JP2010242996A - Gas shut-off device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve safety and convenience in gas use by identifying an appliance of which flow rate is fluctuated little by little and monitoring the use state of the gas appliance based on a correct flow rate. <P>SOLUTION: This gas shut-off device includes: an appliance determination storing part 16 holding flow rate characteristic information; and an appliance determination part 17 determining an appliance using gas made to flow in a gas supply pipe 30 based on a gas instantaneous flow rate detected by a flow rate measuring part 11 and starting appliance determination when a flow rate change detection part 14 determines that "a flow rate is changed". When the appliance determination part 17 determines a water heater 33, a flow rate of the water heater 33 is not registered in a registration flow rate storing part 15 and is stored in a water heater flow rate storing part 18. When the appliance determination part 17 does not identify a gas cooking stove 31, a gas heater 32 or a gas appliance, a passing flow rate is stored in the registration flow rate storing part 15 and it is determined whether or not flow rates in the registration flow rate storing part 15 and the water heater flow rate storing part 18 are equal to or higher than a predetermined value. When the flow rates are equal to or higher than the predetermined value, a shut-off valve 24 is operated to decide shut-off of a gas flow passage. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention is designed to accurately measure the flow rate of appliances when the appliances used by consumers are used, even if the usage flow rate changes under the control of the appliances themselves, and always register the correct appliance flow rate and whether the usage state is safe. The present invention relates to a gas cutoff device that monitors whether or not.

  When using gas appliances, in order to prevent accidents caused by forgetting to turn off the gas or leaking gas, the gas business operator managing the gas user's home and the gas supply path should notify the Systems that block supply paths are becoming widespread. As a conventional gas security device, based on the gas flow rate, etc., the gas supply is cut off when a large flow rate flows, or the gas flow is cut off when the gas flows for a long time at a minute flow rate. What shuts off when gas flows for a predetermined time is used (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).

JP 7-44239 A

  However, in the conventional gas shut-off device, when using the appliance, for example, when using a shower, the water heater controls the gas flow rate according to the temperature deviation in order to keep the set hot water temperature, or the fan heater etc. Since the gas flow rate is controlled to maintain a constant room temperature, the estimated individual calculation flow rate registered in the flow rate storage unit at the time of registration may be gradually reduced due to the control, especially when using multiple devices. If the other device stops using or a large flow rate change occurs, the actual flow rate may be different from the total value of the registered flow rate. In order to set the monitoring time with a different registered flow rate, there is a problem of causing an erroneous interruption such as gas supply and stop in a short time.

  For example, when a user uses a water heater, when the past flow rate is zero, the flow rate changes to an arbitrary flow rate, but the change is obtained as a change flow rate from the average flow rate and the past flow rate, and the change rate or change amount is predetermined. In the above case, the flow rate is registered as “with flow rate change”, that is, with some device used. Alternatively, if the water heater is used while the gas table is used, the gas table flow rate is stored in the past flow rate, the change flow rate is obtained from the current average flow rate and the past flow rate stored value, and similarly the change rate from the current flow rate, Alternatively, when the change flow rate is equal to or higher than the predetermined value, the change flow rate is registered as “there is a flow rate change”.

  Not only when the device usage increases, but when one of the devices is stopped or the flow rate changes while multiple devices are in use, it is determined whether the change is a decrease from the past flow memory value and the average flow rate. The flow rate is calculated, and the nearest registered flow rate value is deleted from the registered flow rates from the decreasing change flow rate. Normally, after the flow rate change is detected, the change flow rate is obtained and registered from the stored past average flow rate and current average flow rate. The registration process at this time may newly register the flow rate change (increase), or may reduce or delete the already registered flow rate value when the instrument is stopped.

However, in hot water temperature control of a water heater or the like, when the temperature reaches a certain temperature, the usage amount may gradually decrease by proportional control or the like, and a minute flow rate change is less than a predetermined change rate or a predetermined flow rate at the flow rate change detection unit. May not be detected as a change in flow rate. For this reason, the flow rate registered value registered in the registration storage unit cannot be corrected, and the actual total flow rate and the flow rate registered total value continue to be inconsistent. After that, when one of the instruments is stopped and there is a large flow rate change, the changed flow rate is searched as a decrease change flow rate for the instrument flow rate that has decreased from the registered flow rate, and the near instrument flow rate is determined to be stopped and deleted. At this time, a registered flow larger than the decreasing change flow may be deleted, and the flow rate may be registered again assuming that the differential flow between the registered flow and the decreasing change flow is deleted too much. As a result, there has been a problem that the flow rate is erroneously registered, the safety control unit monitors the usage time at this registered flow rate, and erroneously shuts off the usage time because the flow rate is in a flow rate category that does not exist.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. In addition to ON / OFF of a water heater or the like, an appliance whose flow rate fluctuates little by little is specified, and is registered in the conventional flow rate registration unit for each flow rate change detection. The purpose is to provide a gas shut-off device that can monitor the usage state of gas appliances based on the accurate flow rate and does not cause erroneous shut-off, because the flow rate of the water heater or fan heater is individually registered. It is what.

  The gas shut-off device of the present invention is measured by a flow rate measuring unit that is connected to a gas supply pipe and measures an instantaneous gas flow rate, a shut-off valve that is provided in the gas supply pipe and shuts off a gas passage, and the flow rate measuring unit. An average flow rate calculation unit that averages instantaneous flow rates based on the instantaneous flow rate of the gas, a flow rate storage unit that stores an average flow rate value obtained by the average flow rate calculation unit, the average flow rate calculation unit, and the flow rate storage unit, A flow rate change detection unit that determines the presence or absence of a flow rate change from the stored value, a registration flow rate storage unit that obtains and stores a change flow rate when the flow rate change detection unit determines that there is a flow rate change, An appliance discriminating unit that discriminates an appliance that uses the gas flowing through the gas supply pipe from an instantaneous flow rate, an appliance discriminating storage unit that holds instantaneous flow rate characteristic information used for discriminating the appliance, and an appliance discriminating unit that discriminates a specific appliance If the above A specific instrument flow rate storage unit that stores a flow rate of the specific instrument without registering a constant instrument flow rate in the registered flow rate storage unit, and a flow rate of each of the registration-time flow rate storage unit and the specific instrument flow rate storage unit It is equipped with a safety control unit that shuts off the shut-off valve when the monitoring time corresponding to elapses. By registering a specific device in the dedicated specific device flow rate storage unit, it can be used for individual devices. It is possible to provide a gas shut-off device that can monitor time and is safe and does not cause erroneous shut-off.

  According to the present invention, not only ON / OFF of a water heater or the like but also an appliance whose flow rate varies little by little is specified, and it is not registered in the conventional registered flow rate storage unit every time a flow rate change is detected. Since the flow rate is registered independently for the flow rate of specific equipment such as gas, the use state of the gas device can be monitored based on the accurate flow rate, and gas shut-off that can improve the safety and convenience of gas use An apparatus can be provided.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the gas cutoff device which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. The block diagram which shows schematic structure of the ultrasonic flowmeter in Embodiment 1 of this invention.

1st invention is connected to a gas supply pipe, the flow rate measurement part which measures the instantaneous flow rate of gas, the cutoff valve which is provided in the gas supply pipe and interrupts a gas passage, and the gas measured by the flow rate measurement part Based on the instantaneous flow rate, an average flow rate calculation unit that averages the instantaneous flow rate, a flow rate storage unit that stores the average flow rate value obtained by the average flow rate calculation unit, and storage of the average flow rate calculation unit and the flow rate storage unit A flow rate change detection unit for determining whether there is a flow rate change from the value, a flow rate storage unit for registration for obtaining and storing a change flow rate when the flow rate change detection unit determines that there is a flow rate change, and an instantaneous flow rate of the gas A device discriminating unit that discriminates an appliance that uses gas flowing through the gas supply pipe, an appliance discriminating storage unit that holds instantaneous flow rate characteristic information used for discriminating the appliance, and the appliance discriminating unit that discriminates a specific appliance The specific appliance A specific instrument flow rate storage unit that stores the flow rate of the specific instrument without registering the flow rate in the registered flow rate storage unit, and monitoring corresponding to each flow rate of the registration-time flow rate storage unit and the specific instrument flow rate storage unit It is equipped with a safety control unit that shuts off the shut-off valve when time has elapsed. For a specific instrument, the flow rate is independently registered in the conventional flow rate registration unit instead of being registered every time a flow rate change is detected. Since the flow rate registration is performed, it is possible to monitor the usage state of the gas appliance based on the accurate flow rate, thereby improving the safety and convenience in using the gas.

  The second invention is characterized in that, in particular, in the first invention, the specific appliance discriminated by the appliance discriminating unit is a hot water heater or a fan heater. When the appliance discriminating unit identifies hot water supply or fan heater that fluctuates, the flow rate is not registered in the registered flow rate storage unit, but is stored in a dedicated registered flow rate storage unit, corresponding to the flow rate stored in this flow rate storage unit The safety and convenience in using the gas can be improved by driving the shutoff valve to shut off when the monitored time has elapsed.

  In particular, the third aspect of the present invention includes a plurality of specific instrument flow rate storage units in the first aspect of the invention, and the specific device is at least a hot water heater and a fan heater. Instead of identifying appliances whose flow rate fluctuates little by little and registering each flow rate change in the conventional flow rate registration unit, the flow rate registration of the water heater and fan heater is performed independently, so accurate flow rate is achieved. It is possible to improve the safety and convenience in using the gas by monitoring the usage state of the gas appliance based on it.

(Embodiment 1)
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a gas cutoff device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In the present embodiment, a configuration example of a gas cutoff device using a gas meter installed in a gas user's house or the like will be described. Moreover, a specific apparatus is demonstrated as a water heater or a fan heater.

  The gas shut-off device 10 of the present embodiment is provided in the middle of a gas supply pipe 30 laid in a user's house or the like, and a gas stove 31 is provided as an example of a plurality of gas appliances in a pipe downstream of the gas supply pipe 30. A gas stove 32 and a water heater 33 are connected. The gas shut-off device 10 is installed at a predetermined position outdoors or indoors.

  The gas shut-off device 10 includes a flow rate measurement unit 11, an average flow rate calculation unit 12, a flow rate storage unit 13, a flow rate change detection unit 14, a registered flow rate storage unit 15, an appliance determination storage unit 16, an appliance determination unit 17, and a water heater flow rate storage unit. 18, a safety control unit 21, a communication unit 22, a seismic device 23, and a shutoff valve 24.

  The flow rate measuring unit 11 is connected in the path of the gas supply pipe 30 and, as will be described later, obtains a propagation time difference caused by the gas flow in the gas supply pipe 30 using an ultrasonic signal, and detects an instantaneous gas flow rate. . The average flow rate calculation unit 12 calculates the average flow rate for a certain measurement period (30 seconds) based on the instantaneous flow rate detected by the flow rate measurement unit 11. The flow rate storage unit 13 stores the average flow rate value calculated by the average flow rate calculation unit 12. The flow rate change detection unit 14 determines whether there is a flow rate change based on the stored values of the average flow rate calculation unit 12 and the flow rate storage unit 13. The registered flow rate storage unit 15 stores the change flow rate when the flow rate change detection unit 14 determines that “there is a flow rate change”.

The appliance determination storage unit 16 holds instantaneous flow rate characteristic information used for discrimination of the appliance. When the appliance discriminating unit 17 discriminates a gas using appliance that flows through the gas supply pipe 30 from the instantaneous gas flow rate detected by the flow rate measuring unit 11, and the flow rate change detecting unit 14 determines "there is a flow rate change" Instrument discrimination starts. When the appliance discriminating unit 17 discriminates from the water heater 33, the flow rate of the water heater 33 is stored in the water heater flow rate storage unit 18 without registering the flow rate of the water heater 33 in the registered flow rate storage unit 15. When the appliance determination unit 17 does not identify the gas stove 31, the gas stove 32, or the gas appliance, the passing flow rate is stored in the registered flow rate storage unit 15.

  It is determined whether the safety determination unit 21, the registered flow rate storage unit 15 and the hot water heater flow rate storage unit 18 are equal to or greater than a predetermined value, and if greater than the predetermined value, the shutoff valve 24 is driven to determine whether the gas flow path is cut off, It communicates with a gas company via the communication part 22.

  Here, the safety control unit 21, the average flow rate calculation unit 12, the flow rate change detection unit 14, and the appliance determination unit 17 are configured by a processor and an operation program that constitute a microcomputer (microcomputer), and the processor executes a predetermined operation program. Each function is realized by performing corresponding processing. The flow rate storage unit 13, the registered flow rate storage unit 15, the appliance determination storage unit 16, and the water heater flow rate storage unit 18 are configured by a memory such as a flash ROM and a RAM.

  Next, the operation will be described.

  The flow rate change detection unit 14 compares the flow rate average flow rate calculation unit 12 and the flow rate storage unit 13 when there is a change in the gas flow rate above a predetermined level, and increases or decreases the individual flow rate in use based on the increase or decrease of the average flow rate. Estimated and output to the registered flow rate storage unit 15.

  When the average flow rate increases, the registered flow rate storage unit 15 determines that the increased amount of gas appliance has been used, and when the average flow rate decreases, determines that the decreased amount of gas appliance has been stopped and is in use. Estimate individual equipment.

  The registered flow rate storage unit 15 sequentially stores the flow rates (Qi) of the individual appliances as Q1, Q2, Q3,.

  The appliance discriminating unit 17 stores the instantaneous flow rate characteristic information of the gas appliance previously stored in the appliance judgment storage unit 16 (absolute value of the gas flow rate, rising characteristics of the gas flow rate, control pattern of the gas flow rate, stability of the gas flow rate, etc.) The gas appliance is determined by comparing with the instantaneous flow rate of the gas detected by the flow rate measuring unit 11. If the determined appliance is a gas water heater, the flow rate of the water heater is stored in the water heater flow rate storage unit 18 without being stored in the individual appliance flow rate of the registered flow rate storage unit 15.

  The flow rate in the water heater flow rate storage unit 18 corresponds to automatic control of the water heater, and can be automatically updated periodically.

  When the flow rate {Q1, Q2, Q3,..., Qn} of the individual appliances in the registered flow rate storage unit 15 continues for a predetermined time or longer, or the flow rate stored in the water heater flow rate storage unit 18 When it continues for a predetermined time or longer, the shut-off valve 24 is driven to judge whether the gas flow path is shut off or communicate with the gas company via the communication unit 22.

Here, as an example of the flow rate measurement unit 11, a measurement method using an ultrasonic flow meter will be described with reference to FIG. The ultrasonic flowmeter has a measurement flow path 35 having a rectangular cross section communicating with the gas supply pipe 30, and a pair of ultrasonic waves is provided on the upstream side and the downstream side of the flow path walls facing each other of the measurement flow path 35. Transceivers 36 and 37 are arranged. These ultrasonic transmitters / receivers 36 and 37 are set so that the ultrasonic propagation path obliquely crosses the gas flow flowing through the measurement flow path 35, and by sequentially transmitting / receiving ultrasonic waves, the ultrasonic wave transmission / reception is sequentially performed with respect to the gas flow. Propagation of ultrasonic waves in the opposite direction.

  At this time, the distance between the ultrasonic transceivers 36 and 37, that is, the measurement distance is L, the angle of the ultrasonic propagation path with respect to the gas flow is φ, and the ultrasonic propagation time from the upstream to the downstream of the ultrasonic transceivers 36 and 37 is If t1, the ultrasonic propagation time from downstream to upstream is t2, and the sound velocity is C, the flow velocity V can be obtained by the following equation.

V = L / 2 cos φ ((1 / t1) − (1 / t2)) (1)
The instantaneous flow rate of the gas flow is calculated from the flow velocity V and the cross-sectional area of the measurement channel 35.
The control unit 15 has a function of a security processing unit, and performs security processing such as operation control of each part of the gas cutoff device, communication, warning and gas cutoff.

  When the safety control unit makes a gas shut-off determination or an alarm determination, the communication unit 22 collects data such as a flow rate value, an integrated flow rate value, an integrated flow rate time, and appliances determined by the appliance determination unit. It communicates with the person.

  The seismoscope 23 detects vibration such as an earthquake and outputs a detection signal to the security control unit 21. The shutoff valve 24 is connected in the path of the gas supply pipe 30, and shuts off the gas supply by closing the gas supply pipe 30 based on an instruction from the security control unit 21.

  Further, when the appliance discriminating unit 17 discriminates the fan heater 34, the FH flow rate storage unit 19 that stores the flow rate of the FH without registering the flow rate of the fan heater 34 in the registered flow rate storage unit 15, and the registration By having the safety control unit 21 that determines whether the flow rate storage unit 15 and the FH flow rate storage unit 19 are equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the fan heater 34 that is automatically controlled similarly to the water heater can be used.

  In addition, when the appliance discriminating unit 17 discriminates a hot water heater, the water heater flow rate storage unit 18 that stores the flow rate of the water heater without registering the flow rate of the water heater in the registered flow rate storage unit 15, and the appliance When the discrimination unit 17 discriminates the fan heater 34, the FH flow rate storage unit 19 that stores the flow rate of the fan heater 34 without registering the flow rate of the fan heater 34 in the registered flow rate storage unit 15; By having a safety control unit 21 that determines whether the hot water heater flow rate storage unit and the FH flow rate storage unit 19 are equal to or greater than a predetermined value, it is possible to deal with a plurality of automatic control devices.

  As described above, according to the present invention, not only ON / OFF of a water heater or the like but also a device whose flow rate fluctuates little by little, and not registering each time a flow rate change is detected in the conventional registered flow rate storage unit, Since the flow rate of specific appliances such as water heaters and fan heaters is registered independently, the usage status of gas appliances based on accurate flow rates can be monitored, improving the safety and convenience of gas use. A gas shut-off device that can be provided can be provided.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be applied to an application for measuring an instantaneous gas flow rate of various gas media, LP gas, city gas, and the like flowing in a pipe using an ultrasonic sensor, a hot wire sensor, a fluidic sensor, and the like.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Gas shut-off device 11 Flow rate measurement part 12 Average flow rate calculation part 13 Flow rate memory | storage part 14 Flow rate change detection part 15 Registered flow rate memory | storage part 16 Appliance determination memory | storage part 17 Appliance discrimination | determination part 18 Water heater flow memory | storage part (specific appliance flow rate memory | storage part)
19 FH flow rate storage unit (specific instrument flow rate storage unit)
21 Safety control unit 23 Seismic detector 24 Shut-off valve 33 Water heater (specific equipment)
34 Fan heater (specific equipment)

Claims (3)

Based on the flow rate measuring unit connected to the gas supply pipe and measuring the instantaneous flow rate of the gas, the shutoff valve provided in the gas supply pipe and blocking the gas passage, and the instantaneous flow rate of the gas measured by the flow rate measurement unit, An average flow rate calculation unit that averages instantaneous flow rates, a flow rate storage unit that stores an average flow rate value obtained by the average flow rate calculation unit, and whether there is a change in flow rate based on stored values of the average flow rate calculation unit and the flow rate storage unit A flow rate change detecting unit for determining the flow rate, a change flow rate storage unit for obtaining and storing a change flow rate when the flow rate change detecting unit determines that the flow rate change is present, and a gas supply pipe from the instantaneous flow rate of the gas. An appliance discriminating unit that discriminates an appliance that uses flowing gas, an appliance determination storage unit that holds instantaneous flow rate characteristic information used for discrimination of the appliance, and the specific appliance when the appliance discriminating unit discriminates the specific appliance The flow rate A specific instrument flow rate storage unit that stores the flow rate of the specific instrument without registering in the flow rate storage unit, and a monitoring time corresponding to each flow rate of the registration-time flow rate storage unit and the specific instrument flow rate storage unit has elapsed. A gas shut-off device provided with a safety control part for shut-off driving the shut-off valve. The gas cutoff device according to claim 1, wherein the specific appliance discriminated by the appliance discriminating unit is a water heater or a fan heater. The gas shut-off device according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of specific appliance flow rate storage units, wherein the specific device is at least a water heater and a fan heater.

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