JP3475734B2 - Control board - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a control board.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in some devices such as a combustion device and a hot water supply device, a non-volatile rewritable memory such as an EEPROM is used as one of the memories for its control board. In this case, the EEPROM is written with integrated data such as the combustion time, the number of combustions, the CO sensor usage time, and other data unique to the base. In the case of the model equipped with the EEPROM, conventionally, two methods have been performed in order to inherit the data held in the EEPROM when exchanging the base for after-sales service. One of them is EE
Some PROMs are removable. That is, remove the sub-board equipped with the EEPROM from the failed control board,
This is a replacement method in which data unique to the original water heater is transferred to the new control board that is attached to the new control board provided by after-sales service. Another method is that a service person or the like once reads out the stored contents of the EEPROM of the original control base using the maintenance monitor, records it on a separate sheet, and then writes it in the newly provided control base in the after-sales service. Is the way. However, in the case of the detachable type, it is troublesome to remove the sub-board equipped with the EEPROM from the defective control board and attach it to the new control board, and the sub-board is the main board. There is a problem that the cost becomes high because it is necessary to make it detachable. Further, in the case of using the above-mentioned maintenance monitor, it is necessary for the worker to temporarily record the data read by the maintenance monitor on another sheet of paper, and then to write it on a new control board. There was a problem that it was troublesome. On the other hand, if the unique data in the original control board is not written to the new control board, the water heater that has been used until now when operating the water heater replaced with the new control board. There is a problem that the actual data or unique data of is not utilized. For this reason,
In the Japanese Patent Application No. 9-123083, the applicant directly connects a broken control board and a new control board to be used in place of the broken control board with a cable to obtain unique data of the failed control board. We provided a control board that could be transferred to a new control board for storage.

[0003]

However, in a control board capable of transferring unique data from the above-mentioned failed control board to a new control board, the control board is also incorporated in an apparatus in which the self is incorporated. If you have a means to detect various abnormalities such as driving operation abnormality and connection abnormality, during the work of transferring the unique data,
In addition to the reception of unique data, there is a problem that an abnormality in the new control board is detected and stored. That is,
As shown in FIG. 5, when the failed control board and the new control board to be serviced are connected by a cable and power is supplied for data transfer (step S1), what is the data transfer? Separately, the operation of checking whether or not there is an abnormality in the new control board is started (step S2). Then, at that time, since the respective loads of the device are not yet connected to the new control board, the new control board detects that there is a load abnormality in the device (Yes in step S3). When a further abnormality is detected, the abnormality is displayed as an error code or the like (step S4), and the abnormality is stored as a history by the error code or the like (step S5). As described above, the new control board that replaces the failed control board is
If the above abnormality is detected and stored in a state where it is not yet installed in the device, there is a problem that the device cannot operate normally after the new control board is installed in the device. Occurs.

In view of the above, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems in the conventional control board and enables transfer of unique data from a failed control board to a new control board. In the new control board to which the load is not yet connected, it is detected that there is a load connection abnormality in the device, and the fact of the abnormality is displayed.
The challenge is to provide a control infrastructure that will not be stored.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the control board of the present invention comprises at least a microcomputer, a memory for storing data, and a means for receiving transfer data from another control board. The load that should be connected to its own control board in the control board that has the function of checking the presence of an error in the device in which it is installed and displaying and storing the error if there is an error. Regarding the presence / absence of connection abnormality regarding the above, software that is built in so that it does not check the presence / absence of the abnormality and display / store the abnormality until the operation switch of the device in which it is installed is turned on. This is the first feature. Further, in addition to the above-mentioned first characteristic, the control substrate of the present invention has a second characteristic that the control substrate is a control substrate for after-service which is attached to the device in place of the failed control substrate. There is. In addition to the first or second feature, the control board of the present invention has a two-core connection terminal unit capable of transmitting and receiving signals and supplying and receiving power, in addition to the first or second feature. Is the third feature.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, among various abnormalities detected by the control board, whether the load connection to the control board is abnormal or not is determined when the operation switch of the device is turned on. Check, display and storage in case of abnormality are made. Checking for other abnormalities, for example, abnormalities in the structure and function of the control base itself may be performed by supplying power when receiving data transfer. If the ON state of the operation switch of the device is used as a check condition for whether there is an abnormality in the load connection to the control board, a signal peculiar to the ON state of the operation switch should be incorporated in the software in advance as a condition signal. Good. Of course, for checking other abnormalities, power supply to the control board and other conditions can be incorporated in the software as conditions for starting the check. According to the first aspect of the present invention, when data is transferred from a failed control board to a new control board, a load that is still necessary in the new control board in place of the failed control board is added to the control board. Even if the device is not connected, it is not determined that the device is abnormal, and it is possible to prevent the device from being displayed and stored to indicate that the device is abnormal.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the operation and effect of the first aspect, by using the control base of the present invention as a control base for after-sales service, a defective control base can be obtained. Instead, when installing a new control board and continuing the use of the device, the unique data accumulated in the failed control board is promptly transferred to the newly prepared control board for after-sales service. Can be memorized. At that time, even if a member of the device to be incorporated is not connected as a load in the new control base for after-sales service, it is not considered to be abnormal.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the operation and effect of the first or second aspect, means for receiving transfer data from another control board is provided for transmitting / receiving signals and power. Since it is a two-core connection terminal part that can be supplied and received, for example, even if the power supply means is not yet connected to the newly supplied control board, it has a two-core connection terminal part with the existing control board side. By connecting, the electric power of the power supply supplied to the existing control board is supplied to the new control board, so that the control board can operate. Further, in the new control board, the rising of the supplied power can be used as the condition for starting the reception of data from the existing control board and the condition for starting the abnormality check.

[0009]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a pair of control boards which are an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a control board which is also an embodiment of the present invention. It is a pair of block diagrams. FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an operation for the control board to obtain data from the original control board, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining an operation for the control board to detect an abnormality of the device.

A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment, the control board will be described as the control board of the water heater. In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 10 is a control board of the hot water supply apparatus that has failed, and 10a is a control board of the hot water supply apparatus that is newly provided as after-sales service. Both control boards 10 and 10a are control boards according to the present invention. The control board 10, 10a has a microcomputer 11, 11a
And at least a non-volatile rewritable memory as a memory for storing data, for example, EEPROM 12, 12a
The two-core superposing circuits 13 and 13a, and the connectors 14 and 14a as the remote control line connecting terminal portions are provided. Control base
10 and 10a are designed so that they can be connected to the power supply voltage line 20. In Fig. 1, the power supply voltage line 20 is connected to the failed control board 10.
Are shown connected.

Since the defective control board 10 is normally incorporated in the hot water supply apparatus, various members constituting the apparatus are in a load 40 state with respect to the control board 10. On the other hand, since the newly provided after-sales service control base 10a is not yet incorporated in the hot water supply device, there is no load due to the connection with the members constituting the device.

Two control boards, a failed control board 10
By connecting the control board 10a newly provided for replacement with the remote control wire 30 of two cores, the control board 10a which has failed is replaced with the control board 10a newly provided.
The contents stored in EPROM 12 are transferred as data, and EE
It is stored in the PROM 12a. The EEPROM 12, 12a
Stores data unique to the water heater. Therefore, the EEPROM 12 of the failed control board 10 stores data unique to the water heater, history data, and the like. For example, the combustion time, the number of combustions, the CO sensor usage time, and the like. On the other hand, the newly provided control board 10a serves as a control board for the hot water supply device in place of the failed control board 10, but does not yet have data unique to the hot water supply device.

Normally, the power supply voltage for the control board is not supplied to the control boards 10 and 10a through the connectors 14 and 14a, but when the power supply voltage is sent through the connectors 14 and 14a. Is based on the software embedded in the control board 10, 10a, the microcomputer 11, 11a
Performs a certain operation, that is, an operation related to data transfer.
With reference to FIG. 3, the operation of data transfer by the software incorporated therein by the microcomputer 11a of the newly provided control board 10a will be described. The remote control line 30 from the failed control board 10 is now a new control board for after-sales service.
When the power supply voltage from the power supply voltage line 20 is supplied to the new control board 10a through the remote control line 30 (Yes in step S11), the microcomputer 11a is connected to the connector 14a of the 10a.
First, the rising voltage is used as a start signal to determine whether or not its own control board 10a is a control board for after-sales service (step S12). This determination can be made, for example, by checking whether or not the data indicating that it is the control base for after-sales service is written and stored in the EEPROM 12a.

When it is determined that the control board 10a is for after-sales service (Yes in step S12), the microcomputer 11a
Transmits a predetermined data transfer request signal to the connection partner via the remote control line 30 to the faulty control board 10 side (step S13). The predetermined data is the other party's E
The data stored in the EPROM 12 is, more simply, data unique to the hot water supply device stored in the EEPROM 12 of the other party.

The microcomputer 11 of the defective control board 10 is
Based on the data transfer request signal from the new control board 10a, the data stored in the EEPROM 12, at least the data unique to the water heater, is read out and transmitted to the new control board 10a side.

When the microcomputer 11a of the new control board 10a receives the data from the failed control board 10 (Yes in step S14), it checks whether the received data is predetermined data (step S15). ). In this check, for example, by the identification symbol attached to the data sent from the defective control board 10, the data is EE
This can be performed by determining whether or not the data stored in the PROM 12 is unique to the hot water supply device.

When the check is completed in step S15, the microcomputer 11a sends the received data to its own EE.
It is written in the PROM 12a and stored (step S1
6). Then, the data indicating that it is the control base for after-sales service, which has been written and stored in the EEPROM 12a, is erased (step S17). By storing the transferred unique data, the new control board 10a can perform the control unique to the hot water supply apparatus even if the new control board 10a replaces the original control board 10 and is installed in the hot water supply apparatus. . In addition, by deleting the data indicating that it is a control base for after-sales service, the new control base 10a can be normally operated as a normal control base after being incorporated in the water heater.

As described above, when the new control board 10a for after-sales service is used as a hot water supply device by replacing the failed control board 10 with the hot water supply apparatus, it is necessary to acquire the unique data held by the failed control board 10. is there. Conversely,
In the case of a control board for after-sales service, it is necessary to prevent the new control board from being operable even if it is directly attached to the hot water supply device. This is because the unique data and accumulated data of the water heater are not reflected in the control, and good operation and good safety measures cannot be taken.

Next, a system for checking the presence / absence of an abnormality in the device based on the control board of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Now, in the newly prepared after-service control board 10a, the remote control wire 30 is connected from the defective control board 10 to the connector 14a of the new after-service control board 10a, and the power supply voltage from the power supply voltage wire 20 is used. When it is supplied to the new control board 10a through 30 (Yes in step S21), the microcomputer 11a checks whether or not there is an abnormality in the device prior to the series of transfer operations of the above-mentioned unique data by using the rise of the voltage as a start signal. Alternatively, after completion of the series of transfer operations of the unique data, a program for checking whether or not there is an abnormality in the device is started (step S22).

As the check work, predetermined items regarding the connection relation of each part of the device and the presence / absence of abnormality of various functions of the device are to be checked. When each item is checked, the check is performed. First, it is judged whether or not the item is a check as to whether or not there is an abnormality in the connection of the load to the control board (step S23). If it is a check regarding an abnormality in the connection of the load to the control board (YES in step S23). Then, it is further judged whether or not the operation switch of the device is turned on (step S24). If the operation switch is not turned on (no at step S24), the check of the item to be performed is canceled. Yes (step S25).

If the check item is not related to the connection of the load to the control board in step S23 (NO in step S23), and the operation switch of the device is turned on in step S24 (YES in step S24). First, the abnormality check of the item to be performed is started (step S26). When it is judged that there is an abnormality in the presence or absence of the abnormality in the device (Yes in step S27), the abnormality is displayed on the display unit of the control board 10a (step S28). This abnormality display can be displayed with an error code indicating the place and cause of the abnormality. When the abnormality is detected, the control board 10a stores the abnormality together with the display of the abnormality (step S29).

When all check items are completed (step S
If the answer is 30), then the device check for abnormalities ends.

In the above, the checking of whether or not there is an abnormality in the connection state of the load to the control board 10a is on condition that the operation switch of the device is on.
As for the check items other than the presence / absence of load connection, those that are preferable may be on condition that the operation switch is turned on.

[0024]

According to the present invention, which has the above-described structure,
According to the control platform described in, at least a microcomputer, a memory for storing data, and a means for receiving transfer data from another control board are provided, and whether or not there is an abnormality in the device in which it is installed is checked. When there is an abnormality, the control board that has the function of displaying and storing the error, and whether or not there is a connection failure for the load that should be connected to its own control board is self-embedded. Software is built in so that it does not check for the presence of abnormalities and display and store abnormalities until the operation switch of the device is turned on, so data is transferred from the failed control board to the new control board. In this case, even if the load necessary for the new control board that replaces the failed control board is not yet connected to that control board, Device can be prevented that an abnormality of preventing would be determined to be, also or appears that it is abnormal, thus stored. Therefore, the new control board to which the data has been transferred can operate normally as it is if the load connection is correct when the operation switch is turned on after it is installed in the device. It will be possible. According to the control base of claim 2, in addition to the effect of the configuration of claim 1, the control base is a control base for after-service which is attached to the device in place of the faulty control base. Therefore, when a new control board is installed instead of the failed control board to continue using the equipment, the newly prepared after-sales control board was accumulated in the failed control board. Unique data can be quickly transferred and stored. At that time, even if a member of the device to be incorporated is not connected as a load in the new control base for after-sales service, it is not considered to be abnormal. Further, according to the control board of claim 3, since the means for receiving the transfer data from the other control board is a two-core connecting terminal portion capable of transmitting and receiving signals and supplying and receiving electric power, it is newly supplied. Even if the power supply means is not yet connected to the existing control board, by connecting it to the existing control board with the two-core connection terminal part, the power of the power supply supplied to the existing control board is maintained. It can also be supplied to a new control board and activated. Even if power is not already supplied to the existing control board, the power supplied to the newly supplied control board can be used to activate the existing control board and perform data transfer and other tasks. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a pair of control bases connected to each other according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a pair of block diagrams in which the control boards according to the embodiment of the present invention are connected to each other.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation when the control board obtains data from the original control board.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation for the control board to detect an abnormality of the device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation performed by a conventional control board to detect an abnormality of the device.

[Explanation of symbols]

10, 10a Control board 11, 11a microcomputer 12, 12a EEPROM 13, 13a 2-core superposition circuit 14, 14a connector 20 Power voltage line 30 remote control line 40 load

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) F24H 1/00 602 G06F 13/00 301

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A microcomputer, at least a memory for storing data, and a means for receiving transfer data from another control board. At least a device incorporating the microcomputer is checked to see if there is any abnormality. In the case of a control board that has the function of displaying and storing the error, if there is a connection error for the load that should be connected to its own control board, the operation switch of the device in which it is installed. A control board having built-in software for checking the presence / absence of abnormality, displaying and storing the abnormality until is turned on. 2. The control board according to claim 1, wherein the control board is a control board for after-service which is attached to the device in place of the failed control board. 3. The means for receiving the transfer data from another control board is a two-core connecting terminal portion capable of transmitting and receiving signals and supplying and receiving electric power. Control infrastructure.