Abstract:
A valve is described. The valve includes a valve body that at least partially defining a valve envelope and a plurality of circuit substrates which is disposed within the valve envelope. At least one circuit substrates in the plurality of circuit substrates includes circuitry for controlling the valve. A circuit module is also described. A method is described for integrating circuit modules into a plurality of arrangements to provide various electronic functions and applications; these applications may be incorporated into a valve body, in support of a more complex electronic assembly, or as stand-alone electronic assemblies.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This patent application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) from Provisional Patent Application No. 60/854,562, filed Oct. 25, 2006, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    This invention relates generally to control systems and, more specifically, relates to controllers and systems using electronically controlled valves, electronically controlled valves, and portions thereof. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Control systems for electronically controlled valves control many different types of fluids for many different purposes. While control systems, their controllers, and the associated electronically controlled valves have many benefits, these control systems, controllers, electronically controlled valves and portions thereof may still be improved. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0004]    A further exemplary embodiment in accordance with this invention is a valve. The valve includes a valve body that at least partially defines a valve envelope. Also includes a plurality of circuit substrates which is disposed within the valve envelope. At least one circuit substrates in the plurality of circuit substrates includes circuitry for controlling the valve. 
         [0005]    An additional exemplary embodiment in accordance with this invention is a circuit module. The circuit module includes at least two circuit substrate. The circuit substrate include circuitry for controlling a valve. The circuit module is configured to fit within a valve envelope that is at least partially defined by a valve body. 
         [0006]    Another exemplary embodiment in accordance with this invention is a method. A valve body that at least partially defines a valve envelope is provided. A plurality of circuit substrates are disposed within the valve envelope. At least one circuit substrate of the plurality of circuit substrates includes circuitry for controlling the valve. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]    The attached Drawing Figures include the following: 
           [0008]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a system including a portion for controlling an electronically controlled valve and the electronically controlled valve; 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  is a cutaway, perspective view of an exemplary pneumatic valve; 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  is a view of the motor housing retainer coupled to the motor housing and also of the coil header assembly and spool; 
           [0011]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the valve shown in  FIG. 2  with a large electronics cover; 
           [0012]      FIG. 5  is a top perspective view of the valve shown in  FIG. 2 , without the large electronics cover but with a number of circuit modules; 
           [0013]      FIG. 6  is a cutaway, perspective view of the valve of  FIG. 2 , with the large electronics over and a number of circuit modules; 
           [0014]      FIG. 7  is a top view of screening for an analog PID controller; and 
           [0015]      FIG. 8  shows a logic flow diagram of a method in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of this invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 
       [0016]    Referring now to  FIG. 1 , a block diagram is shown of an exemplary system  100  having a portion for controlling an electronically controlled valve  120 . System  100  also includes in this example the electronically controlled valve  120 .  FIG. 1  is a simplistic, high-level view of a system  100  that includes a control input  105 , an adder  110 , a spool position controller  115 , the electronically controlled valve  120 , and a feedback sensor module  150  that takes an input from one or more feedback sensors (not shown) and that produces one or more feedback signals  151 . A valve controller  160  includes the adder  110 , the spool position controller  115 , and the feedback sensor module  150 . The electronically controlled valve  120  includes a spool actuator  125 , such as a voice coil, a spool  130 , a body  135 , an input  140 , and an output  145 . 
         [0017]    The electronically controlled valve  120  controls fluid (e.g., air, gas, water, oil)  141  flow through the electronically controlled valve  120  by operating the spool  130 . The spool actuator  125  controls movement of the spool  130  based on one or more control signals  116  from the spool position controller  115 . The spool position controller  115  modifies the one or more control signals  116  based on the one or more input signals  111 , which include addition of the control input signal  105  and the one or more feedback signals  151 . The feedback sensor module  150  can monitor the spool actuator  120  (e.g., current through the spool actuator), a sensor indicating the position of the spool  130 , or sensors indicating any number of other valve attributes (e.g., pressure or flow rate of the fluid  141 ). Aspects of the present invention are related to a number of the elements shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         [0018]    Turning to  FIG. 2  in addition to  FIG. 1 , a cutaway, perspective view is shown of an exemplary pneumatic valve  200 . The pneumatic valve  200  includes an electronics cover  205 , a motor housing retainer  207 , a motor housing  210 , an upper cavity  215 , a lower cavity  216 , a coil header assembly  220 , a spool  230 , a sleeve  260 , a lower spring  240 , an upper spring  245 , external ports  270 ,  271 ,  280 ,  281 , and  282 , circumferentially spaced internal ports  270   a ,  271   a ,  280   a ,  281   a , and  282   a , and a valve body  290 . Coil header assembly  220  includes a voice coil portion  222  having a voice coil  221  and an overlap portion that overlaps a portion of the spool  230  and connects the spool  230  to the coil header assembly  220 . The spool actuator  125  of  FIG. 1  includes, in the example of  FIG. 2 , motor housing  210 , coil header assembly  220 , upper spring  245 , and lower spring  240 . It is noted that a view of the motor housing  210  is also shown in, e.g.,  FIG. 3  and that at least a portion of the motor housing  210  is magnetized in order to be responsive to the voice coil  221 . It can be seen that the motor housing retainer  207  is coupled to the voice coil  221 , here using a flexible cable  1720 . 
         [0019]    In the example show in  FIG. 2 , a top surface  211  of the motor housing  210  contacts a bottom surface  208  of motor housing retainer  207 . The motor housing  210  is therefore held in place by the motor housing retainer  207 , and the motor housing retainer  207  is a printed circuit board. The motor housing retainer  207  can serve multiple purposes. 
         [0020]    Patent application Ser. No. ______, filed on Sep. 19, 2007 and titled “Retaining Element for a Mechanical Component” describes the motor housing retainer  207  in further detail. Patent application Ser. No. ______ is assigned to the assignee of the present application, and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
         [0021]    The spool  230  includes in this example a passage  265 . The passage  265  has a number of purposes, including equalizing pressure between the upper cavity  215  and the lower cavity  216 , as described in more detail below. The passage  230  is included in an exemplary embodiment herein, but the spool  230  may also be manufactured without passage  265 . 
         [0022]    The electronics cover  205  includes a connector  206  used to couple a spool position controller  115  to the voice coil  221  on voice coil portion  222 . The electronics cover  205  and connector  206  are only examples of a cover and connector in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of this invention. The cover  205  and connector  206  shown are non-limiting examples. 
         [0023]    A description of exemplary operation of the valve  200  is included in U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,831, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application. It forms part of the present application and the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,831 describes, for instance, airflow through the external ports  270 ,  271 ,  280 ,  281 , and  283  and the circumferentially spaced internal ports  270   a ,  271   a ,  280   a ,  281   a , and  283   a . It is noted that the springs  240 ,  245  along with the coil header assembly  220 , motor housing  210 , and spool  230 , are configured such that the spool  230  blocks the ports  281 A when no power is applied to the voice coil  221 . Other portions of pneumatic valve  200  are also described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,831. 
         [0024]    The motor housing retainer  207  is a circuit module with limited functionality, which means that the valve controller  160  of  FIG. 1  retains all of the electronics used to create the control signal(s)  116  and therefore control the electronically controlled valve  120 . The integration of electronics and controls within the pneumatic valve “envelope” (e.g., body  290  and an electronics cover such as electronics cover  205 ) is a desirable attribute in the market place. In order to accomplish design goals of enabling integration of electronics and controls within the envelope, a significant amount of circuitry would be required that would not fit in the available area. Additionally, several circuit functions that would be required on certain valves would also be required on some products, but might not be required on other products. A small, low cost, high performance solution can minimize the impact of subsequent changes, and unify a product line. 
         [0025]    A classical approach to circuit design is to conduct ‘product proprietary’ circuit design. Clearly, this can consume a great deal of time and cost due to duplicated effort. Alternatively, circuit designs can be ‘copied’ and ‘pasted’ into several designs; however, a problem in one circuit would impact every circuit from which the original design was copied. Traceability would become a concern when using such an approach to ensure that the changes occurred in every duplicated circuit. 
         [0026]    An exemplary proposed solution herein divides basic functional elements into ‘circuit modules’ with board-to-board connectors placed strategically and manufactured with appropriate orientation and type of connectors to ensure that improper installation is not allowed. Each circuit module utilizes a common backplane for analog signals, digital signals, and power. In this manner, the circuit modules can be stacked vertically (e.g., top surface to bottom surface) in any arrangement without affecting performance or operation (small X-Y footprint, but Z varies with the number of modules). 
         [0027]    Additionally, a backplane printed circuit board (PCB) can be manufactured to accept these modules with a common backplane such that the modules can be used in various products, decreasing cost, easing change management, reducing the number of manufactured parts while increasing the number of products that can be offered, and providing design flexibility. It would therefore be possible to stock a cabinet full of modules and manufacture product shells. Upon product order, the product could be assembled from bins of circuit modules, where the same circuit module would show up on numerous products but require only a single design effort. Furthermore, modification of that one circuit module would not necessarily affect other circuit modules. Typically, however, modification of that one circuit module would cause an automatic upgrade to all products that use the modified module. 
         [0028]    Various circuit modules may be defined and used either as part of a valve assembly (e.g., valve assembly  2000  as show in  FIG. 4 , described below) or as part of a valve controller (e.g., valve controller  160  of  FIG. 1 ) or as part of both. 
         [0029]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the valve shown in  FIG. 2  with a large electronics cover  2010 . A cover (e.g., electronics cover  205  or large electronics cover  2010 ) along with the valve body  290  form part of the valve assembly  2000 . The large electronics cover  2010  allows, as shown in  FIG. 5 , a number of circuit modules  2110  to form part of the valve assembly  2000 . As shown in  FIG. 6 , one or more connectors  2210  can be used to interconnect the various circuit modules  2110 . Additionally, the motor housing retainer  207  has a J1 connector that would mate with corresponding contact-type connectors on a circuit module  2110 . 
         [0030]      FIG. 7  is a top view of screening for an analog PID (proportional-integral-derivative) controller, which shows a number of connectors J 1 , J 2 , J 5 , J 6 , J 9 , and J 10  that are designed to mate with corresponding connectors  2210  on the circuit modules  2110 . The PID controller may be located within the valve controller  160 . 
         [0031]    The circuit modules  2110  may be, for example, a driver/controller module or a power supply module. Each of these circuit modules has certain corresponding functions. 
         [0032]    A driver/controller module may be designed to accept analog input signals and to provide anti-alias filtering prior to analog to digital conversion. It may include a ‘driver disable’ input for emergency functions. 
         [0033]    An industrial signal conversion module can convert an input signal to a signal to be placed on a backplane for processing by other circuit modules. Such a module may include switches to steer the signal to the appropriate outputs on the backplane. 
         [0034]    A connector interface and indication module may also double as a dummy module. Such a module may provide connectors to connect to external device. Additionally, the module may include indicators, such as LEDs. 
         [0035]    Additionally, a module may be designed to provide active circuit connections. 
         [0036]    A benefit to these circuit modules is that they can be placed vertically on top of the motor housing retainer  207  and therefore provide certain functionality within the valve assembly  2000 . Furthermore, the circuit modules  2110  can be placed “horizontally” in the mounting locations  2310 ,  2320 , and  2330  of  FIG. 7 . 
         [0037]    In the example of  FIG. 7 , the mounting location  2330  is suitable for use with the driver/controller module  2110 , but the mounting locations  2310  and  2320  are not suitable for use with the driver/controller module  2110 . It is noted that the circuit modules  2110  described previously are merely exemplary. Many other functions can be designed in, for instance, an RS232 or RS485 communication module; perhaps a high performance processor; or an Ethernet or wireless communication module. The options are nearly limitless. 
         [0038]      FIG. 8  shows a logic flow diagram of a method in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of this invention. In step  810 , a valve body that at least partially defines a valve envelope is provided. A plurality of circuit substrates are disposed within the valve envelope in step  820 . At least one circuit substrate of the plurality of circuit substrates includes circuitry for controlling the valve. 
         [0039]    Additionally, at least one of the substrates provides a given functionality. Said substrate is selected according to the functionality it provides. 
         [0040]    Depending on the specific requirements of the valve a given module may be located either “vertically” in the valve envelope or “horizontally” in the external controller  160 . It is therefore possible to create the control circuitry for a valve using a number of pre-existing modules by selecting the modules providing the desired functionalities and placing the selected modules either within the valve envelope or in the external controller  160  (e.g., on a common backplane provided in the external controller  160 ). 
         [0041]    Certain embodiments of the disclosed invention may be implemented by hardware (e.g., one or more processors, discrete devices, programmable logic devices, large scale integrated circuits, or some combination of these), software (e.g., firmware, a program of executable instructions, microcode, or some combination of these), or some combination thereof. Aspects of the disclosed invention may also be implemented on one or more semiconductor circuits, comprising hardware and perhaps software residing in one or more memories. Aspects of the disclosed invention may also include computer-executable media tangibly embodying one or more programs of computer-readable instructions executable by one or more processors to perform certain of the operations described herein. 
         [0042]    The foregoing description has provided by way of exemplary and non-limiting examples a full and informative description of the best techniques presently contemplated by the inventors for carrying out embodiments of the invention. However, various modifications and adaptations may become apparent to those skilled in the relevant arts in view of the foregoing description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims. All such and similar modifications of the teachings of this invention will still fall within the scope of this invention. 
         [0043]    It is noted that the example described above specifically concerns valves and controller for valves. However, the techniques shown above are also applicable to any electronic device having various electronic functions which may be suitable for modular embodiments, and the use of the exemplary embodiments of this invention is not limited to electronic valves. 
         [0044]    Furthermore, some of the features of exemplary embodiments of this invention could be used to advantage without the corresponding use of other features. As such, the foregoing description should be considered as merely illustrative of the principles of embodiments of the present invention, and not in limitation thereof. While the exemplary embodiments are illustrative of electronically controlled valves, the techniques in accordance with this invention may be applied to various electronically controlled devices, e.g., motors, etc.