Control system network structure
AssigneeQuest Technologies, Inc.
InventorsDouglas J. Littlejohn, John Golini
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention imports network communication concepts into a motor and/or motion control system. The motor and/or motion control system is divided into various modules. A preferred configuration includes a motor drive control module, a user command module, and a master control module. The modules are interconnected by a simple hardware bus, such as an RS-485 bus. Communication between the modules is accomplished using a time division protocol.
Claims3
An apparatus for communicating between modules of a motor control system, comprising:
- a motor control module;
- an input/output module;
- a processing module;
- means for storing a unique ID in each of said modules;
- a bus interconnecting said modules;
- means for transmitting information from each of said modules over said bus in a time frame corresponding to such module;
- and
- means for monitoring said bus at each of said modules and updating an internal clock used to track said time frames in response to a detected transmission;
- wherein said bus comprises a two wire differential data link and further including an emergency line in parallel with said data link for sending a shut-down signal in parallel with communications over said data link in the event of a failure of said data link or a receiver in one of said modules coupled to said data link.
An apparatus for communicating between modules of a motor control system, comprising:
- a motor control module;
- an input/output module;
- a processing module;
- means for storing a unique ID in each of said modules;
- a bus interconnecting said modules;
- means for transmitting information from each of said modules over said bus in a time frame corresponding to such module;
- and
- means for monitoring said bus at each of said modules and updating an internal clock used to track said time frames in response to a detected transmission;
- wherein a transmission in one of said time frames consists of an address byte, followed by multiple data bytes, followed by a pair of CRC error detection bytes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.