US 8,671,310 B2Granted

Method and system for redundantly controlling a slave device

AssigneePhoenix Contact GmbH & Co. KG

InventorsMartin Schuermann, Gunnar Lessman

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Abstract

The disclosure provides a control and data transmission installation for redundantly controlling a slave device, which may be a field transmitter. The effect achieved by the control and data transmission installation is that essentially seamless control of a field transmitter can be assured even when a control device fails. The control and data transmission installation has at least two control devices and at least one slave device which are connected to one another by a communication network. The slave device contains addressable output interfaces for receiving output and status data. Each control device has a device for producing and transmitting status and output data for a separate output interface of the slave device, and the slave device has an evaluation device which controls the forwarding of received output data for further use in response to the status signals received from the control devices.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A control and data transmission installation for redundantly controlling a slave device, comprising:

at least two control devices;
and
at least one slave device which is connected with the at least two control devices via a communications network,
wherein the at least one slave device has several addressable output interfaces for receiving output and status data, wherein each control device of the at least two control devices has a device for generating and transmitting status and output data to a separate output interface of the at least one slave device, and wherein the at least one slave device has an evaluation device, which, in response to the status data received from the at least two control devices, controls the forwarding of the output data that have been received for further use,
wherein the evaluation device, upon receipt of the status data that signals a failure of one of the at least two control devices, forwards the output data coming from a properly operating control device,
wherein the at least two control devices exchange the status data with one another, and
wherein each control device of the at least two control devices transmits the status data to the output interface of the at least one slave device, the status data comprising an operating state of each control device.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.