Circuit arrangement for evaluating at least two switching states of an actuating element, method for operating a circuit arrangement and switching device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11169209-B2
Application number	US-201816624689-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 19, 2018
Priority date	Jun 23, 2017
Publication date	Nov 9, 2021
Grant date	Nov 9, 2021

Abstract

The invention relates to a circuit arrangement (100) for evaluating at least two switching states of an actuating element, having a moveable contact means (110) which is connectable to the actuating element, a first evaluation circuit (140a) with a first voltage divider, which has first node points (K1a, K2a, K3a, K4a, K5a) and a first tap (150a) for tapping off a first output signal (A1, A3, A5) of the first evaluation circuit (140a), at least one second evaluation circuit (140b) with a second voltage divider, which has second node points (K1b, K2b, K3b, K4b, K5b) and a second tap (150a) for tapping off a second output signal (A2, A4, A6) of the second evaluation circuit (140b), first contact surfaces (121a, 122a, 123a, 124a, 125a) which are each electrically connected to one of the first node points (K1a to K5a), and second contact surfaces (121b, 122b, 123b, 124b, 125b) which are each electrically connected to one of the second node points (K1b to k5b), wherein via the movable contact means (110), depending on the switching state of the actuating element at least one of the first contact surfaces (121a to 125a) and/or at least one of the second contact surfaces (121b and 125b) are electrically connectable to a predetermined reference potential (P). The invention also relates to a method for operating a circuit arrangement (100), and to a switching device having a circuit arrangement (100).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A circuit arrangement for evaluating at least two switching states of an actuating element, comprising:
a moveable contact means which is connectable to the actuating element;
a first evaluation circuit with a first voltage divider, which has first node points and a first tap for tapping off a first output signal of the first evaluation circuit,
at least one second evaluation circuit with a second voltage divider, which has second node points and a second tap for tapping off a second output signal of the second evaluation circuit,
first contact surfaces, which are each electrically connected to one of the first node points, and
second contact surfaces, which are each electrically connected to one of the second node points,
wherein via the movable contact means, depending on the switching state of the actuating element at least one of the first contact surfaces and/or at least one of the second contact surfaces are electrically connectable to a predetermined reference potential,
wherein the evaluation circuits are switched on and off separately from each other,
wherein the circuit arrangement is configured to detect the switching state of the actuating element on the basis of the output signal of a connected evaluation circuit and on the basis of the output signal of a deactivated evaluation circuit to carry out a fault diagnosis of the circuit arrangement.

2. The circuit arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the circuit arrangement has at least one processing unit which is configured to evaluate the output signals of the evaluation circuits, and the circuit arrangement has at least one control unit configured to switch the evaluation circuits separately from each other.

3. The circuit arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the circuit arrangement for switching the evaluation circuits has at least two switchable energy sources to provide an energy supply for the evaluation circuits, wherein the first evaluation circuit is electrically connected to a first of the switchable energy sources and the at least one second evaluation circuit is electrically connected to a second of the switchable energy sources.

4. The circuit arrangement according to claim 3 , the voltage dividers are each connected via a respective series resistor to an energy source configured as a switchable voltage source to provide a supply voltage for the evaluation circuits, or the voltage dividers are each directly electrically connected to an energy source configured as a switchable current source.

5. The circuit arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the circuit arrangement has at least two controllable switching devices for switching the evaluation circuits, wherein the first evaluation circuit is electrically connected to a first of the controllable switching devices for switching the first evaluation circuit to a supply terminal, and the at least one second evaluation circuit is electrically connected to a second of the controllable switching devices for switching the second evaluation circuit to a supply terminal.

6. The circuit arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the circuit arrangement has a number of first contact surfaces corresponding to a number of switching states to be detected, and a number of second contact surfaces corresponding to the number of switching states to be detected.

7. The circuit arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the movable contact means is configured as a multi-pole bridge, which is configured to electrically connect at least one of the first contact surfaces and/or at least one of the second contact surfaces to the reference potential depending on the switching state of the actuating element.

8. The circuit arrangement according to claim 7 , wherein the multi-pole bridge has three poles, wherein depending on the switching state of the actuating element a first pole is electrically connectable to one of the first contact surfaces, a second pole is electrically connectable to a reference potential surface connected to the reference potential, and a third pole is electrically connectable to one of the second contact surfaces.

9. The circuit arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second contact surfaces are arranged on a common circuit substrate in columns that extend along a travel path of the movable contact means, wherein in a first column alternating first and second contact surfaces and in a second column alternating second and first contact surfaces are arranged.

10. The circuit arrangement according to claim 9 , wherein on the common circuit substrate between the first and the second column a third column is arranged, which extends along the travel path and has a reference potential surface connected to the reference potential.

11. A method for operating a circuit arrangement according to claim 1 , during the detection of the switching state of the actuating element at least two switching cycles is carried out, wherein
in a first switching cycle the first evaluation circuit is switched on and the second evaluation circuit is switched off, and a first output signal is detected by the first evaluation circuit and a second output signal is detected by the second evaluation circuit,
in a second switching cycle the first evaluation circuit is switched off and the second evaluation circuit is switched on, and a third output signal is detected by the first evaluation circuit and a fourth output signal is detected by the second evaluation circuit,
the switching state is determined on the basis of the four output signals.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein during the detection of the switching state of the actuating element, at least one third switching cycle is carried out, in which the first and the second evaluation circuit are switched on at the same time, wherein a fifth output signal is detected by the first evaluation circuit and a sixth output signal is detected by the second evaluation circuit, wherein the switching state is determined on the basis of the six output signals.

13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein, to check the switching state of the actuating element, a three-stage validation cycle is executed, comprising:
in a first stage, each output signal is validated separately,
in a second stage the output signals corresponding to each other of the at least two evaluation circuits are compared with each other and validated, and
in a third stage the output signals of the respective switching cycles are compared with each other and validated.

14. A switching device having an actuating element, and a circuit arrangement according to claim 1 , the movable contact means of the circuit arrangement being connected to the actuating element.

Assignees

• Valeo Schalter & Sensoren Gmbh

Inventors

• Mueller Stefan
• Mack Raphael

Classifications

• H01H2239/012

  Decoding impedances · CPC title

• G01R31/327 Primary

  Testing of circuit interrupters, switches or circuit-breakers · CPC title

• H01H9/16

  Indicators for switching condition, e.g. "on" or "off" · CPC title

• H01H3/0213

  Combined operation of electric switch and variable impedance, e.g. resistor, capacitor (H01H9/061 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01H9/54

  Circuit arrangements not adapted to a particular application of the switching device and for which no provision exists elsewhere · CPC title