Plant protective instrumentation equipment

• US 20040078101A1
• Filed: 03/26/2003
• Published: 04/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Kondoh, Yutaka, Sakamoto, Hiroshi, Nishikawa, Hiroshi, Kamiyama, Masahiko, Izumi, Mikio, Tarumi, Teruji, Kondoh, Katuya, Maekawa, Yoshimi, Yunoki, Akira
• Granted Patent: US 7,606,672 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/79
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 9/02 electric

Abstract

A plant protection instrumentation equipment, comprises, a sensor that detects a process signal indicating a quantity of a state of a plant, a plurality of A/D converters, each of the A/D converters converts the process signal into a digital signal and outputs a value corresponding to the digital signal, a plurality of instrumentation circuits, each of the instrumentation circuits receives the value corresponding to the process signal and performs a logical operation using the value, and a judgment circuit that judges the state of the plant based on outputs of the plurality of instrumentation circuits and outputs an operation signal based on the process signal, wherein each of the instrumentation circuits comprises a logical integrated circuit including a set value comparator that compares the value corresponding to the process signal with a predetermined set value, and outputs a signal when the value corresponding to the process signal exceeds the set value.

Claims

1. A plant protection instrumentation equipment, comprising:

a sensor that detects a process signal indicating a quantity of a state of a plant;

a plurality of A/D converters, each of the AID converters converts the process signal into a digital signal and outputs a value corresponding to the digital signal;

a plurality of instrumentation circuits, each of the instrumentation circuits receives the value corresponding to the process signal and performs a logical operation using the value; and

a judgment circuit that judges the state of the plant based on outputs of the plurality of instrumentation circuits and outputs an operation signal based on the process signal,

wherein each of the instrumentation circuits comprises a logical integrated circuit including a set value comparator that compares the value corresponding to the process signal with a predetermined set value, and outputs a signal when the value corresponding to the process signal exceeds the set value.

2. The plant protection instrumentation equipment of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instrumentation circuits comprises a first instrumentation circuit and a second instrumentation circuit,

wherein the first instrumentation circuit comprises a plurality of logical integrated circuits for processing a plurality of process signals, and

wherein the second instrumentation circuit comprises at least one logical integrated circuit that is electrically independent at least in part from at least one of the plurality of logical integrated circuits in the first instrumentation circuit.

3. The plant protection instrumentation equipment of claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of instrumentation circuit is mounted on a control circuit board,

wherein the plurality of instrumentation circuits are multiplexed, and

wherein the judgment circuit judges the state of the plant to output an operation signal based on the signals received from the multiplexed instrumentation circuits.

4. The plant protection instrumentation equipment of claim 3, wherein the judgment circuit is a majority judgment circuit that judges the state of the plant based on the majority of the signals received from the multiplexed instrumentation circuits.

5. The plant protection instrumentation equipment of claim 3, wherein the judgment circuit is a failure changeover circuit that changes the output in accordance with detecting failure in at least one of the multiplexed instrumentation circuits.

6. The plant protection instrumentation equipment of claim 3, wherein the judgment circuit is a selection circuit that outputs the operation signal by judging the outputs of the plurality of instrumentation circuits based on AND judgment.

7. The plant protection instrumentation equipment of claim 3, wherein the judgment circuit is a selection circuit that outputs the operation signal by judging the outputs of the plurality of instrumentation circuits based on OR judgment.

8. The plant protection instrumentation equipment of claim 3, wherein at least one logical integrated circuit of the first instrumentation circuit is different in at least one design factor from the at least one logical integrated circuit of the second instrumentation circuit.

9. The plant protection instrumentation equipment of claim 8, wherein the at least one design factor is at least one of a logical conversion circuit included in the logical integrated circuit, a circuit layout, a manufacture process, and a manufacturer of the logical integrated circuit.

10. The plant protection instrumentation equipment of claim 3, wherein the value corresponding to the process signal is a first value that is inputted into a first set value comparator of the first instrumentation circuit and is inputted into a second set value comparator of the second instrumentation circuit,

wherein the second instrumentation circuit outputs a second value, and

wherein the first set value comparator compares the first value and the second value outputted from the second instrumentation circuit for calculating a deviation between the first value and the second value to judge abnormality.

11. The plant protection instrumentation equipment of claim 3, further comprising:

a terminal arranged upstream of the control circuit boards to input a test process signal; and

a test voltage generator generating the test process signal.

12. A plant protection instrumentation equipment, comprising:

a sensor that detects a process signal indicating a quantity of a state of a plant;

a plurality of A/D converters, each of the A/D converters converts the process signal into a digital signal and outputs a value corresponding to the digital signal;

first to third instrumentation circuits, each of the instrumentation circuits receives the value corresponding to the process signal and performs a logical operation using the value; and

a judgment circuit that judges the state of the plant based on outputs of the first to third instrumentation circuits and outputs an operation signal based on the process signal,

wherein each of the instrumentation circuits comprises a logical integrated circuit including a set value comparator that compares the value corresponding to the process signal with a predetermined set value, and outputs a signal when the value corresponding to the process signal exceeds the set value, and

wherein at least one logical integrated circuit of the first instrumentation circuit is different in at least one design factor from at least one logical integrated circuit of either of the second and third instrumentation circuits.

13. A plant protective instrumentation equipment, comprising:

a radiation detector that outputs an analog signal corresponding to radiation dosage detected in a plant;

a radiation monitoring device that monitors behavior of the radiation dosage based on the signal outputted from the radiation detector, comprising;

an A/D converter that converts the analog signal outputted from the radiation detector into a digital signal; and

a first radiation signal processing collective circuit, comprising;

a plurality of radiation signal processing circuits, each of the radiation signal processing circuits calculates radiation dosage based on the digital signal and outputs a calculated result including a calculated radiation dosage; and

an output extraction circuit that outputs a signal based on the calculation results outputted from the radiation signal processing circuits based on a predetermined extraction rule;

wherein each of the first radiation signal processing circuits comprises a logical integrated circuit having wiring that differs at least in part from at least one other radiation signal processing circuit.

14. The plant protection instrumentation equipment of claim 13, wherein the extraction rule of the output extraction circuit is a majority determination of the signals outputted from the plurality of radiation signal processing circuits.

15. The plant protection instrumentation equipment of claim 13, wherein the radiation monitoring device further comprises:

a second radiation signal processing collective circuit which receives the digital signal outputted from the A/D converter and the signals outputted from the plurality of the radiation signal processing circuits and sends at least one output signal bypassing the output extraction circuit.

16. The plant protection instrumentation equipment of claim 13, further comprising:

a first failure detection circuit that outputs a first failure signal when detecting a situation that at most one of the plurality of radiation signal processing circuits has not failed or that the output extraction circuit has failed.

17. The plant protection instrumentation equipment of claim 16, wherein the first failure detection circuit outputs a second failure signal when detecting a situation that at least one of the plurality of radiation signal processing circuits has failed and at least two of the radiation signal control processing circuits has not failed.

18. The plant protection instrumentation equipment of claim 15, further comprising:

a second failure detection circuit which outputs a third failure signal when detecting a situation that the second radiation signal processing collective circuit has failed.

19. The plant protection instrumentation equipment of claim 15, further comprising:

a third failure detection circuit which outputs a fourth failure signal when detecting a situation that both the first radiation signal processing circuit and the second radiation signal processing circuit have failed; and

a first signal processing selection circuit configured to be connected with the third failure detection circuit, which selects and outputs a signal outputted from the first radiation signal processing circuit when the first radiation signal processing circuit does not fail, and selects and outputs a signal outputted from the second radiation signal processing circuit when the first radiation signal processing circuit has failed and the second radiation signal processing circuit has not failed.

20. The plant protection instrumentation equipment of claim 15, further comprising:

a second signal processing selection circuit which receives a changeover signal and receives signals outputted from a first radiation signal processing circuit and the second radiation signal processing circuit of the plurality of radiation signal processing circuits, selects and outputs a signal outputted from the first radiation signal processing circuit when the changeover signal has not been inputted, and selects and outputs a signal outputted from the second radiation signal processing circuit when the changeover signal has been inputted.