WO2016051314A1

WO2016051314A1 - Interlock load control system and electrical equipment with interlock load

Info

Publication number: WO2016051314A1
Application number: PCT/IB2015/057326
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mingjie FAN
Original assignee: Tyco Electronics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.; Tyco Electronics Uk Ltd
Priority date: 2014-09-30
Filing date: 2015-09-23
Publication date: 2016-04-07
Also published as: CN105527866B; CN105527866A

Abstract

An interlock load control system includes: a main board; a plurality of relays each having a normally closed contact and a load contact connected to a respective load, wherein, if closed positions of all the relays are in the normally closed contacts, all the relays are connected with a power line in series; and a controller, provided on the main board, and configured to control the closed position of each relay, wherein the load contacts of the relays are connected to the loads, respectively. An electrical equipment with interlock loads includes: a plurality of loads; and the above interlock load control system, wherein the load contact of each relay is connected to the respective one of the plurality of loads. The distributed interlock control system may use lower grade wire harness, saving the cost of the wire harness.

Description

INTERLOCK LOAD CONTROL SYSTEM AND ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT

WITH INTERLOCK LOAD CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application No.201410522857. X filed on September 30, 2014 in the State Intellectual Property Office of China, the whole disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wire harness in electrical equipment and a control solution to the electrical equipment, more particularly, relates to an interlock load control system and electrical equipment with interlock loads.

Description of the Related Art

In multifunctional home appliance equipment, such as, a washing machine with a drying function, there are usually at least two large power components, such as, a heater and a large power motor. These large power components will not work at the same time in a normal design of a washing and drying process. Thereby, the system power capacity is generally designed with reference to the maximum machine power of the electrical equipment. However, for security considerations, a software interlock and a hardware interlock are used in a general design, so as to avoid a safety hazard that a system working power load becomes larger than the designed power load when all large power loads are activated at the same time due to the software failure or the hardware failure.

Generally, the washing machine in the prior art adopts a centralized control solution, in which a single pole double throw (SPDT) relay is combined with a PCB board, so as to achieve the hardware interlock protection for a plurality of large power loads.

As shown in Fig. l, control ports CI, C3, C5 and C7 are configured to perform drying control, control ports C2, C4, C6 and C8 are configured to perform water heating control, SPDT relays are indicated by reference numbers Kl, K2, K3, K4, K5, K6, K7, K8. For example, when the control port CI is in high level, the relay Kl is closed, and power line L is connected to a lower contact P2 of the relay Kl of Fig. l . Meanwhile, the power line L is disconnected from an upper contact PI of the relay Kl, so that inputs of relays K2, K3, K4, K5, K6, Κ7, Κ8 are disconnected from the power line. In this case, even if the water heating control powers C2-C8 are in high level due to failure or misuse, the relays K2, K3, K4, K5, K6, K7, K8 are not connected to the power line L, preventing the water heating loads A1-A4 and the drying loads B 1-B4 from being activated at the same time, and avoiding the security risk due to an over high system current.

However, in the centralized interlock control solution shown in Fig.1 , all relays are provided on the main board 1 of the washing machine, therefore, the main board 1 must be redesigned if it needs to add a load, which prolongs the development cycle and increases the cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made to overcome or alleviate at least one aspect of the above mentioned disadvantages.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an interlock load control system, comprising: a main board; a plurality of relays each having a normally closed contact and a load contact connected to a respective load, wherein, if closed positions of all the relays are in the normally closed contacts, all the relays are connected with a power line in series; and a controller, provided on the main board, and configured to control the closed position of each relay, wherein the plurality of relays are spaced apart from the main board.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the controller comprises a plurality of control ports provided on the main board, each control port is configured to control the closed position of the respective relay through a separate control line.

In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the controller comprises a control bus port provided on the main board, the control bus port is configured to control the closed positions of all relays through a control bus.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electrical equipment with interlock loads, comprising: a plurality of loads; and the above interlock load control system, wherein the load contacts of the relays are connected to the loads, respectively.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the electrical equipment comprises a washing machine, and the plurality of loads comprise a drying load and a water heating load in the washing machine.

In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of loads comprise at least two drying loads and at least two water heating loads.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, each relay is integrated with one respective load. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig.1 is an illustrative view of a centralized interlock control solution used in the prior art;

Fig.2 is an illustrative view of a distributed interlock control solution according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig.3 is an illustrative view of a distributed interlock control solution according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE IVENTION

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described hereinafter in detail with reference to the attached drawings, wherein the like reference numerals refer to the like elements. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiment set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that the present disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed

embodiments. It will be apparent, however, that one or more embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are schematically shown in order to simplify the drawing.

According to a general concept of the present invention, there is provided an interlock load control system, comprising: a main board 1; a plurality of relays Kl, K2, K3, K4, K5, K6, K7 and K8 each having a normally closed contact (corresponding to the upper contact as shown in Fig. 1) and a load contact (corresponding to the lower contact as shown in Fig. 1) connected to a respective load. If closed positions of all the relays are at the normally closed contacts, all the relays are connected with a power line in series; and a controller, provided on the main board, configured to control the closed position of each relay, that is, configured to control whether the normally closed contact or the load contact of each relay is switched on, wherein the plurality of relays are spaced apart from the main board.

Figs.2 and 3 illustrate exemplary embodiments of the interlock load control system.

As shown in Fig.2, the controller C comprises a plurality of control ports C1-C8 provided on the main board, each control port is configured to control the closed position of the respective relay through a separate control line.

As shown in Fig.3, the controller C comprises a control bus port provided on the main board, the control bus port is configured to control the closed positions of all relays through a control bus.

In the illustrated embodiments of Figs.2 and 3, the relays Kl, K2, K3, K4, K5, K6, K7 and K8 are provided on the loads Al, A2, A3, A4, Bl, B2, B3 and B4, respectively. Wires of loads A1-A4 and B1-B4 are changed from parallel cascade arrangement to serial cascade arrangement. In the case that the closed positions of all the relays are at the normally closed contacts, all the relays are connected with the power line L in series.

On the other hand, for example, when the control port CI is in high level, the relay Kl is in a opened position, and the power line L is connected to a lower contact P2 of the relay Kl of Fig.2. Meanwhile, the power line L is disconnected from an upper contact PI of the relay Kl, so that an input of the relay K2 is disconnected from the power line L. In this case, even if any one of the control ports C2-C8 is in high level, the relays K2, K3, K4, K5, K6, K7, K8 are not connected to the power line L, thereby preventing the water heating loads A1-A4 and the drying loads B1-B4 from being activated at the same time, and avoiding the security risk due to an over high system current.

In this way, the interlock load control system has a good cascade characteristic, facilitating the extension of the loads. Accordingly, additional loads may be added without redesigning the main board. Thereby, it greatly shortens the development cycle of new product and saves the cost.

Furthermore, in the centralized interlock control system shown in Fig. l, each load corresponds to one separate power line. Since the current in the interlock device is higher, it needs to use AWG16-grade or higher grade wire harness with high cost in the centralized interlock control system shown in Fig.1. In the distributed interlock control system shown in Figs.2 and 3, it may use AWG22-grade or lower grade wire harness. Generally, the cost of the AWG16-grade wire harness is 3.5 times as much as that of the AWG22-grade wire harness. Thereby, the solutions disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention may save the cost of the wire harness. Furthermore, in the exemplary embodiment shown in Fig.3, since a bus control solution is adopted, DC control wire harness and AC control wire harness are independent of the number of loads, and it may greatly save the cost of the wire harness in a case where a great number of loads are used.

According to another general concept of the present invention, there is provided an electrical equipment with interlock loads, comprising: a plurality of loads (for example, water heating loads A1-A4 and drying loads B1-B4); and the interlock load control system set forth in any one of the above embodiments. The load contacts of the relays are connected to the loads, respectively.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the electrical equipment may comprise a washing machine, and the plurality of loads may comprise a drying load and a water heating load in the washing machine. In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of loads may comprise at least two drying loads and at least two water heating loads.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, each relay may be integrated with one respective load.

Please be noted that Figs.2 and 3 only illustratively show exemplary embodiments of the present invention. The interlock load control system shown in Figs.2 and 3 is not limited to be applied to the washing machine, and it may applied to any other electrical equipment, as long as the electrical equipment comprises a plurality of loads, and the plurality of loads need to be interlocked to avoid electrical faults caused by activating large power loads at the same time. Accordingly, the loads in Figs. 2 and 3 are not limited to the drying load and the water heating load, and the number of loads is not limited to the number shown in Figs.2 and 3.

It should be appreciated for those skilled in this art that the above embodiments are intended to be illustrated, and not restrictive. For example, many modifications may be made to the above embodiments by those skilled in this art, and various features described in different embodiments may be freely combined with each other without conflicting in configuration or principle.

Although several exemplary embodiments have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes or modifications may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the disclosure, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.

As used herein, an element recited in the singular and proceeded with the word "a" or "an" should be understood as not excluding plural of said elements or steps, unless such exclusion is explicitly stated. Furthermore, references to "one embodiment" of the present invention are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features. Moreover, unless explicitly stated to the contrary, embodiments "comprising" or "having" an element or a plurality of elements having a particular property may include additional such elements not having that property.

Claims

What is claimed is,

1. An interlock load control system, comprising:

a main board (1);

a plurality of relays (K1-K8) each having a normally closed contact and a load contact connected to a respective load, wherein, if closed positions of all the relays are inthe normally closed contacts, all the relays are connected with a power line in series; and

a controller (C), provided on the main board, and configured to control the closed position of each relay,

wherein the plurality of relays are spaced apart from the main board.

2. The interlock load control system according to claim 1, wherein:

the controller comprises a plurality of control ports (C1-C8) provided on the main board, each control port is configured to control the closed position of the respective relay through a separate control line.

3. The interlock load control system according to claim 1, wherein:

the controller comprises a control bus port provided on the main board, the control bus port is configured to control the closed positions of all relays through a control bus.

4. An electrical equipment with interlock loads, comprising:

a plurality of loads (A1-A4; B1-B4); and

the interlock load control system according to claim 1,

wherein the load contacts of the relays are connected to the loads, respectively.

5. The electrical equipment according to claim 4, wherein:

the electrical equipment comprises a washing machine; and

the plurality of loads comprise a drying load and a water heating load in the washing machine.

6. The electrical equipment according to claim 5, wherein:

the plurality of loads comprise at least two drying loads and at least two water heating loads.

7. The electrical equipment according to claim 4, wherein each relay is integrated with one respective load.