Computer-controlled common access cabinet

摘要

A control system for a common access cabinet having a plurality of drawers and electrically controlled latches. Each latch corresponds to one drawer and is configured to receive an electrical signal. The electrical signal contains an address assigned to a particular drawer. When a latch receives a signal that defines the address of the drawer to which that latch corresponds, the latch unlocks that corresponding drawer. The latches receive the signals over an asynchronous serial interface bus. A user input device receives user identification data that is processed by a processor device to determine if the user is authorized to access any of the drawers. If the user is authorized, the processor device generates a signal that contains an address that corresponds to a drawer identified in the user identification data. The signal is converted to an asynchronous serial signal which is routed to the asynchronous serial interface bus.

主权项

1. A control system for controlling the operation of a common access cabinet that has a plurality of cabinet drawers that are movable between a closed position and an opened position, the control system comprising:
a plurality of latch systems mounted within the cabinet, wherein each latch system is positioned in proximity to a corresponding cabinet drawer and configured to receive a control signal, wherein a latch system unlocks the corresponding cabinet drawer to allow the cabinet drawer to be moved to the opened position when the latch system receives a latch control signal that defines an address that is assigned to the cabinet drawer to which that latch system corresponds; an asynchronous serial interface bus in electronic signal communication with the plurality of latch systems; a user input device to enable a user to input user identification data that identifies the user and the cabinet drawer to which the user is authorized to access; a processor to process the user identification data to determine if the user identification data is valid, and generate a latch control signal that defines an address of a drawer identified by the user identification data if the user identification data is valid; a converter to convert the latch control signal to an asynchronous serial signal and provide the asynchronous serial signal to the asynchronous serial interface bus so that all latch systems receive the latch control signal; a plurality of fans located within the interior of and attached to the cabinet, each fan located adjacent to a corresponding drawer; a plurality of fan control circuits, each fan control circuit being in electronic signal communication with the asynchronous serial interface bus and comprising electronic circuitry for generating control signals to control the operation of a corresponding fan, wherein the electronic circuitry receives predetermined temperature threshold data generated by the processor; and a plurality of temperature sensing devices, each temperature sensing device being associated with a particular cabinet drawer and outputting electronic signals representing the temperature within that cabinet drawer, each temperature sensing device being in electronic signal communication with a corresponding fan control circuit, wherein each fan control circuit controls its corresponding fan based on the relation of the sensed temperature to the predetermined temperature threshold data.