JPS6236928A - Signal transmission device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To process consecutively even decoupling state due to a change in a relative position by allowing plural modules for active/passing use to store accumulatingly sampling data and o send other modules contactlessly. CONSTITUTION:When the opposing position between an optical transmission head 3 and an optical reception head 4 is decoupled, a controller 15 inputs a measuring data SA in a preset timing, an A/D converter 17 converts the data into a digital data and stores the result to a data storage device 21 via a bus DB. When the coupling state between both the heads 3, 4 is formed, a transmission command signal is sent in response to the transmission start command at each occasion or at a prescribed time and the measuring data stored in the storage device 21 is read sequentially. Then, the data is converted into an analog quantity by a D/A converter 18 and the result is sent from the head 3 as a modulated light. The luminous flux is received by the head 4, converted into an electric signal, amplified, a disturbance light is reduced and the result is demodulated by a FM detection circuit 24 and detected as an analog signal RA.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is applied to a device that non-contactly transmits electric power, digital signals, or analog signals using electromagnetic waves. machinery, robotic equipment,
It can be used in conveyance devices and various other automatic machines. In this case 2, for example, an active module is installed on the fixed side of the mechanical device body, a passive module is installed on the movable side, and 9 types of shapes, 2 positions, and distortion on the movable side.

It is suitable for use when it is desired to transmit various digital or analog data signals regarding temperature, color, etc. to a fixed side without contact.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, FM telemeters, electromagnetic converters, and the like have been known as this type of signal transmission device.

Generally, when transmitting measurement data using a communication device that has such a transmitter and receiver, it is assumed that the relative positions of the antennas, opposing coils, etc. that are directly involved in the transmission are always in a coupled state. Therefore, communication between the two is usually interrupted when the two are out of a predetermined relative positional relationship.

Therefore, when trying to transmit continuously measured data signals from a transmitting section installed on the moving side to a receiving section installed on the fixed side of a mechanical device, the relative position of the two will change due to the movement of the moving side. When disconnected, signal transmission was interrupted and it was therefore impossible to obtain continuous measurement data.

Therefore, for example, if the moving object is something like a shaft or a turntable, the opposing coils should be placed coaxially with the shaft or turntable, and care should be taken to ensure that their connection does not come undone during the movement process. I had to configure it accordingly. In particular, it is very troublesome to install coaxial opposing coils and the like in existing mechanical equipment and to perform their maintenance.

Furthermore, since the transmitter on the exercise side needs to be equipped with a power source such as a battery, the current situation is that a lot of effort is required to replace and charge the transmitter.

[Object of the Invention] The object of the present invention is to provide a relatively simple circuit that includes an active module and a passive module, and is capable of transmitting and receiving signals between the two in a non-contact, highly accurate and stable manner. The purpose is to provide a signal transmission device with the following configurations:
In particular, data signals can be continuously transmitted even when the relative positions of the antenna, opposing coil, or transmitting emitter and its receiver, which are directly used for transmitting and receiving signals between the two, change and the coupling state is removed. An object of the present invention is to provide a signal transmission device that can perform sampling and processing.

[Summary of the Invention] A signal transmission device according to the present invention includes a plurality of active and passive modules that mutually transmit power, command signals, and data signals without contact using electromagnetic waves, one of which is a sampling module. The present invention is characterized in that it is capable of accumulating stored data in a data storage device, and includes means for transmitting the data to the other module in response to a transmission command signal.

[Structure of the Invention] The signal transmission device according to the present invention is composed of a plurality of active and passive modules that mutually transmit power, command signals, and data signals without contact using electromagnetic waves. Each module is equipped with an electromagnetic wave transmitting section and a receiving section, and is configured to enable unidirectional or bidirectional non-contact transmission between modules.

In this case, electromagnetic waves are the medium for contactless transmission of power, command signals, and data signals.

It includes a range from low frequencies to microwaves, and light ranging roughly from ultraviolet to infrared can also be applied as a transmission medium. However, in the following text, for convenience of explanation, the former will be referred to as electromagnetic waves, and the latter will be referred to as light or luminous flux.

Also, those directly involved in transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves between the transmitter of one module and the receiver of the other module are:
Both the transmitting head and its receiving head, specifically their constituent elements such as an antenna and a counter coil, or a transmitting light emitter and its light receiver. When the two are placed in a predetermined relative positional relationship, they form a coupled state, and contactless transmission of power or signals using electromagnetic waves or luminous flux is normally performed.

In other words, one of the active modules has the function of transmitting a command for the address, identification code, etc. of desired measurement data from its transmitting head to the receiving head of the passive module, and also has the function of obtaining a response to the command. It has a processing function.

The other passive module has the function of receiving and decoding the above commands from the active module, and transmitting digital or analog data signals corresponding to the request from its transmission head to the reception head of the active module. It is equipped with

Furthermore, the passive module is equipped with a data storage device that stores the acquired measurement data, and a battery and a capacitor that can be charged with the power transmitted from the active module.

Therefore, for example, if the transmitting head of the passive module installed on the movable side moves relative to the receiving head of the active module installed on the fixed side of the mechanical device main body, and the nine heads move out of their predetermined relative positions. In other words, if the connection state is removed, continuous data transmission becomes impossible.

However, even in such a case, the passive module can continue to accumulate sequentially sampled data in the data storage device. Then, when both the transmitting head and the receiving head satisfy a predetermined relative positional relationship, a transmission command signal is issued, and in response to this, means is provided to transmit the previously accumulated data to the active module. We are prepared.

As mentioned above, if the transmitting head and receiving head are out of the predetermined coupling state, or if they stop moving in that state, the battery or capacitor mentioned above will stop the operation of each part of the passive module. It is designed to act as a power source.

When both heads are connected, the power of the passive module is transmitted from the active module (which operates using power lines, batteries, power generation elements, etc.) by electromagnetic waves or light flux, which includes the following: There are two ways.

(a) Power is sent from the transmitting section of the active module to the passive module using electromagnetic waves or light beams at all times or when necessary, and a command signal is superimposed on this by some method and transmitted.

(b) The active module is provided with a transmitting section dedicated to power transmission and a transmitting section for command signals in separate systems.

In addition, if a common clock is required for the active module and the passive module (for example, if the baud rate clock is shared when transmitting data serially), the electromagnetic wave or light flux for power transmission may be modulated at that frequency, or Alternatively, set the power transmission frequency to an integral multiple of the clock frequency you want to transmit.

A common clock can be obtained by matching the scales between both modules.

Furthermore, in the present invention, as described above, electromagnetic waves and luminous flux can be used as the transmission medium, so basically the following six combinations can be made regarding the transmission of data signals and electric power.

(1) Transmission of power and data from the active module to the passive module, and data transmission from the passive module to the active module.

Both use electromagnetic waves.

(n) Electromagnetic waves are used to transmit power and data from the active module to the passive module, and light flux is used to transmit data from the passive module to the active module.

(m) A light beam is used to transmit power and data from an active module to a passive module, and an electromagnetic wave is used to transmit data from a passive module to an active module.

(rV) Mainly uses luminous flux to transmit data and electromagnetic waves to transmit power.

(V) Mainly uses electromagnetic waves for data transmission and luminous flux for power transmission.

(Vl) A combination of the above (I) to (V).

After considering the above-mentioned configuration, an embodiment mainly belonging to (n) will be described next, but the other items will be self-explanatory.

[Embodiment of the Invention] The block diagram shown in FIG. 1 is an embodiment of the configuration (II) described above, and a case will be described in which data to be measured is provided as an analog signal.

The main part of this signal transmission device consists of an active module A and a passive module B.

The active module A is used for power and command signals SD.
is transmitted from the electromagnetic transmitting head l to the electromagnetic receiving head 2 of the passive module B by electromagnetic induction based on the propagation of electromagnetic waves modulated by F/'S (frequency - l〇 - wave number shift). It has the function of

In addition, the passive module B inputs measurement data SA obtained from an external measurement sensor or measuring device, and transmits the optical transmission head 3 to the active module A using modulated light subjected to FM (frequency modulation) as a transmission medium. It has a function of performing non-contact transmission to the receiving head 4.

The functions of these two modules will be explained in detail below.

Active module A first sends parallel data SD, which is a command signal to passive module B, through P/S (,
The parallel to serial) conversion circuit 5 converts the signal into a serial signal. And a frequency BR+ which is an integer multiple of the baud rate clock
The signal enters the F/S modulation circuit 7 driven by the oscillation circuit 6 that oscillates the signal, and is converted into an F/S modulated wave corresponding to the parallel data SD. However, if this frequency is not suitable for spatial transmission in terms of transmission efficiency, the frequency is increased by a two-frequency multiplier circuit 8, the power is amplified by an RF power amplifier 9, and the electromagnetic wave is transmitted from the electromagnetic transmission head 1 to the space. radiates to.

This radiated F/S modulated electromagnetic wave is received by the electromagnetic receiving head 2 of the passive module B.

A part of it is converted into a direct current by a rectifying and smoothing circuit 10 for electric power, charging a secondary battery and a large-capacity capacitor 11 attached thereto, and is also supplied as a power source E to each circuit of the passive module B.

Also, as mentioned above, the frequency for this power transmission is an integral multiple of the baud rate clock, so 9 frequency dividers 1
2 and returns to BH3, which has the same frequency as the binary baud rate clock BRI, and then supplies it to the necessary circuits.

And also part of the output of electromagnetic receiving head 2.

The F/S detection circuit 13 demodulates the data to the original serial data. Next, the parallel data RD of the command signal restored by the S/P conversion circuit 14 enters the controller 15 via the data bus DB, and the related circuits are controlled by the control signal CNT according to the content determined here.

That is, if the parallel data RD is a command specifying the input channel of the measurement data SA, the multiplexer 16 is switched to the specified channel in accordance with the control signal CNT.

Furthermore, if the content of the parallel data RD command is a command to transmit the measurement data SA to the active module A, the measurement data SA is A/D (analog → digital).
Converter 17 and D/A (digital to analog) converter 18
The FM circuit 19 converts the signal into an FM wave corresponding to the data to be transmitted. This is amplified by AF power amplifier 20.

Optical receiving head 4 as modulated light from optical transmitting head 3
Performs contactless transmission.

In this case, when the opposing positions of the optical transmitting head 3 and the optical receiving head 4 are out of the coupled state, continuous transmission during this period is interrupted. However, in the apparatus of the present invention, even in such a case, the controller 15 inputs the measurement data SA at each preset timing, and
The data is converted into a digital value by the /D converter 17 and then sequentially stored in the data storage device 21 via the data bus DB.

When the coupling state between both heads 3 and 4 is established, a transmission command signal is issued in response to a transmission start command either constantly or at regular intervals, and the measurement data stored in the data storage device 21 is transmitted. Read data sequentially. Next, the D/A converter 18 converts the signal into an analog value, and then transmits it from the optical transmission head 3 as modulated light as described above.

This light beam is received by the optical receiving head 4, converted into an electrical signal, and then amplified by the preamplifier 22 to an appropriate level. Next, after reducing the influence of disturbance light etc. using an electric filter 23, demodulation is performed using an FM detection circuit 24.
It passes through the buffer amplifier 25 and is detected as an analog signal RA.

As mentioned above, transmission between the transmitting and receiving heads is performed only when the two have formed a predetermined coupling state.
The determination is made as follows.

In other words, the electrical filter 23 is
By comparing the output with a preset reference voltage Vs, the reception intensity of the light beam received by the optical reception head 4 is detected. When the two heads form a bonded state and the value exceeds the level.

The controller 27 is configured to issue a transmission command signal to the passive module B to instruct the passive module B to start transmitting the stored measurement data. SR is a transmission/reception switching signal in these operations.

Further, the controllers 27 and 15 are constructed from logic circuits, microcomputers, and the like.

In this example, since a digital type storage device was used, an A/D converter and a D/A converter were required to store the measured data of analog values, but if an analog memory is used, of course this is unnecessary and the circuit can be simplified.

As mentioned earlier, these methods transmit the power necessary for operation from the active module to the passive module, so the passive module has the characteristic of being able to operate without a power supply. In accordance with this, an auxiliary power source, in particular a secondary battery, is added which is charged by the power source E of the passive module.

Further, the large-capacity capacitor 11, which serves as a power source for operation during a period when the relative positions of the two heads deviate from a predetermined relationship, may be a primary or secondary battery having an appropriate capacity and voltage.

Various types of electromagnetic transmitting head 1 and electromagnetic receiving head 2 can be used, but generally a coil 29 in which two capacitors are connected in parallel as shown in FIG. 2 can be used.

Figure 3 shows an example of the configuration of an electromagnetic transmitting head and an electromagnetic receiving head for a facing type, and Figure 4 shows an example of the configuration of an electromagnetic receiving head for a coaxial type. Coil 29.29'e is wound.

In addition, for example, even if an opposing electromagnetic receiving head is disposed close to a part of the outer periphery of a rotating coaxial electromagnetic transmitting head, the same effect can be obtained.

The optical transmission head 3 is composed of a lens 31 and an electric/optical conversion element 32 such as a high-output LED, a semiconductor laser, a gas laser with a modulator, or an incandescent light bulb, as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 6, the optical receiving head 4 includes a lens 31, an optical filter 33 that reduces the influence of ambient light and transmits only a specific wavelength band, and an optical/electrical conversion element 34 such as a phototransistor, photodiode, or phototube. It consists of

These optical systems can be used in combination with various other optical system elements such as a reflecting mirror in addition to lenses.

In the above embodiment, of the two modules, A is for active use and B is for passive use, but both may be for active use or passive use.

In addition, in this embodiment, the modulation method is F/S modulation method or FM
It is obvious that most of the various modulation methods used in normal wireless communications can be applied to this method.

[Effects of the Invention] Conventional signal transmission devices of this type that transmit data in a non-contact manner were effective only when both heads in charge of transmission and reception formed a predetermined coupling state.

The signal transmission device of the present invention has the advantage of being able to continuously sample data even when the connection state is removed.

Therefore, even in mechanical equipment where one active module installed on the fixed side, for example, the other movable passive module is uncoupled and moves significantly, or there is a period when it stops in that state.

By setting the capacity of the secondary battery and large capacity capacitor appropriately, the data can be accumulated in the storage device.

This can be read out as appropriate.

Therefore, even in cases where continuous sampling could not be achieved until the passive module was installed concentrically at the end of the shaft, it is possible to achieve the same result by installing it on the side of the shaft in consideration of dynamic balance. It has an effect.

In particular, since the active module is able to detect the transmission-enabled state based on the relative position between modules, it is possible to create a circuit configuration in which the elements involved in power transmission are operated intermittently only during that period. This has the effect of temporarily generating stronger power than when operating continuously.

Furthermore, since each module can be precisely housed in its own housing, its size can be reduced. Alternatively, only the transmitting or receiving head that directly uses transmission between each module may be manufactured individually.

By configuring the circuit to be connected at a distance from other related circuits, there are many effects such as greatly expanding the degree of freedom in installation and the scope of application.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a signal transmission device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a wiring diagram showing an example of an electromagnetic transmitting head or an electromagnetic receiving head. FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are cross-sectional views showing examples of an electromagnetic transmitting head and an electromagnetic receiving head of a facing type and a coaxial type, respectively. FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing an example of an optical transmitting head, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing an example of an optical receiving head. Symbol 1 is an electromagnetic transmitting head, and 2 is an electromagnetic receiving head. 3 is an optical transmission head, and 4 is an optical reception head. 5 is a P/S conversion circuit, and 6 is an oscillation circuit. 7 is an F/S modulation circuit, and 8 is a frequency multiplication circuit. 9 is an RF power amplifier, 10 is a rectifier and smoothing circuit. 11 is a large capacity capacitor, and 12 is a frequency divider. 13 is an F/S detection circuit, and 14 is an S/P conversion circuit. 15 is a controller, 1B is a multiplexer. 17 is an A/D converter, 18 is a D/A converter. I9 is the FM circuit, and 20 is the AF power amplifier. 21 is a data storage device, and 22 is a preamplifier. 23 is an electric filter, and 24 is an FM detection circuit. 25 is a buffer amplifier, and 26 is a comparator. 27 is the controller, 2nd is the capacitor. 29 is the coil, 30 is the core. 31 is a lens, and 32 is an electric/optical conversion element. 33 is an optical filter, and 34 is a light/electric conversion element. A is an active module, B is a passive module. He-A + He-B % Ko 5 diagram Ya 6 diagram

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) Consists of multiple active and passive modules that mutually transmit power, command signals, and data signals without contact using electromagnetic waves, one of which is capable of accumulating sampled data in a data storage device. A signal transmission device characterized in that it is equipped with a means for transmitting the signal to another module in accordance with a transmission command signal. (2) The transmission command signal can be sent out based on the signal strength of the data signal transmitted from the passive module to the active module. signal transmission equipment (3) The signal transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the frequency or modulation frequency of the electromagnetic wave that transmits the power is a common clock source among a plurality of modules. (4) The battery provided in the other module is charged by the electric power transmitted from one module by the electromagnetic waves, and is operated as a power source. signal transmission equipment