CONTROL BOARD DRIVERS WITH POLYCARBONATE MEMBRANE
A control board drivers with polycarbonate membrane that includes drivers with an adhesive polycarbonate membrane and electronic circuits, with an opening for passing a connection FLET between the membrane and a SLAVE module, and a five-way cable projecting from the SLAVE module. The five-way cable has two data communication wires, two feeding wires and one spare wire that connects the SLAVE module and a MASTER module. The adhesive membrane, along with the SLAVE module and the MASTER module, allow for the replacement of all components (drivers) in an electric control board.
The present invention relates to control board drivers with polycarbonate membrane suitable for use in the control and automation segment, in particular, in the electronic engineering field.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKGROUND ARTGenerally, in order to develop and install drivers (for example, pushbuttons, selectors and signals) on the front of an electric control board, the following steps are undertaken:
Q1—Making holes according to the number of drivers on the control board door;
Q2—Blocking of the assembled drivers:
A—Visual signals (LEDs or lamps with two contact terminals);
B—Pushbuttons or buttons (dry contact with two contact terminals);
C—Selectors, two or three positions (with three or four contact terminals).
Q3—Intercalating all components according to the design:
1st—Control board perforated door;
2nd—Identification plate;
3rd—Frontal (lamps, pushbuttons and selectors);
4th—Thread for fixation of frontals;
5th—Contact base support;
6th—Drivers contact base;
These steps are shown in
Further,
The drivers are intercalated with a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) or directly with contactors, as shown in
Another method used to develop electric control boards is the use of HMI (human-machine interface) (TC), where the electric drivers are replaced by a digital touch screen of the block (A4) which is directly interconnected to the contactors (B4) via wiring (1), as shown in
The prior art documents require, in order to make a complete assembly (see
As shown in
With regard to published references, US Publication No.: 2012/293240, published on Nov. 22, 2012, describes a control board with membrane contact including a number of female wires disposed on the basic layer, each one with a number of electrodes electrically connected and coupled among each other, and having, each one, an opening formed on each electrode and some male wires with a number of electrodes electrically connected and coupled among each other and received and coupled to the female electrodes openings, respectively, to form a number of commutation elements; the control board with membrane contact includes a structure or configuration to be easily and quickly manufactured with reduced manufacturing costs and procedures.
Document WO2017036192, published on Mar. 9, 2017 describes a panel like control button comprising: button base (I), button panel (II), and switch plate (III) and one resilient programmable key. The button panel is fixed on the upper part of the button base, while an end of the button panel is assembled in a revolving way on one end of the button base, the switch plate is located below the button base, a pin mechanism is placed on the switch plate and the resilient programmable key is located above the commutation plate commutation mechanism. When the button panel is pressed, the button panel contacts the resilient programmable key, triggers the pin mechanism on the key plate and controls the opening and closing of the pin mechanism. The resilient programmable key provides resilience to the button panel to re-define. The panel type control button can be simultaneously applied to flat surfaces and side walls of electronic products, implementing synchronically one action of automatic replacement and having the advantage of a small space for action, total mechanical transmission and low costs.
Based on the preceding description it can be clearly observed the deficiency of the prior art with regard to a product that may facilitate the design and assembly of electric control boards without substantial number of wires used in the operation and assembly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn view of the foregoing and other exemplary problems, drawbacks, and disadvantages of the conventional methods and systems, an exemplary feature of the present invention is to reduce assembly time and labor by replacing the required holes of drivers for a single orifice, in addition to replacing all assembly blocks of each driver for a polycarbonate membrane with electronic circuits, replacing all cables that interconnect with the drivers on the board door for a single cable with five ways, thus reducing the amount of materials used and the installation time.
The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus, do not limit the present invention, and wherein:
The present invention is directed to control board drivers with polycarbonate membrane, comprising drivers with an adhesive polycarbonate membrane and electronic circuits, with an opening for passing a connection FLET (3) between the membrane (2) and a SLAVE module (4), and a five-way cable (5) projecting from the SLAVE module (4), wherein the five-way cable (5) comprises two data communication wires, two feeding wires and one spare wire that connects the SLAVE module (4) and a MASTER module (6). This embodiment of the present invention is shown in
According to an embodiment of the invention, and as shown in
The polycarbonate membrane panel (2B) does not count on sufficient electric characteristics to support input and output loads from a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) or to be directly connected to the contactors. It would not be possible to commute the buttons, which do not reduce the number of wires to be connected. Accordingly, two electronic modules were developed, “SLAVE” module (4) (as shown in
Further, in order to interconnect the membrane shown in
Therefore, according to an embodiment of the invention, and to
The membrane (2B) has a positive common way through the connector (CON2), while resistors (R2, R3, R4 and R5) provide to the micro-controller (M) the return of this positive supply when a membrane button interconnected by high impedance resistors (R7, R8, R9 and R10), which are pressed connected to negative voltage to avoid signals fluctuation when buttons are at rest.
To feed and drive the LEDs, the micro-controller (M) sends a positive signal through the resistor (R6) that saturates a transistor base (general use TR-NPN) which works as an electronic key and starts to supply negative voltage to the LEDs on the membrane through the resistor (R1).
In
Similar to the SLAVE module (4), the data processing in the MASTER module (6) is accomplished through a micro-controller (M1) with positive supply by the set of components D6 (rectifying diode) that impedes inverted connection of supply, passing through capacitor C1 (electrolytic capacitor) and VR 1 (voltage regulator), providing source to capacitors C2, C3 (electrolytic capacitors) and VR2 (voltage regulator) connected to VSS and VDD pins. Through a connector (CON1), the MASTER module (6) provides positive supply through VR1 (voltage regulator) to the SLAVE module, as well as 2 (two) communication ways (I2C) and one spare wire.
According to an embodiment of the invention, communication with the SLAVE module (4) is made through the interface (I2C) with SDA (Serial DAta) and SCL (Serial Clock) pins. The input terminals (IN1,IN2,IN3,IN4 and IN5) pass through resistors (R6,R7,R8,R9,R10,R11,R12,R13,R14 and R15) in pairs as voltage divisors against the negative voltage in order to meet the micro-controller (M1) pins input voltage limit.
For outlets, the micro-controller (M1) sends positive signals in resistors (R1,R2,R3,R4 and R5) that saturate the transistors base (T1,T2,T3,T4 and T5—general use NPN), sending negative voltage to the relays coils (RL1,RL2,RL3,RL4 and RL5—N.A) since the other coil pole is on the VR1 (voltage regulator) supply line. Diodes (D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5) disengage relays coils when they are disconnected.
With their contacts closed, the relays transport the positive voltage post-fuse to the output terminals (OUT1, OUT2, OUT3, OUT4 and OUT5).
Additionally,
In
First, the MASTER module (6) is supplied with a positive rectified source that will energize the SLAVE module (4) which will start to monitor the polycarbonate membrane buttons (2B), as shown in
As shown in
The pushbuttons operation (B1,B2), as shown in
For driving signals (L1) and (L2), as shown in
The membrane (2B) relation with MASTER (6) and SLAVE (4) modules is determined by the volume of drivers in the design and, as shown, the operation of each driver is differentiated. We show next the amount of I/O (inputs and outputs) of each component (drivers).
As demonstrated above, the MASTER module inputs serve sole and exclusively to drive the signals (L1) of the polycarbonate membrane (2B) and the outputs can be defined as selectors of three (C33) and two (C32) positions or simply one button (B1).
In terms of the operating flow, the invention comprises two modules, each one with a micro-controller, respectively, the MASTER (6) and the SLAVE (4) modules. The MASTER module is represented in
According to
For communication between the MASTER and the SLAVE modules, five bits of the first protocol byte (I2C) can be used. This protocol is bidirectional, which means that when the MASTER module sends (transmits) a bit to the SLAVE module, it will receive one bit at the same time, so the communication between the modules is simultaneous.
The MASTER module micro-controller's priority is the screening of the five input doors denominated as follows: IN1=bit 0, IN2=bit 1 IN3=bit 2 IN4=bit 3 and IN5=bit four of variables “R-“MASTER”=000YYYYY” where Y is the denomination of an undefined value (0—negative or 1—positive) of variable “R-“MASTER”.
At first the recorder “R-“MASTER”” is cleaned (place zero), therefore R-“MASTER”=00000000, and later input tests start, beginning with IN1, if positive, the “R-“MASTER”” starts to present the following value: “00000001”, otherwise the 0 bit is kept in 0 (zero): 00000000, and so on, all inputs test is made (N2, N3, N4 and N5) keeping tests' results in the “R-“MASTER” recorder.
After concluding the input screening, the MASTER module makes the exchange of data with the SLAVE module, sending the values obtained in the “R-“MASTER” recorder and receiving the values of the “R-“SLAVE”=XXXXXXXX” recorder simultaneously, where X is the denomination of an undefined value (0—negative or 1—positive) of variable “R-“SLAVE”. After exchanging data between modules, the tests of byte received start; driving the corresponding outputs, first the bit0 of “R-“SLAVE” recorder is tested and in positive case, ARROW (place one) the “OUT1” output, otherwise, ZERO (place zero—off) the “OUT1” output and so on with all outputs until the end of the 5th bit of “R-“SLAVE” byte. When the outputs tests and commutations are concluded, the micro-controller returns to its initial routine making an infinite looping.
When the screening in the membrane input is completed, the SLAVE module makes the exchange of data with the MASTER module, sending the values obtained in the “R-“SLAVE” recorder and receiving the values of recorder “R-“MASTER”=YYYYYYYY″ simultaneously, where Y is the denomination of an undefined value (0—negative or 1—positive) of variable “R-“MASTER”.
After exchanging data between the modules, the tests of byte received start; driving the corresponding outputs, first the bit0 of “R-“MASTER” recorder is tested and in positive case, ARROW (place one) the “L1” output, otherwise, ZERO (place zero—off) the “L1” output and later makes the test of bit1 and in case it is positive, connect L2, thus concluding the tests and commutations of outputs, and the micro-controller returns to its initial routine making an infinite looping.
Optionally, the invention can associate the sheets of the SLAVE and MASTER modules in one single module, making of FLET the means of connection to the membrane.
Claims
1. A control board drivers with polycarbonate membrane, comprising:
- an electric control board with drivers having an adhesive polycarbonate membrane and electronic circuits, an opening for passage of a connection FLET between the adhesive polycarbonate membrane and a SLAVE module, and
- a supply cable projecting from the SLAVE module wherein the supply cable includes: two data communication wires, two supply wires and one spare wire that connects the SLAVE module to a MASTER module,
- wherein the adhesive polycarbonate membrane further comprises an adhesive membrane with a frontal layout, a double face perforated adhesive, a flexible printed circuit membrane with contact caps, wherein the adhesive polycarbonate membrane is used to form a plurality of drivers.
2. The control board drivers with polycarbonate membrane, according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive membrane replaces all the drivers on the electric control board.
3. The control board drivers with polycarbonate membrane, according to claim 1, wherein a five-way cable replaces the supply cable.
4. The control board drivers with polycarbonate membrane, according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive membrane simulates a driver.
5. (canceled)
6. The control board drivers with polycarbonate membrane, according to claim 1, wherein the SLAVE module receives supply through a connector with two communication ways and one spare wire, and data processing is accomplished through a micro-controller supplied by a plurality of components and VR (voltage regulator) connected to Voltage Source Source (VS S) and Voltage Drain Drain (VDD) pins.
7. The control board drivers with polycarbonate membrane, according to claim 6, wherein the MASTER module communicates through an interface with SDA (Serial DAta) and SCL (Serial CLock) pins, each of the pins having two resistors in connection lines connected to a positive pole, wherein the MASTER module has a micro-controller with a supply and a plurality of rectifying diode components, a first electrolytic capacitor and a first voltage regulator, and at least two additional electrolytic capacitors and a second voltage regulator connected to VSS and VDD pins through a first connector, and wherein the MASTER module provides supply through the first voltage regulator to the SLAVE module, the two communication ways and the one spare wire.
8. The control board drivers with polycarbonate membrane, according to claim 1, wherein boards of the SLAVE module and the MASTER modules are combined in a single module, wherein the single module is connected to the adhesive polycarbonate membrane.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 26, 2017
Publication Date: Mar 28, 2019
Inventor: FÁBIO LANDI DA COSTA (Campinas City)
Application Number: 15/715,959