JP2846140B2 - Water heater failure diagnosis system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a water heater failure diagnosis system used for repairing a water heater or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a water heater, the number of functional components increases with the performance improvement. In particular, the number of electronic control units and sensors increases. For this reason, connectors on a substrate are also increasing. In the event that such a problem occurs in the water heater, it is necessary to identify not only human factors but also defective parts such as functional parts in the water heater, in order to determine the cause thereof, and the diagnosis time is determined by the functional parts. It grows with the number and requires a lot of experience and intuition. For example, a service technician searches for a defective portion by referring to a defective portion specifying manual, and after roughly identifying a defective portion, performs component replacement to check operation. Are exchanged, and the operation check is repeated.

[0003]

However, the service efficiency of the failure diagnosis and repair of such a serviceman greatly differs depending on the experience and intuition of the serviceman. For this reason, it is difficult for a service engineer with little experience to perform a complete failure diagnosis, and even if completed, it takes much time to reach the failure location.

[0004] The difficulty of such failure diagnosis is that there is a problem in a method that simply relies on the experience and intuition of a serviceman. Whether the connection should be made is established on the premise of the operation of the equipment and the operation principle, but in that case, the wiring connection between the water heater and the inspection equipment has become more complicated due to the higher performance of the water heater. In advanced water heaters, it takes time to troubleshoot the failure, making it difficult for even a fairly experienced person to reach the failure location in a short time, and the occurrence of errors during the diagnosis cannot be ignored. However, accurate diagnosis may not be possible.

[0005] Fig. 10 shows an example of a connection state between a highly functional water heater and an inspection device. In this water heater 2, eleven main functional components 201, 20 are provided for one control board 20.
2, 203 ... 211, 6 sensors 221, 222
.. 226 are functional components 201, 202, 203,.
226 are connected through terminals 230 corresponding to the sensors 221, 222,. The inspection device 4 for inspecting the failure of the water heater 2 includes the functional components 201 and 20.
2, 203 ... 211 and each sensor 221, 222
.. Are connected with a large number of connection lines 8 with the connector 6 interposed between the connection lines 226. In this example, 17 sets of connection lines 8 are required, and the connection relation is very complicated, so diagnosing a failure of a water heater installed in each home is a very troublesome task. It can be seen.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a water heater failure diagnosis system which diagnoses a connection point of an inspection device based on a failure state of a water heater, facilitates identification of a failure point, and simplifies repair. And

[0007]

A water heater failure diagnosis system according to the present invention has a water heater as shown in FIGS.
(2) and a water heater failure diagnosis system having an inspection device (10).
A stem, wherein the water heater is a target of a failure inspection
For functional components (201 to 211, sensors 221 to 226)
Has a connector (6) that can be individually connected to the tester
The inspection device includes an input switch (104) and a failure diagnosis.
Disconnection control unit (100), display (114), connection line
(8), wherein the failure diagnosis control unit includes:
The failure status is displayed on the display unit for each functional component.
Then, the display content of the defect status is input to the input switch.
Selectable by the input of this input switch.
Connection to the functional component based on the defect status selected
A display prompting connection of a connection line is displayed on the display, and the function
Based on the connection between the connector of the part and the connection line, necessary
By providing an inspection signal to the functional component,
Performs inspection of functional parts and displays the inspection results on the display
It is characterized by making it.

[0008]

Further, in the water heater failure diagnosis system according to the present invention, the failure diagnosis control unit includes a host outside the inspection device.
Computer or a wired or wireless connection .

[0010]

In order to specify a failure point of a water heater, that is, to specify a functional part to be replaced, it is necessary to connect an inspection device to the functional part. Therefore, the failure status of the water heater whose failure is to be diagnosed is input to the diagnosis means before the start of the inspection. The diagnosing means specifies a functional part to be connected to the inspection device based on the input failure status. In order to identify this fault location, the functional part to be connected to the tester is displayed on the display, and the inspector checks the display and connects the tester to the specified functional part of the water heater. By performing an operation test to identify the failure location, the failure location can be located,
Replace the functional part at the fault location.

Further, in such a failure diagnosis system,
The failure diagnosis control unit may include a table for prompting connection to the functional component.
If a connection different from the one shown is made, determine the connection failure
Displays a message prompting you to connect properly.
A disconnection error can be prevented.

In such a failure diagnosis system,
By linking the diagnosis means with a main processing device using a communication medium such as a telephone line, radio waves, sound waves, light, etc., it is possible to quickly and reliably diagnose a complicated water heater failure by information processing by a host computer. Will be possible.

[0013]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a water heater failure diagnosis system according to the present invention. The water heater 2 is an object to be diagnosed for failure. An inspection device 10 for performing a failure diagnosis and a failure location inspection on the water heater 2 is provided. The inspection device 10 is provided with a failure diagnosis control unit 100 as a diagnosis unit that performs a failure diagnosis based on a failure state of the water heater 2 and inspects a failure location by connection with the water heater 2. An input unit 102 for inputting various data is installed in the failure diagnosis control unit 100. The input unit 102 includes an input switch 104 as an input unit for inputting a failure state of the water heater 2 for which a failure is to be diagnosed. Is connected.

Further, the failure diagnosis control section 100 is provided with a central processing unit (CPU) 106 as an arithmetic means for processing various input data. This CPU1
Reference numeral 06 performs necessary arithmetic processing based on a diagnostic control program, a failure inspection program, and other fixed data written in the read-only memory (ROM). The RAM 110 is a writable memory in which data that is being calculated by the CPU 106, data indicating a defect status or the like that is input to the input unit 102, and the like are temporarily written. Then, the input unit 102, the CPU 106, the RO
The M 108 and the RAM 110 are linked by a bus 112.

Further, a display 114 is connected to the failure diagnosis control unit 100 as a display means for displaying various data such as a diagnosis result. The display 114 indicates LC
It consists of a D display and other displays.

The tester 10 has an input switch 104 and a display 1 on its front surface as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the input switch 104 is composed of a plurality of push-button switches labeled "YES", "NO", "0" to "9". Further, the display 114 displays a failure diagnosis result, input data, and the like, as shown in FIGS.

The operation will be described based on the above configuration. FIG. 6 shows an example of the failure diagnosis control program. In step S1, initialization is performed by turning on a power switch, and preparation for data input is performed. Next, step S2
Then, the failure status of the water heater 2 whose failure is to be diagnosed is input by selecting the input switch 104. Next, step S
In 3, a defective portion is determined based on the defect status, and in step S 4, a wiring connection portion is selected. If the failure point cannot be specified due to insufficient input in steps S3 and S4, the process proceeds to step S5, where the display 114 is displayed for inputting details of the failure state. For example, as shown in FIG. Is displayed on the display 114 to further prompt the user to input a defect status or the like, and obtain an input necessary for specifying a defective portion. As a result, in step S6, the location to which the inspection device 10 is to be connected is displayed on the display 114 in accordance with the failure status of the water heater 2. FIG. 4 shows a display example in that case, which shows a connection point of the inspection device 10 in the case of ignition failure.

On the basis of the result of the diagnosis, the tester 10 is connected to functional parts required for a fault test as shown in FIG. That is, FIG. 7 shows a selective connection based on a failure diagnosis result according to the failure state of the water heater 2. In this case, the number of connection lines 8 is six, and the simplification will be understood.

FIG. 8 shows the connection example shown in FIG. 7, that is, the connection configuration of the connector 6 in the solenoid valve portion. In this case, the water heater 2 is provided with an electromagnetic valve as the functional component 201, and is connected to the control board 20. Therefore, when the inspection device 10 is connected to the functional component 201, the connector 6 is required, and the inspection device 10 is connected via the connector 6. The inspection device 10 is provided with switches SW1 and SW2,
1. The closed contact side voltage detection element 116 of SW2 is connected,
A current detection element 118 is connected between the closed contact of the switch SW2 and the control board 20. The detection data obtained from the voltage detection element 116 and the current detection element 118 is input to the input unit 102 in the failure diagnosis control unit 100.
Is input to Note that a, b, c, and d of the connector 6 indicate connection contacts. This is the case where the solenoid valve as the functional component 201 is connected, the current and voltage flowing through the solenoid valve can be measured simultaneously, and the ON / OFF of the solenoid valve is controlled by the instruction of the inspection device 10 regardless of the signal of the water heater 2. It can be turned off. Therefore, when a specific voltage and current cannot be obtained, the solenoid valve 201 is diagnosed as defective.

When connected to a sensor, the current,
In addition to the voltage, a resistance value, a frequency, and the like can be measured according to the sensor. In some cases, a voltage can be applied to the sensor, or a current can be passed.

Next, FIG. 9 shows another embodiment of the water heater failure diagnosis system of the present invention. In the above-described embodiment, the failure diagnosis control unit 100 is installed inside the inspection device 10, and the failure diagnosis control unit 100 alone determines or identifies the failure location of the water heater 2. In this embodiment, Inspection device 1
0 and a host computer 2 as a main processing device installed in a failure diagnosis center.
1 is linked via the telephone line 22 to realize a comprehensive failure diagnosis with reference to a diagnostic program and diagnostic data stored in the host computer 21. In such a failure diagnosis system, failure diagnosis can be performed by quickly referring to data of a new product, an old product, and the like, and a wide range of failure diagnosis can be performed.

Further, in the embodiment, a case where a wired or telephone line is used has been described. However, as a communication medium for transmitting data, various data transmission media such as light and radio waves can be used.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. a. It is possible to easily perform failure diagnosis of a highly functional and complicated water heater and realize highly reliable failure diagnosis and repair. b. It is possible to reduce the number of wires between the water heater and the inspection device for the inspection, simplify the connection work, and prevent a connection error by simplifying the connection. c. In the case of a new product, it can be handled by changing the program of the inspection device, so that the burden on the serviceman is reduced, and the failure diagnosis and repair can be simplified without being affected by the experience and intuition of the serviceman. d. Since the number of inputs and outputs of the inspection device is small, connectors, functional parts,
The inspection device can be simplified by using a common sensor or the like. e. By using the indicator and input unit of the inspection device, other than inputting the failure status and displaying the necessary wiring, items that cannot be confirmed by the inspection device itself, such as gas or water being supplied or ignition of the igniter It is possible to urge the user to confirm whether or not the inspection is performed, and it is possible to give sufficient consideration to what the tester cannot do, and to perform a highly reliable comprehensive failure diagnosis.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a water heater failure diagnosis system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an inspection device which is an embodiment of the water heater failure diagnosis system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of an input switch of a tester in the failure diagnosis system shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display on a display of a tester in the failure diagnosis system shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display on a display of a tester in the failure diagnosis system shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of a water heater failure diagnosis system according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a connection relation of testers by the failure diagnosis system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram showing a specific example of a circuit configuration showing a connection relation of testers by the failure diagnosis system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the water heater failure diagnosis system of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a circuit diagram showing a connection state of a conventional inspection device to a water heater.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Hot water heater 6 Connector 8 Connection line 10 Inspection device 100 Failure diagnosis control unit 104 Input switch 114 Display 201 to 211 Functional components 221 to 226 Sensor (functional component)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) F24H 1/10 301 G05B 23/02

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A failure diagnosis of a water heater having a water heater and an inspection device.
Disconnection system, wherein the water heater is individually provided for each functional component to be subjected to a failure inspection.
A connector that can be connected to the inspection device , wherein the inspection device includes an input switch, a failure diagnosis control unit,
An indicator and a connection line, wherein the failure diagnosis control unit is configured to simply connect the functional component of the water heater.
The failure status to be displayed is displayed on the display, and the failure status is displayed.
Can be selected by the input switch
And the fault selected by the input of this input switch
Prompt the connection of the connection line to the functional component based on the situation
The display is displayed on the display, and the connection of the functional component is performed.
Required inspection signal based on the connection between the
Inspection of the functional component by assigning it to the functional component
And a test result is displayed on the display unit . 2. The fault diagnosis control unit according to claim 1 , wherein
2. The water heater failure diagnosis system according to claim 1, wherein the water heater is linked to the strike computer by wire or wirelessly .