JP2000258221A - Water level controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a water level controller to accurately discriminate water level and to be operated continuously even when detecting means are improperly attached or wired, by comparing water level detecting signals received from the water level detecting means with a preset reference water level detecting signal by means of a control means. SOLUTION: A control means 4 (microcomputer) receives water level detecting signals from float switches 2a and 2b which work as water level detecting means, and discriminates the vertical positional relation between the switches 2a and 2b by comparing the water level detecting signals from the switches 2a and 3b with a preset reference water level detecting signal. A water level discriminating section 4b discriminates the water level in a tank 1 based on the discriminated results of the control means 4. In addition, the means 4 controls the operations of equipment which adjusts the water level based on the discriminated result of the discriminating section 4b or the operations of a heat accumulator, etc., which supplies heat to the liquid, such as water, etc., in the tank 1 based on the controlled water level. Therefore, the attaching positions of the float switches 2a and 2b are surely grasped and, accordingly, the operability and reliability of a water level controller are improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a water level control device for controlling a water level in a tank after judging a mounting position of each water level detecting means mounted on a tank such as an ice heat storage tank.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 5, a conventional water level control device such as an ice heat storage tank has float switches 2a and 2b as water level detecting means for detecting a water level in a tank 1 such as an ice heat storage tank. One by one at the top and one at the bottom, and the detection signals from the upper and lower float switches 2a and 2b are combined to determine the water level condition of full water, proper water level, and lower water level, and to control the water level. I was

As shown in FIG. 6, this conventional water level control device uses float switches 2a, 2a, 2b, 2c in water level detection means comprising upper and lower float switches 2a, 2b.
When installing the 2b, the float switch is mounted upside down due to a construction error or the wiring is reversed, and the float switch attached to the upper part to transmit the water level signal is placed at the lower water level. ON when detected
If the float switch to be attached to the lower part detects the upper water level and is in the OFF state, it is determined that the state is impossible, that is, it is determined to be abnormal, and the water level control operation thereafter Was stopped, and the heat storage operation and the like were stopped in conjunction with the stop.

[0004]

As described above, the conventional water level control apparatus is said to be inconvenient because the operation control operation is stopped if the upper and lower float switches as the water level detection means are improperly mounted or erroneously wired. There was a problem.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and even if each float switch as a water level detecting means is incorrectly mounted or wired, the usability of accurately determining the water level and continuing the operation is improved. An object is to obtain a good and highly reliable water level control device.

[0006]

A water level control device according to the present invention is attached to each part of a tank and detects each liquid level in the tank. Control means for controlling the position of the liquid in the tank based on the detection result of the detection means, the control means, a water level detection signal from each of the water level detection means and a preset water level detection reference signal, Are compared, the mounting position of each of the water level detecting means is determined from the comparison result, and the position of the liquid is determined and controlled based on the determination result.

After the control means determines the mounting position of each of the detecting means, when the water level detection signal reference after the result of the determination is different from the water level detection signal from each of the water level detecting means, the control means determines the position of each of the detecting means. It is determined that the detecting means has failed.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of the first embodiment. Reference numeral 1 denotes a tank for storing a liquid such as water. When a heat exchanger is provided in the tank to supply heat to the liquid, the tank becomes a heat storage tank. However, all of these are included here. An upper float switch 2a is mounted on the upper part of the tank 1 and serves as a water level detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of liquid in the upper part. A water level detector 2b is mounted on the lower part of the tank 1 and detects the presence or absence of the liquid in the lower part of the tank. The lower float switches 3a, 3b, and 3c as means are symbols indicating respective water levels in the tank 1.

Reference numeral 4 denotes control means. The control means 4 receives a water level signal from each of the float switches, compares the received water level signal with a preset water level signal, and controls each float switch. A position judging unit 4a for judging the vertical position relationship, a water level judging unit 4b for judging the water level in the tank 1 based on the judgment result of the position judging unit 4a, and a water level judging based on the judgment result of the water level judging unit 4b. It controls the operation of a device for adjusting (not shown), or controls the operation of a regenerator or the like (not shown) for supplying heat to a liquid such as water in the tank 1 based on the control water level result. Microcomputer.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are judgment tables for judging the water level from the vertical position relationship of each float switch incorporated in the CPU in advance. As shown in FIG. From the result of the combination of the OFF signal and the OFF signal, a full water level indicated by 3a, an appropriate water level indicated by 3b, and a lower water level indicated by 3c are determined.

Next, the operation thus constructed will be described with reference to FIG. First, as shown in FIG. 3, when each float switch 2a, 2b is mounted in a normal vertical position, when the float switch 2a detects the water level and is in the ON state, 2b sets the water level. Since it does not become the OFF state without detection, that is, when the signal relationship is as shown in FIG. 2, each water level is determined according to the water level determination table in FIG. The operation of the device or the like is controlled based on the result of this determination.

When the float switches 2a and 2b are mounted upside down or wired upside down, that is, when the float switches 2a and 2b are
When a is in the ON state by detecting the water level and 2b, which is considered to be at the lower position, is in the OFF state without detecting the water level, the upper and lower positions of the float switches 2a and 2b are mounted in reverse. Alternatively, it is determined that the wiring is reversed, and based on the determination result, the positional relationship between the float switches 2a and 2b is recognized in reverse, that is, the float switch 2a is recognized as the lower float and the float switch 2b is recognized as the upper float. The input data from each float switch is read, and based on the read result, as shown in FIG. 3, each water level is determined, and the operation of each device for adjusting the water level in the tank 1 is controlled based on the determination result, Alternatively, the operation of a heat storage device that supplies heat to a liquid such as water in the tank 1 is controlled.

Next, the operation described above will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, even if the power is turned on to the float switch, when no liquid such as water is contained in the tank 1, each float switch 2a,
2b keeps transmitting the OFF signal to the control means 4, so that the control means 4 sets the water level in the tank 1 to the target (appropriate) water level.
Control the operation of each device.

Next, when one of the float switches 2a and 2b transmits an ON signal to the control means 4 by this operation, the control means 4 transmits the ON signal to the float switch provided with the lower level. 2b is compared with a signal registered in advance (a preset water level detection reference), and when the signal is a signal from the float switch 2b, it is determined from the result of the comparison that the signal is normally attached. The water level in the tank 1 is determined based on the preset normal water level table shown in FIG. 2, and the subsequent operation of each device is controlled based on the determination result.

However, when it is determined from the above comparison result that the signal is not the signal from the float switch 2b but the signal from the 2a, the upper and lower positions of the float switches 2a and 2b are mounted in reverse or the wiring is reversed. The position of each float is read, and the water level is determined based on the read position of each float. That is, the water level is determined based on the water level determination table in FIG. Control behavior.

When the control means 4 determines each float position from the ON / OFF signal of each float switch, it determines from the state where the ON and OFF signals are mixed.
That is, the preset water level detection reference signals all include O
N, there is no combination of all OFF, so no determination is made in that state.

The control means 4 stores the determined positional relationship between the float switches 2a and 2b as a position signal in its storage unit. That is, the combination position signal of the ON / OFF signal patterns from the float switches 2a and 2b is stored, and the storage result (water level detection signal reference after the position determination) is compared with the current position input signal pattern. When the pattern is the same, the same operation as the above-described operation according to the pattern is performed.

However, when a position signal different from each float position signal of the judgment result stored in the storage unit of the control means 4 is transmitted from each float to the control means 4, for example,
After it is determined that each float is properly attached, an ON signal is sent from the float 2a, and the OF is sent from the float 2b.
When the F signal is sent and the previous (stored) input pattern is different from the current input pattern, the control means 4 determines that the float switch has failed and stops the operation of each device.

Although the float switch is used as the water level detecting means, it is obvious that any means such as a temperature sensor that can detect the water level may be used.

Embodiment 2 In the second embodiment, a control means 5 described below is used in place of the control means 4 described in the first embodiment. When the control unit 5 (not shown) receives an ON signal from a state where all water level signals transmitted from the respective float switches and the like as the water level detection unit 2 are the same OFF signal, the control unit 5 transmits the received ON signal. In order, that is, the position of each water level detecting means 2 is determined based on a preset detection criterion, the water level in the tank 1 is determined based on the position determination result, and the operation of each device that adjusts the water level thereafter Control.

The control means 5 stores the rank of the water level signal transmitted from each float switch or the like, compares the storage result with the current water level rank signal, and when the comparison result indicates the same pattern rank, , And returns to the start, and repeats the same operation as that described above.

However, when a water level signal having an order different from the reception order of the water level signal of each float stored in the storage unit of the control means 5 is transmitted to the control means 5, the control means 5 Judge that the switch has failed,
Stop the operation of each device.

When the control means 5 determines the position order of each float, it determines the order of transmission from the time when the ON and OFF signals are mixed until the same signal is obtained. That is, from the state of the ON signal to the state of the OFF signal,
In the order of the OFF signal until it becomes the FF signal, conversely, from the state of the OFF signal to the ON signal,
The transmission order is determined until the N signals are obtained.

[0024] In this way, the position of each float can be reliably grasped whether the water level in the tank is increased or decreased, and the more the water level detection means, the more each water level can be detected. The positional relationship of the water level detecting means can be reliably determined and controlled.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The control means compares the water level detection signal of each water level detection means with a preset water level detection signal reference, determines the mounting position of each water level detection means from this comparison result, and based on the determination result, Since the position of the liquid is determined and controlled, the position of the liquid in the tank is controlled by reliably grasping the mounting position of each water level detecting means even if the mounting of the water level detecting means and wiring mistakes are made. Thus, a water level control device that is easy to use and highly reliable can be obtained.

After the control means has determined the mounting position of each of the detecting means, if the water level detection signal reference from the water level detecting means after the determination result is different from the water level detecting signal from each of the water level detecting means, the respective Since it is determined that the detecting means has failed, it is possible to obtain a highly reliable water level control device that can reliably grasp even if each detecting means fails.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a water level control device according to Embodiments 1 and 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship between a float switch signal and a water level at the time of normal mounting according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relation between a float switch signal and a water level at the time of reverse mounting in the first and second embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the water level control device according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional water level control device.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a conventional water level control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ice storage water tank, 2a upper float switch, 2
b Bottom float switch, 3a Full water level position, 3b
Appropriate water level position, 3c low water level position, 4 control means.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A tank attached to each part of a tank,
Each water level detection means for detecting the liquid level position in the tank, and control means for controlling the position of the liquid in the tank based on the detection result of each water level detection means, the control means Compares the water level detection signal from each of the water level detection means with a preset water level detection reference signal, determines the mounting position of each of the water level detection means from the comparison result, and based on the determination result, A water level control device characterized by determining and controlling the position of the water. 2. The control means, after judging a mounting position of each of the detection means, when the water level detection signal reference after the judgment result is different from the water level detection signal from each of the water level detection means, A water level control device, which determines that a detection means has failed.