Title: Process control system for the automatic analysis and regeneration of galvanic baths

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1. A process control system for monitoring the chemical composition of bath liquid for a plurality of baths, in particular metal depositing baths, said process control system comprising:

a main programmer for operating the control system through a sequence of program steps;

a bath selection programmer connected to said main programmer and to the baths for selecting baths for analysis;

a chemical component analyzer including a plurality of constituent analyzing sections for anayzing respective quantities of respective bath constituents;

a plurality of analysis programmers connected to said analyzer and connected to and operated by said bath selection programmer to connect selected baths to appropriate analyzer sections;

a supply of bath correcting fluids;

comparison means connected to said analyzer to compare the analyzed actual quantities with respective reference quantities; and

adjusting means connected to said comparison means and connected between said supply and the plurality of baths for supplying correcting fluids to the respective baths in accordance with the differences between the actual and reference quantities.

2. The process control system of claim 1, wherein said bath selection programmer has a number of said analysis programmers operated thereby corresponding to the number of dissimilar baths which are to be monitored, said analysis programmers operable to connect the individual analyzing sections to the baths.

3. The process control system of claim 1, wherein each of the baths comprises a respective circulating pipe line and a respective blocking valve in the circulating pipe line connected to and operated by a respective analysis programmer.

4. The process control system of claim 1, wherein said chemical component analyzer includes common input and output pipe lines, and further comprising:

a supply of flushing liquid;

a flushing programmer connected to and operated by said bath selection programmer after each analysis to provide a flushing program; and

flushing means operated by said flushing programmer to provide flushing liquid to said chemical component analyzer and the common input and output pipe lines thereof.

5. The process control system of claim 1, comprising:

reference value generators connected to said adjusting means and connected to and directly operated by said bath selection programmer.

6. The process control system of claim 1, comprising:

actual value translators selectively connected by said bath selection programmer to said adjusting means.

7. The process control system of claim 1, comprising:

a plurality of actual value registers each assigned to a respective bath, each of said registers selectively connected in response to the operation of said bath selection programmer to a respective adjusting means to record the measured value.

8. The process control system of claim 1, comprising:

a central control unit which includes said main programmer, a data input distributor connected to said comparison means, said bath selection programmer connected to said main programmer and to said analysis programmers, a control logic including said comparison means, and a consumption and correcting computer which monitors the consumption of the various bath liquids.

9. The process control system of claim 1, wherein said comparison means of said control logic comprises, for each measured value, a comparator for comparing the measured value to a permissible limit value and is responsive to block said bath selection programmer when the measured value exceeds the permissible limit value at the completion of an analysis program.

10. The process control system of claim 9, comprising:

an alarm connected to said control logic and operated in response to a measured value exceeding its permissible limit value.

11. The process control system of claim 1, wherein said main programmer includes a program indicator.

12. The process control system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of baths comprises work-piece treatment baths followed by noble metal baths in the path of work-piece travel.

13. The process control system of claim 1, comprising:

means operable to block correcting liquid flow and simultaneously actuate said main programmer to run through the entire main program as an idle function check of system operation.

14. The process control system of claim 1, wherein each of said baths has a pump for circulating the liquid thereof and said analyzer comprises an internal control unit operating in a prescribed sequence, and said bath selection programmer initiates operation of said analyzer upon a predetermined time delay of about three minutes after switching on the relevant pumps.

Other info:

Inventors: Bussmann, Egon (Munich, DT)
Flamme, Bruno (Neuried, DT)
Vanhumbeeck, Jacky (Brugge, BE)
Helder, Johannes (Brugge, BE)
De Steur, Hubert (Drongen, BE)

Application Number: 685804
Filing Date: 1976-05-12
Publication_date: 1977-10-25
Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft (Berlin & Munich, DT)
Primary Class(es): 700/266 204/434, 422/62
Other Classes:
US Patent Ref:

3497449	Feb, 1970	Urban	23/230.
3643076	Feb, 1972	Bell et al.	235/151.
3654113	Apr, 1972	Bochinski	23/230.
3690833	Sep, 1972	Ferarri	23/230.
3719565	Mar, 1973	Herrmann	204/195.

Other Refs:
Primary Examiner: Ruggiero, Joseph F.
Assistant Examiner:
Attorney: Hill, Gross, Simpson, Van Santen, Steadman, Chiara & Simpson