JP2006185301A - Pressure regulator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To secure the driving power source over a long term when a pressure regulator judging unit is used. <P>SOLUTION: A pressure regulator 1 is arranged at gas exit passage 20, and is provided with a rotary wing 41 which rotates by receiving gas stream, a storage of electricity means (45 and 5) which convert rotation about axis of the rotary wing 41 into electricity and stores electricity, and a pressure regulator judging unit 6 which operates receiving power supply from the storage of electricity means 5 and performs judgement of abnormalities of main body 2 of the regulator or its lifetime. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a pressure regulator that adjusts a gas pressure to a lower gas pressure.

  The pressure regulator is provided in the middle of a gas supply passage for supplying LP gas from an LP gas cylinder on the gas supply side to a combustor such as a gas range on the gas consumption side. This pressure regulator is an important device for safety, and it is required by law to confirm that there is no hindrance in use at the time of inspection accompanying replacement of an LP gas cylinder. In this inspection, adjustment pressure and blockage pressure are measured, and it is judged whether the measured pressure is within the normal range.

  By the way, this measured pressure often falls within the normal range even when the rubber parts such as the diaphragm used in the pressure regulator deteriorate, and it is difficult to detect the deterioration of the rubber parts from the measured pressure. . For this reason, in order to confirm deterioration of rubber parts, it was necessary to disassemble the pressure regulator.

  Therefore, in recent years, a pressure regulator determination device for determining abnormality or life of a pressure regulator has been proposed, and it has been studied to enable automatic detection at all times without disassembling.

  However, since the pressure regulator is installed and used for a long period of time, it is necessary to continuously drive the pressure regulator determination device during that time. On the other hand, there are many cases where commercial power sources are not provided in the usage environment, and attempts have been made to use batteries as power sources, but in such cases, complicated work of battery replacement is required, and over a long period of time. It was difficult to secure a drive power supply.

  The present invention has been proposed in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a pressure regulator capable of securing a driving power source for a long period of time when a pressure regulator determination device is used.

  In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention provides a pressure regulator for adjusting a gas pressure to a lower gas pressure, a rotor blade disposed in a gas outlet passage and rotating in response to a gas flow. A power storage means for converting the shaft rotation of the rotor blade into electricity and storing the power, and a pressure regulator determination device that operates by receiving power supply from the power storage means and determines abnormality or life of the pressure regulator. It is characterized by providing.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pressure regulator for adjusting a gas pressure to a lower gas pressure, a diaphragm that vibrates in accordance with a pressure fluctuation of an inflowing gas, and a diaphragm that is integrally attached to the diaphragm. A magnet that vibrates together, a coil that is arranged so that the magnetic flux of the magnet interlinks, a power storage means that stores the induced current generated in the coil, and a power supply from the power storage means that operates and receives the pressure. And a pressure regulator determination device for determining abnormality or life of the regulator.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pressure regulator for adjusting a gas pressure to a lower gas pressure, a diaphragm that vibrates in accordance with a pressure fluctuation of an inflowing gas, and a diaphragm that is integrally attached to the diaphragm. A coil that vibrates with the magnet, a magnet that is arranged so that a magnetic flux interlinks with the coil, a power storage unit that stores an induced current generated in the coil, and a power supply that operates from the power storage unit to operate. And a pressure regulator determination device for determining abnormality or life of the regulator.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect of the invention described in any one of the first to third aspects, the pressure regulator determination device is configured to change the pressure fluctuation generated by the pressure regulator. A high-sensitivity pressure sensor for detecting the pressure, a regulator discriminating means for discriminating whether the pressure regulator is abnormal or life based on a detection signal from the high-sensitivity pressure sensor, and the regulator discriminating means And a discrimination result notifying unit for notifying the discrimination result.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the second or third aspect, the pressure regulator determination and detection device counts the number of pulses of the induced current generated in the coil. A regulator discriminating means for discriminating that the pressure regulator is abnormal or life when the number of pulses exceeds a predetermined number; and a discrimination result notifying means for informing the discrimination result of the regulator discriminating means. It is said.

  According to a sixth aspect of the invention, in addition to the configuration of the second or third aspect of the invention described above, the pressure regulator determination and detection device detects a peak value of the induced current generated in the coil. A regulator discriminating means for discriminating that the pressure regulator is abnormal or life when the peak value exceeds a predetermined height, and a discrimination result notifying means for informing the discrimination result of the regulator discriminating means. It is characterized by.

  In the pressure regulator of the present invention, power generation and storage are performed using the gas flow and diaphragm vibration, and the pressure regulator determination device is driven by the electricity of the private power generation. The drive power supply can be secured for a long period of time, and the pressure regulator can be reliably monitored.

  Further, since a battery is not required, the cost can be reduced and the labor for battery replacement can be saved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a view showing a first configuration example of a pressure regulator according to the present invention. In the figure, a pressure regulator 1 according to the present invention includes a regulator body 2, a power generation unit 4, a power storage unit 5, and a pressure regulator determination device 6.

  The adjuster body 2 includes a body 21 and a cap 22 attached to the upper opening of the body 21. A gas inlet passage 23 into which a gas from an LP gas cylinder (not shown) is introduced is formed on the left side of the body 21 in the drawing, and a gas from which the gas reduced to a predetermined pressure flows out on the right side of the body 21 in the drawing. An outlet passage 20 is formed.

  A decompression chamber 24 is provided between the gas inlet passage 23 and the gas outlet passage 20, and the decompression chamber 24 reduces the pressure of the introduced gas (a pressure of about 0.1 to 1.56 MPa) to 2. The pressure is reduced to about .8 kPa, and the decompressed gas flows out from the outlet 33 toward the gas outlet passage 20. The decompression chamber 24 includes a diaphragm 27 that is pressed toward the decompression chamber 24 side by a spring 26 as a pressing member from the atmosphere chamber 25 side as a pressure chamber. The diaphragm 27 is made of a rubber member, and a peripheral edge thereof is sandwiched and fixed between the body 21 and the cap 22 to partition the atmosphere chamber 25 and the decompression chamber 24 in an airtight manner. The cap 22 is provided with a vent hole (not shown) that connects the atmosphere chamber 25 to the atmosphere.

  The spring 26 is provided in the atmospheric chamber 25 and is made of a relatively large-diameter spring. One end of the spring 26 is in contact with the upper wall side of the atmospheric chamber 25 and the other end is in contact with the upper surface of the diaphragm 27.

  In the center of the diaphragm 27, an operating rod 28 is provided so as to penetrate vertically, and one end of a lever 29 is connected to the lower portion of the operating rod 28. A fulcrum pin 29a and a movable pin 29b are inserted through the other end of the lever 29, and the lever 29 is rotatable about the fulcrum pin 29a. The movable pin 29b is also inserted into one end of the valve stem 30, and at the other end of the valve stem 30, a valve 32 is provided as a valve body that can move in the left-right direction to open and close the nozzle 31.

  The adjuster body 2 operates as follows. When the LP gas cylinder valve is opened, the high pressure gas from the LP gas cylinder enters the decompression chamber 24 through the nozzle 31. At this time, if the gas outlet passage 20 is closed, the gas pressure in the decompression chamber 24 becomes high, overcomes the spring 26 that pushes down the diaphragm 27, and the diaphragm 27 is pushed upward. As a result, the lever 29 connected to the diaphragm 27 via the operating rod 28 rotates counterclockwise about the fulcrum pin 29a, so that the movable pin 29b moves to the left. For this reason, since the valve rod 30 also moves to the left and closes the nozzle 31 of the gas inlet passage 23, the gas inflow into the decompression chamber 24 stops and the pressure in the decompression chamber 24 does not increase any more.

  On the other hand, when the gas flows out from the gas outlet passage 20, that is, when gas consumption starts on the combustor side, the pressure in the decompression chamber 24 decreases and the diaphragm 27 also decreases. As a result, the lever 29 connected to the diaphragm 27 rotates clockwise about the fulcrum pin 29a, so that the movable pin 29b moves to the right. For this reason, the valve rod 30 and the valve 32 move to the right, the nozzle 31 opens, and high-pressure gas flows from the gas inlet passage 23. Thus, the regulator body 2 controls the pressure of the gas flowing out from the gas inlet passage 23 to a predetermined pressure by the vertical movement of the diaphragm 27.

  Next, the power generation unit 4 will be described. The power generation unit 4 includes a rotating blade 41 and a power generation body 45. The rotor blade 41 is disposed inside the gas outlet passage 20, receives a gas flow, rotates as shown in FIG. 2, and a magnet 41a is provided at the shaft end. One power generator 45 is provided on the outer wall of the gas outlet passage 20 so as to face the rotor blade 41. The power generation body 45 has a shaft end side magnet 47 and a power generation magnet 48 rotatably on a shaft 45 a in the center of the cover 46, and a coil 49 is disposed on the outer periphery of the power generation magnet 48 so as to be separated from each other. Yes. In the power generation unit 4 having this configuration, when the rotor blade 41 and the magnet 41a rotate in response to the gas flow, the opposing shaft end side magnet 47 rotates in conjunction with each other, and the coaxial power generation magnet 48 rotates. Due to the rotation of the power generation magnet 48, an induced current is generated in the coil 49. This induced current is taken out and stored in the power storage unit 5. The power storage means described in claim 1 includes the power generator 45 and the power storage unit 5.

  Next, the pressure regulator determination device 6 will be described. The pressure regulator determination device 6 is a device that operates upon receiving power supply from the power storage unit 5 and determines abnormality or life of the regulator body 2. The pressure regulator determination device 6 determines whether or not there is an abnormality by performing predetermined signal processing on the high-sensitivity pressure sensor 69 that detects pressure fluctuations generated in the regulator body 2 and the detection signal of the high-sensitivity pressure sensor 69. It is comprised from the abnormality determination device 60 which alert | reports if it is abnormal. The abnormality determination unit 60 includes an amplifier 61, a band pass filter 62, a determination circuit 63, and a notification unit 64. The determination circuit 63 is formed around a CPU of a microcomputer.

  The high-sensitivity pressure sensor 69 is a low-frequency microphone and is attached so as to face the atmospheric chamber 25. The characteristic of this high-sensitivity pressure sensor 69 is 10 Hz to 20 kHz, the gain is −45 dB (0 dB = 0 V / Pa) = 5.6 mV / Pa, and it is possible to measure a very small pressure of 0.1 Hz to 20 kHz. Yes.

  By the way, in the regulator main body 2 described above, when gas consumption starts on the combustor side, the regulator main body 2 starts control for adjusting the introduced high-pressure gas to a predetermined low pressure. In that case, the diaphragm 27 has a large initial vertical vibration, and thereafter converges the vibration while repeating a minute damping vibration. When the rubber is less deteriorated, the minute vibration is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3B, as the rubber converges early and the rubber deteriorates, it takes time to converge as shown in FIG. As the rubber progresses, the rubber loss coefficient decreases. The pressure regulator determination device 6 pays attention to the decrease of the rubber loss coefficient due to the rubber deterioration, extracts the minute damping vibration of the diaphragm 27 from the vibration sound of air, obtains the rubber loss coefficient from the extracted damping vibration, When the rubber loss coefficient becomes smaller than the threshold value, it is determined that the rubber is deteriorated.

  That is, in FIG. 1, the high-sensitivity pressure sensor 69 collects sound in the atmospheric chamber 25 of the regulator body 2 and outputs the detection signal to the abnormality determiner 60. As described above, the high-sensitivity pressure sensor 69 is capable of measuring an ultra-small pressure of 0.1 Hz to 20 kHz, and detects a minute damped vibration of the diaphragm 27 that has been difficult to detect conventionally.

  The abnormality determiner 60 performs predetermined signal processing on the detection signal from the high sensitivity pressure sensor 69. First, the signal is amplified by the amplifier 61, a signal having a predetermined frequency is extracted by the band pass filter 62, and the extracted signal is output to the determination circuit 63. The determination circuit 63 counts the wave number of the extracted signal, determines whether or not the total number of wave numbers in the entire use period from the attachment of the adjuster body 2 to the present time exceeds a predetermined number, and determines that the predetermined number has been exceeded. When this is done, it is assumed that the adjuster body 2 is at the end of its life or is abnormal due to rubber deterioration, and the information is output to the notification unit 64. The notification unit 64 notifies the operator by turning on an LED, displaying it on a liquid crystal screen, or generating an alarm sound.

  And in this invention, the electrical storage part 5 is used as a power supply of the pressure regulator determination apparatus 6, and the electric power of the electrical storage part 5 is supplied to each site | part of the pressure regulator determination apparatus 6. FIG. Therefore, the pressure regulator determination device 6 can be driven by the power of private power generation, the drive power source can be secured for a long period even in an environment where there is no commercial power source, and the regulator body 2 is reliably monitored. be able to.

  Further, since a battery is not required, the cost can be reduced and the labor for battery replacement can be saved.

  In the above description, the determination circuit 63 of the abnormality determiner 60 counts the wave number of the extracted signal and makes a determination based on the total number, but detects the peak value of the extracted signal instead of the wave number. The crest value may be determined to be abnormal or life when the crest value becomes higher than a predetermined crest value due to rubber deterioration.

  FIG. 4 is a view showing a second configuration example of the pressure regulator of the present invention. In the second configuration example, the same components as those in the first configuration example are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.

  In the second configuration example, the power generation unit 40 includes a magnet 410 that is integrally attached to the diaphragm 27 and vibrates together with the diaphragm 27, and a coil 420 that is arranged so that the magnetic flux of the magnet 410 is interlinked. Yes. That is, a support shaft 430 is erected on the diaphragm 27, a magnet 410 is attached to the support shaft 430, and the coil 420 is disposed apart from the outer periphery of the magnet 410. In the power generation unit 40 having this configuration, when the magnet 410 vibrates together with the diaphragm 27, an induced current is generated in the coil 420, and this induced current is taken out and stored in the power storage unit 5.

  The pressure regulator determination device 6 in the second configuration example is composed of only the abnormality determiner 60. The abnormality determiner 60 performs predetermined processing on the induced current from the coil 420, counts the number of pulses of the induced current, and determines that the pressure regulator is abnormal or has a life when the number of pulses exceeds the predetermined number. To do. That is, the number of vibrations of the diaphragm 27 is added as the number of pulses together with the years of use, and when the number of vibrations reaches, for example, 100,000, it is determined that the diaphragm 27 has reached the end of its life.

  Therefore, also in this second configuration example, as in the first configuration example, the pressure regulator determination device 6 can be driven by the power of private power generation, and the drive power supply can be extended even in an environment where there is no commercial power supply. This can be ensured over a period of time, and the regulator body 2 can be reliably monitored.

  Further, since a battery is not required, the cost can be reduced and the labor for battery replacement can be saved.

  In the above description, the magnet 410 is vibrated with the diaphragm 27. However, the magnet 410 may be fixed and the coil 420 may be vibrated with the diaphragm 27.

  Further, in the above description, it is assumed that the number of pulses of the induced current generated in the coil exceeds the predetermined number. However, the peak value of the induced current generated in the coil is detected and the peak value is detected. It may be configured to determine that the pressure regulator is abnormal or has a life when the height is exceeded. This utilizes the phenomenon that the amplitude of the diaphragm increases as the diaphragm deteriorates.

It is a figure which shows the 1st structural example of the pressure regulator of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the rotary blade in a 1st structural example. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a minute damped vibration of a diaphragm, where (a) shows a normal case and (b) shows a case where rubber has deteriorated. It is a figure which shows the 2nd structural example of the pressure regulator of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Pressure regulator 2 Regulator body 4 Power generation part 5 Power storage part 6 Pressure regulator determination apparatus 20 Gas outlet passage 21 Body 22 Cap 23 Gas inlet passage 24 Decompression chamber 25 Atmosphere chamber 26 Spring 27 Diaphragm 28 Actuation rod 29 Lever 29a Support pin 29b Movable pin 30 Valve rod 31 Nozzle 32 Valve 33 Outlet 40 Power generation unit 41 Rotating blade 41a Magnet 45 Power generation body 45a Shaft 46 Cover 47 Shaft end side magnet 48 Power generation magnet 49 Coil 60 Abnormality determination device 61 Amplifier 62 Band pass filter 63 Determination Circuit 64 Notification unit 69 High-sensitivity pressure sensor 410 Magnet 420 Coil 430 Support shaft

Claims (6)

In a pressure regulator that adjusts the gas pressure to a lower gas pressure,
A rotor blade disposed in the gas outlet passage and rotating in response to the gas flow;
Power storage means for converting the shaft rotation of the rotor blade into electricity and storing electricity;
A pressure regulator determination device that operates by receiving power supply from the power storage means, and performs determination of abnormality or life of the pressure regulator;
A pressure regulator comprising: In a pressure regulator that adjusts the gas pressure to a lower gas pressure,
A diaphragm that vibrates in response to pressure fluctuations of the inflowing gas;
A magnet that is integrally attached to the diaphragm and vibrates with the diaphragm;
A coil arranged so that the magnetic flux of the magnet is interlinked,
Power storage means for storing the induced current generated in the coil;
A pressure regulator determination device that operates by receiving power supply from the power storage means, and performs determination of abnormality or life of the pressure regulator;
A pressure regulator comprising: In a pressure regulator that adjusts the gas pressure to a lower gas pressure,
A diaphragm that vibrates in response to pressure fluctuations of the inflowing gas;
A coil that is integrally attached to the diaphragm and vibrates with the diaphragm;
A magnet arranged so that the magnetic flux interlinks with the coil;
Power storage means for storing the induced current generated in the coil;
A pressure regulator determination device that operates by receiving power supply from the power storage means, and performs determination of abnormality or life of the pressure regulator;
A pressure regulator comprising: The pressure regulator determination device is
A highly sensitive pressure sensor for detecting pressure fluctuations generated by the pressure regulator;
Based on a detection signal from the high-sensitivity pressure sensor, a regulator discriminating means for discriminating whether or not the pressure regulator is abnormal or has a life,
The pressure regulator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a discrimination result notifying unit for notifying a discrimination result of the regulator discriminating unit. The pressure regulator determination and detection device is
A regulator discriminating means for counting the number of pulses of the induced current generated in the coil and discriminating that the pressure regulator is abnormal or life when the pulse count exceeds a predetermined number;
The pressure regulator according to claim 2, further comprising a discrimination result notifying unit that notifies a discrimination result of the regulator discriminating unit. The pressure regulator determination and detection device is
A regulator discriminating means for detecting the peak value of the induced current generated in the coil and discriminating that the pressure regulator is abnormal or life when the peak value exceeds a predetermined height;
The pressure regulator according to claim 2, further comprising a discrimination result notifying unit that notifies a discrimination result of the regulator discriminating unit.

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