JPH02148590A - Heater controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce power capacity of a heater circuit to make it small and light by using at least two kinds of timing signals by which on/off control is executed so as to prevent each signal from turning 'on' at the same time. CONSTITUTION:A timing signal P1 is applied to on/off control circuits C1, C2, while a timing signal P2 is applied to on/off control circuits C3, C4, from a timing signal generation circuit G, respectively. Only when each signal P1, P2 is on the 'on' level, a pair of circuit C1, C2, or C3, C4 are turned 'on'. Even if all of the thermostats T1 through T4 are turned 'on', combination of electrified heater is either R1, R2 or R3, R4. Given the heaters are all equivalent from R1 through R4 and the duty of the signals P1, P2 is defined as 50%, supply capacity of the power E is halved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a heater control device for equipment used under harsh environmental conditions, such as space equipment.

(Prior Art) Space equipment, that is, various electronic devices mounted on artificial satellites, etc., are used under extremely harsh environmental conditions.
When starting up a device at low temperatures, a heater is used to warm up the device to make it start up more smoothly, allowing it to perform at its initial level and preventing it from breaking down. For this purpose, a heater control circuit is provided, and the power required for the heater and various devices is obtained from solar cells installed on the satellite and stored in the power supply.

FIG. 4 shows a conventional heater control circuit. The heater circuit is shown as an example having n circuits from 1 to n, and the heater R1 is connected to the power source E via the switch St and the thermostat T1.

Similarly, heater R2 is connected to electric currents ri and E via switch S2 and thermostat T2, and heater Rn is connected to power source E via switch Sn and thermostat Tn.

Heater R1-R ports are provided corresponding to electronic devices (not shown), and thermostats TI to Tn are
It is provided to set the temperature at which the heater is energized according to each electronic device. And switch 5l-9o
connects each heater R1 to Rn to a thermostat T1 to T.
This is an enable/disable switch for controlling whether or not it can be controlled by n.

Therefore, for example, when the switch S1 is enabled (that is, turned on), supply or cutoff of power from the power source E to the heater R1 is controlled depending on the set temperature of the thermostat TI of the circuit corresponding to the switch S1. That is,
If the ambient temperature is below the set temperature of the thermostat TI, the thermostat T1 is on, so current flows to the heater R1 to heat the corresponding equipment, and if the ambient temperature exceeds the set temperature, the thermostat TI is off, so the heater S1 is turned on.
No current flows to.

By the way, in the conventional heater control circuit described above, when all the switches S1 to Sn are enabled, it is expected that current will flow to all the heaters R1 to Rn at the same time, so the power supply capacity is limited to such a level. Therefore, as the capacity of the power source E increases, there is a problem in that the weight, shape, and volume of the power source E increase as well.

In particular, for space equipment, etc., reducing the size and weight is a major issue as well as ensuring reliability.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) Conventional heater control devices inevitably suffer from an increase in power supply capacity and an accompanying increase in weight and size.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the conventional problems and to reduce the load on the power supply by selectively energizing the heaters instead of energizing all the heaters when starting a device cold.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) A heater control device according to the present invention includes a plurality of heater circuits each of which is connected to a switch means for opening and closing the circuit according to temperature, and a heater. On/off control means is connected to the circuit and performs on/off control of the heater circuit, and a timing signal for on/off control is supplied to the on/off control means, and the timing signal includes at least two types of signals. The present invention is characterized in that it includes a timing signal generating means that prevents the respective signals from becoming on signals at the same time.

(Function) According to the above means, the on/off control means is selectively controlled by a timing signal, the order of heaters to be energized is set, the number of heaters to be energized at the same time is limited, and the number of heaters to be energized at the same time is limited. The heater can be energized according to the electric power.

(Example) Examples of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. Note that in FIGS. 1 and 3, the same parts as in FIG. 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing a first embodiment of a heater control device according to the present invention.

Although this embodiment shows a system equipped with four heater circuits, similar to the conventional system shown in FIG.
The heater R1 is connected to the power supply 1nXH via the switch S1 and the thermostat Tl, and an on/off control circuit C1 is newly connected therebetween. Similarly, heater R
2 is connected to the power supply ME via a switch S2, an on/off control circuit C2, and a thermostat T2, and a heater R3 is connected to a power source E via a switch S3, an on/off control circuit C3, and a thermostat T3. is connected to a power source E via a switch S4, an on/off control circuit C4, and a thermostat T4.

Each of the on/off control circuits 01 to C4 is supplied with a timing signal as shown in FIG. 2 from the timing signal generation circuit G, for example.

That is, in this embodiment, two types of timing signals Pi,
P2 is obtained from the timing signal generation circuit G, the first signal pt is sent to the two on/off control circuits C1, C2, and the second signal P2 is also sent to the two on/off control circuits C3,
They are supplied to C4 respectively.

The timing signals Pl and P2 are set so that they do not turn on at the same time.

The heaters R1 to R4 are provided corresponding to electronic devices (not shown), and the thermostat Tl-74 is provided to set the temperature at which the heater is energized according to each electronic device. Then, the switches 5l-84 connect the respective heaters R1-R4 to the thermostats Tl-T4.
This is an enable/disable (dlsable) switch for controlling whether or not it can be controlled by.

Therefore, switches S1 to S4 are enabled (i.e., turned on).
In the conventional case, it is possible to supply power from the electric ME to the heaters R1 to R4 according to the set temperature of the thermostats T1 to T4 of each circuit, but in the case of the present invention, the timing signal Since the timing signal PI is applied from the generation circuit G to the on/off control circuits CL and C2, and the timing signal P2 is applied to the on/off control circuits C3 and C4, each timing signal Pi and P2 is at the on level. Only when two on/off control circuits C1, C2
Or 03. C4 turns on. In this case, even if all of the thermostats Tl-T4 are in the on state, the heaters that are energized are either R1 and R2 or a combination of R3 and R4.

Therefore, the heaters R1 to R4 are all equivalent, and the timing signal P1. If the duty of P2 is 50%, electric ti,
The supply capacity of E will be reduced to one-half.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The difference between FIG. 3 and FIG. 1 is that there are n heater circuits, and each on/off control circuit CI-Cn is separately supplied with n types of timing signals Pn to Pn from the timing signal generation circuit G. Since the other parts are the same, the same parts are given the same reference numerals and the explanation of those parts will be omitted.

In this embodiment, the heater circuits are grouped into a large number of groups, and the timing signals P1 to P1 are as many as the number of groups.
This is an attempt to reduce the capacity of the power supply as much as possible by supplying n to reduce the number of heaters that are turned on at the same time.

It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and can be implemented with various modifications without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, switch S1゜S2...
Sn is omitted and the on/off control circuits C1, C2...
...Cn may also have this function.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, according to the present invention, since not all heaters are energized at the same time, the capacity of the power supply can be reduced, and the power supply can be made smaller and lighter than expected. It will be done. When the present invention is applied to a control device for a high-power heater in space equipment, the weight of the space equipment can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing an embodiment of a heater control device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a waveform diagram showing an example of a timing signal used in the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a system diagram showing an example of a timing signal used in the present invention. FIG. 4 is a system diagram showing an example of a conventional heater control circuit. C1, C2~Cn...On/off control circuit E...Power supply G...Timing signal generation circuit R1, R2~Rn-...Heater

Claims (1)

[Claims] A device comprising a plurality of heater circuits connected to a switch means for opening and closing the circuit according to temperature and a heater, comprising: an on/off control means connected to the heater circuit and controlling the on/off of the heater circuit; Supplying a timing signal for on/off control to the on/off control means, and using at least two types of timing signals,
What is claimed is: 1. A heater control device comprising timing signal generation means configured to prevent the respective signals from being on signals at the same time.