FR2483646A2 - Control unit for motor vehicle electrical equipment - issues binary coded signals for control and test of equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

A number of connecting units are combined in parallel onto a single control line connected to a central unit whose input circuits are connected to switches on the vehicle dashboard. When a switch is operated, the central unit issues a binary coded signal to address the unit to be controlled. The address signal also contains data bits which signal adjustment of the supply voltage for the controlled unit. Two other data bits in the address signal are placed on the control line, after the addressing process, to verify and signal the operating state for an indicator on the dashboard. Each control command is preceded by three logic zero pulses.

Description

 The invention relates to an installation for controlling and / or centralizing consumers of electrical energy, in particular motor vehicles.

the main patent relates to an installation for the control and / or control of consumers of electrical energy, such as bulbs. lighting provided on a mobile vehicle and supplied from an energy source, such as a battery, by means of switches, installation characterized in that it comprises connection members each associated with the at least one consumer, these connection members being, for the supply of consumers, connected in parallel on a line connected to the power source and for the command and / or control of these consumers, connected in parallel on a connected line to a central unit whose input circuits are connected to the switches, and in that the central unit controlled by the switches produces on the control line a coded signal corresponding to the actuated switches and having an address part defining the connecting member
According to another characteristic of the main patent, the installation is applied to the control of consumers and the coded signal emitted in the command line by the central body has an order part and an address part.

 According to another characteristic of the main patent, the order part of the coded signal emitted by the central body presents at least two bits of information relating, one to the execution by the connection body of the consumer's order, the other to the execution by the connection member of a consumer test, the connection member comprising means for coding the result of the consumer test and a return interface for the transmission of the coded result of the test on the command line to the central organ.

The present addition has the aim of improvements to the installation of the main patent and is for this purpose characterized in that the order part of the coded signal emitted by the central body is followed by a coded signal part called "part level. "\ which is brought by a buffer memory to a comparator also receiving coded information from a counter continuously counting elementary time units
TA dividing a period of constant duration P, this comparator triggering one of the stable states of a flip-flop whose other stable state is triggered by a decoder, by the position "0" - of the counter, so that this flip-flop repeatedly controls the powering up of the consumer for periods of time (n elementary time units
TA) whose duration is defined by the level part of the coded signal.

According to another characteristic of the present addition, the order part of the coded signal emitted by the central organ presents at least two information bits, the binary coding of which defines four relative orders, the first to be executed by the organ. of connection of the commissioning of the consumer without change of level of its supply voltage, the second to the execution by the connecting member of the commissioning of the consumer with change of level of its supply voltage, the third to l 'execution by the connection body of the decommissioning of the consumer and the fourth to 1 execution by the connection body of a consumer test. -
The invention is shown, by way of non-limiting example, in the accompanying drawings, in which
- Figure I shows the general diagram of an installation according to the invention
- Figures 2a, 2b, 2c and 2d show the structure of coded signals intended
for FIG. 2a, to a command to commission a consumer with adjustment of its supply voltage,
for FIG. 2b, when ordering the commissioning of a consumer without changing its supply voltage,
for FIG. 2c, when ordering the deactivation of a consumer,
for FIG. 2d, when ordering a control test for this consumer.

- Figure 3 shows the diagram of a connection member of the rheostate type (OCX - RH) according to the invention
- Figure 4 illustrates in the form of a table, the different possibilities for adjusting the level of the supply voltage.

 the present invention therefore aims to perform, on a motor vehicle, the command and control of the state of the various energy consumers of the vehicle, this command including an adjustment of the supply voltage of these consumers so that their operating regime can be chosen by the driver of the motor vehicle.

Thus, by this adjustment of the supply voltage, it will be possible to adjust the speed of rotation of a motor, such as the motor of a fan or the motor of a wiper, and to adjust the lighting. produced by a light bulb
Thus, by adjusting the supply voltage of a bulb of a signaling light, it will be possible to obtain a lantern lighting by an underpowering of this bulb or on the contrary a rear fog light illumination by a normal supply of this bulb.

 Miming by adjusting the supply voltage of the bulb of a headlamp, it will be possible to obtain a lantern, city low beam or low beam light by supplying this bulb respectively with a low tension, by a medium tendon or a normal tension.

According to the invention, provision is made for adjusting the supply voltage of a consumer by adjusting not the nominal value of this voltage which remains constant but by adjusting the effective duration of this supply.

Thus, in accordance with the invention, provision is made to divide the duration of supply of a consumer into a period of constant duration F and within each of these periods, the duration of energization TA of the consumers so as to establish an average value of the consumer's supply voltage which is proportional to the duration of the energizations being established within each period.

Of course, the duration of these constant periods P will be determined as a function of the nature of the consumer supplied so that its operation appears to be continuous, despite this division of its supply in feeding time and in non-feeding time.
Thus, in the case of a luminous consumer (a bulb), the period will be sufficiently short so that the frequency of power off is not sensitive to the eye taking into account the inertia of the bulb and of the persistence of visual acuity.

Also, in the case of an engine, the duration of the period will be determined so that the frequency of energizations is high enough for the engine to run smoothly.

 It will also be noted that instead of desiring continuous operation from a discontinuous energization, this discontinuous energization may be carried out to effectively produce discontinuous operation of the consumer.

This will be valid, for example, for carrying out the intermittent lighting of a flashing bulb or else the intermittent ignition of the wiper.

 Of course, these intermittent operations of consumers can be obtained by cutting this supply into sufficiently short but constant periods of time within which the actual supply duration will be adjusted to obtain a continuous effect of the consumer under the desired power.

 According to FIG. 1, the installation according to the invention comprises several connection members 2 which are each connected to at least one consumer 3, such as a lamp, a horn, a fuel gauge, a temperature sensor, etc. ..

These consumers, who are supplied with electrical energy from the battery 4 and via the connection members 2, are connected in parallel to a single electrical power supply line, or power line 5, connected to the battery. 4.

 the connection members 2 are, for the command and control of these consumers 3, connected in parallel on a single line, or control line 6, connected to a central member 7 whose input circuits are connected to the switches 8 provided on the vehicle dashboard.

To ensure the selective control of one or other of the connection members from the actuation of the switches 8 and through the central member 7, this central member is produced so as to produce on the line control 6 a coded signal corresponding to the actuated switch 8 and having an address part defining the address of the connection member to be controlled.

 This signal consists, see FIG. 2a, of a frame 9 divided into constant time units U, this frame successively presenting as many groups G of three time units as the coded signal comprises information bits 10, each group comprising, in the example shown, an information bit 10 with a time duration equal to a time unit U which is preceded by a time unit 91 of logic level. 0, itself preceded by a time unit 92 of logic level 1.

 The signal established on frame 9 consists of an address part defining the address of the connection member to be controlled, this address being established in the nonlimiting example represented in the figures from 2a to 2d on eight bits which are referenced from AO to A7, this part of the signal address being immediately followed by the order part which is defined by two bits C1 and C2, so that the binary coding of this information transmitted by the central organ in line 6 provides control of the connection member 2 and therefore of the consumer 3 determined by the signal address part, these two information bits C1 and C2, inserted in the frame signal, therefore make it possible to obtain in binary coding four relative orders represented in the four figures 2a, 2b, 2c and 2d.

Thus, for example, according to FIG. 2a, the logic levels 1-1 of the information bits C1 and C2 correspond to an order for connection or commissioning of a consumer with modification of the level of his supply voltage. , the value of this voltage being determined by the information bits NO to
N3 which follow and which, in the example shown, are four in number.

On the other hand, according to FIG. 2b, the logic levels 0-1 -bits of information C1 and C2 correspond for example to an order to connect or put into service a consumer without modifying the level of his supply voltage7
this supply therefore being carried out continuously and under the voltage of the battery 4.

 According to FIG. 2c, the logic levels 1-0 of the information bits C1, C2 correspond for example to an order to connect or deactivate the consumer.

Finally, according to FIG. 2d, the logic levels 0-0 of the information bits C1 and C2 correspond to a test order and in this case the connection member checks the correct operation of the consumer considered and sends to the command line 6 and to the central unit 7, two bits of binary coded information T1, T2 corresponding to the test carried out, the result of this test being displayed on the dashboard of the vehicle by display means controlled by the body central.

 As can be seen in FIG. 2d, the results of tests T1 and T2 are transmitted in the command line 6 by the connection member 2 following the reception by this connection member of the address signal (AO to A7) followed by the order signal (C1 and C2) ordering a test which in this specific case is Ci, C2 = 00.

 Each order issued on the command line 6 by the central organ 7 is preceded by three time units of logic level 0, which allows the connection organs to recognize the departure of a signal emitted by the central organ, this arrangement also allowing synchronization and reception by cAlage on synchronization binary elements, as well as verifying that the word is not distorted by parasites of duration greater than two units which, in this case, cause the frame to not not being recognized, the connecting member does not execute the requested order.

In addition, the connection member 2 (see in detail in FIG. 3) is provided with an internal clock whose base frequency 12 is at least three times greater than the time unit frequency U and in practice one will choose it four to five times higher
This arrangement makes it possible to constitute a deworming filter which aims to eliminate brief parasites.

The connection member which receives the signals emitted by the central member are brought by the control line 6 to a deworming filter (see FIG. 3) which, as already indicated, is supplied by the internal clock whose base frequency is at least three times higher than the frequency of time units U, this filter being intended, as already indicated, to eliminate brief parasites and to avoid carrying out a transfer to the input register of erroneous information, the good information is transferred only when it has been confirmed three times in succession at fixed time intervals.

The processing logic is a targeted logic using the basic times provided by the internal clock, its role is:
- to control the information shifts in the input register
- to recognize the three starting time units and to reset the connection device to zero before entering information 1
- to block offsets when the recognized word is complete or when it does not relate to a rheostat type connection member
- carry out either the consumer's connection or commissioning order with adjustment of its supply voltage, or this consumer's connection order without adjustment of its supply voltage, or the consumer's disconnection order or or finally the test response order, these orders of course being carried out if the address received corresponds to the precoded address of the connection member and If the decoder of the fixed frame of the coded signal gives a frame corresponding to the reference frame
- synchronize test returns.

To fulfill these functions, the processing logic is associated:
- to an input register by means of a frame code decoder and an order decoder,
- an offset counter to record the decodings carried out,
- an address decoder allowing, from an external element, the connection member to precode a determined address on this connection member, this address then being compared with the address part of the signal received by the address comparator to control the processing logic,
- a return interface for the transmission on line 6 of the results of the consumer test associated with the connection member considered,
- two electronic coding of the test result which interprets the different possibilities "absent consumer""energizedconsumer","consumedconsumer" and which codes this information into return information which is returned to the central body by line 6 and the return interface.

 In the example of this figure 3, the consumer of figure 1 is constituted by the motor 31 of a fan 52; the supply of this motor 31 being carried out from the battery 4 and by the power line 5 via a power transistor T3 the base of which is connected to a rocker so as to determine the conduction or not conduction of this transistor and therefore switching on or off the motor 31.

To adjust the level of the supply voltage of this motor 31, the two states of the flip-flop are controlled one by the signal from a comparator, the other by the signal from a decoder.

In addition, this connection member includes a counter called "cutting period counter" which is supplied by the internal clock and which counts, continuously, elementary time units TA dividing a fixed period P constituting the period of splitting, the content of this counter being compared in the comparator with the content of the buffer memory or "level memory" in which the level information NO to N4 is stored so that this comparator controls, at a given instant, the inside the chopping period, the change of state of the flip-flop which determines the non-conduction of the transistor 3 and therefore the disconnection of the motor 31.

 Otherwise; when passing through the counting position 0, the chopping period counter controls the flip-flop via the decoder in order to bring it into its second stable state for which this flip-flop determines the conduction of transistor Q3 and therefore the switching on motor voltage 31.

In the case of an established level code sRrK four bits
NO, Ni, N2, and N3, there will therefore be, in binary coding, sixteen possibilities which are represented on the table in FIG. 4.

the cutting period counter rotates over its own period P and divides this period into sixteen elementary durations TA, the position 0 of this counter ensuring the control of the flip-flop in order to ensure by the transistor T3 that the motor 31O is energized
This conduction, within the period P, lasts as long as there is no correspondence, on the comparator, between the level code stored in the level memory and the information received from the cutting period counter.

 However, when this correspondence is established, the comparator controls, within the chopping period P, the flip-flop so that it determines that the motor 31 is switched off by the transistor T3.

Thus, the supply of the consumer is carried out discontinuously at a frequency determined by the cutting period, the duration of each supply inside this cutting period being a function of the level code of the signal received by the connection member. .

Thus, according to FIG. 4, the level code 1100 will determine a supply of the motor 31 during 3/15 of the period P so that the supply voltage of the motor is 3/15 of the voltage of the battery 4.

Claims (2)

 10) Installation for the command and / or control of consumers of electrical energy, such as light bulbs provided on a motor vehicle and supplied from an energy source, such as a battery, by the intermediary of switches, this installation comprising connection members each associated with at least one consumer, these connection members being, for supplying consumers, connected in parallel on a line connected to the power source and for controlling and / or the control of these consumers, connected in parallel on a line connected to a central unit whose input circuits are connected to the switches, the central unit controlled by the switches producing on the control line a coded signal corresponding to the actuated switches and having an address part defining the connection member and an order part defining the control of a consumer associated with this connection member, installation n characterized in that the order part of the coded signal emitted by the central unit is followed by a coded signal part called "level part", which is brought by a buffer memory to a comparator also receiving a coded information from a counter continuously counting elementary time units TA dividing a period of constant duration P, this comparator triggering one of the stable states of a flip-flop whose other stable state is triggered, via a decoder, # -by the position "O" of the counter, so that this flip-flop repeatedly controls the switching on of the consumer for periods of time (n elementary time units TA) the duration of which is defined by the level part of the coded signal.  20) Installation according to claim 1, charac terized in that the order part of the coded signal emitted by the central body has at least two information bits, the binary coding of which defines four relative orders, the first at execution by the connecting member of the commissioning of the consumer without change of level of its supply voltage, the second to the execution by the connecting member of the commissioning of the consumer with change of level of its voltage supply, the third to the execution by the connection member of the deactivation of the consumer and the fourth to the execution by the connection member of a consumer test.