BLOWER SYSTEM, BLOWER AND METHOD FOR OPERATING AND FOR INSTALLING A BLOWER

Abstract

A blower system having a control and operating unit for controlling a plurality of blowers. At least one Mesh Access Point that is in contact with the control and operating unit in a wireless or wired manner is furthermore provided, which Mesh Access Point is designed to construct a Mesh network such that at least one of the blowers has a wired or wireless Mesh connection to the Mesh Access Point, and that each of the blowers is able to be connected to at least one further blower in a wireless or wired manner in order to transmit data between the blowers of the control and operating unit. The invention furthermore relates to a blower for the blower system, to a method for installing a blower system and to a method for operating a blower system.

Claims

1. A blower system comprising: a control and operating unit to control at least two blowers; at least one Mesh Access Point in wireless or wired contact with the control and operating unit, the Mesh Access Point being designed to construct a Mesh network such that at least one of the blowers is in wireless or wired Mesh connection with the Mesh Access Point and each of the at least two blowers is able to be connected to at least one further blower in a wireless or wired manner in order to transmit data between the blowers and the control and operating unit.

2. The blower system according to claim 1, wherein the blowers are wirelessly connected to each other, that each blower is associated with a wireless transmitting and receiving range and that the blowers are arranged in relation to one another in such a way that at least one further blower or one Mesh Access Point is located within their transmitting and receiving range.

3. The blower system according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of Mesh Access Points with a Mesh transmitting and receiving range are provided, which are arranged in relation to one another in such a way that their Mesh transmitting and receiving ranges overlap.

4. The blower system according to claim 1, wherein the control and operating unit is designed as a building management system and that a BMS gateway is provided to transmit data between one of the Mesh Access Points and the building management system.

5. The blower system according to claim 1, wherein a further blower, which is adjacent to one of the blowers and disposed within the same Mesh transmitting and receiving range, is formed as an intermediary blower, which is connected to the blower and serves as a data node.

6. The blower system according to claim 1, further comprising a controller having a memory and a network interface in order to transmit data stored in the memory, wherein the controller is designed to form a Mesh network with a Mesh Access Point for the wireless or wired connection between the blower and a further blower of the blower system and/or for the wireless or wired Mesh connection between the Mesh Access Point and the blower.

7. The blower system according to claim 6, wherein the network interface is designed as a WIFI interface or as an Ethernet interface.

8. The blower system according to claim 6, wherein the controller is assigned an RFID tag having a memory for storing an identification address and having a transmitting and receiving unit for transmitting and receiving the identification address.

9. The blower system according to claim 6, wherein an optical signal generator is provided to display the operating status.

10. A method for installing a blower system according to claim 1 for a clean room having a plurality of blowers, each associated with a unique identification address, the method comprising: positioning the blowers and at least one Mesh Access Point, which is connected to a control and operating unit in a wireless or wired manner, in such a way that a transmitting and receiving range of one of the blowers is disposed within the transmitting and receiving range of a further blower or within the Mesh transmitting and receiving range of the Mesh Access Point; connecting the blowers and the Mesh Access Point; and identifying and localizing the individual blowers in the network on the basis of their identification address using a control and operating device.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein a position of the blowers and of the at least one Mesh Access Point is adjusted and/or checked by the following steps: querying a first transmission strength of the Mesh connection between one of the blowers and the nearest Mesh Access Point; and/or querying a second transmission strength of the connection between one of the blowers and the adjacent blower; and aligning the blowers and the Mesh Access Points in such a way that the first transmission strength and the second transmission strength are maximized with a minimized number of blowers required for the blower system.

12. A method for operating a blower system having a plurality of blowers and having a control and operating unit that controls the blower system, wherein the blower system comprises at least one Mesh Access Point that is connected to the control and operating unit, which is designed to form a Mesh network with the blowers, the method comprising: A1 constructing the Mesh network by: i) connecting the blower to the Mesh Access Point via a first data connection path if the blower is disposed within a Mesh transmitting and receiving range of the Mesh Access Point; or ii) connecting the blower via a second data connection path to a further blower, which is connected to the Mesh Access Point and arranged within the Mesh transmitting and receiving range of the Mesh Access Point, when the blower is disposed outside the Mesh transmitting and receiving range of the Mesh Access Point and within a transmitting and receiving range of the further blower; and B1 constructing the Mesh network and transmitting the data between the blower and the control and operating unit via one of the data connection paths.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein, within the Mesh transmitting and receiving range, at least one intermediary blower serving as a data node is arranged, which is connectable with the Mesh Access Point having a first transmission strength and is connectable with the blower having a second transmission strength, and that step A1 comprises the additional step: forming the first data connection path by connecting the intermediary blower to the blower and the Mesh Access Point.

14. The method according to claim 12, further comprising: disconnecting the connection between the blower and a blower of the blower system to be removed or deactivated; and refreshing the Mesh network based on the steps A1 and B1.

15. The method according to claim 12, further comprising: adding a new blower to the existing blower system; and refreshing the Mesh network based on the steps A1 and B1.

16. The method according to claim 13, further comprising: detecting a plurality of possible data connection paths; and selecting the data connection path having a minimum data transmission time on the basis of the number of required data nodes and the transmission strength.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0036] The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus, are not limitive of the present invention, and wherein:

[0037] FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of the inventive blower; and

[0038] FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of the blower system forming a Mesh network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of the inventive blower 1 for a blower system 2, in particular for a clean room. This includes a controller 3 connected to a blower fan 14, which has a memory 4 and a network interface 5 in order to transmit the data stored in the memory 4. The controller 3 also includes a control unit 6, by means of which the blower 1 is operated. In addition, the controller 3 is designed to form a Mesh network with a Mesh Access Point 7, for the wireless or wired connection 8 between the blower 1 and a further blower 1 of the blower system 2 and/or for the wireless or wired Mesh connection 9 between the Mesh Access Point 7 and the blower 1.

[0040] As a network interface 5, the blower 1 has a WIFI interface 10 and an Ethernet interface 11. The blower 1 can consequently communicate both via a wireless network connection and via a wired network connection. A wired network connection proves to be particularly advantageous if the blower 1 is to be positioned in an area of the clean room without WIFI reception. In addition, the controller 3 is assigned an RFID tag 12 with a memory (not shown) for storing an identification address and with a transmitting and receiving unit (not shown) for sending and receiving the identification address. Finally, the blower 1 also has an optical signal generator 13 to indicate its operating status. The optical signal generator 13 is preferably designed as one or more LEDs and is also designed such as to visualize different error messages based on different flashing signals. Alternatively, the signal generator can also be designed as an acoustic signal generator.

[0041] FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of the blower system 2 with a control and operating unit 15 designed as a building management (BMS) 20 system for controlling a plurality of blowers 1. The control and operating unit 15 is connected via a bus system to a BMS gateway 16 and the BMS gateway 16 is in turn connected to a first Mesh Access Point 7,19, respectively. The Mesh Access Point 7,19 is designed to construct a Mesh network in such a way that at least one of the blowers 1 has a wireless or wired Mesh connection 9 with the Mesh Access Point 7,19, and that each of the blowers 1 can be connected to at least one further blower 1 in a wireless or wired manner. The control and operating unit 15 can control or actuate the individual blowers 1 via the Mesh network and each of the blowers 1 can send its current operating status to the control and operating unit 15.

[0042] The individual blowers 1 have a spatial transmitting and receiving range 17 and are arranged relative to one another in such a way that at least one further blower 1 or one Mesh Access Point 7 is located within its transmitting and receiving range 17. In the present exemplary embodiment, the blowers 1 and the Mesh Access Point 7 are connected to one another wirelessly via WIFI. The transmitting and receiving ranges 17 of the blowers 1 are shown as dashed circles, whereas a Mesh transmitting and receiving range 18 of the Mesh Access Point 7,19 is represented by circles with a solid line.

[0043] In order to design the blower system 2 as large as possible, and to improve the accessibility of the individual blowers 1 within the Mesh network, the blower system 2 comprises a plurality of Mesh Access Points. In the present exemplary embodiment, the Mesh network comprises a total of four Mesh Access Points 7, these being arranged with respect to one another such that their Mesh transmitting and receiving ranges 18 overlap.

[0044] The installation of the blower system 2 is carried out as follows: First, the blowers 1 and the Mesh Access Points 7 are positioned within, for example, the ceiling of the clean room in such a way that the transmitting and receiving range 17 of each blower 1 is arranged within the transmitting and receiving range 17 of a further blower 1 or within the Mesh transmitting and receiving range 18 of the Mesh Access Point 7. At least the first Mesh Access Point 19 is connected to the BMS gateway 16 via an interface, preferably an Ethernet interface. This is in turn connected via a bus system to the building management system 20.

[0045] Next, the blowers 1 and the Mesh Access Points 7 are connected to each other.

[0046] Optionally, before positioning the blowers 1 in the clean room ceiling, the position or alignment of the blowers 1 and the at least one Mesh Access Point 7 can be adjusted and/or checked. For this purpose, a first transmission strength of a Mesh connection 9 between one of the blowers 1 and the nearest Mesh Access Point 7 and/or a second transmission strength of a connection 8 between one of the blowers 1 and the adjacent blowers 1 is queried. The blowers 1 are then arranged with respect to one another in such a way that a number of blowers within the blower system can be minimized, with the second transmission strength being maximized in the process. The transmission strength is defined as a transmitting and receiving strength. The blower system is thus optimized by minimizing the number of blowers required for the blower system, which are then aligned with one another in such a way that the highest possible transmission strength is achieved.

[0047] For one, the Mesh Access Points 7 are aligned such that the Mesh transmitting and receiving ranges 18 overlap, and secondly, that a number of the Mesh Access Points required for the blower system are minimized while at the same time achieving the highest possible transmission strength. In an alternative embodiment, the adjustment and/or checking of the position or alignment can also take place after positioning the blower 1.

[0048] Finally, the individual blowers 1 in the network are identified on the basis of their identification addresses. This takes place, for example, via the RFID tag 12 in that a control and operating device, which has an RFID reader and is not shown, assigns a unique identification address to each blower 1 and, via its position detection unit, communicates the exact identification address (IP address) of the blower 1 and its position within the network to the building management system 20.

[0049] The operation and checking of the blower system 2 take place as follows:

[0050] The building management system 20 controls and operates the blowers 1. The data communication between the building management system 20 and the individual blowers 1 takes place by means of data transmission via the Mesh network. The construction of the Mesh network is exemplified using a blower 1:

[0051] The blower 1 is connected via a first data connection path 21 to the nearest Mesh Access Point 7 when the blower 1 is located within the Mesh transmitting and receiving range 18 of this Mesh Access Point 7. If the blower 1 is located outside the Mesh transmitting and receiving range 18 of the Mesh Access Point 7 but is arranged within a transmitting and receiving range 17 of a further blower 1, then the blower 1 is connected to the further blower 1 via a second data connection path 22. These steps are carried out for all blowers 1 of the blower system 2. The Mesh Access Point 7 can also communicate wirelessly with the Mesh gateway 16.

[0052] Within the Mesh network, not only are the blowers 1 connected to the Mesh Access Points 7, but also the blowers 1 to each other. Adjacent blowers 1, which are designed as intermediary blowers 23 and are located within a Mesh transmitting and receiving range 18, thus serve as data nodes.

[0053] This intermediary blower 23 can be connected to the Mesh Access Point 7 with a first transmission strength and to the blower 1 with a second transmission strength. Alternatively, an intermediary blower 23 may also be not directly connected to one of the Mesh Access Points 7, but only indirectly via a further intermediary blower 23. The first data connection path 21 is formed by connecting the intermediary blower or blowers 23 to the blower 1 and the Mesh Access Point 7.

[0054] This enables each of the blowers 1 to be able to be connected via many different data connection paths 21, 22 to the Mesh Access Point 7 and thus to the building management system 20, and to communicate with the latter. The Mesh Access Points 7 detect that a plurality of data connection paths 21,22 is possible and choose the data connection path 21,22 which has the least data transmission time. This is preferably done by minimizing the number of required data nodes with the maximum possible transmission strength.

[0055] By means of the Mesh network of the blower system 2, data can be transmitted via the operating status to the BMS gateway 16 or to the BMS 20. Conversely, the BMS 20 or the BMS gateway 16 can control individual blowers 1 or groups of blowers 1 in order to check error messages or to control the blower 1 itself.

[0056] A particular advantage of the blower system 2 according to the invention is the fact that there is no single point of failure. This means, should a blower 1 fail due to a failure in the electronics or due to self-shutdown because of an excessively high operating temperature, the entire Mesh network does not break down and thus also not the entire blower system 2. Instead, the blower system 2 is dynamic owing to the Mesh network and is constantly being refreshed in order to search for the optimal data communication path 21, 22 for the respective blower 1.

[0057] Furthermore, the removal of a blower 1 from and the addition of a blower 1 to the blower system 2 are extremely simplified. The new blower 1 only has to be assigned a new identification address and a position, and the Mesh network has to be refreshed. The removal of the blower 1 is preferably accompanied by an error message to the BMS 20 or the BMS gateway 16, showing that a blower 1 can no longer be controlled. By refreshing the Mesh network, it is ensured that the other blowers 1 can be controlled.

[0058] The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are to be included within the scope of the following claims.