US 11,929,982 B2
Controllers of a vacuum pumping and/or abatement system
Peter Reginald Crundwell, Eastbourne (GB); Richard John Moran, Burgess Hill (GB); Peter George Stammers, Eastbourne (GB); Steven Graham Barlow, Burgess Hill (GB); and Brent Haslett, Eastbourne (GB)
Assigned to Edwards Limited, Burgess Hill (GB)
Appl. No. 17/297,302
Filed by Edwards Limited, Burgess Hill (GB)
PCT Filed Nov. 12, 2019, PCT No. PCT/GB2019/053203
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date May 26, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/109752, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 4, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 1819245 (GB), filed on Nov. 27, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2022/0035349 A1, Feb. 3, 2022
Int. Cl. H04L 61/5038 (2022.01); F04B 37/14 (2006.01); F04B 49/06 (2006.01); G05B 19/418 (2006.01); G06F 15/177 (2006.01)
CPC H04L 61/5038 (2022.05) [G05B 19/41845 (2013.01); G05B 19/41855 (2013.01); G06F 15/177 (2013.01); F04B 37/14 (2013.01); F04B 49/065 (2013.01)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of assigning an identifier to a controller of at least one of a modular vacuum pumping or a modular abatement system comprising a plurality of modules, the method comprising:
determining, by a first controller of the at least one of the modular vacuum pumping or the abatement system, that a first identifier is to be assigned to one of a plurality of second controllers of the at least one of the modular vacuum pumping or the modular abatement system, wherein each of the plurality of second controllers are located at a respective one of the plurality of modules of the at least one of the modular vacuum pumping or the modular abatement system;
transmitting, by the first controller, a first signal indicative of the first identifier to all of the second controllers;
receiving, by a user input device coupled to each of the plurality of modules, a user input at only one of the plurality of modules;
adopting, by the second controller, the first identifier as an identifier of the second controller at the one of the modules in response to the user input;
determining, by the first controller, that there is a third controller connected to the second controller via a connection;
transmitting, by the first controller, a second signal indicative of a second identifier to the second controller and the third controller, wherein the second signal is also indicative of the connection between the second controller and the third controller;
transmitting, by the second controller via the connection between the second controller and the third controller, a signal to the third controller; and
in response to the signal transmitted via the connection, adopting, by the third controller, the second identifier as the identifier of the third controller, wherein the adopting of the first and second identifiers allow the first and second controllers to be commissioned to control the respective one of the plurality of modules without the second and third controllers comprising any pre-loaded information.