Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

Seigo Inobe

Satoru Ishizaka

Hisashi Hirokawa

Hiroki Shionoya

Takao Moriyama

Hideyuki Oguro

A digital output circuit to be driven by an insulated power-supply circuit includes a transistor to turn on/off an external power supply in accordance with a signal output by a light receiving element in an insulating circuit in response to a signal processed by a controller. The external supply is connected to an output device. The output circuit includes a switching unit having first and second mechanisms to switch each of wires between a connected state and a non-connected state at two places between the light receiving element and the source or emitter of the transistor, and a logic adjusting unit to adjust inversion of a logic output of the light receiving element in correspondence to the type of the transistor, such that the output circuit is switched between a sink-current type and a source-current type.

Digital output circuit, printed-wiring board, and industrial apparatus

In a programmable controller including a special unit, a special-purpose integrated circuit element can be readily utilized for multiple purposes to extend the range of applications to reduce a manufacture cost. A special unit () connected to a microprocessor for performing I/O control through a bus includes an integrated circuit element () having a logic circuit unit (n (n=0 to 7)) whose operation specifications are determined by a parameter memory. The logic circuit unit (n) includes a reversible counter used for both high-speed input processing and high-speed output processing as a main component, and is connected to I/O interface circuits (X) (Y) through a first port () and a second port (). In addition, because the function of the logic circuit unit (n) is determined by a content of a special instruction in a sequential program, the logic circuit unit (n) is commonly used for various types of I/O interface circuits to allow the integrated circuit element to be used for multiple purposes.

Growing community of inventors

Hyogo, Japan

Seigo Inobe