JPH0812004B2 - Combustion equipment control device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a combustion equipment control device used for combustion equipment such as an automatic water heater and a fan heater.
In particular, it relates to improvements for the integrity of data used for control.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The above-mentioned control of a combustion device is performed based on various data. For example, there are set temperature data desired by the user, correction data for data obtained from various sensors, and time data for a device having a clock display. Recently, a control circuit for controlling combustion equipment is often composed of a microcomputer (hereinafter, simply referred to as a microcomputer), but conventionally, at least one kind of data among the above various data, for example, set temperature data, etc. With regard to the above, in order to retain the contents even when the power of the equipment is turned off, an external E
Some are stored in EPROM (electrically rewritable non-volatile storage means).

[0003]

However, in the conventional combustion equipment control device having such an EEPROM, there is no problem as long as the writing of data to the EEPROM is completed, but at the moment the data is being written. If a power failure occurs during that time, the data stored in the EEPROM will be different from the data intended for writing. Nevertheless, in the conventional combustion equipment control device, after the power failure is restored, the control circuit starts to operate.
When the data in the EPROM is read, it does not have a function of checking whether the data is correct. Therefore, erroneous control may be performed based on such invalid data.

However, for the sake of safety, even if a power failure occurs during the writing of data to the EEPROM, a method of forming a backup power source with a capacitor or a battery is disclosed in order to secure the power source for at least the time to finish writing all the data. It had been. However, according to this method,
For example, if it is simple data such as time data, the time required to write all the data will be short, but if it is all other data, the capacitor to be used will actually need to be considerably large and the space factor It is undesired and costly. If a battery is used, the cost will be much higher, and if the battery is a primary battery, it will be necessary for the user to manage the battery (replacement work will be required). It has to be equipped with a charging mechanism and becomes more expensive.

Further, the data normally stored in the EEPROM may be damaged by the disturbance, but there is no way to compensate for this in the conventional combustion equipment control device.

In view of such circumstances, the present invention has a possibility of being able to restore the data damaged at that time due to a power failure during data writing, or the data damaged by noise etc. even if correctly stored. Moreover, the main purpose of the invention is to provide an inexpensive and highly reliable combustion equipment control device capable of maintaining data without using a bulky or expensive backup power source such as a large capacity capacitor or battery.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, first, a rewritable non-volatile storage means (also generally externally attached to a microcomputer) coupled to a control circuit (generally a microcomputer can be used). , Which can be constituted by an EEPROM), is provided with a plurality of data areas for respectively storing data of the same content. In the past, one data was stored in a single data area according to a very common idea. On the other hand, when the data discriminating means is coupled to the control circuit and the data stored in the above-mentioned plurality of data areas of the non-volatile storage means are sequentially read out, the data discriminating means discriminates the individual effectiveness thereof. Let Then, the control circuit is caused to perform a predetermined control operation using the data only based on one of the data judged by the data judging means to be valid. In order to determine whether the data is valid or invalid by the data discriminating means, it is possible to make a discrimination according to the well-known keyword collation method itself, or in place of or in addition to this, the thumb check principle.

In a preferred mode of the present invention satisfying the above basic structure, a plurality of data read from a plurality of data areas of the rewritable nonvolatile storage means as a result of the discrimination by the data discriminating means. Of the data
When it is determined that at least one of the data is invalid and the rest is valid, the data in the data area that stores this invalid data is written by the data that is determined to be valid. A control device with a replacement configuration is also proposed.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the initial value data is written in the read-only storage means coupled to the control circuit, and as a result of the discrimination by the data discriminating means, a plurality of data in the rewritable nonvolatile storage means is written. Also proposed is a control device having a configuration for writing the above-mentioned initial value data in the plurality of data areas of the nonvolatile storage means when it is determined that all of the plurality of data read from the area are invalid. Here, if a microcomputer is used for the control circuit as the read-only storage means, the R
You can use OM. The keyword data and the like described above can also be stored in this ROM.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this embodiment, the control circuit 10 is a microcomputer
It is composed of 10. Further, the data communication operation determining means 12, the data communication means 13, and the data discriminating means 14 used in this embodiment and individually configured as hardware are also equivalently realized by the microcomputer 10. Further, the volatile memory indicated as internal data storage means 11 in the drawing may be a RAM attached to the microcomputer 10, and the read-only non-volatile storage means 15 may also be a ROM attached to the normal microcomputer 10. On the other hand, the electrically rewritable (electrically erasable and programmable) non-volatile storage means 30 has a microcomputer in the control circuit 10 as shown as the external non-volatile storage means 30 in the figure. In case of using the above, it can be constituted by an EEPROM 30 externally attached thereto.

The controlled part 40 controlled by the microcomputer or the control circuit 10 includes a combustion mechanism part 41, a fan motor part 42, and various sensors 43 . Relationship itself between the controller 40 and the control circuit 10 such as this may be the same as the combustion equipment existing of this kind.

An operating unit 20 is connected to the control circuit 10, but this can also be referred to as data setting means 20, and various setting data such as set temperature data (for a water heater, can be set by a user's operation). It is provided for inputting hot water supply temperature data, desired room temperature data for a fan heater, etc.) to the control circuit 10. The configuration of this part also does not need to be modified by the present invention with respect to the existing configuration. In some models, the control circuit 10 has already executed the clock function, and the current time is displayed on the clock display section 51 composed of a liquid crystal display or the like.
Is also provided with an operating member for initializing the current time.

As described above, the rewritable external non-volatile storage means or the EEPROM 30 stores general data including various set data which can be set by the user, in addition to the set temperature data concerning the room temperature and the hot water supply temperature. More important than that, data that directly relates to the safety of the combustion equipment, for example, correction for the analog output finally obtained from various sensors 43 including the flame detection sensor provided in the controlled unit 40. data, correction data relating to files Nmo over motor control, in the case of gas-fired equipment, such as data regarding limitations of the gas proportional valve current, various data even fallen device power want to keep intact is stored. Since the features of the present invention are well expressed in this portion, a detailed description will be given in accordance with the following operation example.

Control circuit composed of the microcomputer 10
When the power supply is given to the device in any case, such as when the power switch is intentionally turned on or when the power is restored after a power failure, the data communication operation determination means 12 first causes the E
It decides to read data from the EPROM 30, reads all data from the EEPROM 30 through the data communication means 13, and stores them in the internal data storage means (RAM) 11.

Then, the data discriminating means 14 operates the RAM 11
It is determined whether each data stored in is normal or abnormal, that is, whether the data is valid data or invalid data. For this determination, it is possible to employ a keyword matching method or a sum check method, which are known methods per se. However, this is also related to the writing of data, so details will be given later.

In accordance with the present invention, the EEPROM 30 has at least two or more data areas capable of storing at least two types of data to be stored therein, which are set and secured in isolation in the EEPROM 30. . For simplification, this embodiment exemplifies a case where two data areas A1 and A2 independent from each other are set for one data.

Now, these data areas of the EEPROM 30
Assuming that data has already been stored in A1 and A2, the data is read as described above when the power is turned on and stored in the RAM 11, and when both are determined to be valid by the data discriminating means 14, as will be apparent later. Since these valid data have the same content, the control circuit 10 may use either of the two data having the same content, but performs a predetermined control operation using the data. For example, if the read data is, for example, set temperature data as general data, the combustion mechanism section 41 and the fan / motor section 42 are controlled so as to satisfy the set temperature instructed thereby. On the other hand, as more important data regarding combustion, for example, data for correcting the output of the flame detection sensor included in the various sensors 43, correction data for the fan motor, or constraint data for the gas proportional valve current. If so, the data is adopted and control is performed according to a predetermined control function. However, this also includes a case where the control circuit 10 is configured to start combustion control according to a user's instruction after entering the operation standby state, rather than immediately starting the operation of the combustion device and entering the control operation. In this document, the control operation is defined to include the control operation, including at least entering the control operation possible state.

On the other hand, R read out from the EEPROM 30
As a result of the data discriminating means 14 discriminating the data transferred and stored in the AM 11, it is determined that one of the two data read from the two data areas A1 and A2 which should hold the same data is invalid. Then, the control circuit 10 causes the data communication operation determining means 12 to determine the data write operation, and the data communication means 13 causes the EEPR to operate.
Of the two data areas A1 and A2 in the OM30, the valid data is transferred to the data area storing the invalid data, and the invalid data is rewritten with the data determined to be valid. Only use data that is determined to be valid. Therefore, the possibility of erroneous control is greatly reduced, and after the rewriting operation is completed, the data is stored in the two independent data areas A1 and A2 in the EEPROM 30 for the same data. Both data become valid data having the same content again, and the damaged data can be restored or restored.

As is apparent, this operation is an effective measure against power failure and an effective data integrity measure. That is, as in the conventional case, if only one data area for each data is provided in the EEPROM 30, if a power failure occurs while writing data to the data area, naturally, The data held in the data area in a non-volatile manner is at least partially destroyed and should be invalid data. Nevertheless, after the power failure is recovered, if the control circuit 10 does not recognize this and uses the data read from the EEPROM 30 as it is, the desired control is not naturally performed, and the safety data such as the correction data related to the combustion control is ensured. On the other hand, if it is important data, even a dangerous state as a combustion device could occur. To prevent this, as already mentioned, it is necessary to back up the power supply with respect to the time required for writing all data by using a large-capacity capacitor or a separate battery.

Further, in such a single data area structure, even if the invalidity of the data can be known by using the read data discriminating means, there is no data as a clue for repairing the damaged data. Therefore, if it is intentionally considered, the initial value data should be written in the ROM 15 or the like attached to the control circuit 10, and if the invalid data is determined, the initial value data should be written in the corresponding data area in the EEPROM 30. However, this may result in poor usability.

For example, in the case of a fan heater, assume that the initial value data regarding the set temperature regarding room temperature is 20 ° C.
Moreover, the desired temperature is set on the operation unit 20 (data setting means 20).
Suppose that the push button on your computer is designed to increase by 1 ° C each time you press it. Furthermore, the user sets 25 ° C as the set temperature data, which is very different from the initial value data during use before the power failure,
After that, the operation of selecting 26 ° C was further performed, but assume that a power failure occurred while writing this set temperature data of 26 ° C. Then, after recovery from the power failure, the control circuit can know that valid data no longer exists in the EEPROM, but there is no way to restore it, so the initial value data set in the ROM is 20 ° C. Select this and E
There is no choice but to write in EPROM. Therefore, the user must press the setting button in the operation section 20 again six times in order to input the desired set temperature data of 26 ° C. again.

However, according to the present invention, when compared under the same conditions, the user does not have to perform any reset operation after the power failure is restored, or even if there is one push button operation. Can be done. That is, according to the present invention, when changing the previously set temperature data of 25 ° C. to the currently set temperature of 26 ° C., two data areas in the EEPROM 30 are used.
Write this new set temperature data to A1 and A2 in sequence. First, data area A1 is written,
If data is written to the data area A2 after that, no power failure occurred when new set temperature data was written to the first data area A1, but data was rewritten to the second data area A2. If a power failure occurs while the power is being recovered, the data stored in the latter data area A2 of the two data read from both data areas A1 and A2 after the power recovery is Although judged as invalid by the data discrimination means 15,
Since the data stored in the first data area A1 is determined to be valid, the control circuit 10 can perform control according to this valid data as described above, and the user does not need to perform any operation. . Conversely, the first data area
If a power failure occurs during the writing of the new set temperature data of 26 ° C to A1, the data in the first data area A1 may be invalid, but it remains without receiving the write operation. Second data area
The previous set temperature data of 25 ° C remains in A2.
Therefore, after the power failure is restored, the control circuit 10 is the data discriminating means.
It is possible to perform control according to the set temperature data 25 ° C that 15 determines to be valid, and the user can change the set temperature last time.
There is no big difference from 26 ℃, and even if the user changes the set temperature to the desired temperature of 26 ℃ again, the operation unit 20
All you have to do is press the push button provided on the.

In this way, the superiority of the present invention is clear, but the EEPROM is not limited to power failure, but may be caused by noise or the like.
It is clear that the present invention is effective as a countermeasure when the data in 30 is damaged. This is because it is unlikely that data destruction will occur at the same time for all of the same data in a plurality of data areas.

However, this is not always the case. Therefore, in this embodiment, since there is no help in such a worst case, the initial value data is stored in the EEPROM 30.
I try to write it in. That is, the initial value data is stored in the ROM 15 attached to the control circuit 10, and the two data areas A1 in the EEPROM 30 via the data communication means 13 are read based on the read decision of the data communication operation decision means 12.
When it is determined that both of the two data read from A2 are invalid, the control circuit 10 reads the initial value data from the ROM 15, causes the data communication operation determining means 12 to determine writing of data, and causes the data communication means 13 to operate. The initial value data is sequentially written into both data areas A1 and A2 of the EEPROM 30, and the initial value data is used.

However, this state can also be compared with the case where the power is first turned on after the combustion equipment is installed. That is, it may be considered that the user does not input any arbitrary setting data and no valid data is written in the corresponding data areas A1 and A2 of the EEPROM 30. At this time, data discrimination means
Since 14 determines that all the data in these data areas A1 and A2 are invalid, the control circuit 10 reads the initial value data stored in the ROM 15 and transfers it to the EEPROM 30 by the mechanism already described.

However, when the keyword method is employed for data discrimination as described above, a predetermined keyword is stored in the read-only storage means or ROM 15 attached to the control circuit 10. On top of that, EEPR
When writing the given data to the plurality of data areas A1 and A2 of the OM 30 according to the above-mentioned method, the keyword data read from the ROM 15 under the instruction of the control circuit 10 is also transmitted through the data communication means 13. Area A1, A2
Write in. And each data area of the EEPROM 30
When the data is read out from A1 and A2, the keywords stored in the respective data areas are also read out together, and this is read in the data discriminating means 14 by RO.
If it is not matched with the keyword stored in M15, it is judged that the data in the data area storing the unmatched keyword is invalid.

Instead of such a keyword system, or more generally, in addition to this keyword system, a data discriminating means 14 for discriminating the validity of data by the sum check principle can be constructed. That is, the EEPROM 30
When a predetermined data is written in the data, if all the total addition values including the keyword data are stored as sum check data in each data area A1, A2, the data discriminating means
In 14, it is possible to judge whether the data according to the sum check method is valid or invalid at the time of reading.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above in detail, the number of data areas to be set in the non-volatile storage means 30 for one data is not limited to two, and may be increased. . In that case, if the data stored in the largest number of data areas determined to be valid are treated as valid data and the rest are treated as invalid data, the above discussion can be applied almost as it is.

Of course, for each of a plurality of types of data, a plurality of data areas may be set in the rewritable non-volatile storage means, and the present invention may be applied to each of them.
As the target data, time data and the like can be included in accordance with the improvement in the performance of the nonvolatile storage means 30 used. However, if the latest data is always stored in the EEPROM, in the case of this time data, Even if the minimum resolution is set in minutes, the data must be rewritten every minute. Therefore, the EE currently on the market
Considering that the rewriting life of the PROM is about 100,000 times, it is not appropriate to target such time data at the present time. This is because the rewriting life will be exhausted soon. However, if an EEPROM that allows rewriting a very large number of times is provided in the future, the present invention can be applied to such data in principle.

[0030]

According to the present invention, in a control device in which data used for controlling combustion equipment is required to be stored in a non-volatile storage means, a large capacity capacitor or battery is not required, and a power failure occurs. There is a high possibility that the data stored in the rewritable non-volatile storage means can be protected without taking any special countermeasure when it occurs. Strong against disturbance. Therefore, safety and reliability can be improved while reducing the cost of the combustion device.

Further, according to the desirable mode of the present invention, even if data is damaged as a result of power failure or disturbance, there is a high possibility of restoration, and the user needs to change and set the setting data set by the user again. Even if it occurs, the data stored in the non-volatile storage means does not always return to the initial value data, and it is highly likely that the data is close to the desired data, so the usability can be greatly improved.

Further, even if the data is particularly important for ensuring safety, the maintenance reliability can be improved, so that important data is not handled as digital data as in the past, but analog data such as electromechanical parts is used. Since the control circuit is configured to constantly take in voltage information and the like obtained from the volume, it is possible to reduce the number of parts.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a main part of a combustion device control device configured according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 control circuit or microcomputer, 11 volatile data storage means or RAM, 12 data communication operation determination means, 13 data communication means, 14 data determination means, 15 read-only non-volatile storage means, 20 operating section or data setting means, 30 writing Replaceable non-volatile storage means, 40 controlled parts, A1 first data area, A2 second data area.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-3-20518 (JP, A) JP-A-63-100557 (JP, A) JP-A-63-3126 (JP, A)

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A control circuit for controlling a controlled part including a combustion mechanism part using a data group relating to combustion, and at least one kind of data in the data group can be electrically rewritten. Non-volatile storage means for storing, data communication operation determining means for determining writing and reading of the data with respect to the rewritable non-volatile storage means, and the data based on the determination of the data communication operation determining means A data communication means for writing or reading data to or from a non-volatile storage means, wherein a plurality of mutually independent data areas are set in the rewritable non-volatile storage means; When the deciding means decides to write the data to the nonvolatile storage means, the control circuit causes the nonvolatile memory to pass through the data communication means. While sequentially writing the data of the same content in the plurality of data areas of the nonvolatile storage means; when the data communication operation determining means determines to read the data from the non-volatile storage means, the control circuit The data stored in the plurality of data areas of the non-volatile storage means are sequentially read out via the data communication means; the validity of each of the plurality of sequentially read data is determined by the data determination means. In addition, the control circuit uses only one of the plurality of data which is judged to be valid by the data judging means; 2. The combustion equipment control device according to claim 1, further comprising: a read-only storage means coupled to the control circuit; a keyword being stored in the read-only storage means; When writing the data of the same content to the plurality of data areas of the replaceable non-volatile storage means, the control circuit uses the keyword read from the read-only storage means via the data communication means as the non-volatile storage means. Is also written in each of the plurality of data areas described above;
The keyword in each data area that is read together when the data is read from each of the plurality of data areas of the non-volatile storage means is compared with the keyword stored in the read-only storage means,
If they do not match, it is determined that the data in the data area storing the unmatched keyword is invalid; 3. The combustion equipment control device according to claim 1, wherein when the data of the same content is written in the plurality of data areas of the rewritable non-volatile storage means, the control circuit is the above-mentioned. The sum check data is also written together with the data via the data communication unit; the data discriminating unit is stored together with the data when the data is read from each of the plurality of data areas of the nonvolatile storage unit. Combustion equipment control device, characterized in that the validity of the sum check data is judged by using the sum check data. 4. The combustion device control apparatus according to claim 1, 2, or 3, wherein the data is discriminated from the plurality of data areas of the rewritable nonvolatile storage means as a result of the discrimination by the data discriminating means. When it is determined that at least one of the plurality of data is invalid and the rest is valid, the control circuit causes the data communication operation determining means to determine writing of data, and the data communication is performed. Rewriting the data in the data area storing the data determined to be invalid by means of the data determined to be valid, via the means. 5. The combustion equipment control device according to claim 2, 3 or 4, wherein initial value data is written in said read-only storage means; and as a result of the discrimination by said data discriminating means, said rewriting. When it is determined that all of the plurality of data read from the plurality of data areas of the possible nonvolatile storage means are invalid, the control circuit causes the data communication operation determining means to determine writing of data, A combustion apparatus control device, wherein the initial value data read from the read-only storage means is written into the plurality of data areas of the non-volatile storage means via the data communication means. 6. The combustion equipment control device according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, wherein said control circuit is constituted by a microcomputer; said data communication operation determining means, said data communication means, said data. The discriminating means is equivalently constructed by the microcomputer;
Combustion equipment control device. 7. The combustion device control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the rewritable nonvolatile storage means is an EEPROM external to the microcomputer.