JP2005121251A - Water heater management system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a water heater management system with which even a maintenance personnel who has only basic knowledge can easily eliminate unexpected failure by rationalizing maintenance of a water heater. <P>SOLUTION: A controller 10, mounted on the water heater P, for water heater operation records data of the water heater P. A server 20 for management records the data of the water heater P as a card Q and manages a setting program of each of the water heaters P. An infrared communication means sends and receives the data of the water heater P and a cellular phone 30 accesses the card Q of the server 20 for management. Data of the water heater P which made a failure are received by the cellular phone 30 with the infrared communication means. The card Q of the water heater P is checked with the server 20 for management by the cellular phone 30. The respective data are checked by the cellular phone 30. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a water heater management system that can perform maintenance of a water heater extremely reasonably by using a mobile phone with a built-in remote control function.

  In general, when a malfunction occurs in a hot water heater that is in operation, maintenance personnel who receive a notification from the user are dispatched to inspect the condition of the water heater, clarify the cause of the malfunction, and resolve the malfunction. Maintenance management work is performed to perform necessary processing or operations.

  Malfunctions that occur in water heaters occur as a wide variety of phenomena, and some major problems are expected, such as abnormalities in water supply such as water leakage, abnormal temperature settings, and insufficient hot water discharge. Therefore, some types of water heaters are equipped with several alarm functions that inform the location and cause of the failure when these predictable failures occur. For example, an alarm function that alerts you when a water supply abnormality occurs, an alarm that alerts you when the hot water temperature is higher than the set temperature, or an alarm function that displays a warning by sound or light Is.

  Problems that can be solved based on this alarm function can be dealt with in accordance with the manual, so that even maintenance personnel having only basic knowledge can handle them. However, unforeseen problems that cannot be solved by this type of alarm function rely on the skills of maintenance personnel with advanced knowledge and experience. However, since it is difficult to secure human resources with advanced knowledge and experience, it may take a long time to solve unexpected problems. Therefore, it has been desired to provide a management system that can rationalize the maintenance of hot water heaters and that even maintenance personnel having only basic knowledge can cope with unforeseen problems that cannot be solved by the alarm function manual.

  As a conventional system for rationalizing maintenance of a water heater, systems described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 have been proposed. Further, there is a system described in Patent Document 3 as a system for rationalizing maintenance services.

  In the system described in Patent Document 1, after installing the hot water heater, the installation information including the model information and the information on the result of the trial run is easily acquired for the installed hot water heater. It is an information acquisition system at the time of installation of the hot water heater used. In this system, the external controller brought by the operator is connected to the controller on the heat source unit side and accessed to transfer the installation information stored and stored on the heat source unit side to the external controller. When the controller is connected to a personal computer, construction reports can be easily output.

  The system of Patent Document 2 is a system that remotely controls the operation of a water heater, and is a remote controller for a water heater that has a function of exchanging various information of the water heater with the outside. According to this remote control device, necessary information and programs are directly installed on the controller unit from the Internet by user operation. Further, when the controller unit detects an abnormality, failure, and fire of the water heater, the controller unit automatically transmits a notification signal to a store, a maintenance company, or a fire department. It is also possible to display notification data of periodic inspections by dealers and maintenance companies on the controller unit.

On the other hand, the system described in Patent Document 3 is a maintenance service system that performs maintenance of electrical equipment related to housing facilities. In this system, in the event of a failure in an electrical device, a service is provided for informing the customer of information regarding estimation of the cost of repair and information regarding the timing of repair. According to this system, the diagnosis result of the self-diagnosis means incorporated in the electrical equipment is transmitted to a maintenance service terminal such as a mobile phone using infrared rays, and the maintenance service terminal is connected to the maintenance service server via a communication line. In this system, the delivery date of repair and the cost required for repair are determined and displayed on the display screen of a maintenance service terminal such as a cellular phone.
JP 2001-318950 A JP 2002-174453 A JP 2002-297809 A

  However, in the system described in Patent Document 1, it is possible to easily obtain information at the time of installation such as model information and determination results of trial operation, but when the device has a malfunction, the information at the time of installation is used. Thus, no measures are taken into account. Therefore, in order to elucidate and eliminate the cause of the malfunction of equipment, we rely on the advanced knowledge and experience of the maintenance personnel who rushed to the site.

  In addition, the remote control device for a water heater described in Patent Document 2 is a system that eliminates the problems that occur in a water heater even though necessary information and programs can be installed from the Internet to the controller unit by a user operation. Absent. That is, when an abnormality or failure occurs in the water heater, the controller section automatically notifies the store or maintenance company. Therefore, also in this remote control device, the knowledge and experience of the maintenance personnel who rushed to the site are relied on to elucidate and eliminate the cause of the malfunction of the equipment.

  Furthermore, since the system described in Patent Document 3 provides a service for promptly informing the user of information related to estimation of the cost of repair and information on the timing of repairs, the maintenance personnel are dispatched for actual repairs. Will do. Moreover, although the contents of repair are analyzed based on the diagnosis result of the self-diagnosis means incorporated in the electrical equipment, it is extremely difficult to provide self-diagnosis means for diagnosing all failures. Even if such a self-diagnosis means is realized, it still becomes a very advanced self-diagnosis device, and still has many problems before it can be used in a general household.

  Therefore, the present invention was created to solve the above-mentioned problems, and rationalizes the maintenance of the water heater, so that even a maintenance person having only basic knowledge can easily solve the unexpected troubles occurring in the water heater. The purpose is to provide a hot water heater management system that can be used.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, the present invention is equipped with a controller 10 for operating a water heater that is attached to the water heater P and records the manufacturing number, initial setting data, and operation data of the water heater P, and the manufacture of each water heater P. A management server that records the number, initial setting data, setting change data, failure data when a failure occurs, and treatment data that resolves the failure as a chart Q of each water heater P, and manages a setting program for each water heater P 20 and an infrared communication means for remotely operating the controller 10 of the water heater P to transmit and receive each data in the controller 10, and to access the chart Q of the management server 20 via the Internet line 30 Is a hot water supply management system comprising: a mobile phone using infrared communication means to store each data recorded by the controller 10 of the hot water heater P in which a problem has occurred 30, on the other hand, the medical record Q of the water heater P is inquired to the management server 20 by the mobile phone 30, and the medical record Q of the water heater P and each data recorded by the controller 10 are stored in the mobile phone 30. Verify with.

  The controller 10 detects an excessive temperature rise in the water heater P, abnormal water supply, drainage abnormality, temperature sensor and connector disconnection, temperature sensor short circuit, occurrence of non-boiling, occurrence of program abnormality, occurrence of overflow, occurrence of program setting impossibility. It is equipped with an alarm mechanism that detects any of the above and displays warning details.

  When a malfunction different from the alarm mechanism display of the controller 10 occurs, the cellular phone 30 collates the chart Q of the water heater P with each data recorded by the controller 10, and the chart Q Stores the cases that cannot be dealt with manually corresponding to the alarm mechanism of the controller 10 and the corresponding measures for each alarm program.

  In the controller 10, a part of the setting data is set to be operable on the controller 10 as a user changing function, and the remaining operation data can be changed only by the mobile phone 30.

  The cellular phone 30 receives various data from the controller 10 by infrared communication means, accesses the management server 20 via the Internet line, and records it in the medical chart Q of the management server 20.

  The mobile phone 30 downloads a setting program from the chart Q of the water heater P whose setting is to be changed, and transmits the setting program to the controller 10 by infrared communication means to change the setting of the water heater P. As a means for

  According to the present invention, the cellular phone 30 collates each data recorded by the controller 10 of the hot water heater P in which the malfunction has occurred with each data recorded by the medical chart Q of the malfunctioning water heater P. Therefore, the cause of the failure can be examined objectively, or the cause of the water heater P can be grasped from the failure history of the water heater P, and even the maintenance personnel having only basic knowledge can use the water heater. It is now possible to easily resolve unexpected troubles that occurred in P.

  In addition, the controller 10 detects an excessive temperature rise in the water heater P, water supply abnormality, drainage abnormality, temperature sensor and connector disconnection, temperature sensor short circuit, occurrence of non-boiling, program abnormality, overflow occurrence, program setting impossibility Since an alarm mechanism for detecting any of the occurrences of the alarm and displaying a warning is provided, a general problem that can be expected can be dealt with according to the warning display of the alarm mechanism.

  Furthermore, the mobile phone device 30 collates each program and data of the alarm mechanism with the medical chart Q of the water heater P when a problem different from the alarm mechanism display of the controller 10 occurs. Therefore, the program in which the alarm is displayed can be collated with the chart Q pinpoint. Therefore, even the infrared communication means attached to the cellular phone 30 can perform a sufficient collation operation.

  In addition, the troubles that cannot be detected by the alarm mechanism and the rare case troubles that cannot be dealt with manually by the alarm mechanism and the corrective actions are organized and stored in the chart Q for each alarm program. Even if a case failure occurs, it can be easily dealt with.

  In addition, since a part of the initial setting data is set to be operable on the controller 10 as a user changing function, it is possible to minimize problems caused by user operation mistakes and mischief. In addition, since the possibility of malfunctions due to operational mistakes is eliminated, the cause and number of possible rare case malfunctions can be reduced, and extremely rational maintenance management becomes possible. As a result, it is possible to increase the probability that can be clarified by the data collation operation.

  Furthermore, since various data received from the controller 10 by the infrared communication means is transmitted to the management server 20 via the Internet line and recorded in the medical record Q of the management server 20, even in the hot water heater P where there are many problems. By referring to this chart Q, it is possible to shorten the time for searching for a solution means.

  Further, since the setting program is downloaded from the chart Q of the water heater P whose setting is to be changed, and the setting program is transmitted to the controller 10 by infrared communication means, the setting of the water heater P is changed. Can be streamlined, and the equipment cost of the system can be kept low.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to rationalize the maintenance of the water heater, and even a maintenance person having only basic knowledge can easily solve the unexpected trouble that has occurred in the water heater.

  According to the present invention, the controller 10 having an alarm mechanism for detecting a failure in the water heater P and displaying a warning, and the chart Q of each water heater P are recorded, and the setting program for each water heater P is managed. The server 10 and the mobile phone 30 having an infrared communication means for transmitting and receiving data are recorded by the controller 10 when a trouble that cannot be dealt with manually by the alarm mechanism of the controller 10 occurs. Each program of the alarm mechanism and the program stored in the medical chart Q of the water heater P are collated by the mobile phone 30 to solve the problem.

  The main configuration of the system of the present invention is composed of a controller 10 mounted on a water heater P, a management server 20 accessible via an Internet line, and a mobile phone 30 equipped with infrared communication means (see FIG. 1). ).

  The controller 10 of the water heater P operates the water heater P and records various data necessary for the operation of the water heater P. As this data, there are a manufacturing number of the water heater P, setting data of the water heater P, and operation data of the water heater P. Each data is recorded in the controller 10 as initial setting data at the time of shipment. When a user or a worker changes the setting after shipment, the setting is transmitted to the management server 20 via the cellular phone 30 described later. And recorded in the chart Q as setting change data.

  In the initial setting data, basic settings at the time of shipment are recorded. For example, the date and time of shipment, current time, set hot water temperature, start / end of operation time, presence / absence of specified day of operation or specified day of week, presence / absence of specified day of week of automatic drainage, specified operation, temporary operation, trouble location and cause The setting of the alarm mechanism data indicating is recorded. Detailed settings other than this basic setting data include temporary hot water time (minutes), temporary stop day of the week, forced drainage, forced water supply, hot water replacement, automatic alternating operation switching (minutes), boiling heater Current (seconds) is recorded.

  By limiting the settings that can be changed by the user using the controller 10 to a part of the setting data, problems due to operational errors are minimized. For example, a part of the initial setting data is used as a user changing function, and only this function is set to be operable on the controller 10. Settings that can be changed by the user include set temperature, time adjustment, timer setting, and temporary operation. Temporary operation is a function to boil hot water without changing the program by using this function even when the operation is suspended by the program setting. Accordingly, all the functions other than these functions are used to change the setting of the controller 10 using the mobile phone 30.

  The operation data is an operation record of the water heater P. For example, the accumulated operation time of the water heater P, the cumulative energization time of the heater, the number of times of alarm generation, the number of operations of MC (electromagnetic contactor), the number of operations of automatic water supply and drainage, In some cases, the number of times of automatic alternating operation, the number of hot water replacement operations, etc. may be recorded as necessary. The number of alarm occurrences records the number of times the alarm mechanism has issued a warning with sound or a display when an abnormality is detected during operation of the water heater P. This alarm mechanism is generally used to detect overheating, supply water abnormality, drainage abnormality, temperature sensor and connector disconnection, temperature sensor short circuit, occurrence of boiling failure, program abnormality, overflow occurrence, program setting failure, etc. A failure that is expected to be detected is detected and a warning is issued each time. A handling manual is prepared in advance for the fault detected by the alarm mechanism, and maintenance personnel can solve the fault by taking action according to this manual.

  The management server 20 records each data at the time of shipment recorded in the controller 10 of each water heater P, data after the water heater P is operated, and the like as a medical record Q. That is, in the medical record Q of the management server 20, the manufacturing number, initial setting data, setting change data, failure data when a failure occurs, treatment data for solving the failure, and the like are recorded. Moreover, the operation program required for the water heater P is managed. Further, in the medical record Q, cases that cannot be dealt with manually corresponding to the alarm mechanism of the controller 10 and the corresponding measures are stored for each alarm program.

  That is, in the water heater P, an alarm mechanism is mounted in order to cope with general problems. However, defects detected by this alarm mechanism are limited to general cases. However, uncommon defects are often expected as rare cases. However, since the number of rare cases becomes enormous, it is difficult to detect with an alarm mechanism. Therefore, by storing such rare cases of defects and countermeasures in the medical record Q for each alarm program, maintenance personnel can use this alarm program even if the alarm mechanism cannot be handled manually. By inquiring pinpoints the data stored for each alarm program stored in the medical chart Q, it is possible to easily know the malfunction of the rare case and the countermeasure.

  The cellular phone 30 can access the chart Q of the management server 20 via the Internet line. Moreover, the infrared communication means which transmits / receives each data and program in the controller 10 by operating the controller 10 of the water heater P remotely is provided.

  The cellular phone 30 can change the setting of the water heater P by downloading a program managed by the management server 20 and transmitting it to the controller 10 by infrared communication means if necessary. Therefore, even if there is no malfunction in the water heater P, the setting of the water heater P can be changed.

  Further, the cellular phone 30 can transmit various data received from the controller 10 by the infrared communication means to the management server 20 via the Internet line and record it in the medical record Q of the management server 20. Yes. As described above, the change data of the controller 10 is sequentially recorded as a history in the medical record Q of the management server 20, so that data important for maintenance is stored.

  With such a system configuration, maintenance is performed in the following procedure (see FIG. 3). First, for a general problem that is assumed in advance, the controller 10 is provided with an alarm mechanism that indicates the location and cause of this problem, so detection of excessive temperature rise in the water heater P, supply water abnormality, drainage abnormality, temperature The alarm mechanism displays warnings about sensor and connector disconnection, temperature sensor short circuit, occurrence of boiling failure, program abnormality, overflow, and program setting impossibility (warning display means step 1). A warning sound and light emitting means can be used in combination with the warning display.

  Next, the maintenance personnel who have received the notification rush to the place where the water heater P is installed (see FIG. 1), and take action manually according to the display of the alarm mechanism (display processing means step 2). If this manual does not solve the problem, move to the next method.

  First, each data recorded by the controller 10 of the water heater P in which a problem has occurred, in particular, a program or setting data relating to the warning contents of the alarm mechanism is received by the mobile phone 30 by the infrared communication means 32 (infrared ray). Communication means step3).

  On the other hand, the management server 20 is inquired of the chart Q of the water heater P in which the problem has occurred by the mobile phone 30 (Internet communication means step 4). At this time, the program related to the warning content is sequentially inquired in a pinpoint manner, and the mobile phone 30 searches for a rare case defect or a countermeasure for the program.

  The controller 10 in the illustrated example includes a control device 11, a storage device 12 that stores predetermined parameters of the water heater P, a storage device 13 that stores setting data relating to the operation of the water heater P, and realizes a calendar function. It consists of infrared communication means 14 comprising an infrared communication unit 14A, an infrared light projecting unit 14B, and an infrared light receiving unit 14C connected to the control device 11 (see FIG. 2).

  For example, the mobile phone device 30 has a function of downloading an application program from a WEB site and executing the application program. An application program for using the mobile phone 30 as a remote controller for the controller 10 or an application program for controlling the calendar function of the controller 10 can be downloaded and installed.

  That is, the mobile phone 30 includes a control device 31, storage devices 33 and 34, a modulation / demodulation unit 35 that converts voice or data, a wireless transmission / reception unit 36, an infrared communication unit 32 </ b> A connected to the control device 31, and an infrared ray. An infrared communication unit 32 including a light projecting unit 32B and an infrared light receiving unit 32C is provided (see FIG. 2). Further, a user application program memory 37 is connected to the control device 31 so that data and programs provided from the management server 20 can be downloaded to the memory 37. In addition, a serial I / F 149 that outputs each data and program received from the controller 10 of the water heater P to an external device such as a printer is connected to the control device 31 of the cellular phone 30.

  The infrared communication means 32 of the mobile phone 30 can be made compact by using an IrDA infrared module with a remote control transmission function incorporating an LED driver, and can be easily mounted on the mobile phone 30. To. It is also possible to select other infrared communication means.

It is the schematic which shows one Example of this invention system. It is the schematic which shows one Example of the controller of this invention system, and a mobile telephone device. It is a block diagram which shows one Example of the maintenance procedure of this invention system.

Explanation of symbols

P water heater Q chart 10 controller 11 controller 12 storage device 13 storage device 14 infrared communication means 14A infrared communication unit
14B Infrared projector
14C Infrared light receiving unit 20 Management server 30 Mobile phone 31 Controller 32 Infrared communication means 32A Infrared communication unit
32B Infrared projector
32C Infrared light receiver 33 Storage device 34 Storage device 35 Modulator / Demodulator 36 Wireless transceiver 37 Memory

Claims (6)

A controller for water heater operation that is mounted on a water heater and records the serial number, initial setting data, and operation data of the water heater;
Management that records the serial number of each water heater, initial setting data, setting change data, failure data when a failure occurs, treatment data that resolves the failure as a chart of each water heater, and manages the setting program for each water heater Server for
A water heater management system comprising an infrared communication means for remotely operating the controller of the water heater to transmit and receive each data in the controller, and a mobile phone that accesses the chart of the management server via an Internet line. And
Each data recorded by the controller of the hot water heater in which the malfunction has occurred is received by the mobile phone device by infrared communication means, while the chart of the water heater is inquired to the management server by the mobile phone, A hot water heater management system that compares a medical record and each data recorded by a controller with a mobile phone. The controller detects overheating in the water heater, water supply abnormality, drainage abnormality, temperature sensor and connector disconnection, temperature sensor short circuit, occurrence of boiling failure, program abnormality, overflow occurrence, program setting impossibility The water heater management system according to claim 1, further comprising an alarm mechanism that detects whether or not a warning is displayed. The mobile phone device collates the chart of the water heater with each data recorded by the controller when a trouble different from the alarm mechanism display of the controller occurs, and the chart records the alarm of the controller. The water heater management system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a case that cannot be handled by a manual corresponding to the mechanism and a corresponding measure are stored for each alarm program. The hot water heater management system according to claim 1, wherein a part of the setting data is set to be operable on the controller as a user changing function in the controller, and the remaining operation data can be changed only by the mobile phone. The hot water heater management system according to claim 1, wherein the portable telephone device receives various data from a controller via infrared communication means, accesses the management server via the Internet line, and records it in a medical record of the management server. 2. The water heater management system according to claim 1, wherein the portable telephone device downloads a setting program from a chart of a water heater whose setting is to be changed, and transmits the setting program to the controller by infrared communication means to change the setting of the water heater. .

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