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A cam timer or drum sequencer is an electromechanical system for controlling a sequence of events automatically. It resembles a music box with movable pins, controlling electrical switches instead of musical notes.
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A cam timer or drum sequencer is an electromechanical system for controlling a sequence of events automatically. It resembles a music box with movable pins, controlling electrical switches instead of musical notes.
An electric motor drives a shaft on which is arranged a series of cams or a drum studded with pegs along its surface. Associated with each cam is one or more switches. The motor rotates at a fixed speed, and the camshaft is driven through a speed reducing gearbox at a convenient slow speed. Indentations or protrusions on the cams operate the switches at different times. By arrangement of the cams and switches, complex sequences of opening and closing switches can be made. The switches then operate different elements of the controlled system - for example motors, valves, etc.
A programmer may change or rearrange (reprogram) peg or cam positions. Much like the pegs in a music box cylinder activate the notes, in a drum sequencer, as the drum of the sequencer spins, the pegs run across switches activating machine processes. The placement of the pegs along the length of the cylinder determine which switch along the length of the drum it will activate. Where the peg lies along the circular circumference of the drum determines at what point in the spin of the drum the peg will activate the switch. By controlling the timing and sequence of switches, the drum performs repetitive switching operations.
Most cam timers use a miniature mains synchronous motor to rotate the mechanism at an accurate constant speed. Occasionally more complex timers with two motors are seen.
A drum sequencer is a re-programmable electromechanical timing device used to activate electric switches in repetitive sequences. Primarily, these sequencers were used in industrial applications to enable automated manufacturing processes.
Cam timers and drum sequencers were primarily used with industrial machines to control repetitive sequencing operations. The cam followers often operated hydraulic valves. Cam timers in industry were superseded with the introduction of programmable logic controllers (PLCs), which offer improved flexibility and more complicated control logic functions. In consumer products like washing machines, they were replaced with ASICs or microcontrollers.
The most common use for cam timers is in automatic washing machines, where they are used to drive the washing sequence according to a pre-programmed pattern. They are gradually being superseded by microprocessor-controlled systems, which have greater versatility, and thus can more easily respond to various feedback.
Another example is the usage in electromechanical pinball machines, where the Cam timer is also known as a 'Score Motor'
The most basic type of cam timer rotates continually, which is not suitable when needing to wait for events that occur at variable times.
With washing machine cam timers, it is necessary to wait a variable amount of time (for example waiting for a tank of water to heat up to a preset temperature). To achieve this, the cam motor subjects itself to control by one of its switches. The timer sequence switches the cam motor off, and the motor is started again by the signal from the thermostat when the required temperature is reached.
Usually washing machines thermostats have fewer fixed temperature detection points than the number of wash temperatures used. For intermediate temperatures, the cam mechanism uses the stop and wait method to heat to the nearest temp below the one desired, then uses only fixed timing of the heating element to increase the water to the desired temperature.
Some cam timers also have a fast forward mode, where applying power to a point on the controller causes rapid advance of the mechanism. This is often seen on washing machine controllers. Rapid advance can be achieved by moving of gearing, which may be triggered by various means.
Using feedback and external time delay and other sensory circuits, it is possible to build an electromechanical state machine using a cam timer. These are common in washing machines, where the cam timer runs in phases, but also stops and waits for external signals such as a fill level sensor, or a water heating temperature sensor.
While still fairly popular, cam timers are mechanical and hence subject to wear and reliability problems. Their reliability record remains good, but there is always some failure rate with mechanical switch contacts.
Electronic controllers have largely replaced cam timers for most applications, primarily to reduce costs, and also to maximize product features.
Cam timers don't have the greater degree of flexibility that CPU-based controllers provide. As well as offering more wash program variations, a CPU based washing machine controller can respond to malfunctions, automatically initiate test cycles, reducing manufacturing costs, and provide fault codes in the field, again reducing repair costs, and providing feedback on real world failure rates and causes. All of these reduce manufacture and business costs.
A programmable logic controller (PLC) or programmable controller is an industrial computer that has been ruggedized and adapted for the control of manufacturing processes, such as assembly lines, machines, robotic devices, or any activity that requires high reliability, ease of programming, and process fault diagnosis.
A relay is an electrically operated switch. It consists of a set of input terminals for a single or multiple control signals, and a set of operating contact terminals. The switch may have any number of contacts in multiple contact forms, such as make contacts, break contacts, or combinations thereof.
A cam is a rotating or sliding piece in a mechanical linkage used especially in transforming rotary motion into linear motion. It is often a part of a rotating wheel or shaft that strikes a lever at one or more points on its circular path. The cam can be a simple tooth, as is used to deliver pulses of power to a steam hammer, for example, or an eccentric disc or other shape that produces a smooth reciprocating motion in the follower, which is a lever making contact with the cam. A cam timer is similar, and were widely used for electric machine control before the advent of inexpensive electronics, microcontrollers, integrated circuits, programmable logic controllers and digital control.
A dishwasher is a machine that is used to clean dishware, cookware, and cutlery automatically. Unlike manual dishwashing, which relies on physical scrubbing to remove soiling, the mechanical dishwasher cleans by spraying hot water, typically between 45 and 75 °C, at the dishes, with lower temperatures of water used for delicate items.
A washing machine is a machine designed to launder clothing. Modern-day home appliances use electric power to automatically clean clothes. The term is mostly applied to machines that use water as opposed to dry cleaning or ultrasonic cleaners. The user adds laundry detergent, which is sold in liquid, powder, or dehydrated sheet form, to the wash water.
Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines. Automation has been achieved by various means including mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical, electronic devices, and computers, usually in combination. Complicated systems, such as modern factories, airplanes, and ships typically use combinations of all of these techniques. The benefit of automation includes labor savings, reducing waste, savings in electricity costs, savings in material costs, and improvements to quality, accuracy, and precision.
A thermostat is a regulating device component which senses the temperature of a physical system and performs actions so that the system's temperature is maintained near a desired setpoint.
A control system manages, commands, directs, or regulates the behavior of other devices or systems using control loops. It can range from a single home heating controller using a thermostat controlling a domestic boiler to large industrial control systems which are used for controlling processes or machines. The control systems are designed via control engineering process.
A timer or countdown timer is a type of clock that starts from a specified time duration and stops when reaching 00:00. A simple timer is an hourglass. Commonly, a timer triggers an alarm when it ends. A timer can be implemented through hardware or software. Stopwatches operate in the opposite direction, downwards from 00:00, measuring elapsed time since a given time instant. Time switches are timers that control an electric switch.
In control theory, an open-loop controller, also called a non-feedback controller, is a control loop part of a control system in which the control action is independent of the "process output", which is the process variable that is being controlled. It does not use feedback to determine if its output has achieved the desired goal of the input command or process setpoint.
A voltage regulator is a system designed to automatically maintain a constant voltage. It may use a simple feed-forward design or may include negative feedback. It may use an electromechanical mechanism, or electronic components. Depending on the design, it may be used to regulate one or more AC or DC voltages.
A motor controller is a device or group of devices that can coordinate in a predetermined manner the performance of an electric motor. A motor controller might include a manual or automatic means for starting and stopping the motor, selecting forward or reverse rotation, selecting and regulating the speed, regulating or limiting the torque, and protecting against overloads and electrical faults. Motor controllers may use electromechanical switching, or may use power electronics devices to regulate the speed and direction of a motor.
A brushless DC electric motor (BLDC), also known as an electronically commutated motor, is a synchronous motor using a direct current (DC) electric power supply. It uses an electronic controller to switch DC currents to the motor windings producing magnetic fields that effectively rotate in space and which the permanent magnet rotor follows. The controller adjusts the phase and amplitude of the current pulses that control the speed and torque of the motor. It is an improvement on the mechanical commutator (brushes) used in many conventional electric motors.
A servomotor is a rotary or linear actuator that allows for precise control of angular or linear position, velocity, and acceleration in a mechanical system. It constitutes part of a servomechanism, and consists of a suitable motor coupled to a sensor for position feedback and a controller.
A control loop is the fundamental building block of control systems in general and industrial control systems in particular. It consists of the process sensor, the controller function, and the final control element (FCE) which controls the process necessary to automatically adjust the value of a measured process variable (PV) to equal the value of a desired set-point (SP).
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to automation:
A fan coil unit (FCU), also known as a Vertical Fan Coil Unit (VFC), is a device consisting of a heat exchanger (coil) and a fan. FCUs are commonly used in HVAC systems of residential, commercial, and industrial buildings that use ducted split air conditioning or central plant cooling. FCUs are typically connected to ductwork and a thermostat to regulate the temperature of one or more spaces and to assist the main air handling unit for each space if used with chillers. The thermostat controls the fan speed and/or the flow of water or refrigerant to the heat exchanger using a control valve.
A time switch is a device that operates an electric switch controlled by a timer.
The switched reluctance motor (SRM) is a type of reluctance motor. Unlike brushed DC motors, power is delivered to windings in the stator (case) rather than the rotor. This simplifies mechanical design because power does not have to be delivered to the moving rotor, which eliminates the need for a commutator. However it complicates the electrical design, because a switching system must deliver power to the different windings and limit torque ripple. Sources disagree on whether it is a type of stepper motor.
Automatic lubrication systems (ALS), also known as centralized lubrication systems (CLS), are mechanical devices designed to dispense precise quantities of lubricant to multiple points within machinery during operation. While typically fully automated, some systems may require manual activation via pumps or buttons and still fall under the centralized lubrication category.