JP2006016768A - Apparatus for preventing freezing of piping - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an antifreezing apparatus for preventing the freezing of a plurality of lengths of object piping, which can perform an antifreezing operation without a hindrance, even if the number of piping temperature sensors for use is intentionally reduced. <P>SOLUTION: This antifreezing apparatus comprises a controller 2 for preventing the freezing of the piping (not shown in Fig.) for water supply/hot-water supply etc., one or more antifreezing strips 6 (three strips 6a, 6b and 6c are shown in Fig.), the one or more detachable piping temperature sensors 5 (the only one sensor is attached in Fig. though the three sensors can be attached in Fig.), and an outside air temperature sensor 14. The controller 2 automatically performs the checking of the attachment of each temperature sensor (the only one sensor is connected in Fig.) and an inspection of normality/abnormality of its operation (Fig. 5), predetermines which temperature sensor puts out a temperature signal for use in the control of the passage of an electric current through heating elements 1, 2 and 3, in terms of allocation (Fig. 7), controls the passage of the electric current (Fig. 7) by an alternative sensor selected by predetermined procedures (Fig. 8), when the nonconnection or abnormality of the piping temperature sensor is detected, and controls the passage of the electric current at a constant duty factor when all the temperature sensors are put into an unconnected or failed state. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a pipe freezing prevention device, and more specifically, when a single controller is used to prevent freezing of a plurality of water supply pipes and hot water pipes, even if the number of pipe temperature sensors is less than a specified number. The present invention relates to an anti-freezing device capable of controlling energization of the entire anti-freezing zone.

  In areas where pipes such as water supply pipes and hot water supply pipes freeze in severe cold seasons, wrapping antifreeze belts in the form of strips by insulating the flexible heating elements with flexible resin around the pipes that may freeze Conventionally, on / off control of energization of a heating element by detecting piping temperature, outside air temperature, and the like has been performed. The control means uses a temperature sensor that uses a thermistor whose impedance changes depending on the temperature, in addition to a thermal reed switch and a thermo switch that mechanically turn on and off the switch at a constant temperature. It is well known that means for controlling the energization of the battery is in practical use.

  In addition, water supply and hot water supply facilities are often installed in multiple cold water areas, such as water supply and hot water supply from multiple water supply pipes and hot water supply pipes. As the number of installations increases, measures to prevent freezing economically are required.

  For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-41633, unit energization units that are independent from each other can be connected and formed so that they can be monitored together. An anti-freezing device is disclosed in which energization control is performed on these anti-freezing zones all at once. The monitoring device transmits an energization state transmission command to each unit energization unit, receives a response, and displays the energization state on the display unit for each antifreeze zone, thereby more efficiently preventing many freezes. An anti-freezing device capable of controlling and monitoring a location is disclosed. As the pipe temperature sensor, a sensor using a thermistor or the like is used in addition to the thermostat.

In the above publication, the freeze prevention band and the pipe temperature sensor attached to one controller are made detachable so that the workability at the time of laying the freeze prevention device and the replacement of the temperature sensor and the freeze prevention band at the time of failure are facilitated. be able to.
JP-A-2003-41633 (Claims, paragraph [0019] and thereafter, paragraph [0029] and thereafter, FIGS. 1 to 3 and 5 to 7)

  By the way, in the case of an anti-freezing device in which one or a plurality of anti-freezing belts and piping temperature sensors are detachably attached by one controller, the thermistor is relatively expensive, so that the anti-freezing cost is reduced. In some cases, it is required to control a plurality of pipes with a single pipe temperature sensor.

  However, the conventional anti-freezing device is designed to use a pair of a pipe temperature sensor and an anti-freezing zone, and to notify an abnormality by flashing light or a buzzer when the temperature sensor fails. For this reason, if the detachable pipe temperature sensor is intentionally removed and used, the controller determines that the controller is in an abnormal state and stops the control function, so the user cannot decide whether to use or not use the temperature sensor. Therefore, there is a problem that the conventional anti-freezing device with a removable temperature sensor does not meet market needs unless it is further improved.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to the above problems, and in a freeze prevention device capable of preventing freezing of one or more target pipes, one or more detachable pipe temperature sensors are used by a user. However, it is an object of the present invention to provide an anti-freezing device that can prevent freezing without hindrance even when the number is intentionally reduced.

  In order to achieve the above object, a pipe freezing prevention device of the present invention comprises a controller, one or a plurality of freezing prevention bands, one or a plurality of pipe temperature sensors that can be detachably connected to the controller, and an outside air temperature sensor. The controller automatically confirms the installation of each temperature sensor and inspects whether or not it normally operates, and controls which of the pipe temperature sensors is used for energization control of the individual anti-freezing zones. The assignment of whether to use the temperature signal is predetermined, and if it is detected as a result of the inspection that the pipe temperature sensor is not connected or does not function normally, energization of the anti-freezing zone assigned to the temperature sensor is performed. Control is performed based on a temperature signal output by a normally operating temperature sensor selected according to a predetermined procedure, and there is no temperature sensor operating normally. If it is detected with, it is to energization control at a constant duty ratio determined in advance.

There is no particular limitation on checking the connection status of the pipe temperature sensor and detecting the presence or absence of a failure.When the pipe temperature sensor is connected to the connector, for example, a limit switch can be activated to output an installation signal. Since the signal output from each temperature sensor of the outside air temperature is an analog signal, it is possible to determine the presence / absence of sensor connection / failure from the signal level. That is,
a) When the input signal is in the normal range, that is, when it is not disconnected or short-circuited, it is determined that the temperature sensor is connected.
b) When the input signal is in the abnormal range, that is, when the inspection history is “not connected” when the inspection history is “not connected”, it is determined that the temperature sensor is not connected, and the inspection history is changed from “connected” to “ When moving to “not connected”, it is determined as “failure”.

In the case of a sensor element whose impedance changes with temperature, such as a thermistor, the temperature signal is generally obtained as an analog signal composed of the divided voltage of the thermistor by a voltage dividing circuit. Therefore, since the microcomputer drive voltage is generally DC 5V, the divided voltage is also in the range of 0-5V. Therefore, in the case of a temperature sensor short-circuit failure, 0V is input to the microcomputer,
-If the temperature sensor is broken or not connected, 5V is input to the microcomputer.

  Therefore, for example, if 0.2 to 4.7 V is set as the normal range and the other range is set as the abnormal range, it is possible to reliably determine the short-circuit failure, but it is difficult to cause the computer to determine whether the disconnection failure or not. Therefore, by initializing the inspection history of the temperature sensor to “not connected” when the controller is turned on, it is possible to determine whether a disconnection failure or an unconnected state.

  If it is determined that the temperature sensor is not connected when the power is turned on, the user determines that the temperature sensor is not intentionally connected and does not display a fault. If it is determined as “Not connected”, it will be determined as “Temperature sensor failure”, and if it is determined as “Not connected” and then determined as “Connected”, the temperature sensor will be displayed as “Mounting display”. With one indicator lamp such as a diode (hereinafter referred to as LED), it is possible to report unconnected, connected, and failure.

It is possible to enable the controller to automatically recognize that the repair / replacement has been performed after the failure of the pipe temperature sensor. However, this will cause the following problems.
a) When the sensor or the lead wire is in a half-broken state, a failure and normal state are repeated depending on the connection state, so that the controller may operate abnormally.
b) If the sensor accidentally operates “normally” when the controller is checked for abnormality, the sensor failure cannot be known.

  Therefore, the present invention can be implemented by providing a test switch and detecting whether or not the pipe temperature sensor is connected when the power is turned on and when the test switch is operated. In this case, the temperature sensor failed during use and changed to `` Failure display '', so even if the temperature sensor was replaced with a normal one, if the power was turned on again or the test switch was not turned on, the controller confirmed that the temperature sensor was normal. not recognize. Therefore, the controller can reliably determine that the half-broken state is “failure”.

  The selection of the temperature sensor that operates normally is not particularly limited. For example, the selection order of the temperature sensor that operates normally is higher than the outside air temperature sensor, and the piping temperature sensor ranks higher than the plurality of piping. Selection can be made between temperature sensors based on a predetermined order, and when a pipe temperature sensor attached to a hot water supply pipe is detected at this time, this sensor is excluded.

  Whether or not it is a hot water supply pipe is determined when a temperature higher than a certain temperature, for example, 20 ° C. or higher, or a temperature increase greater than a certain temperature increase rate, for example, a temperature increase of 15 ° C./min or higher is detected. For example, it can be determined that the pipe is a hot water supply pipe.

  Similarly to the pipe temperature sensor, the antifreezing zone can be detachably connected to the controller.

  The presence / absence of the pipe temperature sensor and the notification of normality / failure may be any light, sound, characters shown on the display, or anything else that alerts the surroundings. This can be performed by changing the blinking pattern of an indicator lamp such as a diode (hereinafter referred to as LED).

  The pipe antifreezing device of the present invention uses one or a plurality of pipe temperature sensors (usually the same as the number of antifreeze bands) when using one or more antifreeze bands to prevent the pipe from freezing. Even when the user intentionally reduces the number of pipe temperature sensors in the freeze prevention zone, the effect of performing the freeze prevention operation normally can be obtained. This effect enables the freeze prevention operation to be performed even when the pipe temperature sensor and the outside air temperature sensor that are being used simultaneously fail.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an antifreezing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  The controller 2 of the freeze prevention device 1 of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 8 includes three pipe temperature sensors so that up to three pipes (not shown) such as a water supply pipe and / or a hot water supply pipe can be prevented from freezing. Mounting connectors (hereinafter referred to as sensor connectors) 3a, 3b, 3c (hereinafter simply referred to as 3) and anti-freezing band connectors (hereinafter referred to as heating element connectors) 4a, 4b, 4c (when collectively referred to simply as 4) Is described).

  In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the pipe temperature sensor 5 is connected only to the sensor connector 3a, whereas the flowcharts of FIGS. 5, 7, and 8 are also connected to the sensor connectors 3b and 3c. It is programmed on the assumption that the temperature sensor 5 is connected. In order to distinguish these two situations, in the steps of the flowchart, the reference numerals of the pipe temperature sensors connected to the sensor connectors 3a, 3b, 3c are represented by sensor elements 1, 2, 3, respectively, and the heating element connector 4a, The heating elements provided in the anti-freezing bands 6a, 6b, 6c connected to 4b, 4c (referred to simply as 6 when collectively referred to) are represented by heating elements 1, 2, 3, respectively.

  The pipe temperature sensor 5 is a temperature sensor using, for example, a sensor element whose impedance changes with temperature, for example, a thermistor (symbol “TH” in FIG. 2). Further, the heating elements 6a, 6b, 6c are heating resistance wires, for example, as shown in the above-mentioned patent document, which are covered with a flexible resin in a belt shape and wound around a pipe freezing prevention portion. It is.

  The controller 2 uses a commercial power source as a power source, and a control circuit that controls energization of the heating elements 6 a, 6 b, 6 c through energization control elements 8 a, 8 b, 8 c controlled by the microcomputer 7, and a DC power supply circuit 9 that drives the microcomputer 7. It is made up of. In addition, the code | symbol 10 shown in FIG. 1 is a plug connected to a power supply.

  In addition to the control circuit, the control circuit of the controller 2 is connected to each of the energization display circuits 11a, 11b, 11c, a test for notifying that the heating elements 6a, 6b, 6c controlled by the microcomputer 7 are energized. A switch 12, a power supply display circuit 13, and an outside air temperature sensor 14 are provided.

  A circuit for supplying a temperature detection signal from the pipe temperature sensor 5 shown in FIG. 1 to the microcomputer 7, the divided voltage v between the voltage dividing resistor R and the thermistor TH of the pipe temperature sensor 5 as shown in FIG. Added to the input terminal. A circuit (not shown) for supplying the temperature detection signal of the outside air temperature sensor 14 to the microcomputer 7 is also formed in the controller 2 as in the case of the pipe temperature sensor 5.

  An example of the appearance of the controller 2 described above will be described with reference to FIGS. Reference numeral 2a in the figure is a casing containing the control circuit indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 1, and the front panel (FIG. 3) corresponds to the power indicator lamp 13 made of LEDs and the energization display circuits 11a, 11b, and 11c, respectively. Energized indicator lamps 11A, 11B, and 11C made of LEDs and a test switch 12 are arranged, and the sockets 4A, 4B, and 4C of the plug 10 and the heating element connectors 4a, 4b, and 4c (FIG. 1) are waterproof specification codes (symbols). All are attached to the casing 2a.

  As understood from FIGS. 1 and 3, the sensor connectors 3a, 3b, 3c, the heating elements 6a, 6b, 6c, the energization display circuits 11a, 11b, 11c and the energization display lamps 11A, 11B, 11C The microcomputer 7 was programmed as one group for each same alphabet in the code. Therefore, the basic program of the present embodiment outputs the energization control signal to the energization control element 8a and the energization display circuit 11a, assuming that the temperature signal given through the sensor connector 3a is the temperature of the pipe to which the heating element 6a is attached. Is programmed to do so.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the pipe temperature sensor connectors 3a, 3b and 3c are mounted inside the openable / closable lid 15 so that the socket 3 'is inclined forward and downward so that the plug 3 "can be easily inserted. 4 is a locking claw for detachably fixing the plug 3 ′ to the plug 3 ″, 17 is a lead wire of the pipe temperature sensor 5, and 18 is a lead wire 17 when the lid 15 is closed. Is a cut groove that prevents water and dust from entering.

  The freeze prevention operation of the freeze prevention device 1 according to the first embodiment described above will be described with reference to FIGS. When the operation of the controller 2 is started, first, when the flowchart of FIG. 5 is started, the inspection history of all temperature sensors is set to “not connected” in step 1, and the inspection record of the pipe temperature sensor operating normally in step 2 is “connected”. In step 3, “connection” is displayed for the pipe temperature sensor whose inspection history is “connection”. In step 4, the pipe temperature sensor whose inspection history is “connection” is checked for failure. The inspection history for the temperature sensor determined to be in failure is set to “failure”, and failure display is performed for the temperature sensor with the inspection history “failure” in step 6.

  When the above steps 2 to 6 are compared with the connection state of the pipe temperature sensor shown in FIG. 1, only the energization indicator lamp 11A among the energization indicator lamps 11A, 11B, and 11C (FIG. 3) is displayed as “connected”. It can be seen that “Not connected” is displayed.

By the way, the energization indicator lamps 11A to 11C provided in the controller 2 are usually used as follows for heating element energization display. That is, when the heating element is energized: The energization indicator lamp that is energized is lit. When the heating element energization is stopped: the energization indicator lamp that is de-energized is turned off. In this embodiment, the energization control circuit is not connected to the piping temperature sensor. (Not shown), the heating element is energized and controlled by the detection temperature of the pipe temperature sensor selected as an alternative, and the energization indicator lamp corresponding to the unconnected pipe temperature sensor is also in the energization control state (energization) / Turns on / off in response to power off.

  When the power is turned on, when the test switch is pressed, or when a new sensor is connected after turning on the power for a while, the energization indicator lamp displays the lighting pattern of each notification.

  The “connection” display pattern in this embodiment is blinking twice, turning off once, and blinking twice as shown in FIG. 6A. Only when there is a display request, the connection display pattern is given priority. did. As the “failure” display pattern, as shown in FIG. 6B, a pattern that repeatedly blinks is displayed with priority over the energization display pattern. Although not shown, the “unconnected” display pattern is a pattern that is turned on only when energization control is performed and the other patterns are turned off.

  When step 6 is executed, it is determined in step 7 whether or not there is a failure in the inspection histories of all temperature sensors. If a positive result is obtained, the process proceeds to step 14 and a negative result is obtained. Move on to step 8.

  When step 8 is executed, it is determined whether or not a pipe temperature sensor is newly connected to the connector with the inspection history “not connected” (3b and 3c in this embodiment), and a negative result is obtained. When the process proceeds to step 11 and a positive result is obtained, the process proceeds to step 9.

  When step 9 is executed, “connection” is displayed for the newly connected pipe temperature sensor. In step 10, the inspection history for the newly connected pipe temperature sensor is set to “connection”, and the process proceeds to step 11. The sensor association processing is performed, but detailed description is not given here, and will be described based on FIG. 7 after the description of FIG. When step 11 is completed, the process proceeds to step 12 where energization control is performed by turning on / off the heating elements 1, 2, and 3, and the process proceeds to step 13.

  If a positive result is obtained in step 7 and step 14 is executed, energization is performed at a constant energization rate, and the process proceeds to step 13.

  In step 13, it is determined whether or not a test switch has been input. If a negative result is obtained, step 4 is executed. If a positive result is obtained, the sensor “failure” indication is canceled in step 15 and step 1 is executed.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the sensor association process in step 11 of the flowchart shown in FIG. When the flowchart of FIG. 7 is started, it is determined whether or not the inspection history of the sensor element 1 is “connected” in step S1. If a negative result is obtained, the process proceeds to step S2, and a positive result is obtained. The process proceeds to step S3.

  When the process proceeds to step S2, a substitute sensor selection process is performed. This alternative sensor selection process will be described with reference to FIG. Next, in step S4, it is specified that the replacement sensor selected in step S2 is used for temperature control of the heating element 1, and the process proceeds to step S5. When the process proceeds to step S3, it is specified that the sensor element 1 is used for temperature control of the heating element 1, and the process proceeds to step S5.

  Steps S5 to S8 and steps S9 to S12 are the same as those described above, except that the target sensor elements and heating elements are different. That is, steps S5 to S8 are a flow for the heating element 2 connected to the temperature sensor connector 3b according to FIG. 1, and steps S9 to S12 are for the heating element 3 connected to the temperature sensor connector 3c according to FIG. It is a flow. Therefore, in the case of FIG. 1, since the sensor elements are not connected to each other, there is no sensor element to be used for the heating elements 2 and 3 in Steps 6 and 9, so the sensor element 1 is designated.

  The procedure of the replacement sensor selection process in steps S2, S6, and S10 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the flowchart of FIG. 8 is started, it is determined whether or not the inspection history of the sensor element 1 is “connected” in step T1, and if a positive result is obtained, the process proceeds to step T2, and the sensor element 1 is used as a substitute sensor. When it is designated and the program is terminated and a negative result is obtained, the process proceeds to step T3.

  In step T3, it is determined whether or not the inspection history of the sensor element 2 is “connected”. If an affirmative result is obtained, the process proceeds to step T4, where the sensor element 2 is designated as a substitute sensor and the program is executed. When the process is completed and a negative result is obtained, the process proceeds to step T5.

  In step T5, it is determined whether or not the inspection history of the sensor element 3 is “connected”. If a positive result is obtained, the sensor element 3 is selected as a substitute sensor in step T6, and the program is terminated. If a negative result is obtained, in step T7, the outside air temperature sensor 14 is designated as a substitute sensor, and the program ends.

  Therefore, in the case of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1, if the sensor element 1 is normal, step T2 is executed in the flowchart of FIG. 8 and the program ends. If not normal, the sensor elements 2 and 3 are not connected. Through step T3 and step T5, step T7 is executed.

  As can be understood from the above description, in the case of FIG. 1, if the sensor element 1 is normal, the alternative sensor uses the sensor element 1 in steps S6 and S10 of the flowchart of FIG. If it is determined that 1 is not normal, the result is that the outside air temperature sensor 14 is designated as the substitute sensor in steps S2, S6, and S10. In any case, the energization control of the heating elements 1, 2 and 3 of all the heating element lines can be performed regardless of the connection of the heating elements.

1 is a block circuit diagram of an antifreezing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a partial circuit diagram showing the temperature detection circuit shown in FIG. 1 in more detail. It is a front view of the controller 2 shown in FIG. It is the side view which fractured and showed a part of FIG. FIG. 2 is a basic flowchart for performing energization control by the freeze prevention device shown in FIG. 1. It is a graph which shows an example in the case of displaying a sensor connection display by blinking of light. It is a graph which shows an example in the case of displaying a sensor failure display by blinking of light. It is a flowchart figure which discriminate | determines whether it operate | moves normally including the connection / non-connection of a piping temperature sensor. It is a flowchart figure for determining the alternative piping temperature sensor when the piping temperature sensor is not attached to the connector for sensor connection corresponding to a specific heat generating body, or when it has failed.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 ... Controller 5 ... Piping temperature sensor 6a ... Freezing prevention zone 6b ... Freezing prevention zone 6c ... Freezing prevention zone 14 ... Outside temperature sensor

Claims (4)

  It consists of a controller, one or a plurality of anti-freezing bands, one or a plurality of piping temperature sensors that can be detachably connected to the controller, and an outside air temperature sensor. The inspection of whether or not to operate is automatically performed, and the assignment of which temperature signal of the pipe temperature sensor is used for energization control of the individual anti-freezing zones is determined in advance, and the result of the inspection When it is detected that the pipe temperature sensor is not connected or does not function normally, the energization control of the anti-freezing zone assigned to the temperature sensor is performed by a temperature sensor that operates normally selected according to a predetermined procedure. When it is detected that there is no temperature sensor that operates normally based on the output temperature signal, the power supply control is performed at a predetermined constant power supply rate. Pipe anti-freezing device, such as a water supply and hot water supply that.   Whether or not the temperature sensor is composed of a sensor element whose impedance changes with temperature, and whether or not the temperature sensor operates normally is within a range in which the impedance value of the temperature sensor is indicated by a normal temperature range. The pipe freezing prevention apparatus according to claim 1, which is determined by   The piping freeze prevention device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the freeze prevention band can be detachably connected to the controller. The order of selection of the temperature sensors that operate normally is such that the pipe temperature sensor is higher than the outside air temperature sensor, and the order among the plurality of pipe temperature sensors is a predetermined order. The piping freezing prevention apparatus in any one of.

Images