JP2022137571A - Electronic watthour meter - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an electronic watthour meter that allows a sensor that communicates with an infrared communication port to be stably fixed to a meter, during inspection work or the like of the meter.SOLUTION: An electronic watthour meter equipped with an infrared communication port capable of communicating with an infrared sensor device includes: a watthour meter body equipped with a housing with a built-in electronic component; a sealing cover for sealing the front of the housing; and fixing means capable of fixing the infrared sensor device to the electronic watthour meter. The fixing means includes a protrusion provided on the front of the sealing cover. The protrusion has an engaging portion that can engage with a part of the infrared sensor device. This allows the infrared sensor device to be supported at a position where the infrared sensor device can communicate with the infrared communication port.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

The present invention relates to electronic watt-hour meters.

Electronic energy meters may have an infrared communication port. From the infrared communication port, various measurement data measured by the electronic watt-hour meter are output to the outside of the electronic watt-hour meter by infrared rays. In addition, from the infrared communication port, the meter information of the electronic watt-hour meter (e.g., phase wire system, rated current, rated voltage, etc.) and the setting information set in the electronic watt-hour meter (e.g., the multiplication factor of the measured value etc.) can be output. The infrared communication port also has a receiving function.

An infrared sensor is used to transmit and receive infrared communication ports. The infrared sensor is used, for example, after installation of the electronic watt-hour meter, for inspection work or the like to grasp the connection state of the electronic watt-hour meter. The infrared sensor is connected to a terminal device such as an inspection operator's personal computer via a cable.

By the way, a magnet may be attached to the housing of the infrared sensor as means for fixing the infrared sensor to the electronic power meter while the infrared sensor is communicating with the infrared communication port. In this case, a magnetic steel plate for attracting and fixing the magnet can be arranged in the housing of the electronic watt-hour meter. However, electronic watt-hour meters are generally required to be miniaturized. The space in which the magnetic steel plate can be placed is limited in the case of a small electronic watt-hour meter. However, it is difficult to attract and fix the magnet of the infrared sensor in the small area of the magnetic steel plate. For example, if the infrared communication port is located on the front of the electronic power meter, the infrared sensor may slide down under its own weight. Therefore, the worker needs to perform work such as terminal operation while holding the infrared sensor so as not to interfere with communication, which lowers work efficiency.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to provide an electronic watt-hour meter in which a sensor communicating with an infrared communication port can be stably fixed to the meter during inspection work of the meter or the like. .

According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an electronic watt-hour meter including an infrared communication port capable of communicating with an infrared sensor device, the watt-hour meter main body including a housing containing electronic components; A sealing cover for sealing the front surface and a fixing means capable of fixing the infrared sensor device to the electronic watt-hour meter are provided, the fixing means including a projection provided on the front surface of the sealing cover, the projection has an engagement portion engageable with a portion of the infrared sensor device, thereby supporting the infrared sensor device in a position where the infrared sensor device can communicate with the infrared communication port. can provide a measure.

1 is a front view of a body of an electronic electricity meter, according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a front view of a main body of an electronic watt-hour meter with an inner cover arranged; FIG. It is a figure which shows a magnetic steel plate. It is a figure which shows an example of an infrared sensor apparatus. 3 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of the main body of the electronic watt-hour meter of FIG. 2; FIG. It is a front view of a sealing cover. It is a figure which expands and shows a protrusion part. It is a figure explaining the usage method of a projection part.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the following description is merely an example, and is not intended to limit the technical scope of the present invention to the following embodiments. In addition, in the drawings, the same or corresponding components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant explanations are omitted. In the following description, terms indicating directions such as "up" and "down" are used for convenience of explanation and are not intended to limit the present embodiment.

An electronic watt-hour meter (hereinafter referred to as watt-hour meter) 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a watt-hour meter body 102 . FIG. 1 shows a front view (in other words, a front view) of the watt-hour meter body 102 . The watt-hour meter main body 102 has a housing 104 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped or cubic outer shape. Inside the housing 104, an electronic component (not shown) for measuring the power consumption and the like are built.

A distribution line connection portion 106 is provided at the lower front portion of the housing 104 . The distribution line connection portion 106 includes terminal fittings 108 arranged side by side via an insulating partition portion 110 provided in the housing 104 . As an example, the watt-hour meter 100 of the present embodiment is a single-phase three-wire watt-hour meter with a transformer.

The measured value of the watt-hour meter 100 is displayed on a digital display section (in other words, a liquid crystal display section) 111 arranged substantially in the center of the front surface of the housing 104 . An internal battery 112, an infrared transmitting port 114a and an infrared receiving port 114b (hereinafter, communication ports 114a, 114b) are arranged adjacent to one side of the digital display unit 111 on the front surface of the housing 104. FIG. Internal battery 112 is used, for example, to drive electronic components contained in housing 104 . Communication ports 114a, 114b are used for infrared communication with infrared sensor devices. Adjacent to the other side of the digital display unit 111, an operation button 116 of the electronic watt-hour meter 100 is arranged.

Further, in this embodiment, a setting switch 118 is arranged on the front upper portion of the housing 104 . The setting switch 118 is a switch used to set predetermined items related to the transformer combined with the watt hour meter body 102 . A sealing screw 120 is positioned adjacent to the setting switch 118 . Also, a test terminal 122 is arranged on the front upper portion of the housing 104 . However, the specific configuration of the watt-hour meter main body 102 is not limited to that illustrated.

The watt-hour meter main body 102 can be attached to a wall surface extending in the vertical direction using appropriate attachment screws or the like.

FIG. 2 shows the front of the watt-hour meter main body 102 with the inner cover 124 attached. In the illustrated example, the inner cover 124 is arranged substantially in the center of the front surface of the housing 104 of the watt-hour meter main body 102 and has an opening 126 for making the digital display section 111 visible. The inner cover 124 has openings 128 at positions corresponding to the communication ports 114 a and 114 b , and openings 130 at positions corresponding to the operation buttons 116 . The inner cover 124 also includes a contoured recess 132 formed near the openings 128 for the communication ports 114a, 114b. Recess 132 opens toward the front surface of watt-hour meter main body 102 . The shape of the recess 132 is determined so as to receive a magnetic steel plate 133 having the shape shown in FIG. 3, for example.

2, reference numerals 134 and 136 denote sealing covers for sealing the test terminal 122 and the distribution line connection section 106, respectively, so that they cannot be accessed by a third party. The sealing covers 134, 136 are sealed to the housing 104 by predetermined sealing portions 138, 140, respectively. The sealing covers 134 and 136 are made of an electrically insulating transparent resin material.

As shown in FIG. 1, communication ports 114a and 114b for infrared communication are formed on the front surface of the housing 104 adjacent to the internal battery 112. As shown in FIG. For example, an infrared sensor device 200 configured as shown in FIG. 4 can be used to communicate with the electricity meter 100 via the communication ports 114a, 114b. The infrared sensor device 200 can be connected to terminal equipment such as a personal computer (not shown) via a cable 202 . In the illustrated example, the infrared sensor device 200 has a head portion 204 as a housing, and the head portion 204 has a substantially circular contact surface 208 . An optical sensor section (in other words, a transmitting/receiving section) 206 is arranged substantially in the center of the contact surface 208 . While the infrared sensor device 200 communicates with the communication ports 114a, 114b, the contact surface 208 is brought into contact with a sealing cover 142 (see FIG. 6) of the electronic watt-hour meter 100, which will be described later. However, the specific configuration of the infrared sensor device 200 is not limited to that illustrated. In this embodiment, an annular magnet 210 is embedded around the optical sensor section 206 on the circular contact surface 208 . Magnet 210 may simply be attached to abutment surface 208 . A specific shape of the magnet 210 is not limited to the illustrated one. During infrared communication, the contact surface 208 of the infrared sensor device 200 is brought into contact with the sealing cover 142 so that the optical sensor portion 206 covers the communication ports 114a, 114b.

In this embodiment, the magnetic steel plate 133 shown in FIG. 3 is arranged on the front surface of the power meter main body 102 as a first fixing portion for fixing the infrared sensor device 200 to the power meter 100 during communication. may be As shown in FIG. 2, in this embodiment, the magnetic steel plate 133 is attached to the recess 132 of the inner cover 124 . However, in other embodiments, the magnetic steel plate 133 may be attached directly to the housing 104 of the electricity meter body 102 . In this embodiment, the magnetic steel plate 133 is an iron plate. However, the material of the magnetic steel plate 133 is not particularly limited as long as it can be magnetically attracted to the magnet 210 . FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged perspective view of watt-hour meter body 102 to which inner cover 124 is attached, shown in FIG. FIG. 5 shows a state in which the magnetic steel plate 133 is fitted into the recess 132. As shown in FIG. Thus, the magnetic steel plate 133 is positioned adjacent to the communication ports 114a, 114b. In this embodiment, the magnetic steel plate 133 is arranged so as to partially surround the communication ports 114a and 114b by the contoured portion 133a. However, depending on the specific positions of the communication ports 114a, 114b, the magnetic steel plates 133 may be arranged to completely surround the communication ports 114a, 114b. The position of the magnetic steel plate 133 is not particularly limited as long as it is a position where the optical sensor section 206 covers the communication ports 114a and 114b and where the magnet 210 can be attracted.

From the viewpoint of attractive force to the magnet 210 , the magnetic steel plate 133 preferably has a shape and area corresponding to the predetermined shape and area of the magnet 210 . However, the shape and area of the magnetic steel plate 133 are restricted by the positions and dimensions of other parts such as the digital display 111 and the internal battery 112 that are arranged on the front surface of the watt-hour meter main body 102 . Electronic watt-hour meters are generally required to be small. I can't get Therefore, in this embodiment, the attractive force of the magnetic steel plate 133 to the magnet 210 is increased by increasing the thickness of the magnetic steel plate 133 . This can be accomplished by forming a recess 132 in the inner cover 124 that can receive a magnetic steel plate 133 . As shown in FIG. 5, the front surface of the magnetic steel plate 133 is arranged so as to be substantially flush with the front surface of the surrounding inner cover 124 . Further, as shown in FIG. 5 , the magnetic steel plate 133 is arranged at a position that does not overlap the internal battery 112 in the front-rear direction of the watt-hour meter 100 . The inner cover 124 has a cutout 139 for attaching or detaching the magnetic steel plate 133 to or from the recess 132 .

FIG. 6 is a front view (in other words, a front view) showing the sealing cover 142 of the electronic watt-hour meter 100 alone. The sealing cover 142 is attached to the housing 104 of the watt-hour meter body 102 so as to cover the inner cover 124 . The sealing cover 142 can be integrally molded with an electrically insulating transparent resin material. The sealing cover 142 is sealed to the watt-hour meter body 102 with a sealing screw 120 (see FIG. 1).

In this embodiment, a protrusion 144 is provided on the front surface of the sealing cover 142 . It functions as a second fixing section for temporarily fixing the infrared sensor device 200 to the power meter 100 . For example, for the infrared sensor device 200 having the circular contact surface 208 shown in FIG. 4, the protrusion 144 is arranged along the circular outer periphery of the contact surface 208 (shown as a virtual circle in FIG. 6). It is The projecting portion 144 has an engaging portion 144a that can be engaged with a portion of the infrared sensor device 200 (the head portion 204 in this embodiment).

The protrusion 144 can support the infrared sensor device 200 at a position where the infrared sensor device 200 can communicate with the communication ports 114a and 114b. Specifically, the position of the protrusion 144 is determined so that the infrared sensor device 200 can be supported at a position where the optical sensor portion 206 covers the communication ports 114a, 114b. The projection 144 only needs to be able to engage with a part of the infrared sensor device 200 so as to support the infrared sensor device 200 against sliding down due to its own weight. Accordingly, the specific size, number, and position of the protrusions 144 are not particularly limited as long as they can prevent the infrared sensor device 200 from falling. In this embodiment, a plurality of (three in the illustrated example) protrusions 144 are arranged apart from each other. However, the sealing cover 142 may have a single projection 144 having, for example, a curved engagement surface along the perimeter of the abutment surface 208 . The protrusion 144 may also be elastic so as to support the head 204 in a snap-fit manner.

The specific shape of the sealing cover 142 is not particularly limited as long as it has the projection 144 described above. For example, in the illustrated example, the sealing cover 142 can cover the setting switch 118 arranged on the front upper portion of the watt hour meter body 102 , but the watt hour meter 100 includes a separate cover for covering the setting switch 118 . sealing cover. Alternatively, sealing cover 142 may be integrally molded with sealing cover 134 or sealing cover 136 described with respect to FIG.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the protrusion 144 when the sealing cover 142 is attached to the watt-hour meter main body 102. As shown in FIG. In FIG. 7, a nameplate 146 is arranged between the inner cover 124 and the sealing cover 142, and the position of the magnetic steel plate 133 is indicated by broken lines. The nameplate is required by JIS to be attached to the watt hour meter. For example, the nameplate indicates the meter name, phase and wire system, meter constant, type approval number, rated frequency, production number, production year, etc. It is a sheet-shaped member to be used. The specific description of the nameplate 146 is omitted from the illustration.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating how to use the protrusion 144. As shown in FIG. In FIG. 8, the infrared sensor device 200 supported by the protrusion 144 of the sealing cover 142 is shown. Thus, in this embodiment, while the infrared sensor device 200 communicates with the communication ports 114a and 114b, the engaging portion 144a of the protrusion 144 engages with the head portion 204 to support the infrared sensor device 200. can be done. Since the electronic watt-hour meter 100 is installed on the wall in the vertical direction, the infrared sensor device 200 may fall due to its own weight only with the attractive force of the magnetic steel plate 133 to the magnet 210 . Also, although the internal battery 112 can also attract the magnet 210 , the attraction force is smaller than that of the magnetic steel plate 133 . However, in this embodiment, the protrusion 144 allows the infrared sensor device 200 to be stably fixed to the power meter 100 during communication. A worker for inspection or the like does not need to hold the infrared sensor device 200, so work efficiency is improved.

In this embodiment, even if there is no space for arranging the magnetic steel plate 133 with a sufficient area on the front surface of the housing 104 of the electronic watt-hour meter 100, by receiving the magnetic steel plate 133 in the recess 132 of the inner cover 142, The thickness of the magnetic steel plate 133 can be increased. Therefore, for example, the area of the magnetic steel plate 133 may be half or less of the area of the contact surface 208 of the infrared sensor device 200 . Even in that case, the attractive force can be increased by adjusting the thickness of the magnetic steel plate 133 . Moreover, even if the attractive force of the magnetic steel plate 133 is still insufficient, the protrusion 144 can prevent the infrared sensor device 200 from falling. According to another embodiment, it is also possible to fix the infrared sensor device 200 only by the protrusion 144 . In that case, the magnetic steel plate 133 can be omitted.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the above-described embodiment of the present invention is for facilitating understanding of the present invention, and does not limit the present invention. The present invention may be modified and improved without departing from its spirit, and the present invention includes equivalents thereof. In addition, any combination or omission of each component described in the claims and the specification is possible within the range that at least part of the above problems can be solved or at least part of the effect is achieved. is.

The present invention includes the following aspects.
1. An electronic watt-hour meter having an infrared communication port capable of communicating with an infrared sensor device, the watt-hour meter main body having a housing in which electronic components are built, a sealing cover for sealing the front surface of the housing, fixing means capable of fixing the infrared sensor device to the electronic watt-hour meter, the fixing means including a projection provided on the front surface of the sealing cover, the projection engaging a part of the infrared sensor device. An electronic watt-hour meter having a mating engagement portion whereby an infrared sensor device can be supported in a position where the infrared sensor device can communicate with an infrared communication port.
2. 1. A magnet is attached to the infrared sensor device, and the fixing means further includes a magnetic steel plate arranged on the front surface of the housing. The electronic watt-hour meter described in .
3. The infrared sensor device has a circular contact surface that is brought into contact with the sealing cover during communication with the electronic watt-hour meter. is less than or equal to half the area of the contact surface;2. The electronic watt-hour meter described in .
4. 3. The abutment surface is circular and the sealing cover comprises at least three protrusions; The electronic watt-hour meter described in .
5. The electronic watt-hour meter has an internal battery that drives electronic components, and the magnetic steel plate is arranged at a position that does not overlap the internal battery when the electronic watt-hour meter is viewed in the front-rear direction. 2. ~ 4. The electronic watt-hour meter according to any one of .
6. 1. The electronic watt-hour meter has an inner cover disposed between the front face of the housing and the sealing cover, and the magnetic steel plate is fitted into a recess formed in the inner cover; ~ 5. The electronic watt-hour meter according to any one of .

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be widely applied to electronic watt-hour meters having an infrared communication port.

100 Electronic watt-hour meter 102 watt-hour meter body 104 Case 106 Distribution line connection 108 Terminal metal fitting 110 Bulkhead 111 Digital display 112 Internal battery 114a, 114b Communication port 116 Operation button 118 Setting switch 120 Sealing screw 122 For testing Terminal 124 Inner cover 126 Opening 128 Opening 130 Opening 132 Recess 133 Magnetic steel plate 133a Contours 134, 136 Sealing covers 138, 140 Sealing part 139 Notch 142 Sealing cover 144 Protruding part 144a Engagement part 200 Infrared sensor device 202 Cable 204 head portion 206 optical sensor portion 208 contact surface 210 magnet

Claims (6)

An electronic power meter comprising an infrared communication port capable of communicating with an infrared sensor device,
a power meter body including a housing in which electronic components are built;
a sealing cover for sealing the front surface of the housing;
fixing means capable of fixing the infrared sensor device to the electronic power meter,
The fixing means includes a protrusion provided on the front surface of the sealing cover,
The protruding portion has an engaging portion that can be engaged with a portion of the infrared sensor device, thereby supporting the infrared sensor device at a position where the infrared sensor device can communicate with the infrared communication port. is an electronic watt-hour meter. A magnet is attached to the infrared sensor device,
The fixing means further includes:
2. The electronic watt-hour meter of claim 1, comprising a magnetic steel plate located on the front surface of the housing. The infrared sensor device has a contact surface that is brought into contact with the sealing cover during communication with the infrared communication port, and an optical sensor section is arranged in the contact surface,
3. The electronic watt-hour meter according to claim 2, wherein the area of said magnetic steel plate is half or less of the area of said contact surface. 4. The electronic watt-hour meter according to claim 3, wherein said abutment surface is circular, and said sealing cover comprises at least three said protrusions. The electronic watt-hour meter has an internal battery that drives the electronic component,
The electronic watt-hour meter according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein said magnetic steel plate is arranged at a position not overlapping with said internal battery when said electronic watt-hour meter is viewed in the front-rear direction. The electronic watt-hour meter has an inner cover disposed between the front surface of the housing and the sealing cover,
The electronic watt-hour meter according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein said magnetic steel plate is fitted in a recess formed in said inner cover.

Images