JP2000152344A - Controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent in advance an accident such as fire resulting from a residual capacity of a built-in battery of a device that is carelessly thrown away. SOLUTION: This controller is provided with a discharge control section 16 that discharges a battery 8, a central control section 13 that drives the discharge control section 16, and a battery voltage monitor section 19 that allows the central control section 13 to activate the discharge control section 16. When a voltage of the battery 8 drops, the battery voltage monitor section 19 gives a signal to activate the discharge control section 16 to the central control section 13, and the central control signal 3 drives the discharge control section 16 to discharge the battery 8. Thus, an accident, such as fire resulting from a residual capacity of the built-in battery of a device, due to careless disposing of it can be prevented in advance.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device such as an automatic gas meter reading device using a battery as a power source.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 2 shows a conventional controller for a line terminal device used for automatic gas meter reading. In the figure, a telephone line 1 and a telephone 2 and a data terminal device 3 such as a gas meter with a communication function are connected. The line terminal device 4 connects the telephone 2 to the telephone line 1, a network control unit 5 for performing line control during no-ringing communication or terminal call communication, and demodulates an analog signal from the telephone line 1 into a digital signal. A signal transmission unit 6 for modulating a digital signal from the data terminal device 3 into an analog signal and sending it to the telephone line 1;
A central control unit 7 for instructing a line connection to the device and controlling the signal transmission unit 6;
It is composed of

Further, the network control unit 5 connects the telephone 2 to the telephone line 1
A line switching unit 10 serving as a main component is a relay 9 for connecting and disconnecting the telephone line 1, and a line terminating unit 11 for impedance matching with the telephone line 1.

[0004] When a start message is received from the data terminal device 3, the central control unit 7 first activates the relay 9 of the line switching unit 10.
To disconnect the telephone 2 from the telephone line 1. Next, the line terminating unit 11 is controlled to set the line impedance to a closed state, and dialing is started. After dialing, communication with the central monitoring center is performed via the signal transmission unit 6. After the communication is completed, the line impedance control of the line terminating unit 11 is set to the open state, and then the relay 9 of the line switching unit 10 is returned to the original state, and the telephone 2 is connected to the telephone line 1. As described above, the central control unit 7 controls the network control unit 5 and the signal transmission unit 6 to send information of the data terminal device 3 to the central monitoring center via the telephone line 1.

[0005]

However, according to the above-mentioned conventional configuration, when a device returned due to replacement or failure is disposed of, the lithium battery serving as a power supply has a capacity remaining and is disposed of as it is. Then, since there is a risk of fire or the like due to abnormal heat generation of the battery, it is necessary to remove the lithium battery from the apparatus, discharge the lithium battery, and then dispose of the lithium battery. This requires equipment and personnel.

[0006] Even in a used device, if even a small amount of capacity remains in the lithium battery, there is a danger of fire or the like. Therefore, it is necessary to dispose of the battery after completely discharging it. There was a problem that.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a discharge control unit for discharging a battery, a central control unit for driving the discharge control unit, and activation of the discharge control unit by the central control unit. And a battery voltage monitoring unit for giving a signal to start.

According to the above invention, when the voltage of the battery drops, a signal for starting the start is given from the battery voltage monitoring unit to the central control unit, and the central control unit drives the discharge control unit to discharge the battery. be able to.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention relates to a discharge control unit for discharging a battery, a central control unit for driving the discharge control unit, and a battery voltage monitoring unit for giving a signal to the central control unit to start activation of the discharge control unit. It is provided with. Then, when the battery voltage drops, a signal to start the start is given from the battery voltage monitoring unit to the central control unit, and the central control unit can drive the discharge control unit to discharge the battery.

In addition, before a signal for starting the activation of the discharge control unit is given to the central control unit, a battery voltage monitoring unit for giving an advance notice signal to the central control unit is provided. By giving a notice signal of discharge from the battery voltage monitoring unit to the central control unit, it is possible to notify the administrator of the device that the life of the device is near before starting the discharge, and the discharge is suddenly started. It is possible to prevent the battery from running out and the device failing to function.

[0011] Further, a manual discharge start unit for manually driving the discharge control unit is provided. Then, even when the remaining capacity of the battery is sufficient at the time of replacement or failure of the device, the battery can be discharged by forcibly driving the discharge control unit by the manual discharge start unit.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a line terminal apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The components having the same numbers as those in FIG. 2 have the same functions. In the figure, a line terminal device 12 includes a network control unit 5, a signal transmission unit 6, a central control unit 13, a battery 8, a self-holding relay 14 for holding a state by a one-shot drive signal, and a Discharge control unit 16 including discharge resistor 15 for limiting current
And a life detector 17 that detects that the battery 8 has reached the end of its life and the voltage has dropped and provides a start signal of the discharge controller 16 to the central controller 13, and detects that the life is nearer at a higher voltage than the life detector 17. And a manual discharge start unit 20 for manually driving the self-holding relay 14 of the discharge control unit 16.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. When the voltage of the battery 8 decreases as the line terminal device 12 reaches the end of its life, the life notice detecting unit 18 first detects the decrease in the voltage, and notifies the central control unit 13 of the detection.
Upon receiving this signal, the central control unit 13 controls the network control unit 5 to connect the line to the central monitoring center, and notifies via the signal transmission unit 6 that the service life is approaching. At the central monitoring center, the line terminal device 12 is headed for collection and exchange by this notification.

On the other hand, even after the above-mentioned life notice detecting unit 18 detects that the voltage of the battery 8 has dropped, the line terminal device 12 continues to operate and the voltage of the battery 8 keeps decreasing. When the voltage further decreases, the life detecting unit 17 set to detect at the lowest voltage capable of maintaining the function of the line terminal device 12 detects the life and transmits the signal to the central control unit 13. The central control unit 13 receives this signal and drives the self-holding relay 14 in the discharge control unit 16 with a one-shot drive signal to form a discharge circuit including the battery 8 and the discharge resistor 15. Once the discharge is started, the self-holding relay 14 continues to form a discharge circuit irrespective of the voltage of the battery 8, so that the battery 8 is completely discharged.

As described above, the service life of the line terminal device 12 is notified in advance, and the battery 8, which is its own power supply, is completely discharged automatically. It can be disposed of without worrying about fire.

Also, when the battery 8 has sufficient remaining capacity due to reasons such as replacement or failure, the battery voltage monitoring unit 19 does not generate a signal to start the discharge control unit 16, or the central control unit 13 Has failed and the central control unit 13 has failed.
When a drive signal to the self-holding relay 14 in the discharge control unit 16 cannot be output from the central control unit 13 by operating the switch 21 in the manual discharge start unit 20. The one-shot driving signal similar to the above is applied to the self-holding relay 14 to forcibly discharge the battery 8.

[0018]

As apparent from the above description, the following effects can be obtained according to the control device of the present invention.

By providing a discharge control section for discharging the battery, a central control section for driving the discharge control section, and a battery voltage monitoring section for providing the central control section with a signal for starting the activation of the discharge control section, When the voltage of the battery drops, a signal to start the start is given from the battery voltage monitoring unit to the central control unit, and the central control unit can drive the discharge control unit to discharge the battery. At this time, it is possible to dispose of the battery without worrying about fire due to abnormal heat generation of the battery.

Further, before the signal for starting the discharge control unit is given to the central control unit, a battery voltage monitoring unit for giving an advance notice signal to the central control unit is provided. By being given from the monitoring unit to the central control unit, it is possible to notify the administrator of the device that the life of the device is near before starting the discharge, and the discharge is suddenly started and the battery is exhausted, and the device is discharged. Can be prevented from functioning.

Further, since a manual discharge start unit for manually driving the discharge control unit is provided, even if the battery has a sufficient remaining capacity at the time of replacement of the apparatus or at the time of failure, the manual discharge start unit forcibly operates the discharge control unit. Then, the battery can be discharged by driving the discharge control unit, and the disposal can be performed without worrying about fire or the like due to abnormal heat generation of the battery in the disposal after the return and collection.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a conventional control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 8 battery 14 self-holding relay 15 discharge resistor 16 discharge control unit 17 life detection unit 18 life notice detection unit 19 battery voltage monitoring unit 20 manual discharge start unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F-term (reference) 2G016 CA00 CB12 CB23 CC01 CC12 CC27 CD14 5H030 AA07 AA10 AS11 BB21 FF44 5K048 AA00 AA06 BA36 CA11 DC07 EA21 HA01 HA02 HA34 HA37

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A battery, a discharge control unit for discharging a battery, a central control unit for driving the discharge control unit, and a signal for starting driving of the discharge control unit when a voltage of the battery is reduced is transmitted to the central control unit. A control device comprising: a battery voltage monitoring unit provided to the control unit. 2. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the battery voltage monitoring unit gives a notice signal to the central control unit before giving a signal to start the activation of the discharge control unit to the central control unit. 3. The control device according to claim 1, further comprising a manual discharge start unit for manually driving the discharge control unit.