AU2011362817A1

AU2011362817A1 - Device for measuring a water flow

Info

Publication number: AU2011362817A1
Application number: AU2011362817A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Matthias Muller-Braun
Original assignee: Husqvarna AB
Current assignee: Husqvarna AB
Priority date: 2011-03-22
Filing date: 2011-03-22
Publication date: 2013-10-31
Anticipated expiration: 2031-03-22
Also published as: TW201239322A; AU2011362817B2; EP2689218A1; EP2689218B1; WO2012126518A1; PL2689218T3; TWI502171B

Abstract

The invention relates to a particularly advantageous design of a device for measuring a water flow, in particular in plant watering devices. Two housing parts which form at least the predominant part of the device housing can be axially joined together, and said housing parts can be fixed relative to each other and separated from each other for maintenance purposes without tools by means of a coupling part.

Description

Device for measuring water flow The invention concerns a device for measuring water flow, especially in plant irrigation facilities. 5 Dosed irrigation of plants is known to use devices for measuring water flow, which measure the flow rate and/or cumulative volume of water flow through a channel of a device. The measurement results can be displayed and/or pro cessed further in various ways for managing irrigation facilities. 10 A device known from WO 2010/141979 Al contains in the flow channel, in the design typical in itself, a turbine rotor with a magnet arrangement, whose rota tion is detected by a sensor mounted outside the channel and evaluated using electronic equipment. The electronic equipment is arranged in a chamber in the 15 device body, which is covered by a lid fixed on with screws. Coupling parts of a water-carrying coupling system can be arranged at the opposite ends of the channel. EP 1884292 Al describes a garden syringe with a water flow meter and display. 20 The basis for the present invention is the task of developing a device to assist the measurement of water flow particularly in production, assembly and maintenance. The invention is described in the independent claim. The dependent claims 25 contain beneficial embodiments and further illustrations of the invention. The formation of two body parts, such that they can be attached in the axial direction relative to the longitudinal axis of the channel, is of particular ad vantage in relation to the injection molding tool, and especially in relation to a -2 first body part containing the channel. A first body part of this type preferably forms a beneficial open pocket in the axial direction, laterally displaced against the channel, in which electronic equipment in particular can be arranged. In its preferred design, the second body part is located at least partially in such a 5 pocket. Advantageously, the bag forms part of the chamber for the electronic equipment. Preferably, the second body part forms a support for electronic equipment. Preferably, the second body part forms a support for electronic equipment, so that the electronic equipment, together with the second body part, is axially movable in relation to the first body part. 10 The pocket formed on the first body part may have a recess as a window on a display panel of the electronic equipment in its outer wall, radial in relation to the channel. To protect the display, this is advantageously covered by a trans parent pane, which, advantageously, may be part of the second body part. In 15 the preferred design, the second body part is in the form of an injection molding body made of transparent material, which forms the transparent pane with a surface of the wall. The second body part can be advantageously affixed relative to the first body 20 part using a fixing element that screws on to the first body part at one end of the channel, whereby the detachable affixation, using a fixation element prefer ably operated without tools, results. To this end, the second body part can ad vantageously encompass the channel by more than 1800, and preferably com pletely. In the preferred design, the fixing element can be formed by a water 25 carrying plug coupling. The fixing element can advantageously be screwed with a female thread onto a male thread on the first body part at the end of the channel, and may particularly take the form of a common coupling part known as a faucet piece, with a plug adapter.

-3 The second body part advantageously contains a battery compartment, the opening of which can preferably be sealed and waterproof using a gasket. At the same time, the seal can form a clamp of the battery that the user can grip to remove the battery easily from the battery compartment. The opening of the 5 battery compartment is advantageously hidden while the device is in operating mode by the joined first and second body parts and is accessible only by de taching the second body part from the first. A turbine arrangement can advantageously be arranged in the channel such io that it can be detached, the turbine arrangement can be inserted into and re moved from the channel, preferably through the channel opening, at the second end of the channel. Hence they are independent of the connection of the first and second body parts. 15 The invention is hereinafter illustrated in the diagrams in even further detail with reference to preferred embodiments, where: Fig. 1 shows the components of a preferred design, 20 Fig. 2 shows a device assembled from the components according to Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows an assembly diagram of a plug with electronic components, 25 Fig. 4 shows the parts of Fig. 3 assembled, Fig. 5 shows another view of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 shows a cross-sectional view of body parts with fixative, -4 Fig. 7 shows a cross-section of a device as per Fig. 2. Fig. 1 shows an oblique view of the essential components of a preferred version 5 of a device for measuring water flow, as per the invention. The components include, in particular, a base body GK which, advantageously, can be manufac tured as a plastic injection molding body from a preferably non-transparent ma terial. In the base body GK, there is a channel through which water can flow between the oppositely situated first and second channel openings 01 and 02, 10 in the direction of a longitudinal axis LA. At channel opening 01, there is a first thread G1 formed as a male thread on a section of the body surrounding the channel, with a flattening FA provided on one side, on which there are no threads. If the channel's route through the body is non-linear in another design, the longitudinal axes of the channel exits may differ at the two channel open 15 ings. In the base body GK, a pocket TA is formed, open axially to the channel end with the first channel opening 01, which is preferably closed on the axial side that is turned away from the channel end at the first channel opening 01. In the 20 base body, there is a window recess AU, as well as a smaller opening SO in the outer body surface facing away from the channel. A turbine unit TE forming the rotor arrangement can be inserted through the second channel opening 02 of base body GK in the channel and fixed therein, 25 for which, advantageously, a coupling part, particularly a hose coupling SK of a plug coupling system, can be screwed with a mating thread into a female thread, not visible in Fig. 1, around the channel through the base body GK at the second channel opening 02. Between turbine unit TA and coupling part SK, an elastomeric seal DT is inserted advantageously through the coupling part -5 SK, and the turbine unit TE, the geometry of the channel and the coupling part SK are coordinated such that, on the screwed coupling part SK, the turbine unit TE is fixed axially and braced in the channel with elastic deformation of sealing DT. The turbine unit TE contains a turbine rotor that can rotate around the Ion 5 gitudinal axis LA, whose rotation around the longitudinal axis LA is detected without contact through the channel wall and evaluated by an electronic device, when water is flowing through the channel. This detection may typically be by a permanent magnet arrangement on the rotor and a magnetic sensor in the electronic device. 10 A plug EK which, advantageously, can also take the form of a plastic injection moulded body, serves with a section as a support for components of an elec tronic system, illustrated in more detail by Fig. 3 to Fig. 6. In particular, the plug EK contains a battery compartment BF for holding a battery BA. A rubber 15 elastic battery seal BD covers the battery compartment on the one hand, and on the other hand, advantageously holds the battery BA in place adhesively at the same time, so that when the rubber-elastic seal BD is pulled off from the opening of the battery compartment at the same time, the battery BA can also be removed from the battery compartment while stuck to the seal. 20 The plug EK has a plate-shaped section AP running transversely to the longitu dinal axis LA, in which a recess AK is formed, which is matched in size and shape to the socket surrounding the channel at channel opening 01. A three dimensionally shaped part of the plug protrudes as electronics support section 25 ET in the axial direction from the plate-shaped section AP. This also forms a receptacle for an electronic board EP next to the battery compartment and can be inserted in the axial direction into the pocket TA of the base body GK. The plate-shaped section AP with the recess AK is then pushed over the socket of the base body GK at the end of the channel at the channel opening 01 with the -6 first thread G1 and fully encompasses the socket. The electronic components are arranged in the second body part, before the assembly of base body GK as the first body part and plug EK as the second body part, as illustrated in Fig. 3 to Fig. 5. 5 If the plug EK is joined with the base body GK in the manner described, where by the electronic support section of the plug EK lies in the pocket TA, the sock et of channel opening 01 with thread G1 will protrude axially over the plate shaped section AP of the plug. A coupling part SN, which may specifically take io the form of a so-called faucet piece with a plug adapter of a water-carrying plug coupling, is preferably screwed manually onto the base body GK without tools, with the female thread formed in the coupling part SN as the mating thread for the thread G1, thereby fixing the plug EK axially to the base body GK at the same time. 15 Fig. 2 shows an oblique view of a fully assembled device, which can be inserted using the complementary plug coupling parts SN and SK in the advantageous, familiar manner into a water-carrying pipe with a plug coupling system. Insertion into a water-carrying pipe can also be accomplished in other ways than through 20 the special coupling parts design. If the user, for maintenance purposes, e.g. to change the battery BA, wishes to have access to the electronic components, the attachment of the plug EK to the base body GK can be loosened by unscrewing the coupling part SN from the 25 thread G1 of the base body GK, and the plug EK, together with the electronic components, can be removed from the base body GK, after which the electron ic components will be easily accessible.

-7 The electronic components may specifically contain an electronic board EP, on which specifically a display panel AF is arranged, as can be seen in Fig. 3 to Fig. 5. This can be used for displaying measurement results and/or device set tings in the familiar way. On the side of the electronics board facing away from 5 the display panel AF, a magnetic sensor MS in particular can be provided, which can be arranged on the side facing away from the display panel AF near the turbine unit, but can also be separated from the turbine unit by the channel wall of the base body. On the electronics board EP, an integrated circuit ar rangement IC can also be arranged, which can fulfill different functions depend 10 ing on the device. The plug FE advantageously forms a transparent window with a window area that faces the device of the window recess AU in its fully assembled state. This means that the user can read the information displayed on the display panel AF 15 through the window recess AU and the transparent window area FE on the plug. Preferably, plug EK is made entirely of the same transparent material. Due to the design of the second body part EK, which uses the same transpar ent material throughout, no additional cover component is required. The water carrying channel is completely surrounded by the non-transparent material of 20 the base body, in order to avoid colonization of the channel by algae. In the area of the window FE, at least one, but preferably both, of the plug surfaces adjoining the window areas to the recess AU or the display panel AF can be given a special surface finish e.g. polished, in order to improve in particular the readability of the information displayed on the display panel AF. Such a surface 25 design can even be specified for the injection molding tool. For the electronic equipment, at least one control element in the form of a but ton switch TS is also provided, which when operated reaches through an open ing SO on the plug and, in its fully assembled state, through this aligned recess -8 SA to the base body GK and can be pressed against a restoring force, prefera bly provided solely by the elastic formation of the control element TS, towards the electronics board EP, enabling control of the device by a user there with sensor surfaces, specifically contact surface acting together. Advantageously, 5 the control element TS can also provisionally fix the plug EK to the base body when joining the body parts formed by the base body GK and plug EK during assembly, by locking into the recess SA in the outer wall surface of the pocket TA on the base body GK. This means that, for the next stage of the assembly, screwing on the coupling parts SN, the plug is already attached to the base 10 body on its own without external support. To separate the two body parts GK and EK, the plug is initially attached to the base body GK by the control ele ment TS after unscrewing the coupling part SN from the thread G1, but can be removed from the base body in the axial direction by pressing the control ele ment TS through the recess SA behind the outer wall of the pocket TA on the 15 base body GK. Fig. 6 shows base body GK, plug EK and coupling part SN in their prepared relative positions, displaced axially relative to the longitudinal axis LA. By sliding the plug EK onto the body GK in the axial direction, at which the electronics 20 carrier section ET of the plug is plunged into the pocket TA of the base body GK and the plate-shaped section AP with the recess AK encompasses the threaded socket G1 surrounding the opening 01 of the channel KA, is provi sionally held on to the base body GK by snapping the control element TS into the recess SA of the plug EK and fixed onto this by screwing on the coupling 25 part SN with its female thread onto thread G1 of the base body of GK. From Fig. 6, one can also see clearly that, advantageously, the volume of the pocket TA can be exploited very well through the flattening FA on the side allocated to pocket TA of the socket surrounding the channel KA at the opening 01, by al lowing the electronic components in the support section ET of the plug EK to be -9 positioned more closely in the direction of the longitudinal axis LA, and hence also closer to the magnetic sensor MS on the turbine unit TE, in comparison to a design with continuous thread G1. 5 Fig. 7 shows a cross-section of a fully assembled device according to Fig. 2, from which can be seen, in particular, the relative location of the magnetic sen sor relative to the turbine unit TE and the position of the display panel AF be hind the recess AU of the base body and the window area FE of the plug. The electronics board EP can, advantageously, be easily stuck in the plug and the 10 pocket by supporting the magnetic sensor MS and integrated circuit IC against the channel wall between the pocket and base body and the turbine unit. Using the coupling part SN, the plate-shaped section AP of the plug is pressed axially against the opposed surfaces of the base body GK, and thus fixed relative to this. The coupling part SN may, as usual, contain a ring seal DN as a seal 15 against the edges of the channel end at the opening 01. The first body part GK and second body part EK between them form the over whelming majority, specifically at least 90% of the mass and outer surface of the device body, which does not include the coupling parts SN and SK, the tur 20 bine unit TE and the electronic components. Advantageously, the turbine unit TE on the one hand and the electronic com ponents on the other hand can be detached independently of each other for maintenance purposes, by releasing the second coupling part of SK or first 25 coupling part SN from the base body, without having to detach the other com ponent from the base body at the same time. Using only two injection molding parts as a first body part GK and second body part EK, and fixing the two body parts relative to one other using a conventional -10 coupling part SN results in the device being particularly cost-effective and easy to install. These properties, those which are shown in the illustrations, and those speci 5 fied in the claims, can be implemented both individually and in various combi nations. This invention is not restricted to the specified embodiments but can also be adapted in many ways for technical usage.

Claims

1. Device for measuring a flow of water through a channel (KA) running through the device between two openings. Arranged in the channel are a ro 5 tor arrangement (TE) and electronic equipment that works together with the rotor, which is in a chamber separated from the channel and formed by at least two merged and adjoining body parts. It is characterized by the fact that two body parts adjoining the chamber (EK, GK) can be assembled in the axial direction relative to the longitudinal axis (LA) of the channel (KA). 10

2. Device characterized, according to claim 1, by the fact that the two body parts (EK, GK) can be detached non-destructively from one another for maintenance, preferably manually, without tools. 15

3. Device characterized, according to claim 1 or 2, by the fact that the first body part (GK) forms the channel (KA) and channel openings (01, 02) at its opposite ends, and a first and second connection.

4. Device characterized, according to claim 3, by the fact that the first body 20 part (GK) forms a pocket (TA) that is open axially relative to the longitudinal axis (LA) of the channel on one side.

5. Device characterized, according to claim 4, by the fact that the second body part (EK) covers the opening of the pocket (TA). 25

6. Device characterized, according to claim 4 or 5, by the fact that the second body part (GK) at least partially encompasses the pocket (TA), specifically with an electronic support section (ET). -12

7. Device characterized, according to one of claims 3 to 6, by the fact that the second body part (EK) encompasses the channel by at least 1800 with a section (AP). 5

8. Device characterized, according to one of claims 4 to 7, by the fact that, at the first opening (01), allocated spatially to the opening of pocket (TA), a fix ing element (SN) that attaches the second body part (EK) in relation to the first body part (GK) can be screwed on. 10

9. Device characterized, according to claim 8, by the fact that the fixing ele ment is a first coupling part (SN) of a plug connector.

10. Device characterized, according to one of claims 1 to 9, by the fact that the second body part (EK) contains a sealable battery compartment (BF). 15

11. Device characterized, according to one of claims 1 to 10, by the fact that between the first (GK) and second (EK) body parts there is a releasable locking connection (TS, SO, SA). 20

12. Device characterized, according to claim 11, by the fact that the locking connection is formed through an opening (SA) in an outer wall of the first body part (GK) and a control element (TS) that reaches through these and is connected to the second body part. 25

13. Device characterized, according to one of claims 8 tol 3, by the fact that the rotor arrangement (TE) can be inserted into or removed from the channel (KA) through the channel opening (02) at the second connection. -13

14. Device characterized, according to claim 14, by the fact that the rotor ar rangement (TE) can be attached, braced axially, in the channel (KA) using a second coupling part (SK) from the plug coupling that can be screwed into the channel opening. 5