JP2006250669A - Level measuring apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a level measuring apparatus capable of achieving a compact apparatus and reducing production costs, by eliminating the need for a complex analog circuit in a rotator part and enabling signals to be handles at logic level. <P>SOLUTION: The level measuring apparatus comprises both a first plate member 8, rotating with a wire drum 1 and a second member 9 rotating with a detection shaft 6. The first and second plate members 8 and 9 face each other, and circular slits 8a and 9a are provided on circumferences of the same diameter, each centered about the center of rotation. Deviations between rotational displacements on the side of the wire drum 1 and rotational displacements on the side of the detection shaft 6 are detected, on the basis of the width of a light passage part 14, which is an overlapping part of the slits provided for the first and second plate members. On the basis of this, control is performed, in such a way that the amount of rotation of the wire drum 1 and the amount of rotation of the detection shaft 6 are equal to each other. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a level measuring device that detects and measures the level of a liquid level or a liquid boundary surface.

  A level measuring device that measures the level of liquid (the height of the liquid level and the height of the liquid boundary surface) with a liquid level sensor is equipped with a liquid level sensor at the tip of a measuring wire wound around a wire drum. The wire drum is rotated in accordance with the level change so that the buoyancy from the liquid acting on the body is constant, and the liquid surface sensing body is moved up and down, and the level is detected and measured from the amount of rotation of the wire drum.

  The level measuring device described above includes a detection shaft coupled to the wire drum via a magnet coupling, detects a deviation between the outer ring magnet and the inner ring magnet of the magnet coupling by a magnetoelectric converter, and according to the deviation. There is a configuration in which a detection value is rotated and a measurement value is obtained (see Patent Document 1).

  However, in the conventional apparatus described above, the magnetoelectric converter must be provided between the outer ring magnet and the inner ring magnet of the magnet coupling. Since both the outer ring magnet and the inner ring magnet are rotating members, the lead wires for power supply and output derivation to the magnetoelectric converter are connected via the slip ring regardless of whether the magnetoelectric converter is attached to the outer ring or the inner ring. Must be derived externally.

  Slip rings may cause contact failure due to wear and contact failure due to use, and this contact failure may cause device malfunction and impair device reliability. .

  As a means for supplying electric power from the fixed side to the rotating body, it is conceivable to use a rotating transformer. However, on the rotating body side, a stabilized power supply is required for a delicate analog circuit, and on the fixed side, an oscillation circuit for supplying power via a rotating transformer is required.

  Further, as a means for transmitting the detection output from the rotating body side to the fixed side, it is conceivable to perform signal transmission with a photocoupler. At this time, on the rotating body side, it is necessary to amplify the analog signal and further perform frequency conversion by a V / F (voltage to frequency) conversion circuit. On the fixed side, an F / V conversion circuit is required to convert the detected and transmitted frequency signal into a voltage again.

  However, a complicated and delicate circuit is formed on the rotating body side, which increases the size of the mechanism and causes an increase in production cost. Further, both the displacement detection circuit and the V / F conversion circuit using the magnetoelectric converter on the rotating body have problems that it is difficult to adapt to various environments and it is difficult to achieve stability against aging degradation.

JP-B-5-31928, page 1-3, FIGS. 1-4

  The present invention provides a level measuring device that can reduce the size of the device and reduce the production cost by eliminating the need for a complicated analog circuit in the rotating body and allowing the signal to be handled at the logic level. It is an object.

  In order to achieve the above object, a typical configuration of a level measuring apparatus according to the present invention is a wire drum in which a wire having a displacer serving as a liquid level sensor is wound around a tip, and a coaxial relative to the wire drum. And a rotation amount of the wire drum by rotating the detection shaft in accordance with a deviation between the rotational displacement on the wire drum side and the rotational displacement on the detection shaft side caused by a change in level. In the level measurement device that controls the rotation amount of the detection shaft to be the same and detects the level from the rotation amount of the detection shaft, the first plate member that rotates together with the wire drum, and the detection shaft rotates. The first and second plate members are arranged to face each other, and arc-shaped slits are provided on the circumference of the same radius around the rotation center, respectively. The deviation between the rotational displacement on the drum side and the rotational displacement on the detection shaft side is detected by the width of the light transmitting portion which is the overlap of the slits provided in the first and second plate members, and based on this, the wire drum The rotation amount and the rotation amount of the detection shaft are controlled to be the same.

  The arc-shaped slits provided in the first and second plate members have substantially the same length, and there is no deviation between the rotational displacement on the wire drum side and the rotational displacement on the detection shaft side. The first and second plate members have a phase difference that is approximately half of the length of the slit, and the width of the light transmitting portion is approximately half of the length of the slit.

  The wire drum and the detection shaft are connected by a joint that is elastically deformable in the rotation direction.

  In addition, a plurality of light emitting elements and light receiving elements arranged on the same circumference as the slits are opposed to each other with the first and second plate members interposed therebetween.

  In addition, the light emitting elements and the light receiving elements arranged in a large number are characterized in that light is emitted from one light emitting element and detected only by a pair of light receiving elements, which are sequentially circulated.

  Embodiments of the level measuring apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a plate member having slits, FIG. 2 (a) is a diagram for explaining a schematic configuration of a level measuring device, and FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a light projecting substrate and a light receiving substrate.

  First, the overall configuration of the level measuring apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. The wire drum 1 is wound with a wire 3 having a displacer 2 serving as a liquid level sensor at the tip. In the wire drum 1, a groove 1a for winding the wire uniformly is cut into a dense spiral shape. The shaft 1b of the wire drum is rotatably supported by bearings 4a and 4b fixedly held in a casing (not shown) and a bearing 4c built in the detection shaft 6.

  The detection shaft 6 is rotated by driving transmitted from a motor 5 such as a stepping motor. The detection shaft 6 and the wire drum shaft 1b are connected by a joint 7 with a coil spring. Accordingly, the wire drum 1 can be rotated in both the winding direction and the feeding direction by the driving force of the motor 5.

  FIG. 2B illustrates the joint 7 with a coil spring. The joint 7 with the coil spring has a structure in which bosses 7b and 7c are provided at both ends of the coil spring 7a. The boss 7b is fixed to the shaft 1b of the wire drum, and the other boss 7c is provided with a screw 7d for fixing to the detection shaft 6 (see FIG. 2A). The joint 7 with the coil spring having the above configuration can be elastically deformed in the rotation direction.

  Therefore, the wire drum 1 can be rotated together with the detection shaft 6 by the drive of the motor 5 and can be rotated relative to the detection shaft 6 by the joint 7 with a coil spring. Specifically, the coil spring 7a is elastically deformed according to the tension of the wire 3 (the weight of the displacer 2), and the relative phase with the detection shaft 6 is displaced.

  When the displacer 2 is correctly positioned on the liquid surface S (specified draft), the tension of the wire 3 is a load obtained by subtracting the buoyancy that the displacer 2 receives from the liquid from the weight of the displacer 2. At this time, the coil spring 7a is elastically deformed by the amount corresponding to the load, but this state is a state (normal phase) in which there is no deviation between the rotational displacement on the wire drum 1 side and the rotational displacement on the detection shaft 6 side. .

  When the liquid level S decreases, the buoyancy applied to the displacer 2 decreases, so that the tension of the wire 3 increases, and the wire drum 1 is displaced in the feeding direction by the elastic force of the joint 7 with a coil spring. When this phase displacement is detected by a mechanism described later, the motor control device 13 operates the motor 5 to rotate the detection shaft 6 in the wire feed direction. And the displacer 2 can be correctly positioned with respect to the liquid level S by rotating until the relative phase between the wire drum 1 and the detection shaft 6 reaches the normal phase.

  As the liquid level S rises, the amount that the displacer 2 touches the liquid increases, so that the buoyancy increases and the tension of the wire 3 decreases, and the wire drum 1 is displaced in the winding direction by the elastic force of the joint 7 with a coil spring. To do. When this phase displacement is detected by a mechanism described later, the motor control device 13 operates the motor 5 to rotate the detection shaft 6 in the wire winding direction. And the displacer 2 can be correctly positioned with respect to the liquid level S by rotating until the relative phase between the wire drum 1 and the detection shaft 6 reaches the normal phase.

  In this way, the displacer 2 can always be correctly positioned with respect to the liquid level S, and the amount of feed of the wire 3 is detected by the number of steps of the motor 5 or by counting the amount of rotation of the detection shaft 6, You can know the height of the surface.

  Next, a mechanism for detecting a relative phase change between the wire drum 1 and the detection shaft 6 will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 2A, a first disc 8 (first plate member) that rotates together with the wire drum 1 is attached to the shaft 1b of the wire drum. A second disc 9 (second plate member) that rotates together with the detection shaft 6 is attached to the detection shaft 6. The first disk 8 and the second disk 9 are disposed in a plane orthogonal to the rotation axis of the detection shaft 6 and are disposed adjacent to each other.

  As shown in FIG. 1A, the first disc 8 and the second disc 9 are provided with arc-shaped slits 8a and 9a on the circumference of the same radius R around the rotation center. Yes. Accordingly, a light transmitting portion 14 (opening portion) is formed at a portion where the slit 8a of the first disc 8 and the slit 9a of the second disc 9 overlap.

  FIG. 1B is a diagram for explaining a light transmitting portion when two plate members are stacked. In the present embodiment, the lengths of the arcs of the slits 8a and 9a are substantially equal, and the length of the arc is 180 °. In a state where there is no deviation between the rotational displacement on the wire drum 1 side and the rotational displacement on the detection shaft 6 side (normal phase), the phase difference between the slits 8a and 9a is 90 °, and the width of the light transmitting portion 14 is the slit 8a, Adjustment is made to be approximately half the length of 9a.

  When the motor 5 is rotated, the first disk 8 and the second disk 9 rotate together, but when the displacer 2 is in the specified draft, that is, when the wire drum 1 and the detection shaft 6 are in the normal phase. The light passing portion 14 is always 90 °.

  The first disc 8 and the second disc 9 are shifted in order to give a 90 ° phase difference in the normal phase when the draft of the displacer 2 is lowered and the wire drum 1 rotates in the feeding direction. Arrange so that 14 spreads. This can be defined in reverse, but there is no problem, but in this embodiment, it is defined as described above for convenience of explanation.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2A, a light projecting substrate 10 and a light receiving substrate 11 are disposed so as to sandwich the first disc 8 and the second disc 9. The light projecting substrate 10 and the light receiving substrate 11 are fixedly attached to a casing (not shown).

  As shown in FIG. 3A, on the first disk 8 side of the light projecting substrate 10, a large number of LEDs as light emitting elements are arranged on a circumference having the same radius as the radius R of the slit. As shown in FIG. 3B, on the second disk 9 side of the light receiving substrate 11, a large number of photo MOSs as light receiving elements are arranged on a circumference having the same radius as the radius R of the slit.

  That is, the light emitting substrate 10 and the light receiving substrate 11 are opposed to each other with the component mounting surfaces sandwiching the first disk 8 and the second disk 9, and the same number of light emitting elements and light receiving elements, for example, 100 elements are arranged at equal intervals. Since they are used opposite to each other, if the arrangement of the light emitting elements of the light emitting substrate 10 is defined as L00 to L99 clockwise, the arrangement of the light receiving elements of the light receiving substrate 11 is F00 in the counterclockwise direction. ~ F99.

  When light is emitted by the light emitting element L and light is detected by the light receiving element F, the light receiving element F faces the light passing portion 14. Therefore, by scanning all the light receiving elements F and counting the received light receiving elements F, it is possible to know the width (the length of the arc) of the light transmitting portion 14.

  The light emitting element and the light receiving element are controlled by the balancer control unit 12 shown in FIG. The balancer control unit 12 first sets only the light receiving element F00 that is paired with the light emitting element L00 at a timing when the light emitting element L00 is in the light projecting state. This is because if the light from an oblique direction other than the pair is received, the light passing portion 14 is sensed more widely than actually.

  Then, the light projecting state and the light receiving perceivable state are sequentially performed as L00 and F00, L01 and F01, and when it reaches L99 and F99, it circulates again through L00 and F00 to constantly scan at high speed. As a result, for example, it is detected how many received light receiving elements F are continuously arranged including the joints of the element arrangements such as F98, F99, F00, and F01.

  According to the above configuration, the light passing portion 14 may be formed at any position in the rotation direction, but the width of the light passing portion 14 can be correctly detected regardless of the position. When the displacer 2 is in the specified draft, the light passing portion 14 is 90 °, so in this embodiment 100/4, that is, 25 light receiving elements receive light.

  If the liquid level is lowered and the draft of the displacer 2 is lowered, the buoyancy is lowered and the tension of the wire 3 is increased. Therefore, the torque of the wire drum 1 is increased and the light passing portion 14 is expanded. Since the number of received light receiving elements F increases from 25, the motor control device 13 drives the motor 5 in the wire feed direction until the number of light receiving elements reaches 25. On the contrary, if the liquid level rises and the draft of the displacer 2 becomes deep, the light passing portion 14 is reduced due to the torque reduction of the wire drum 1. Since the number of received light receiving elements F is reduced from 25, the motor control device 13 drives the motor 5 in the wire winding direction.

  In this embodiment, since the digital method uses 100 pairs of light emitting elements and light receiving elements, the liquid level measurement value may cause an error of about (the circumference of the wire drum 1) / 100. is there. However, resolution can be increased by miniaturizing the elements or staggered arrangement, and a decrease in accuracy can be prevented by reducing the spring constant of the joint 7 with coil spring.

  Although not specifically shown, the on-site display of the liquid level can be easily realized by a pointer, counter, or the like linked to the detection shaft 6. If the motor 5 is a stepping motor, an electronic value such as a digital display can be displayed by storing the actual measured value at a certain point in the liquid level and then adding the amount of motor drive steps to the actual measured value. It is. In this case, as a matter of course, the number of steps is converted into a moving amount of the displacer 2 and then added.

  Further, when the liquid level is moving and the light passing portion 14 is not 90 °, the liquid level obtained by the rotation amount of the detection shaft 6 (or the driving amount of the motor 5) is to be reflected in the liquid level instruction. On the other hand, the difference between the angle of the light transmitting portion 14 and 90 ° can be converted into the amount of movement of the displacer 2 and corrected. Thereby, the reaction speed of a liquid level display can be improved.

  According to the present invention, since a complicated analog circuit is not required for the rotating body, the mechanism can be thinned, and the power source can be simply rectified and smoothed, and a stabilized power source is not required. It is. Further, since the signal can be handled at a logic level (a circuit controlled by H / L), it becomes simple. Even if the logic configuration is somewhat complicated, space saving and cost reduction can be achieved by using a PLD (Programmable Logic Device) or the like. Therefore, it is possible to provide a level measuring device that can be reduced in size and reduced in production cost as a whole.

  The present invention can be used in a level measuring device that detects and measures the level of a liquid surface or a liquid boundary surface.

It is a figure explaining the board member which has a slit. It is a figure explaining schematic structure of a level measuring device. It is a figure explaining a light projection board | substrate and a light-receiving board | substrate.

Explanation of symbols

F: Light receiving element L ... Light emitting element R ... Radius S ... Liquid surface 1 ... Wire drum 1a ... Groove 1b ... Wire drum shaft 2 ... Displacer 3 ... Wire 4a ... Bearing 4b ... Bearing 4c ... Bearing 5 ... Motor 6 ... Detection shaft 7 ... Coupling with coil spring 7a ... Coil spring 7b ... Boss 7c ... Boss 7d ... Screw 8 ... First disc 8a ... Slit 9 ... Second disc 9a ... Slit
10 ... Floodlight substrate
11… light receiving substrate
12… Balancer control unit
13… Motor control device
14 Light transmission part

Claims (5)

A wire drum around which a wire having a displacer serving as a liquid level sensor is wound at the tip, and a detection shaft that can rotate relatively coaxially with the wire drum, The detection shaft is rotated according to a difference between a rotational displacement and a rotational displacement on the detection shaft side, and the rotation amount of the detection drum is controlled so that the rotation amount of the wire drum and the rotation amount of the detection shaft are the same. In the level measuring device that detects the level from
A first plate member that rotates together with the wire drum; and a second plate member that rotates together with the detection shaft, wherein the first and second plate members are arranged to face each other, and each has a rotation center. An arc-shaped slit is provided on the circumference of the same radius as
A deviation between the rotational displacement on the wire drum side and the rotational displacement on the detection shaft side is detected by the width of the light transmitting portion which is an overlap of the slits provided in the first and second plate members, and based on this, the wire A level measuring device that controls the amount of rotation of the drum and the amount of rotation of the detection shaft to be the same.   The lengths of the arc-shaped slits provided in the first and second plate members are substantially the same, and in the state where there is no deviation between the rotational displacement on the wire drum side and the rotational displacement on the detection shaft side, The first and second plate members have a phase difference that is approximately half of the length of the slit, and the width of the light transmitting portion is approximately half of the length of the slit. Level measuring device.   The level measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the wire drum and the detection shaft are connected by a joint that is elastically deformable in a rotation direction.   2. The level measuring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a light emitting element and a light receiving element which are opposed to each other with the first and second plate members interposed therebetween and are arranged on the same circumference as the slit.   5. The level measuring apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the light emitting elements and the light receiving elements arranged in a large number are caused to emit light by one light emitting element and are detected only by a pair of light receiving elements, and are sequentially circulated. .

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