APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR TESTING TEMPERATURE

• US 20090168834A1
• Filed: 03/10/2008
• Published: 07/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Foxnum Technology Co., Ltd., Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: LIU, HSING-CHANG
• Granted Patent: US 7,862,231 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 374/100
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 1/026 arrangements for monitoring a plurality of temperatures, e.g. by multiplexing
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 7/12 Arrangements with respect to the cold junction, e.g. preventing influence of temperature of surrounding air

Abstract

An apparatus for testing temperature includes a plurality of thermocouples, a plurality of relays, a ground circuit, a compensation circuit, a power supply circuit, a switch circuit, and an MPU. The thermo-couples samples temperatures at different locations in a CNC machine, each thermo-couple is connected to a corresponding relay and selectively connected to the switch circuit by turning on or off the corresponding relay, the compensation circuit includes a cold junction compensator and a first relay, the ground circuit includes a ground terminal and a second relay, the power circuit includes a power supply and a third relay. The first, second, and third relays selectively turn on or off to connect the cold junction compensator, the ground terminal, or the power supply to the switch circuit. The switch circuit includes a capacitor and a fourth relay, the fourth relay is selectively connected the MPU, the ground circuit, the compensation circuit, or the power supply circuit to the capacitor, the MPU obtains voltage at the capacitor, and converting the voltage to a temperature signal.

Claims

1. An apparatus for testing temperature comprising a plurality of thermocouples, a plurality of relays, a ground circuit, a compensation circuit, a power supply circuit, a switch circuit, and a micro processor unit (MPU), the thermo-couples configured for sampling temperature at different locations in the CNC machine, the thermo-couples connected to a corresponding relay and selectively connected to the switch circuit by turning on or off the corresponding relay, the compensation circuit comprising a cold junction compensator and a first relay, the ground circuit comprising a ground terminal and a second relay, the power circuit comprising a power supply and a third relay, the first, second, and third relays selectively connected the cold junction compensator, the ground terminal, the power supply to the switch circuit, the switch circuit comprising a capacitor and a fourth relay, the fourth relay selectively connected to the MPU, the ground circuit, the compensation circuit, or the power supply circuit to the capacitor, the MPU configured for obtaining a voltage at the capacitor, and converting the voltage to a temperature signal.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein each relay comprises two groups of contacts, each group comprises a first contact, a second contact, and a third contact.

3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein in original state, two terminals of each thermo-couple are connected to the first contacts of the corresponding relay connected thereto, the third contacts of the relays connected to the thermo-couples are connected to the second contacts of the fourth relay, the first contacts of the fourth relay are connected to the MPU, the third contacts of the relays connected to the thermo-couples are connected to the corresponding second contacts, the third contacts of the fourth relay are connected to the corresponding second contacts.

4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein in original state, the second contacts of the second relay are all grounded, the third contacts of the second relay are connected to the second contacts of the fourth relay, the first contacts of the second relay are connected to the corresponding first contacts.

5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein in original state, the second contacts of the first relay are connected to the second contacts of the fourth relay, the third contacts of the first relay are connected to two terminals of the cold junction compensator, the third contacts of the first relay are connected to the corresponding first contacts.

6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein in original state, the second contacts of the third relay are connected to the second contacts of the fourth relay, the third contacts of the third relay are connected to the power supply, and also connected to the corresponding first contacts.

7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, the voltage of the power supply is higher than the maximum voltage that the thermo-couple can sample, or lower than the minimum voltage that the thermo-couple can sample.

8. A method using the apparatus of claim 1 to test temperature, comprising the steps of:

connecting the third contacts of the first relay and the corresponding second contacts to connect the cold junction compensator to the capacitor;

connecting the third contacts of the fourth relay to the corresponding first contacts to obtain a compensation temperature;

connecting the third contacts of the second relay to the corresponding first contacts to discharge the capacitor;

connecting the third contacts of the third relay to the corresponding second contacts to charge the capacitor; and

connecting the third contacts of one relay connected to one of the thermo-couples to the corresponding first contacts, connecting the third contacts of the fourth relay to the corresponding first contacts, if the voltage at the thermo-couple is lower than the voltage of the power supply, the temperature at the thermo-couple is obtained by adding the compensation temperature to the value corresponding the voltage obtained at the thermo-couple.