JP7164564B2 - Vacuum system and method for identifying electronic modules within the vacuum system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to vacuum systems and methods for identifying multiple electronic modules within a vacuum system. A vacuum system includes at least one vacuum device, a plurality of electronic modules, and a connection device that establishes at least one electrical connection between the plurality of modules.

Vacuum equipment typically includes one or more vacuum pumps and/or pressure gauges and controllers and/or regulators, each of which may have multiple electronic modules. Furthermore, the vacuum equipment can be connected with a plurality of external electronic modules, eg the vacuum apparatus or the vacuum system is controlled as a whole with these external electronic modules. The connections between the components of the vacuum equipment and the internal modules, as well as between the internal and external modules, are usually made with electrical wires for data transmission between the internal and external electronic modules. The entire transmission line is called a bus.

In order to be able to control or regulate the vacuum equipment reliably and correctly, the electronic modules must be uniquely identified in the form of addressing. In known vacuum equipment, each type of electronic module is assigned an offset address that characterizes that type of respective module. However, when multiple modules of the same type are in a vacuum device or when they are connected to a vacuum device, a unique identifier or address of a module is required for correct data transmission to the module. In addition to the respective offset address of the module type a further identification mark is required to establish the designation.

Known systems conventionally employ switches in respective modules to uniquely identify or address identically constructed modules within a given vacuum equipment or vacuum system. Each module of a plurality of identically constructed modules is provided with a separate contact for installation in a vacuum system or vacuum equipment. Alternatively, each of these modules may be provided with a respective programming interface in which a separate and unique identifier or address may be stored or programmed during module manufacture. In any case, therefore, when there are several modules of identical construction in a given vacuum equipment or system, each module requires means for providing a unique identifier or addressing of the module. It takes extra effort. The use of switches in each module further limits the maximum number of different contacts in the vacuum equipment or vacuum system and thus the maximum number of modules of identical construction.

The object of the present invention is to identify a vacuum system and a plurality of electronic modules of a vacuum system in which each electronic module of the same type is uniquely identified without requiring additional auxiliary means in each electronic module. to provide a method of

This task is according to claim 1:
at least one vacuum device (13);
a plurality of electronic modules (19, 21, 23) comprising a plurality of electronic modules of the same module type;
a connection device (25) for establishing at least one electrical connection between the electronic modules (19, 21, 23),
said connecting device having one electrical contact (27) each for each said electronic module (19, 21, 23);
Each contact (27) has a unique identification mark (29) in the vacuum system (11):
Each electronic module (19, 21, 23) has one type identifier (18) assigned to one module type and a unique identifier (28) for each electronic module (19, 21, 23) said type identifier (18) is combinable or combined with a unique identification mark (29) of a contact (27) of each said electronic module (19, 21, 23) to provide that , and
A unique identification mark (29) of each contact (27) is resolved by including a coding portion .
Furthermore, the present invention is defined in claim 11:
of a vacuum system (11) having at least one vacuum device (13) with a connection device (25) for establishing at least one electrical connection between a plurality of electronic modules (19, 21, 23) A method for identifying a plurality of electronic modules (19, 21, 23) comprising a plurality of electronic modules of module type, comprising:
said connecting device (25) having one contact (27) each for each said electronic module (19, 21, 23);
each contact (27) having a unique identification mark (29), wherein
each electronic module (19, 21, 23) has one type identifier (18) assigned to one module type;
In the case of said method, said plurality of electronic modules (19, 21, 23) each have a unique identification mark (29) of their contacts (27) and a type identifier (18) of these electronic modules. identified based on a combination of
A unique identification mark (29) of each contact (27) is resolved by including a coding portion .

A vacuum system includes at least one vacuum device, a plurality of electronic modules, and a connection device for establishing at least one electrical connection between the plurality of modules. According to the invention, the connection device has one electrical contact for each of the modules. Each of these contacts then has a unique identification mark .

Since a unique identifying mark is assigned to each contact and not to one of the modules, like modules are identified by each of the contacts on which they are located. They can be distinguished using unique identification marks . Therefore, it is not necessary to provide each module with an auxiliary means such as a switch so that modules of the same type can be distinguished from each other. Since each contact has a unique identification mark , the identification marks of all contacts of the vacuum system, each assigned to one of the modules, are different from each other. In other words, a unique identification mark exists only once in the vacuum system. As such, there is no limit to the maximum number of modules of the same type or construction that can be installed in a vacuum system.

Advantageous developments of the invention are explained in the dependent claims, the following description and the figures.

According to one embodiment, each module has one type identifier assigned to one module type. The type identifier can be or is associated with a unique identification mark on the contacts of the respective module, thereby uniquely identifying each module.

Modules of the same kind or of identical construction therefore each have the same type identifier, but are distinguishable within the vacuum system, which is the unique identification of the type identifier and of each of the contacts to which each module is connected. This is because each module is uniquely identified by combining it with the identification mark . In other words, the identification mark between each module, which may be of identical construction, is moved from the module to the respective contact.

If the connection device within the vacuum system is preferably set up such that the spatial position of each electrical contact within the vacuum system is known, the module is uniquely identified and therefore a type of module is connected to the corresponding electrical contacts, the spatial position of each of the modules is also known. Since the unique identifier of a module is the combination of the type identifier for that module and the unique identifier for the contacts of that module, the identifying mark for each contact is derived from the unique identifier if the type identifier is known. can be derived. Conversely, it is possible to assign known spatial locations of contacts to module type identifiers via unique identifiers, so that it is immediately known which module type is at which contact.

A unique identifier can be provided or is provided, in particular, in or by the respective module by a combination of a type identifier and a respective unique identification mark .

If a unique identifier for each module can be provided or is provided, for example the central module or the superordinate module will The mark can be read out, so that the combination of the type identifier and the identification mark of the contact generates a unique identifier for the module, e.g. It can be provided in respective modules, such as within the device. Alternatively, each module can generate its own unique identifier by reading the unique identification marks of its contacts and combining them with its module's type identifier. In any case, each module does not require a separate identification mark , since each module's unique identifier is generated by the combination of the type identifier and the contact's respective unique identification mark . be.

The unique identification marks preferably contain the respective addressing of the contacts, while the type identifier preferably contains the reference addressing of the module type. In this embodiment, the unique addressing of each module is based on a combination of the reference addressing of each module type and the addressing of the contacts for each module.

Thus, in this embodiment the unique identifier of each module is realized by the unique addressing of the respective module, which is a combination of the addressing of the respective contacts and the reference addressing of the module type. be. In this embodiment, the connecting device can have a communication channel for addressing. The unique addressing of each module can also be generated by adding the addressing of each contact to the reference addressing of the module type. A unique addressing for each module can thus be generated in a particularly simple manner.

According to a further embodiment, the plurality of modules has a main module so as to identify a unique identification mark of each contact and/or a unique addressing of the respective module. It is configured. The main module can thus check the presence of the respective module at the start-up of the vacuum system. Further, the identification of each module with the main module can be used to communicate via the main module, for example between internal and external electronic modules of the vacuum equipment.

The connection device can have one or more single wires for establishing electrical connections between the individual modules, especially as flat cables or conductive path devices, and preferably as flexible circuit boards or circuit cards. is constructed in the form of As a result, the connecting device can be realized simply and at low cost.

According to a further embodiment, the unique identification mark of each contact includes at least one identification resistor. The connection device can also have an identification line and a ground line. In such an embodiment the identification resistor of each contact is placed between the respective identification line and the ground line. Alternatively, the identification resistor can be placed between separate single wires. A unique identification mark can be realized simply and robustly with at least one identification resistor. Additionally, the identification line can supply electricity to the module. The identification lines can thus be used not only for unique identification marks of the contacts, but additionally for supporting the operation of the respective module.

Alternatively or additionally, the unique identification mark of each contact may include an encoding portion. The encoding part can be stored, for example, in a memory device, for example a permanent memory (EPROM), at each contact. When mounting the contacts, the firmware can then be used, for example, to give the contacts an individual coding which is a unique identification mark for each contact. Thereby, the contacts of a plurality of electronic modules of a vacuum system can initially be manufactured as one and the same unit and each given a unique individual identification mark by means of the coding during installation of the vacuum system. In such an embodiment, each contact need not be manufactured separately, eg with a uniquely defined identification resistor.

The invention also relates to a method of identifying electronic modules of a vacuum system having at least one vacuum component. The vacuum system also has a connection device for establishing at least one electrical connection between the plurality of modules.

Each module has a type identifier assigned to the module type, while the connection device has contacts for each module of the plurality of modules. Each of these contacts also has a unique identification mark . According to the method, each module is identified using a combination of unique identification marks on the contacts of the module and a type identifier of the module.

That is, the combination of the unique identifying marks assigned to each contact of the module and the type identifier of the module gives each module a unique identifier. It is only necessary to have a type identifier, not a further identification mark , to allow identification of modules of the same kind or of the same structure, which This is because the contacts assigned to each module have a unique identification mark . In other words, the individualization of each module, including modules of the same construction or of the same kind, is moved from the module itself to the respective contact of the module. Modules of the same construction or of the same kind are thereby initially produced in exactly the same way and given a type identification, without the need for individual identification markings , for example by means of switches.

According to one embodiment, the unique identifier feature comprises the addressing of the respective contact, while the type identifier comprises the reference addressing of the module type. A unique addressing for each module can then be generated by combining the reference addressing for each module type and the addressing of the contacts for each module. The unique addressing thereby becomes the unique identification of each module. In the simple case, the respective addresses are added in the combination of reference addressing and contact addressing.

Also, the combination of unique identification marks and type identifiers can be made in or by the respective module. In the former case, for example, the superordinate module can carry out a combination of the unique contact identification mark and the module type identifier and store this combination as a unique identifier in the respective module. In the latter case, each module itself can read out the unique contact identification mark and combine it with the type identifier.

According to a further embodiment, one of the plurality of modules is a main module, and unique identification markings of each contact and/or unique addressing of the respective module are identified using the main module. In other words, in this embodiment the main module can use the respective unique identifiers of all electronic modules of the vacuum system to control, for example, data transmission between the respective modules.

In the following, the invention is explained in more detail by way of example of an advantageous embodiment with reference to the attached figures.

1 is a diagrammatic representation of the vacuum system of the present invention; FIG. Figure 2 is a schematic representation of the contacts and modules of the vacuum system of Figure 1; 2 is a diagrammatic representation of a connection device of the vacuum system of FIG. 1; FIG.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a vacuum system 11 having one vacuum device 13 . The vacuum equipment 13 has one vacuum pump 15 . Vacuum system 11 further comprises a pressure gauge 17 and a plurality of electronic modules 19 , which are connected to vacuum pump 15 and/or pressure gauge 17 .

The vacuum equipment 13 has an internal electronic module 21 in addition to the vacuum pump 15 . The vacuum system 11 also has a module 23 which controls the pressure gauge 17 and not the vacuum pump 15 . Module 23 is therefore referred to as external module 23 with respect to vacuum device 13 .

The modules 19 are connected to each other and to the vacuum pump 15 and/or the pressure gauge 17 using connecting devices 25 . The connecting device 25 has a plurality of single wires 26 formed in the form of flat cables 37 (see FIG. 3). Alternatively or additionally, the plurality of single wires 26 may be formed in the form of a flexible circuit board or circuit card. Since the connection device 25 is a common transmission line for data transmission between the modules 19 and between the modules 19 and the vacuum pump 15 or the pressure gauge 17, the connection device 25 is called a bus. can also

Each of the modules 19 has a type identifier 18 formed in the form of a reference address 20 . A plurality of internal modules 21 has one main module 22, which has #1 as type identifier 18 or reference address 20, and sub-module 24 has #2 as type identifier 18 or reference address 20. have. Internal module 21 further comprises a module with reference address #10 and two modules with reference address #20, which are provided for controlling components of vacuum pump 15. FIG. Of the external electronic modules 23 with reference address #30 or #40, the module with reference address #30 is provided for making pressure measurements using pressure gauge 17. FIG.

The two internal modules 21 with the circled reference address #20 are connected devices or devices for further modules, in particular the main module 22, as long as only the type identifier 18 in the form of the reference address 20 is used for addressing. Distinction via bus 25 is not possible. In order to allow correct data transmission via connection device 25 during operation of vacuum system 11, two modules with reference address #20 are used to uniquely address each module. There is a need for additional identifying marks that can be

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of part of FIG. 1, showing only the connection device 25 and two internal modules 21, which have #20 as their type identifier 18 or reference address 20, respectively. is doing. The connecting device 25 has, in addition to the single wires 26, respective contacts 27, each assigned to one of the modules 21 and connected thereto. A single wire 26 extends through each contact 27 and is provided for the electrical supply of the electronic module 21 and for data transmission or communication between the illustrated modules 21 and between the further modules 19 . ing.

Additionally each contact 27 has a unique identification mark 29 which contains a unique addressing i1, i2 of the respective contact 27, respectively. The identification marks 29 of all contacts 27 to which the respective module of the vacuum system 11 is connected are different from each other, ie each identification mark 29 is present only once in the vacuum system 11 . The respective addressing i1, i2 of the contacts 27 is used to generate a unique identifier 28 in the form of a unique addressing for each of the two electronic modules 21 illustrated in FIG. For this purpose, the respective addressing i1, i2 of the contacts is added to the respective reference address 20 of the respective module 21 to generate a unique addressing of the respective module 21. FIG. Since the two addressing i1, i2 of the contacts 27 are different, the respective addressing of the modules 21 of the same type is different even if the reference addressing 20 or the type identifier 18 are the same, which means that the respective contact 27 because the two addressing i1 and i2 of are different.

Thereby , in particular in modules such as the module 21 of the same type illustrated in FIG. is moved from the respective module 19, 21 to the contact 27 by holding the . The modules 21 can thereby be of the same construction and do not need to be provided with identifiers that allow different addressing to be established when the modules are attached to the vacuum system 11 .

In addition, the position of each contact 27, ie, the spatial position, is known during installation within the vacuum device 13. FIG. This means that the physical location or mounting location of each module 19, 21 is also known, by means of the unique addressing or unique identifier 28 of the modules 19, 21 by means of the identification marks 29 of the respective contacts 27. is. However, this is not the case if each module 19, 21 is provided with an identification mark , for example in the form of a contact. In that case the modules 19, 21 can be exchanged without the further module reading the addressing of the two modules getting the information that the modules 19, 21 have been exchanged. This is because the address of each module will then be the same regardless of its physical location or mounting location. In contrast, in the vacuum system 11 here, each contact 27 has a different identification mark 29 or a different addressing i1, i2, on the basis of which and together with the reference addressing 20 or type identifier 18 Using this, it is possible to identify at which contact 27 and thereby at which location within the vacuum system 11 which module type is present.

FIG. 3 schematically shows a detailed view of the connection device or bus 25 of the vacuum system 11 of FIG. The connection device 25 has a plurality of single wires 26, one of which is formed as a ground wire 31 or GND and the other as an identification wire 33 or GND/ID. A connection device 25 electrically connects the main module 22 to three further modules 19-1, 19-2 or 19-3 respectively.

The main module 22 uses two lines (+24V or +5V) to power the modules 19-1, 19-2 and 19-3. Two further lines CAN_H or CAN_L for data transmission are also shown.

Between the ground line 31 and the identification line 33 a different identification resistor 35 is arranged for each contact 27 of each module 19-1, 19-2 or 19-3, which identification resistors It serves as a unique identification mark 29 for each of the contacts 27 . Specifically, each identification resistor 35 produces an address offset for each contact 27-1, 27-2 or 27-3, which is assigned to each module 19-1, 19-2 or 19-3. be done. Each module is given a unique identifier 28 or addressing, respectively, along with a type-specific reference addressing for the respective module 19-1, 19-2 or 19-3. The type-specific addressing of each module 19-1, 19-2 and 19-3 is added to the address offsets of the respective contacts 27-1, 27-2 and 27-3.

Since the identification line 33 and the ground line 31 are conductively connected together within the contact 27-1 of the first module 19-1, the identification resistance 35 of the contact 27-1 is approximately zero. The identification line 33 can therefore be used as an additional ground line, thereby increasing the electrical supply for the first module 19-1. Such a module 19-1 with increased electrical supply can, for example, enable heating processes or degassing processes (venting) in the measuring device connected to the module 19-1. However, there is only one such module 19-1 in the vacuum system 11, which has a corresponding contact 27-1 with a given address offset Y assigned to the identification resistor 35 of approximately zero. is determined. If there were a further contact 27 whose identification resistance 35 was also approximately zero, it would be given the same address offset Y and would be indistinguishable from contact 27-1.

In contrast, in the second module 19-2 connected to the contact 27-2, a finite resistance R2=X greater than zero is provided between the ground line 31 and the identification line 33. FIG. Since this resistor can be of different sizes for different modules, it is possible for multiple modules within the vacuum system 11 to have the same construction. Since the identification resistance 35 is used as an address offset, only the identification resistance of the contact 27-2 needs to be different in order to be able to distinguish between identically structured modules.

No resistor is provided between the identification line 33 and the ground line 31 in the third module 19-3 connected to the contact 27-3 (R=∞). Since the contact 27-3 is assigned an address offset of zero in this case, only one module 19-3 of this type in the vacuum system 11 is possible. Since the modules must already be distinguishable by the address offsets of the contacts 27-1, 27-2 or 27-3 to which they are assigned, all further module contacts 27 must have an address offset greater than zero. There is

As already mentioned, the single wire 26 of the connecting device 25 is designed as a flat cable 37 . For contacts 27-2 and 27-3 either insert a suitable identification resistor 35 with R=X (contact 27-2) or keep the ground line 31 and identification line 33 separate (R=∞, One line of the flat cable 37 is separated for each contact 27-3). As can be seen from FIG. 3, the identification cables 33 of each of the contacts 27-1, 27-3 or 27-3 are not connected together so that the contacts 27-1, 27-2 and 27-3 are independently can be identified.

In an alternative embodiment, the connection device 25 has a corresponding conductor path configuration instead of the flat cable 37 to enable contact types 27-1, 27-2 or 27-3 to be realized. It can also have a flex circuit card. At contacts of type 27-1 in this embodiment using a flex circuit card, a conductive connection is provided between conductor paths corresponding to the ground line 31 and the identification line 33. FIG. On the other hand, in contacts of type 27-2 there is a corresponding resistance R=X between these conductor paths, while in contacts of type 27-3 corresponding to ground line 31 and identification line 33. No resistance is provided between the conductor paths.

In a further alternative embodiment the identification mark 29 of each contact 27 is not realized by an identification resistor but is stored in each contact 27 and the respective addressing i1, i2 of each contact 27 (Fig. 2) are implemented by respective encoders that determine In this embodiment each module 19, 21 of the vacuum system 11 reads out the respective encoding and thereby the individual addressing 27 of each contact and the respective reference address 20 of each module 19 as an address offset. It is set to add. Each module 19 is thereby given a unique identifier for each module in the form of a unique addressing of the respective module 19 by using the addressing i1, i2 as identification marks 29 of the contacts 27. FIG.

11 vacuum system 13 vacuum equipment 15 vacuum pump 17 pressure gauge 18 type identifier 19 electronic module 20 reference address 21 internal module 22 main module 23 external module 24 submodule 25 connection device 26 single wire 27 contact 28 unique identifier 29 unique identification mark
31 ground wire 33 identification wire 35 identification resistor 37 flat cable

Claims (10)

at least one vacuum device (13);
a plurality of electronic modules (19, 21, 23) comprising a plurality of electronic modules of the same module type;
a connection device (25) for establishing at least one electrical connection between the electronic modules (19, 21, 23),
said connecting device having one electrical contact (27) each for each said electronic module (19, 21, 23);
Each contact (27) has a unique identification mark (29) in the vacuum system (11):
each electronic module (19, 21, 23) has one type identifier (18) formed in the form of a reference address (20) assigned to one module type of similar or identical construction ; In order to provide a unique identifier (28) for each electronic module (19, 21, 23), said type identifier (18) is unique for the contacts (27) of each said electronic module (19, 21, 23). A vacuum system ( 11). Said unique identifiers (28) are associated with respective electronic modules (19, 21, 23) or by respective electronic modules (19, 21, 23) by connecting said type identifiers (18) to respective said unique 2. A vacuum system (11) according to claim 1, which can be provided or is provided in combination with a unique identification mark (29). said unique identification mark (29) comprises the addressing of said contact (27);
said type identifier (18) comprises a reference addressing (20) of said module type;
The unique addressing of each electronic module (19, 21, 23) includes the reference addressing (20) of the respective module type and the addressing of the contacts (27) for each electronic module (19, 21, 23). A vacuum system (11) according to claim 1 or 2 in combination with Said electronic modules (19, 21, 23) comprise a main module (22), which has a unique identification mark (29) and/or A vacuum system (11) according to any one of the preceding claims, arranged to identify a unique addressing of each said electronic module (19, 21, 23). 5. Any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the connection device (25) comprises one or more single wires (26) for establishing electrical connections between the individual electronic modules (19, 21, 23). A vacuum system (11) according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 6. Vacuum according to claim 5, wherein the connecting device (25) configures the one or more single wires (26) as either a flat cable (37), an electrically conductive routing device, a flexible circuit board or a circuit card. system (11). of a vacuum system (11) having at least one vacuum device (13) with a connection device (25) for establishing at least one electrical connection between a plurality of electronic modules (19, 21, 23) A method for identifying a plurality of electronic modules (19, 21, 23) comprising a plurality of electronic modules of module type, comprising:
said connecting device (25) having one contact (27) each for each said electronic module (19, 21, 23);
each contact (27) having a unique identification mark (29), wherein
each electronic module (19, 21, 23) has one type identifier (18) formed in the form of a reference address (20) assigned to one module type of similar or identical construction ;
In the case of said method, said plurality of electronic modules (19, 21, 23) each have a unique identification mark (29) of their contacts (27) and a type identifier (18) of these electronic modules. identified based on a combination of
A method, characterized in that the unique identification mark (29) of each contact (27) consists of a code . said unique identification marks (29) comprise respective addressing of said contacts (27);
said type identifier (18) comprises a reference addressing (20) of said module type;
The unique addressing of each electronic module (19, 21, 23) includes the reference addressing (20) of each said module type and the contact (27) to each said electronic module (19, 21, 23). 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the method of claim 7 is generated based on a combination of ) with addressing. The combination of said unique identification mark (29) and said type identifier (18) is performed on or by each said electronic module (19, 21, 23). 9. A method according to claim 7 or 8. Said plurality of electronic modules (19, 21, 23) comprises one main module (22) and in the case of said method said unique identification mark (29) of each contact (27) and/or each Method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the unique addressing of the electronic modules (19, 21, 23) is identified by the main module (22).

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