JP2010160003A - Gas meter - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a gas meter that precisely registers gas appliances to be used, can identify the gas appliances to be used, and has a preservation function according to the gas appliances to be used. <P>SOLUTION: Flow rate patterns of the gas appliance 2 to be used are measured by a flow rate measurement section 4 and are registered as registration data in advance by a registration means 8; measurement data of the gas appliance 2 to be used that each house individually uses become registration data; the registration means 8 is started in the case of a prescribed flow rate pattern measured by the flow rate measurement section 4; and the gas flow rate of the gas appliance 2 to be used and registered can be measured by the flow rate measurement section 4 without being affected by others, thus precisely registering the gas appliance 2 to be used in the gas meter. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention is a gas meter that is installed at the entrance of a gas supply pipe in each home and measures the gas flow rate. In order to provide advanced security functions and services according to each gas appliance, The present invention relates to a technique for discrimination detection.

  Conventionally, this type of gas meter has a configuration as shown in FIG. That is, generally, each home is provided with a gas meter 21 having a gas flow meter built in at the entrance of the gas supply line. At present, many gas meters 21 have a security function of shutting off the gas supply when an abnormality occurs in addition to the basic function of measuring the gas flow rate. For example, by incorporating a seismic device, in the event of an earthquake, the vibration is detected, the valve is closed, and the gas supply is shut off. Further, when the gas has been flowing for a predetermined amount of time that is a predetermined amount, the gas is considered to be leaking and the gas is shut off.

  However, in order to further evolve these security functions, it is necessary to determine the appliance to be used and to set gas shut-off conditions according to the appliance, and the following proposals have been made. That is, there has been an algorithm for inferring the gas appliance being used from the change in the flow rate according to the measured gas flow rate (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  Furthermore, various proposals have been made in order to realize the discrimination of the appliances used, for example, in addition to a flow rate measuring unit connected to a household gas supply pipe and measuring a gas flow rate, an appliance information input unit; An appliance determination means for judging a gas appliance to be used by comparing a registration flow storage means for storing data registered by the appliance information input means and a gas flow rate value measured by the gas flow rate measurement means based on data in the registration storage means. There was a configuration to have.

And according to this, each house is individually configured to register the gas appliances in the house in the gas meter, and the characteristic flow rate pattern is registered as the data to be registered. The number of data to be compared is limited to each registered device in each home, and the flow rate pattern of each device that is a criterion is stored as comparison standard data, improving the reliability of instrument discrimination and simplifying instrument discrimination It is possible to have a high judgment capability with a simple algorithm, and it is possible to provide new services such as optimally changing the safety setting value corresponding to the equipment used, and setting the gas charge corresponding to the equipment used (For example, refer to Patent Document 2).
JP-A-3-236513 JP 2006-200802 A

  In order to make the appliance judgment to determine the gas appliances used above, measure the gas flow rate of the gas appliances used individually for each house, capture the characteristic pattern, and have the gas meter in the house It is realized by registering the gas appliance and comparing the data of this registered device with the measured gas flow rate of the used gas appliance. In order to accurately judge the appliance, register the gas appliance in the gas meter. Must be done accurately.

However, because there are multiple gas appliances used individually for each house, when registering gas appliances at that house in the gas meter, it is measured if multiple instruments other than the intended device are operating. There was a risk that the gas flow rate of the used gas appliances was combined, and the registration of the used gas appliances could not be accurately registered in the gas meter. In particular, if a gas appliance is used for indoor heating equipment such as floor heating, it is always used, so the user may not be aware of it. I was worried about not being able to register correctly.

  Therefore, if the standard data of the used gas appliance is registered in the gas meter using the appliance information input means, for example, a plurality of data tables of the gas appliance are provided in the gas meter, and the data number corresponding to the used gas appliance is set. By registering the gas appliances to be used by inputting, due to variations in the gas appliances used, the standard data of the gas appliances used and the measured gas flow rate of the gas appliances used individually by each house However, there was a concern that the instrument determination for determining the gas instrument to be used could not be accurately performed.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and to provide a gas meter that can accurately register a gas appliance to be used in the gas meter, specify the appliance to be used, and has a security function according to the gas appliance to be used. To do.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, the gas meter of the present invention is connected to a household gas supply pipe and measures the flow rate pattern of the gas appliance used and measures the flow rate pattern of the gas appliance used, and registers it. Registration means for data, registration start means for starting the registration means, registration pattern storage means for storing the obtained flow rate pattern of the gas appliance as registration data, registration data of the registration pattern storage means, and the flow rate And an appliance determination means for comparing the gas flow rate value measured by the measurement means to determine the gas appliance to be used, and previously measuring the flow pattern of the gas appliance to be used by the registration means to obtain registration data. The registration start means can be started when the flow rate pattern of the gas appliance used measured by the flow measurement means is a predetermined pattern. .

  In addition, the flow pattern of the gas appliance used that is measured by the flow rate measuring unit that can start the registration start unit is such that the gas flow rate value measured by the flow rate measuring unit is within an error range of zero flow rate measurement. It is as a configuration.

  Then, the flow rate pattern of the gas appliance used is previously measured by the registration means to be registered data by the flow rate measuring means, and the measurement data of the gas appliance used individually for each house becomes the registration data. Therefore, it becomes possible to register the gas appliances used in the gas meter with high accuracy.

  Also, registration starts when the flow pattern of the gas instrument used that is measured by the flow measuring means is a predetermined pattern, or when the gas flow value measured by the flow measuring means is within the error range of zero flow measurement. The means can be started, and the gas flow rate of the used gas appliance to be measured is combined, so that it is possible to avoid a risk that the registration of the used gas appliance in the gas meter cannot be accurately performed.

  In other words, when no gas is used other than the gas appliance to be registered, and when no gas leakage has occurred, the registration start means can be started. The gas flow rate can be measured by the flow rate measuring means, and the used gas appliance can be registered with the gas meter with high accuracy.

In the gas meter of the present invention, the flow rate pattern of the gas appliance used is previously measured by the flow rate measuring means by the registration means to be registered data, and the measurement data of the gas instrument used individually for each house is stored. It becomes registered data and is started when the flow rate is measured by the flow rate measurement means, so that the flow rate measurement means can measure the gas flow rate of the gas instrument to be registered without being affected by other effects. Therefore, it becomes possible to register the gas appliances used in the gas meter with high accuracy.

  A gas meter according to a first aspect of the present invention is a flow rate measuring means connected to a household gas supply pipe for measuring a gas flow rate, a registration means for measuring a flow rate pattern of a gas appliance to be used by the flow rate measuring means as registration data, Registration start means for starting the registration means, registration pattern storage means for storing the flow rate pattern of the obtained gas appliance as registration data, registration data of the registration pattern storage means, and gas flow rate measured by the flow rate measurement means A device determination means for comparing the value and determining the gas appliance to be used, and the flow rate pattern of the gas appliance to be used is previously measured by the flow rate measurement means by the registration means and is registered by the flow rate measurement means. The registration start means can be started when the flow rate pattern of the used gas appliance is a predetermined pattern.

  In the gas meter according to the second aspect of the present invention, the flow rate pattern of the used gas appliance that is measured by the flow rate measuring unit that can start the registration start unit is such that the gas flow rate value measured by the flow rate measuring unit is zero flow rate measurement. This is the configuration when it is within the error range.

  Then, the flow rate pattern of the gas appliance used is previously measured by the registration means to be registered data by the flow rate measuring means, and the measurement data of the gas appliance used individually for each house becomes the registration data. Therefore, it becomes possible to register the gas appliances used in the gas meter with high accuracy.

  Also, registration starts when the flow pattern of the gas instrument used that is measured by the flow measuring means is a predetermined pattern, or when the gas flow value measured by the flow measuring means is within the error range of zero flow measurement. The means can be started, and the gas flow rate of the used gas appliance to be measured is combined, so that it is possible to avoid a risk that the registration of the used gas appliance in the gas meter cannot be accurately performed.

  In other words, when no gas is used other than the gas appliance to be registered, and when no gas leakage has occurred, the registration start means can be started. The gas flow rate can be measured by the flow rate measuring means, and the used gas appliance can be registered with the gas meter with high accuracy.

  The gas meter according to the third aspect of the invention is configured such that the registration start means can be started particularly when the use mode of the use gas appliance determined by the appliance determination means of the first aspect is a predetermined mode.

  And when the use mode of the used gas appliance determined by the appliance determining means is a predetermined mode, the registration start means can be started, and even if the gas flow rate of the used gas instrument to be measured is combined, the used gas appliance is included in the gas meter. It is possible to avoid the danger of not registering correctly.

  In other words, even if other gas appliances are used in addition to the gas appliance to be registered, since the use mode of the other gas appliance is clear, the gas flow rate of the gas appliance being used is measured by the flow measurement means, By subtracting the gas flow rate in the use mode of the used gas appliance determined by the appliance determining means, the flow rate pattern of the gas appliance to be registered can be used as registration data.

In the gas meter according to the fourth aspect of the invention, in particular, the predetermined mode of the use gas appliance determined by the appliance determination unit enabling the registration start unit of the third aspect of the invention to be started is a use gas measured by the flow rate measurement unit. It is configured as a mode in which the flow rate of the instrument is stable and the substantially same flow rate is used.

  And if the flow rate of the used gas appliance is stable and the mode uses almost the same flow rate, the zero point of the gas appliance to be registered is shifted by the almost same flow rate used by the used gas appliance determined by the appliance judging means. Therefore, it becomes possible to register the gas appliances to be used in the gas meter with high accuracy.

  In the fifth aspect of the invention, in particular, in the flow rate measuring means according to any one of the first to fourth aspects of the invention, the measurement configuration using ultrasonic waves enables a wide range of flow rate measurement and instantaneous flow rate measurement. Thus, it is possible to configure a gas meter that can perform more accurate flow rate measurement and improve the reliability of instrument discrimination.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the present embodiment.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a gas meter according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a flow rate measuring unit, FIG. 3 is an appliance determination flowchart, and FIG. 4 is an appliance registration flowchart when registration data is not used. 5 is an appliance registration flowchart when using registration data, and FIG. 6 is a characteristic diagram of a registered flow rate of the gas appliance used.

  In FIG. 1, a gas meter 1 is provided in the middle of a gas supply pipe, and one or more gas appliances 2 installed in each customer's house are connected to a downstream pipe.

  The gas meter 1 has a gas shut-off valve 3 provided in a gas flow path connected to a gas pipe, a flow rate measuring unit 4 serving as a gas flow rate measuring means, and signals from the gas flow rate measuring unit 4 for arithmetic processing. Display unit 5 for displaying the flow rate, seismoscope 6 for detecting vibrations such as earthquakes, measurement control unit 7 which is a control unit for performing overall control processing of the operation of the seismic device 6, instrument determination, safety function and the like, and their A battery (not shown) is built in as a power source. The control unit 60 includes a registration unit 8 that measures the flow rate pattern of the gas appliance 1 to be used by the flow rate measurement unit 4 as registration data and a switch for starting the registration unit 8 in order to perform gas appliance discrimination according to the present invention. The registration start unit 9, the storage unit 10 that is a registration pattern storage unit that stores the obtained flow rate pattern of the gas appliance 2 as registration data, and the registration data of the storage unit 10 and the flow rate measuring unit 4 An appliance determination unit 11 that compares the gas flow rate value and determines the gas appliance 2 to be used is provided.

  The storage means 10 can be a semiconductor memory for storing and holding registration data, or a magnetic recording medium or the like as long as recording can be added or rewritten.

  The operation will be described below.

  First, ultrasonic flow velocity measurement will be described with reference to FIG. The measurement channel 12 has a rectangular cross section, and a pair of ultrasonic transmitters / receivers 13 and 14 are sandwiched between the measurement channel 12 and a wall surface perpendicular to the gas flow direction of the measurement channel 12. Are mounted obliquely opposite each other at an angle φ on the upstream side and the downstream side. Ultrasonic waves are alternately transmitted and received between the ultrasonic transmitters / receivers 13 and 14, and the difference between the propagation times of the ultrasonic waves in the forward direction and the reverse direction with respect to the flow of the fluid is measured at regular intervals and output as a propagation time difference signal. Have a work to do. In response to this propagation time difference signal, the calculation means (not shown) calculates the flow velocity and flow rate of the fluid to be measured.

  In FIG. 2, L is the measurement distance, where t1 is the transmission time from the upstream, t2 is the transmission time from the downstream, and C is the speed of sound, the flow velocity V is V = L / 2 cosφ (1 / t1-1 / t2) It is expressed as.

  The measurement time interval can be set within a range where ultrasonic waves can be transmitted / received, but a resolution of 0.1 second is sufficient to perform instrument discrimination.

  In this way, by adopting a measurement configuration using ultrasonic waves, the flow rate value measurement range is wide and instantaneous flow rate measurement is possible, so a gas meter that can perform more accurate flow rate measurement and improve the reliability of instrument discrimination It can be configured.

  Next, a procedure for performing appliance determination will be described. The flow chart (flow chart) is shown in FIG.

  The flow rate pattern of the used gas appliance 2 measured by the flow rate measuring unit 4 is measured (step 1), compared with the registered data in the storage means 10, and the used gas appliance 2 that substantially matches is determined by the appliance determining means 11 ( Step 2). Then, by using the appliance determination means 11 to grasp the usage status of the gas appliance 2 used, there are various usage methods such as a management service that makes it possible to use the gas appliance efficiently according to the setting of the gas fee and the usage status of the appliance. Is possible.

  A procedure for creating the registration data of the gas appliance 2 and registering the appliance will be described.

  In the appliance registration flowchart in the case where the registration data of FIG. 4 is not used, first, when the registration start means 9 such as a switch for starting the operation of the registration means 8 is turned on (step 3), the flow rate measurement unit 4 measures. When the flow pattern of the gas appliance 2 used is a predetermined pattern, for example, when the gas flow value is within the error range of zero flow measurement (step 4), the registration means 8 is measured by the flow rate measuring unit 4 for a predetermined time. The flow rate of the gas appliance 2 is stored in the storage means 10. In the meantime, the used gas appliance 2 to be registered is activated, and the storage device 10 stores the rising and stable flow rate patterns of the used gas appliance 2 (step 5).

  Note that the flow rate pattern of the gas appliance 2 stored in the storage means 10 may be subjected to pattern processing to simplify the data and re-register (step 6).

  In this way, the flow rate pattern of the used gas appliance 2 is previously measured by the flow rate measuring unit 4 by the registration means 8 and used as registration data, and the measurement of the used gas appliance 2 used individually for each house. Since the data becomes the registration data, the use gas appliance 2 can be accurately registered in the gas meter.

  Further, when the flow rate pattern of the used gas appliance 2 measured by the flow rate measuring unit 4 is a predetermined pattern, or when the gas flow rate value measured by the flow rate measuring unit 4 is within the error range of zero flow rate measurement. The registration start means 9 can be started, and the gas flow rate of the used gas appliance 2 to be measured is combined, so that it is possible to avoid a risk that the registration of the used gas appliance 2 cannot be accurately performed in the gas meter.

  That is, since the registration start means 9 can be started when no gas is used other than the gas appliance to be registered, and when no gas leakage occurs, the gas to be registered without being affected by other effects. The gas flow rate of the instrument 2 can be measured by the flow rate measuring unit 4, and the use gas instrument 2 can be accurately registered in the gas meter.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, when registration start means 9 such as a switch for starting registration means 8 is turned on in the appliance registration flowchart when registration data is used when there is registration data to be used by appliance determination means 11. (Step 7) When the usage mode of the gas appliance 2 determined by the appliance determination means 11 is a predetermined mode, for example, the flow rate of the gas appliance 2 measured by the flow rate measuring unit 4 is stable and substantially the same flow rate. When the mode is to use (step 8), the registration means 8 stores the flow rate of the gas appliance 2 measured by the flow rate measurement unit 4 for a predetermined time in the storage means 10. In the meantime, the used gas appliance 2 to be registered is activated, and the storage device 10 stores the rising and stable flow rate patterns of the used gas appliance 2 (step 9).

  In the same manner as described above, the flow pattern of the used gas appliance 2 stored in the storage means 10 is deleted or averaged when it is within the error range of the zero flow measurement before averaging or rising. Thus, the data may be simplified and re-registered (step 8).

  Thus, when the use mode of the use gas appliance 2 determined by the appliance determination means 11 is a predetermined mode, the registration start means 9 can be started, and the gas flow rate of the use gas appliance 2 to be measured is combined. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the risk that the gas meter 2 cannot be registered correctly in the gas meter.

  That is, even if other gas appliances are used in addition to the gas appliance to be registered, since the use mode of the other gas appliance is clear, the gas flow rate of the gas appliance being used is measured by the flow rate measuring unit 4. By subtracting the gas flow rate in the use mode of the use gas appliance 2 determined by the appliance determination means 11, the flow pattern of the gas appliance to be registered can be used as registration data. This makes it possible to register the used gas appliance 2 in the gas meter with high accuracy.

  As the information to be registered in the gas meter 1 described above, a flow rate pattern generated when each gas appliance is used as described above. An example is shown in FIG. As actual registration data, data of a flow rate value every 0.2 seconds from the start of the instrument is stored for a predetermined time. Note that the data time interval does not need to be limited to 0.2 seconds, and can be arbitrarily set according to the required appliance discrimination capability.

  The flow rate measuring unit 4 of the present invention has been described with respect to the ultrasonic type measuring unit, but any other flow rate measuring method can be used as long as continuous measurement is possible in a short cycle. Moreover, although the start of the registration start means 9 was demonstrated in the mode in which the use mode of the use gas appliance 2 determined by the appliance determination means 11 uses the almost same flow rate when the flow rate of the use gas appliance 2 is stable, In the case of a mode that repeats a simple flow rate change in which the flow rate of the used gas appliance 2 measured by the flow rate measurement unit 4 is substantially the same flow rate and repeats ON-OFF, such as a gas floor heating device, the registration start means 9 The configuration of each of the other parts may be any configuration as long as the object of the present invention is achieved.

  As described above, since the gas meter according to the present invention registers a characteristic flow rate pattern for each device as data to be registered, the number of devices to be determined is limited to the devices in each home and the number of data to be compared. The flow rate pattern of each device, which is a criterion for judgment, is registered and the reliability is high, and it is possible to have a high judgment capability with a simple algorithm for appliance discrimination, and the security setting corresponding to the appliance used It will be possible to provide new services, such as changing values optimally and setting gas charges corresponding to the equipment used.

Configuration diagram of a gas meter according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention Configuration diagram of the flow meter of the gas meter Flow chart of instrument determination of the gas meter Flow chart of appliance registration when not using registration data of the same gas meter Flow chart of instrument registration when using the registration data of the gas meter Characteristics chart of registered flow rate of the gas meter Configuration of conventional gas meter

4 Flow rate measuring unit (flow rate measuring means)
8 Registration means 9 Registration start means 10 Storage means (registration pattern storage means)
11 Instrument determination means

Claims (5)

A flow rate measuring means connected to a household gas supply pipe to measure the gas flow rate;
Registration means for measuring the flow rate pattern of the gas appliance to be used as the registration data by measuring the flow rate measurement means;
Registration start means for starting the registration means;
Registration pattern storage means for storing the flow pattern of the obtained gas appliance as registration data;
An appliance determination means for comparing the registration data of the registration pattern storage means with the gas flow rate value measured by the flow rate measurement means to determine the gas appliance to be used;
The flow rate pattern of the gas appliance used in advance by the registration means is measured by the flow rate measurement means as registration data,
A gas meter capable of starting the registration start means when the flow rate pattern of the used gas appliance measured by the flow rate measurement means is a predetermined pattern. The flow rate pattern of the gas appliance used that is measured by the flow rate measuring unit that can start the registration start unit is a time when the gas flow rate value measured by the flow rate measuring unit is within an error range of zero flow rate measurement. Item 2. The gas meter according to Item 1. 2. The gas meter according to claim 1, wherein the registration start unit can be started when a use mode of the use gas appliance determined by the appliance determination unit is a predetermined mode. The predetermined mode of the used gas appliance determined by the appliance determining means that can start the registration start means is a mode in which the flow rate of the used gas appliance measured by the flow rate measuring means is stable and uses substantially the same flow rate. The gas meter according to claim 3. The gas meter according to claim 1, further comprising a flow rate measuring unit configured by ultrasonic flow rate measurement.

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