Omron Corporation

Omron Tateisi Electronics Co.

Other

Satoshi Motouji

Koyuru Nakano

Yasushi Matsuoka

Naoki Okada

Shinichiro Iura

Yoshimi Kanda

Kazuo Inaba

Tsutomu Ajioka

Teruyuki Hayashi

Misako Saito

Takuya Murata

Goro Kawakami

Akihiro Kakeya

Akio Matsumoto

Hirofumi Endo

Hidetomo Ohtsuki

Iichi Hirao

Satoru Ikemoto

Nobuhiro Fujimori

Kohei Chimura

Electric power meter

Icon for a portion of a display screen

An operation sectionis provided to a proximity sensor including: a detection section having an oscillation circuitand an amplification sectionhaving a function detecting a metal body using an oscillation amplitude of the oscillation circuitIn a set mode, when an operation to set an adjustment value for a sensitivity adjustment (a sensitivity adjustment value) is conducted in an operation sectionCPUgenerates a sensitivity adjustment signal in digital quantity indicating the sensitivity adjustment value and outputs the signal to a D/A converterThe sensitivity adjustment signal digital-to-analog converted by the D/A converteris given to a feedback circuitthrough a voltage adjustment circuitSince the feedback circuitis designed so as to change a feedback current quantity according to an applied voltage, a current with a magnitude matching a value the sensitivity adjustment signal is fed back to a resonance circuitto thereby control an oscillation amplitude.

Proximity sensor

A chemical filter unit is made of a chemical filter and a filter life detection sensor . The filter life detection sensor is provided with an adsorption state detection sensor and a reference sensor to which a flow of air is blocked. The sensors and are made of the same filter material as the chemical filter with a pair of electrodes sandwiching the filter material. An oscillation circuit, in which the sensors and constitute a part of the oscillating conditions, detects changes in impedance of the sensors and based on the changes in oscillation frequencies. A measurement of the adsorption state detection sensor is corrected with a measurement of the reference sensor in order to remove effects of temperature and humidity, obtain a measurement corresponding to the amount of adsorption of chemical substances, and decide on the timing of replacing the chemical filter based on the corrected measurement.

Method for deciding on the timing of replacing a chemical filter, filter life detection sensor, chemical filter unit, and semiconductor manufacturing apparatus

In a switching circuit formed as an integrated circuit, a series circuit comprising a diode (D.sub.1) and a resistor (R.sub.1) is connected between a base and an emitter of an npn transistor (TR.sub.1) requiring a high speed switching operation. Therefore, a high speed operation is made possible. Furthermore, in a circuit constructed such that the above npn transistor is driven by a pnp transistor (TR.sub.3, TR.sub.4), a leakage current produced in the above pnp transistor at high temperature is allowed to flow in the above series circuit. Accordingly, a malfunction of the above npn transistor is prevented. Consequently, an integrated circuit operable even under high temperatures is achieved.

Transistor switching circuit having diode-resistor in base of transistor

The detection system comprises a sensor and a controller which are connected by two wires. The sensor can take more than two states as opposed to conventional detection systems. According to this arrangement, for instance, a small leakage current exists even when the sensor is in normal off state, and, therefore, electric current in the range of I1 to I2 flows even in normal off state. On the other hand, electric current of I3 to I4 flows in normal on state. When there is a wire breakage, no electric current flows. Conversely, when there is a shortcircuiting, electric current exceeding I4 flows. Electric current in the range of I3 to I4 corresponds to an unstable state which is neither normal on state nor normal off state. Thus, by distinguishing the level of the electric current flowing through the wires, by using suitable electric current level detecting circuit, which of the level classes it belongs to, a state signal corresponding to the result of this distinguishing process can be outputted for self-diagnosing purpose.

Two wire detection system for producing abnormal state outputs

An oscillation circuit of a proximity switch includes a parallel LC resonance circuit (L, C), an oscillation transistor (Tr6) controlled by an output voltage from the resonance circuit for switching a constant current and a feedback circuit (Tr2, Tr3) for feeding back a current flowing through the oscillation transistor to the resonance circuit. In the circuit, there is further disposed a feedback current increase circuit including a second transistor (Tr7) controlled by an output voltage from the resonance circuit and a resistor (R) connected in series to the second transistor. The resonance circuit is supplied via the feedback circuit with a feedback current obtained by adding a current flowing through the feedback current increase circuit and a current passing through the oscillation transistor, thereby developing a large change in the amplitude of the oscillation.

Oscillation circuit for proximity switch

Growing community of inventors

Kyoto, Japan

Satoshi Motouji