WO2002080331A1 - Systeme de commutateur pour graisseur - Google Patents

Systeme de commutateur pour graisseur Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2002080331A1
WO2002080331A1 PCT/AU2002/000355 AU0200355W WO02080331A1 WO 2002080331 A1 WO2002080331 A1 WO 2002080331A1 AU 0200355 W AU0200355 W AU 0200355W WO 02080331 A1 WO02080331 A1 WO 02080331A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
battery
equipment
receiver
terminals
semiconductor device
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Ceased
Application number
PCT/AU2002/000355
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Brendon William Holmes
Guido Calkoen
Michael Shamis
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
HOLMES MARGARET HELENA
HOLMES RICHARD OLDAKER
Original Assignee
HOLMES MARGARET HELENA
HOLMES RICHARD OLDAKER
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by HOLMES MARGARET HELENA, HOLMES RICHARD OLDAKER filed Critical HOLMES MARGARET HELENA
Publication of WO2002080331A1 publication Critical patent/WO2002080331A1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02J—ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
    • H02J7/00—Circuit arrangements for charging or discharging batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
    • H02J7/855—Circuit arrangements for charging or discharging batteries or for supplying loads from batteries with circuits adapted for supplying loads from the battery
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02J—ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
    • H02J7/00—Circuit arrangements for charging or discharging batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
    • H02J7/90—Regulation of charging or discharging current or voltage
    • H02J7/96—Regulation of charging or discharging current or voltage in response to battery voltage

Definitions

  • This invention concerns a method for automatically operating battery operated equipment, particularly lubrication equipment, that performs functions on equipment having an AC power supply and that is required to operate when the equipment operates while being switched off at other times.
  • lubricators that automatically pump measured amounts of lubricant to lubrication points on machinery over an extended period are widely used.
  • One form of lubricator is battery powered, able to be used with cartridges prepacked with lubricant, and programmable by a user to deliver measured quantities of lubricant at predetermined times for periods that may be varied up to several months.
  • Battery power avoids the cost and inconvenience of providing cabling and other equipment for powering equipment from AC mains.
  • Such lubricators are readily available commercially.
  • a difficulty is that some equipment is operated intermittently, and does not require regular metered pumping of lubricant when inoperative. Instead, it is desirable to operate the lubricator(s) fitted to the equipment only when the equipment is switched on, without any requirement for manual attention.
  • transducers capable of detecting motion of machine parts (eg accelerometers, velocity transducers) or changes in electrical parameters (eg Hall effect transducers for magnetic fields, direct tappings into machine wiring) can be installed, provided with excitation (where appropriate) and signal conditioning and appropriate cabling and used in hard-wired systems or microcontroller- or PLC- based systems to operate relays which in turn switch lubricator(s), modified as 'required, on and off as required.
  • excitation where appropriate
  • signal conditioning and appropriate cabling used in hard-wired systems or microcontroller- or PLC- based systems to operate relays which in turn switch lubricator(s), modified as 'required, on and off as required.
  • switch lubricator(s) modified as 'required
  • the invention may also be applied to any other battery-operated devices required to operate when machinery is in operation, but not otherwise.
  • battery-powered temporary instrumentation installed on machinery in remote locations is a possible application of the invention.
  • the invention provides a system for controlling a battery-operated device in response to operation of equipment, including: transducer means adapted to produce an electrical output signal which varies according to operational status of said equipment; receiver means to which said signal is an input, wherein in a first state of said equipment said receiver means substantially isolates said device from said battery and in a second state of said equipment said receiver means allows power transfer from said battery to said device.
  • said receiver means is unpowered.
  • said transducer means is unpowered.
  • Said transducer may include a first conductor arranged to be inductively and/or capacitively coupled to, but electrically isolated from, a second conductor carrying AC electric power to said equipment so that operation of said equipment induces a current in said first conductor.
  • the invention provides a system for controlling a device in response to operation of equipment, including: transducer means adapted to produce an electrical output signal which varies according to operational status of said equipment; first receiver means to which said signal is an input; and second receiver means; and a battery, wherein said first receiver means controls the proportion of said battery's voltage applied as an input to said second receiver means so that in first and second states of said equipment first and second input voltages are applied to said second receiver means, and wherein said second receiver means substantially isolates said device from a power source thereof when said first input voltage is applied to said second receiver means and allows power transfer from said power source to said device when said second input voltage is applied to said second receiver means.
  • said transducer means is unpowered.
  • either or both of said first and second receiver means is/are unpowered.
  • the invention provides a system for controlling a battery-operated controlled device in response to operation of equipment having an AC power supply, the system including: receiver means; and transducer means electrically isolated from said AC power supply and adapted to induce a signal voltage across input terminals of said receiver means when connected to said terminals, said signal voltage varying according to whether the equipment is operating or not operating, wherein said receiver means includes: a semiconductor device having a conducting state in which there is a low resistance to current flow in a particular direction between first and second terminals of the semiconductor device and a substantially non-conducting state in which there is a high resistance to current flow in said particular direction; and control means whereby the semiconductor device is maintained in the conducting state in response to the said signal voltage when the equipment is in operation and maintained in the substantially non-conducting state otherwise, and wherein said first and second terminals of the semiconductor device are connected in series with a battery and said controlled device.
  • Such a system has the advantage that no direct electrical connection need be made to the AC power supply or control circuitry or components associated therewith.
  • said transducer means is unpowered (i.e. requires no excitation or power supply) and includes: a conductor which or an extension of which is connected to a first said input terminal of the receiver and which is at least partially in the proximity of and is inductively and/or capacitively coupled to a conductor connecting the AC power supply to the equipment; and an earth connection to a second said input terminal.
  • the semiconductor device is a transistor, and more preferably a field effect transistor having source, drain and gate terminals with the first and second terminals connected to the battery operated apparatus being the drain and source terminals.
  • the first and second terminals can be very nearly short circuited when the transducer is conducting and when it is not, the battery may be subject to minimal drain.
  • said control means includes: a biassing circuit connected to said transistor, said biassing circuit including a capacitor and so arranged that when a threshold voltage across terminals of said capacitor is exceeded, said transistor is biassed consistently with the conducting state thereof; and rectifying means to which at least a proportion of the signal voltage is applied and whose output is connected across terminals of said capacitor, so that when said equipment is operating a voltage exceeding said threshold voltage is maintained across the terminals of said capacitor.
  • the controlled device may be powered by said battery.
  • a controlled device such as a battery-operated lubricator may be switched on and off as the equipment to which it is mounted is switched on and off, with no requirement for any power source other than the battery of the lubricator itself, and with the system imposing only an insignificant drain on that battery.
  • said battery may alternatively be other than a power source for the controlled device.
  • a proportion of said battery's voltage may be applied as a further signal voltage to the controlled device and control operation of the controlled device, said controlled device being powered by a power source independent of said battery.
  • Said controlled device may be one of a plurality of controlled devices, each powered independently of said battery and to each of which at least a proportion of said further signal voltage is applied to control said controlled device. It is in situations where a controlled device is remote from the transducer and/or where multiple devices are to be controlled that said battery is used in this way.
  • the or at least one controlled device may then include: a further semiconductor device having a conducting state in which there is a low resistance to current flow in a particular direction between first and second terminals of the semiconductor device and a substantially non-conducting state in which there is a high resistance to current flow in said particular direction; and further control means whereby the further semiconductor device is maintained in its conducting or substantially non-conducting state according to said further signal voltage, with one of said terminals of the further semiconductor device and one terminal of said controlled device being connected, and the other of said terminals of the further semiconductor device and the other terminal of the controlled device being respectively connected to terminals of a power source of the controlled device, so that when said further semiconductor device is in its conducting state said controlled device is powered by said power source.
  • Said further semiconductor device and said further control means may be included in a further said receiver having the same electrical circuit as said receiver and correspond respectively to said semiconductor device and said control means respectively in said receiver. Even where a battery is thus used to provide a further signal voltage to control, rather than power, a comparatively remote device, or multiple devices, the overall system may still be simpler and cheaper than more conventional systems.
  • the invention also provides a machinery lubricator adapted for use in a system in any of the forms disclosed above, including: a reservoir for lubricant; electrically powered pump means for pumping lubricant from said reservoir into an equipment to which said lubricator is mounted; timer means adapted to operate said pump means at predetermined times and for predetermined periods; a lubricator battery arranged to power said pump means and said timer means; and a said receiver, wherein one of said first and second terminals of the semiconductor device is connected to one terminal of said lubricator battery and power is supplied to said timer means and said pump means by said lubricator battery via the other terminal of said battery and the other of said first and second terminals of the semiconductor device.
  • Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing the circuitry of a system according to the invention
  • FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the circuitry of a further system according to the invention.
  • FIG. 1 shows, schematically, a system 1 according to the invention in which a single battery-operated device 2 is switched off and on in response to the switching off and on of a piece of equipment (not shown, and in all of the following description, referred to as "the equipment") supplied with AC power through a cable 3.
  • the equipment supplied with AC power through a cable 3.
  • the device 2 has a self-contained battery (or other form of DC power supply) 4 with terminals 5a and 5b which are connected to a controlled circuit 6 having power input terminals 7a and 7b.
  • the controlled circuit 6 although simply shown in Figure 1 as a block, could include, for example, a timer and a driver circuitry for a small stepper motor which would drive a pump to dispense lubricant.
  • Terminal 5b is connected to terminal 7b, but in order to switch device 2 on and off, a receiver 8 is provided which has output terminals 9a and 9b, connected across terminals 5a and 7a as shown in Figure 1.
  • the function of receiver 8 is to exhibit either a very low resistance or a very high resistance to current flow between terminals 9a and 9b according to an input signal across input terminals 10a and 10b.
  • the battery 4 is in effect disconnected from the circuit 6 and so device 2 does not operate.
  • terminals 5a and 7a are effectively connected to each other and circuit 6 is powered by battery 4.
  • the conductor section 12 is electrically isolated from conductor 13 but inductively coupled to conductor 13, so that a current is induced in conductor section 12 as current flows in conductor 13.
  • its other input terminal 10b is connected via a conductor 14 to a suitable earth 15.
  • the receiver 8 may conveniently be located within the device 2, although this is not essential.
  • the conductors 11 and 14 may be parts of a cable 16. Cable 16 may be of a twisted pair type and/or shielded to avoid pickup of spurious signals.
  • the conductor 13 may, as an example, be carrying one phase of a polyphase supply to the equipment. It would not be appropriate to wind conductor 12 around a cable carrying all phases of such a current, for there would be cancelling out of the magnetic fields associated with each phase, and therefore no current induced in conductor 12.
  • the conductor 13 could be any other part of the wiring of the electrical equipment, so long as adequate inductive coupling to conductor 12 can be conveniently arranged, and so long as the current therein differs between the equipment condition in which the device 2 is to operate and that in which the device 2 is not to operate.
  • diodes 17 and 18 ensure that although an alternating current flows between terminals 10a and 10b, a component of it is rectified so that there is a non-zero unidirectional component flowing through resistor 19, and capacitor 20 has a non-zero mean voltage across it.
  • Field effect transistor 21 is a MOSFET and has its source and gate terminals 22 and 23 connected across capacitor 20, so that with suitable biassing of the transistor's source and drain terminals 22 and 24, respectively, the transistor 21 is switched "on", i.e. into a conducting state, when the current induced in conductor 12 is of sufficient magnitude to develop a sufficient voltage across the source and gate terminals 22 and 23 of transistor 21.
  • terminals 22 and 24 are biassed appropriately by the battery 4 itself, and in the "on" state of the transistor 21 , there is a very low voltage drop across terminals 9a and 9b. In effect, terminals 9a and 9b are virtually short circuited in this condition.
  • the transistor 21 is switched "off", i.e. into a non-conducting state, and there is in effect a very high resistance between terminals 9a and 9b. In these circumstances, the drain of the receiver 8 from the battery 4 is minimal.
  • zener diode 25 and resistor 26 The function of zener diode 25 and resistor 26 is to provide a measure of protection to the circuitry of receiver 8 against possible transients and electrostatic discharges.
  • Resistors 27 and 19 can be selected by ordinary means to provide a suitable level of sensitivity for the receiver 8, i.e. to ensure that transistor 21 will be switched “off” and “on” by practicable levels of induced current in conductor 12.
  • a device 2 such as a lubricator (or other battery operated device) mounted on the equipment can be controlled very easily, with no need for direct connection to the equipment's wiring and with comparatively easy installation of the system 1 , and with no need for a battery or other power source other than the battery 4 of the device 2.
  • the battery 4 experiences little drainage of power beyond that needed for normal operation of the device 2.
  • FIG. 3 shows a system 50 in accordance with the invention which provides for this.
  • the system 50 controls a number of devices 51 and requires a battery 52 additional to the batteries (not shown) of the individual devices 51. Nevertheless, the provision of the system 50 including battery 52 has been found still to be less onerous than provision of a conventional control system, in many practical applications.
  • each device 51 includes a receiver 90 the same as receiver 8 described above, a driven circuit 91 and a battery 92, all connected in the same way as the receiver 8, driven circuit 6 and battery 4 in then system 1 , as shown in Figure 2 for the leftmost device 51.
  • this feature of itself is not essential, it means that lubricators (or other devices) can be manufactured and sold incorporating such receivers 90, and be used equally suitably in systems such as the system 1 and systems such as the system 50.
  • any device able to be switched on and off in response to a signal voltage applied to input terminals can be used in a system such as the system 50, with suitably chosen circuit element values and types.
  • System 50 includes a booster unit 53.
  • Booster unit 53 incorporates a receiver 54 which is functionally the same as receiver 8.
  • Input terminal 55a is connected respectively to a conductor 56 an extension 57 of which is wound around a single conductor 58 of the power supply wiring of the equipment (not shown) whose operation or non-operation is to govern operation or non-operation of the devices 51.
  • Input terminal 55b is connected to earth 59.
  • One output terminal 60b of the receiver 54 is connected to a conductor 61 and the other 60a is connected via battery 52 to a conductor 62.
  • Each device 51 has input terminals 63a and 63b, which correspond in function to the input terminals 10a and 10b of receiver 8, and these are respectively connected to conductors 61 and 62, via suitable voltage dropping resistors 64.
  • each device 51 is unidirectional, not alternating.
  • the diodes (not shown, but corresponding to diodes 17 and 18 of receiver 8) in devices 51 are thus redundant when the devices 51 are used in system 50. If devices 51 are to be used only in this way and not in systems such as system 1 , their circuitry can clearly be simplified by omitting these components.
  • Resistor 26 47,000 ohms
  • Resistor 27 47,000 ohms
  • Resistor 19 5,600,000 ohms
  • Capacitor 20 1000 picofarad
  • Transistor 21 Type ZXM61 N02 Power MOSFET
  • the particular lubricator's battery voltage is 4.5V. This receiver was found to operate correctly when conductor 12 was a
  • transducers may be used. Hall effect transducers can be used, for example, to detect magnetic fields near power cables. These require an excitation voltage to be applied to them, but even with this, the system may be simpler and cheaper overall than many more elaborate arrangements.
  • Other suitable semiconductor devices may be used.
  • the transistor 21 could be an ordinary bipolar transistor. However, these usually have higher leakage currents (hence drain on batteries) than field effect types.
  • terminal does not necessarily mean a screw terminal, jack or the like, but can also simply mean an electrical connection between two components or a conductor by which a component is connectable to other components.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Power Engineering (AREA)
  • Charge And Discharge Circuits For Batteries Or The Like (AREA)

Abstract

Un système de commande d'un dispositif fonctionnant avec des piles en réponse au fonctionnement du matériel, comprend un transducteur qui produit un signal électrique de sortie qui varie en fonction de l'état de fonctionnement du matériel, un récepteur qui reçoit le signal de sortie et qui, au moment où il détecte que le matériel se trouve respectivement dans un premier état ou dans un deuxième état, isole les piles du dispositif dans le premier cas et permet le transfert de la puissance entre les piles et le dispositif dans le deuxième cas. L'utilisation envisagée est un graisseur alimenté par des piles qui est normalement isolé de ses piles mais qui est cependant connecté à ses piles lorsqu'un autre élément de matériel est actif de sorte que le graisseur puisse assurer le graissage du matériel alimenté de manière séparée.
PCT/AU2002/000355 2001-03-28 2002-03-25 Systeme de commutateur pour graisseur Ceased WO2002080331A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AUPR4034A AUPR403401A0 (en) 2001-03-28 2001-03-28 Lubicator switch system
AUPR4034 2001-03-28

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2002080331A1 true WO2002080331A1 (fr) 2002-10-10

Family

ID=3828034

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/AU2002/000355 Ceased WO2002080331A1 (fr) 2001-03-28 2002-03-25 Systeme de commutateur pour graisseur

Country Status (2)

Country Link
AU (1) AUPR403401A0 (fr)
WO (1) WO2002080331A1 (fr)

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4458644A (en) * 1980-01-24 1984-07-10 Hermann Papst Motor vehicle with internal combustion engine
US4703727A (en) * 1986-05-14 1987-11-03 Cannon Jesse D Pre-start engine lubrication system
DE4129786A1 (de) * 1991-09-05 1993-03-18 Schleicher Relais Schaltungsanordnung zur batteriebetriebenen anhaengerschmierung

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4458644A (en) * 1980-01-24 1984-07-10 Hermann Papst Motor vehicle with internal combustion engine
US4703727A (en) * 1986-05-14 1987-11-03 Cannon Jesse D Pre-start engine lubrication system
DE4129786A1 (de) * 1991-09-05 1993-03-18 Schleicher Relais Schaltungsanordnung zur batteriebetriebenen anhaengerschmierung

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
AUPR403401A0 (en) 2001-04-26

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