Art controller as equipment timeout controller

artifacture

I have an application that might be perfect for the art controller. I have a laser cutter that can control the exhaust fan directly. But although not mentioned anywhere in motor the documentation, starting the motor more than 2 times per hour will cause the starting coil to overheat and fail. So I would like to have the following functionality:

- When receiving a dry-loop trigger from the laser, activate the contactor (relay) that turns the fan on

- When the laser says to stop the fan, keep the fan on for a specified delay period (approx 15-30 min)

- If the laser says to turn the fan on during that time, clear the timer and keep the fan on

- If the laser has said the fan should be off long enough that the timer reaches zero, turn the fan off

- If a manual cancel button is pressed, bypass the timer and switch the fan off. (ideally this should only work when the laser says the fan should be off, but this check isn't critical) 

1. Can I achieve this functionality without reprogramming the firmware? I don't have an AVR programmer.

2. Is there a different voltage regulator I can use to enable me to use the regulated 24VDC source already being used in my fan control circuit?

Thanks. 

Michael

Windell Oskay

I don't immediately see any way to get that functionality without reprogramming or external hardware, but it would be reasonably straightforward to do it with reprogramming.  As it is, additional triggers do not reset the timing, but are ignored or (if the option is selected) cancel the trigger.

The issue with the voltage regulator is not that it isn't rated for the voltage, it's that it drops too much power.  If you have 24 V in, 5 V out, at 100 mA, that's 19 V * 0.125 A (max), or 2.375 W of power-- more than the PCB can dissipate. You can get around this by adding a big enough heat sink, or moving the regulator off board, and heat sinking it to the metal chassis of one of your instruments.