, the abnormal time is stored in the memory as abnormal
And an arithmetic circuit for detecting the actual control operation.
An operation check circuit to inform the circuit, and an operation check circuit from the transmitter.
If an acknowledgment signal is received, the
Return the abnormal time to the transmitter and respond to the direct control signal.
When the same control is performed, the control operation is performed by the transmitter
And a transmission circuit for returning the load control receiver to the load control receiver .