JPH05280655A - Electric motor-driven valve - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an electric motor-driven valve wherein level adjusting work for a potentiometer at its manufacture shipping time can be simplified with a compact design and further work for coping with at the time of generating abnormality can be effectively performed. CONSTITUTION:Respective limit switches 4, 3 are arranged in a mechanical position corresponding to a fully-closed/fully-opened condition of a valve. The valve is constituted such that fully opened/closed positions are recognized in on/off signals respectively of the limit switches 3, 4 and also input directly to a microcomputer 6. A constitution is provided such that an output level of a potentiometer 5 can be automatically adjusted by pressing an automatic adjusting button 10, and further abnormality or the like of an operating condition can be displayed by a 7-segment LED8.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric valve, and more particularly to a downsized design and adjustment means thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various types of electric valves for controlling flow rate have been widely used in various industries. As is known, this type of electrically operated valve generally
A potentiometer, an encoder, or the like is provided to provide valve opening information, and the open / closed position information of the potentiometer or encoder is obtained from each limit switch to directly turn on / off the electric motor power source. For these electric valves, it is necessary to adjust the voltage level of the Pont tension meter or the like at the time of shipment from the manufacturing factory.

[0003]

However, in the conventional electric valve of this type, since the motor power source is directly turned on / off by each of the limit switches, the limit switch is also required in view of its power capacity. The size of the valve has increased accordingly, which has been a constraint for the miniaturization of the valve. Further, since the operating range of the valve is inside these open / close limit switches, it was not possible to dispose them at mechanical positions corresponding to the fully closed and fully opened positions of the valve. It was difficult to automatically adjust the voltage level of the. Furthermore, if an abnormality occurs during the adjustment of these valves, it is necessary to immediately investigate the cause of the abnormality, but since the conventional valve does not have a means for displaying the abnormality factor, it takes time to deal with it. There were various problems.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the conventional example as described above. This type of electric valve can be miniaturized, the voltage level adjustment of the potentiometer and the like can be simplified, and abnormalities can be caused. It is intended to provide each means that can efficiently perform the coping work when an occurrence occurs.

[0005]

For this reason, in the present invention, an electric valve of this type is provided with respective limit switches at mechanical positions respectively corresponding to the fully closed and fully opened states of the valve, and both limit switches are provided. The operation range of the valve is defined between the switches, the fully open and fully closed positions are recognized by the ON / OFF signals of the limit switches, and these are directly input to the microcomputer. The output level of a potentiometer or the like at the time of manufacture and shipment is adjusted by an automatic adjustment switch means, and a display means is provided for displaying the valve operation during the automatic adjustment and an abnormal factor when an abnormality occurs. By doing so, the above-mentioned object is achieved.

[0006]

With the configuration of the present invention as described above, the miniaturization of each valve can be achieved by downsizing each limit switch to a low power type, and the voltage level adjustment such as the potentiometer can be automatically adjusted by a button or the like. It is possible to improve the efficiency of the work for dealing with a valve abnormality during adjustment.

[0007]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below based on examples. FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of an electric valve according to the present invention.

(Structure) 1 is an electric motor for driving a valve element of a valve, and 2 is a driver circuit thereof. 3/4 is an open / close limit switch arranged at a corresponding mechanical position so as to be turned off at the fully open / fully closed position of the valve body, and 5 is a potentiometer for giving opening position information of the valve body. Meter,
Reference numeral 6 denotes a microcomputer (hereinafter, abbreviated as a microcomputer) for controlling the opening / closing operation of the valve.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a display section using, for example, a 7-segment LED (light emitting diode), which is a potentiometer 5
Is displayed with a predetermined code number or code when an overload or when the limit switches 3 and 4 are abnormal. 8 is an EE for storing the voltage data of the potentiometer 5 and the like.
A data storage unit such as a PROM (electrically erasable ROM),
Data is retained even when the power is turned off. Reference numeral 9 denotes a signal input from, for example, a DIP (proportional integral / differential type) controller corresponding to a valve opening command signal from the outside (for example, 4 to 20 m).
(A current signal, 1-5V voltage signal, etc.) are shown. Further, 10 is an automatic adjustment switch (button) for automatically adjusting the level of the Pont tension meter 5 at the time of shipping the valve.
Is.

(Operation) This electric valve receives a valve opening command signal 9 input from the DIP controller from the outside and a feedback signal from the potentiometer 5 indicating the current valve opening. 6, the positioning processing is performed and the electric motor 1 is operated to control the valve opening. In addition, data storage of the voltage data of the potentiometer 5 at the fully open position, which is the initial data required at the time of shipment for the microcomputer 6 to perform positioning control, and the voltage data of the potentiometer 5 at the fully closed position. Automatic adjustment button 10 for storing in section 8
This can be done by pressing.

When this button 10 is pressed for several seconds (for example, 3 seconds), the valve is automatically operated thereafter in the opening direction until the open limit switch 3 is turned on. When the open limit switch 3 is turned on, the motor 1 is stopped and the voltage data of the potentiometer 5 at that time is stored in the data storage unit 8.
To store. Subsequently, the valve is operated in the closing (or opening) direction until the closing limit switch 4 is turned on. When the closed limit switch 4 is turned on, the motor 1 is stopped and the voltage data of the potentiometer 5 at that time is stored in the data storage unit 8.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a processing of each limit switch signal and an operation command circuit diagram from the microcomputer 6 to the motor 1. In the figure, 11/13 are photo triacs 1
/ 2, 13 are logic units (logic circuits), 14 is the motor 1
Power source.

In FIG. 2, each limit switch 3, 4
Is input to the microcomputer 6 directly, the motor power supply 14 is turned off, and the power supply to the motor 1 is stopped. When the limit switches 3 and 4 are turned on, 1) the microcomputer 6 recognizes that the limit switches 3 and 4 are turned on and outputs a motor stop command,
2) When the open limit switch 3 is turned on, the phototriac 1 11 is turned off, and when the closed limit switch 4 is turned on, the phototriac 2 12 is turned off to stop the supply of the motor power supply 14.

This embodiment is characterized in that the logic unit 13 is configured to perform the above two operations 1) and 2) at the same time. During the adjustment work, for example, when the microcomputer 6 runs out of control, Even if any of the limit switches 3 and 4 is operated, the motor 1 can be stopped by the operation 2), so that the possibility that the motor 1 is overloaded beyond the limit switch is prevented. .

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart of a control operation sequence of the automatic potentiometer adjusting section. That is, the automatic adjustment button 10 in FIG.
Press for 2 seconds to enter potentiometer adjustment mode. At this time, since the voltage level data of the potentiometer 5 may already be stored in the data storage unit 8, the data is first erased in step S1. Alternatively, the old data is erased by an overwrite operation. Next, in step S2, the limit switch 3 on the open (or closed) side
Open (or close) motor 1 until (or 4) is turned off
Rotate in the direction. While the motor 1 is operating in the open (or close) direction in step S3, the 7-segment LED of the display unit 4 blinks the open code "0" (or the close code "C") in step S4.

Then, the limit switch 3 on the open side is turned off, and when the motor 1 is stopped in step S5, step S5
In step 6, the LED 7 is continuously turned on to "0" (or "C"), and in step S7, the voltage data of the potentiometer 5 indicating the valve opening at that time is stored in the EEPROM of the data storage unit 8. Next, in step S8, the motor 1 is rotated in the closing (or opening) direction until the limit switch 4 (or 3) on the closing (or opening) side is turned off, and in step S9, the motor 1 operates in the closing (or opening) direction. In step S10, the LED 7 blinks "C" in step S10, the limit switch 4 (or 3) on the closing (or opening) side is turned off, and the motor 1 is stopped in step S11. ”(Or“ 0 ”) is continuously turned on, and the voltage data of the potentiometer 5 representing the valve opening at that time is EEPR in step S13.
Store in OM8.

In the steps S6 and S12, the voltage data of the potentiometer 5 is stored in the EEPROM.
Check the validity of the data before storing in 8.
If it is not appropriate, for example, by illuminating a code code “E” or the like indicating an error on the LED 7, it is possible to early detect a defective mounting position of the potentiometer 5 and each limit switch 3, 4 in manual work. Thus, the coping work can be speeded up.

(Other Embodiments) In the above embodiment, the case where the 7-segment LED 7 is used as the display means is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this.
It goes without saying that a method of outputting alarm information to the outside using a communication means does not matter.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the output capacity of each limit switch can be small, the valve design can be downsized, and the potentiometer or the like at the time of shipping the valve can be used. The complicated level adjustment can be simplified, and the display unit can improve the efficiency of the work for coping with the occurrence of an abnormality.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of an electric valve.

FIG. 2 is an example of the operation command circuit diagram

[Fig. 3] Automatic adjustment control operation sequence flowchart

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Electric Motor 3/4 Open / Closed Limit Switch 5 Potentiometer 6 Microcomputer 7 Display (LED) 8 Data Storage (EEPROM) 10 Automatic Adjustment Switch

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. Limit switches are provided at mechanical positions respectively corresponding to the fully closed and fully opened positions of the valve, and the operating range of the valve is provided between the limit switches, and the fully opened and fully closed positions are also provided. Is recognized by the ON / OFF signal of each of the limit switches, and these are directly input to the microcomputer. 2. The electric valve according to claim 1, wherein the output level of a potentiometer or the like is adjusted by an automatic adjustment switch means when the valve is manufactured and shipped. 3. The electric valve according to claim 2, further comprising display means for displaying the valve operation during the automatic adjustment and an abnormality factor when an abnormality occurs.