DE102023204155A1 - field device with rotating ring - Google Patents

Abstract

Field device for process automation in industrial and private environments, which has a rotating ring on the housing cover of the field device housing, which is rotatably attached thereto and has an incremental encoder.

Description

field of the invention

The invention relates to a field device for process automation in industrial or private environments.

background

In process automation in industrial or private environments, field devices are used to measure process conditions. Examples of such field devices are level measuring devices, point level sensors, pressure measuring devices or flow measuring devices.

The measuring devices usually have a housing with a user interface for entering control commands into the measuring device. These are, for example, control panels with buttons and a display. Operation using a magnetic pen can also be provided.

Summary

It is an object of the present invention to provide an alternative operation of field devices in process automation in industrial or private environments.

This object is achieved by the features of the independent patent claim. Further developments of the invention emerge from the subclaims and the following description of embodiments.

A first aspect of the present disclosure relates to a field device configured for process automation in an industrial or private environment. The field device has a field device housing in which the field device electronics are located. In addition, it has a rotary ring that is rotatably attached to the field device housing. The rotary ring or the housing has an incremental encoder that is configured to detect an angular change of the rotary ring relative to the field device housing.

The term "process automation in an industrial environment" can be understood as a branch of technology that includes measures for operating machines and systems without human involvement. One goal of process automation is to automate the interaction of individual components of a plant in the chemical, food, pharmaceutical, petroleum, paper, cement, shipping or mining sectors. A variety of sensors can be used for this purpose, which are particularly adapted to the specific requirements of the process industry, such as mechanical stability, insensitivity to contamination, extreme temperatures and extreme pressures. Measured values from these sensors are usually transmitted to a control room, in which process parameters such as fill level, limit level, flow, pressure or density are monitored and settings for the entire plant can be changed manually or automatically.

A sub-area of process automation in the industrial environment concerns the logistics automation of systems and the logistics automation of supply chains. With the help of distance and angle sensors, processes inside or outside a building or within a single logistics system are automated in the field of logistics automation. Typical applications include logistics automation systems in the area of baggage and freight handling at airports, in traffic monitoring (toll systems), in retail, in parcel distribution or in the area of building security (access control). What the examples listed above have in common is that presence detection in combination with precise measurement of the size and position of an object is required by the respective application. Sensors based on optical measuring methods using lasers, LEDs, 2D cameras or 3D cameras that measure distances according to the time of flight (ToF) principle can be used for this.

Another area of process automation in the industrial environment concerns factory/production automation. Applications for this can be found in a wide variety of industries such as automobile manufacturing, food production, the pharmaceutical industry or in the packaging sector in general. The aim of factory automation is to automate the production of goods using machines, production lines and/or robots, i.e. to allow it to run without human involvement. The sensors used here and the specific requirements with regard to measurement accuracy when recording the position and size of an object are comparable to those in the previous example of logistics automation.

The terms used in the claims should be construed to give them the widest reasonable interpretation consistent with the foregoing description. For example, the use of the article "a" or "the" in introducing an element should not be construed to exclude a plurality of elements. Similarly, the mention of "or" should be construed to include a plurality of elements, so that the mention of "A or B" does not exclude "A and B", it unless it is clear from the context or the preceding description that only one of A and B is meant. Furthermore, the phrase “at least one of A, B and C” should be understood as one or more elements from a group of elements consisting of A, B and C, and should not be interpreted as requiring at least one of each of the listed elements A, B and C, whether A, B and C are related as categories or in any other way. Furthermore, the mention of “A, B and/or C” or “at least one of A, B or C” should be interpreted as including any single unit of the listed elements, e.g. A, any subset of the listed elements, e.g. A and B, or the entire list of elements A, B and C.

The rotary ring can be designed in particular to enter user commands into the field device.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the rotating ring has an acceleration sensor that is configured to detect an acceleration of the rotating ring from the rotation about its axis of rotation. By detecting the acceleration, it is possible to distinguish whether the rotation is fast or slow and whether it is clockwise or counterclockwise. Different user commands can be derived from this information.

According to a further embodiment of the present disclosure, the rotary ring has a stripe pattern on its inner surface, which the incremental encoder uses to detect the angular change of the rotary ring. If, however, the incremental encoder is located in the rotary ring itself, the field device housing has a corresponding stripe pattern, which is mounted opposite in the incremental encoder so that it can detect it.

The stripe pattern consists of metallic stripes, for example. The incremental encoder can use various measuring principles. In addition to photoelectric scanning, magnetic scanning can also be used. In the latter case, the measuring embodiment can be a hard magnetic carrier into which a graduation has been written by magnetization (a pole wheel or magnetic tape). Typical magnetic graduation periods are between 0.5 mm and 5 mm. However, larger graduations can also be realized. The magnetic coding can be read using Hall elements or magnetoresistive sensors.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the rotating ring has a sliding contact to supply energy to the acceleration sensor.

According to a further embodiment of the present disclosure, the field device has evaluation electronics which are configured to evaluate the measurement data acquired by the incremental encoder and/or the acceleration sensor in order to determine therefrom a control command for the field device.

According to a further embodiment of the present disclosure, the field device comprises a seal which is arranged on the inner surface and/or the underside of the rotating ring and is configured to seal a gap between the rotating ring and the field device housing.

According to a further embodiment of the present disclosure, the field device is configured as a level measuring device, point level sensor, flow measuring device or pressure measuring device.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the rotary ring is configured as a 4-command operator for the field device. For example, it can determine whether the rotation of the rotary ring is fast or slow and whether it is rotated clockwise or counterclockwise.

According to a further embodiment of the present disclosure, the rotating ring is rotatably mounted on a housing cover of the field device housing.

Embodiments of the present disclosure are described below with reference to the figures. If the same reference numerals are used in the figures, they denote the same or similar elements. The representations in the figures are schematic and not to scale.

Short description of the characters

• 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a housing cover with a rotating ring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
• 2 shows a plan view of a housing cover and its rotating ring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed description of embodiments

1 shows a sectional view of a housing cover 101 with a rotating ring 102 of a field device 100. The housing cover 101 can be a removable housing cover or connected in one piece with the rest of the field device housing. The field device housing cover 101 (or the field device housing) has an incremental encoder 103 that can detect a rotary movement of the rotary ring 102. Opposite the incremental encoder 103, a stripe pattern 106 is attached to the inner surface 105 of the rotary ring 102, which enables the incremental encoder 103 to detect angular changes of the rotary ring 102. On the underside 110 of the rotary ring 102 there is a sliding contact 107, via which the acceleration sensor 104 integrated in the rotary ring 102 is supplied with energy.

Power supply and/or evaluation electronics 108 (cf. 2 ) can be arranged either in the remaining part of the field device housing or in the housing cover. In the embodiment of the 1 These units are arranged inside the housing. In order to connect them to the incremental encoder 103 and the sliding contact 107, an electrical connector plug 111 is provided which projects into the interior of the housing.

The rotary ring 102 can be set up together with the evaluation electronics in such a way that a 4-command operation is provided for the field device. The sensor of the field device is located in a (plastic) housing and is sealed from the environment. The operation is designed so that all 4 commands are displayed using the rotary ring 102 in the housing cover 101. There are two types of sensors in the rotary ring 102. Firstly, an acceleration sensor 104 is installed, which can detect in which direction (clockwise/anticlockwise) the rotary ring 102 is rotated. In addition, the acceleration sensor 104 can also detect jerky rotation in one of the two directions of rotation.

In addition, there is an incremental encoder 103 in the rotating ring or in the housing, which can detect the specific angular rotation in one direction. Typically, this rotary movement is not continuous, but divided into individual rotary segments.

• - langsames Drehen im Uhrzeigersinn: weiterscrollen im Menü nach unten/vorne;
• - langsames Drehen gegen den Uhrzeigersinn: weiterscrollen im Menü nach oben/hinten;
• - ruckartiges Drehen im Uhrzeigersinn: Bestätigung der Auswahl;
• - ruckartiges Drehen gegen den Uhrzeigersinn: Abbrechen der Auswahl.

The two sensors 103, 104 provide the evaluation electronics 108 (cf. 2 ) thus four signals, which can be mapped in an operating menu for the field device by appropriate software assignment, for example with the following commands:

• - slowly turn clockwise: scroll down/forward in the menu;
• - slow rotation anti-clockwise: scroll up/backward in the menu;
• - jerky clockwise rotation: confirmation of the selection;
• - jerky rotation anti-clockwise: cancels the selection.

Other commands can also be linked to the rotation movements described above.

A great advantage of this application is that the housing cover 101 does not have to be opened to operate the device and operation can also be carried out without the need for any additional tools.

The acceleration sensor 104 is located in the rotating ring. For this purpose, it is advantageous that there is an electrical connection between the rotating ring and the housing interior via the actual housing cover 101, e.g. via a sliding contact 107 between the cover and the rotating ring or by means of induction and wireless data transmission. A cable or a ribbon cable can also be used between the cover and the actual evaluation electronics.

It can also be planned that the evaluation electronics are integrated into the cover. In this case, the cover requires a power supply/source and a communication interface (wired or wireless).

The rotary ring 102 contains increments (strips), e.g. made of metal, which can be recognized and read by the incremental encoder 103 in the cover. The division into the individual increments 106 can be as fine as desired. The finer/smaller the increments, the less rotation the user has to make with the rotary ring to change the value.

The rotating ring 102 is sealed to the housing cover in such a way that no dirt can affect the reading of the increments. This can be done, for example, using two O-rings 109.

By means of the two different sensor types 103, 104, which are integrated into the housing cover or the housing or its rotatable ring 102, the electronic device 100 can be operated with four or more function commands.

On the right side of the illustration in 1 The center of rotation of the housing cover 101 is shown as a dash-dot line. In the rotating ring 102 there is an acceleration sensor 104, which is electrically connected to the housing cover by means of a sliding contact 107. This connection can be injected, for example, or located on a circuit board. The signal from the Acceleration sensor 104 is controlled by an evaluation electronics (not shown in 1 ), which is located either in the housing cover itself or in the electronics of the sensor.

Increments, e.g. made of metal, are also injected into the rotating ring 102 and can be read out using an incremental encoder 103 located in the housing cover 101. The increments are distributed evenly in any desired denomination over the entire inner circumference of the rotating ring 102. The incremental encoder 103 is also connected to the evaluation electronics.

The gap between the housing cover 101 and the rotating ring 102 can advantageously be sealed from the environment so that the increments cannot become dirty or the rotation cannot be impaired by dirt.

2 shows a top view of a housing cover 101 and its rotary ring 102 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The individual, readable increments 106 for the incremental encoder 103 are clearly shown. These are regularly distributed at identical intervals on the inner circumference of the rotary ring 102. The division can be made as fine as desired. The evaluation electronics 108 can also be seen, which receives the measurement signals from the incremental encoder 103 and the acceleration sensor (box on the left).

According to the embodiments described above, the rotating ring is attached to the housing cover. According to other embodiments, it can also be attached to the housing itself.

Claims (10)

Field device (100) designed for process automation in an industrial or private environment, comprising: a field device housing (101) in which the field device electronics are located; a rotary ring (102) which is rotatably attached to the field device housing; wherein the rotary ring or the field device housing has an incremental encoder (103) which is designed to detect an angular change of the rotary ring relative to the field device housing. field device (100) after claim 1 , wherein the rotating ring (102) has an acceleration sensor (104) which is configured to detect an acceleration of the rotating ring. Field device (100) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the rotary ring (102) has a stripe pattern (106) on its inner surface (105), which the incremental encoder (103) uses to detect the angular change of the rotary ring. field device (100) to claim 3 , wherein the stripe pattern (106) consists of metallic stripes. Field device (100) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the rotating ring (102) has a sliding contact (107) to supply the acceleration sensor (104) with energy. Field device (100) according to one of the preceding claims, further comprising: evaluation electronics (108) configured to evaluate the measurement data acquired by the incremental encoder (103) and/or the acceleration sensor (104) in order to determine a control command for the field device therefrom. Field device (100) according to one of the preceding claims, further comprising: a seal (109) which is arranged on the inner surface (105) and the underside (110) of the rotating ring (102) and is designed to seal a gap between the rotating ring (102) and the field device housing (101). Field device (100) according to one of the preceding claims, configured as a level measuring device, limit level sensor, flow measuring device or pressure measuring device. Field device (100) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the rotary ring (102) is configured as a 4-command operation for the field device. Field device (100) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the rotary ring (102) is rotatably mounted on a housing cover of the field device housing (101).

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