JP3529336B2 - Hot water supply capacity measuring device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring hot water supply capacity of a gas appliance having a hot water supply function such as a gas water heater.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a failure inspection or a periodical inspection of a gas equipment having a hot water supply function such as a gas water heater or a heat source unit in a gas central heating system (GCH system), the hot water supply capacity is measured to confirm its performance deterioration. .
The hot water supply capacity is defined by the following formula (1), that is, hot water supply capacity (kcal / h) = (outflow temperature-inlet temperature) x outflow volume (liter) x 3600 / outflow time (seconds) (1) To be done. Then, conventionally, a worker manually measures each value (hot water temperature, hot water temperature, hot water discharge time) in the formula (1) to measure hot water supply ability. Specifically, the time for hot water to accumulate in a predetermined amount of container is measured, and the incoming water temperature and outgoing hot water temperature are measured with a thermometer.

[0003]

However, in such a manual hot water supply capacity measurement, it is difficult to measure with high accuracy, and the operator needs to perform the operation work of the gas equipment and the measurement work at the same time. , Difficult to work with and spends a lot of time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a hot water supply capacity measuring device capable of easily performing accurate hot water supply capacity measurement in a short time.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a hot water supply capacity measuring device which is communicably connected to a gas appliance having a hot water supply function. The hot water supply capacity measuring device, after being communicably connected to a gas device, causes the gas device to perform a predetermined combustion for measurement, acquires data on the combustion state from the gas device, and based on the data on the combustion state. Calculate the hot water supply capacity of gas equipment.

During combustion, the control unit (microcomputer, etc.) in the gas equipment provides accurate data (inlet temperature, outlet temperature, outlet amount, etc.) regarding the combustion state necessary for hot water supply capacity measurement for combustion control. Have and monitor. Therefore, by reading out the data via a predetermined communication means, it becomes possible to easily and accurately obtain the hot water supply capacity without manually acquiring the necessary data as in the conventional case.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. However, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a water heater which is a gas appliance having a hot water supply function. In the water heater 1 of FIG. 1, a water inlet pipe 3 for supplying water to the heat exchanger 2 is connected to the inlet side of the heat exchanger 2. The water supplied to the heat exchanger 2 undergoes heat exchange therein, and is discharged from the hot water tap (currant) 18 through the tap pipe 5 connected to the outlet side of the heat exchanger 2. Gas is supplied from a gas supply pipe 6 to the burner 4 that heats the heat exchanger 2, and the burner 4 is opened and closed by the original gas solenoid valve 7. Further, the supply gas amount can be adjusted by the opening degree of the gas proportional valve 8. The burner 4 has a plurality of combustion surfaces 4a and 4b, and a gas supply pipe 6 for supplying gas to each of them is
It branches from the branch point P into branch pipes 6a and 6b. The branch pipes 6a and 6b are provided with auxiliary valves 9a and 9b for turning on / off the gas supply to the combustion surfaces 4a and 4b. Further, the combustion fan 15 supplies air to the burner 4.

Further, the water inlet pipe 3 is provided with a flow rate sensor 10 for detecting a water inlet flow amount (abbreviated as flow rate) and a water inlet temperature sensor 11 for detecting a water inlet temperature, and the hot water outlet pipe 5 is a hot water outlet for detecting a hot water outlet temperature. A temperature sensor 12 is provided. Detection signals from these various sensors are input to the control unit 16. The control unit 16 has, for example, a microcomputer including a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, and the like. When the control unit 16 acquires the detection signal, the control unit 16 generates a drive signal based on a predetermined combustion control program stored in the ROM,
It controls various actuators such as the original gas solenoid valve 7, the gas proportional valve 8 and the auxiliary valve 9. Further, the control unit 16 is connected to the remote controller 17 and executes a predetermined combustion control according to an instruction from the remote controller 17.

In order to measure the hot water supply capacity in such a gas appliance, an external inspection device is used in the embodiment of the present invention. As an external inspection device, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
JP-A-305843 discloses an external inspection device composed of a general-purpose notebook computer. This external inspection device is connected to the gas equipment via a cable, gives predetermined inspection command information from the external inspection equipment, and collects the operating state and sensor output in the gas equipment operated in response thereto. Thereby, the inspection work can be simplified.

Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, a hot water supply capacity measuring function is provided to such an external inspection device (a hot water supply capacity measuring program is stored), and the program is executed to measure the hot water supply capacity. Necessary information (flow rate, incoming water temperature, hot water temperature, etc.) is read from the gas equipment, and the hot water supply capacity is calculated based on the read information. Figure 2
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an external inspection device connected to a gas device via a protocol conversion device. In FIG. 2, an external inspection device 50 composed of a portable terminal such as a notebook computer is
It is connected to the control unit 16 of the gas device 1 via the protocol conversion device 60. Therefore, the cable 70 for communication
A connector 71 is provided for connecting to.

In the present embodiment, the external inspection device 50, which is a hot water supply capacity measuring device, is a portable information terminal such as a general-purpose notebook computer. So, for example, Windows 9
5 and Windows NT (both are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.), the communication protocol is also a standard protocol. In contrast, inspection
The control unit 16 of the gas device 1 to be measured is configured with different specifications for each maker, and the compatible communication protocol is often an original specification different from the standard protocol.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the protocol conversion device 60 is provided between the external inspection device 50 and the gas device 1.
There, the protocol conversion is performed between the telegram according to the standard protocol and the telegram according to the protocol specific to the gas equipment. The protocol conversion device 60 has connectors 61 and 62 and a protocol conversion means 65 composed of a microcomputer or the like. The protocol conversion means 65 has a CPU, a RAM, a ROM containing a program conversion program, an input / output buffer BUF, and the like. The communication control memory area in the memory RAM is a communication control memory area including a predetermined register. , The communication protocol parameters on the gas equipment side necessary for protocol conversion are recorded.

The control unit 16 of the gas equipment 1 contains a control program. The control program includes, for example, a combustion control sequence program for controlling a desired combustion sequence and a communication control program for communicating with the external inspection device 50. By having this communication control program, communication can be performed with the external inspection device 50, and the detection signals of various sensors can be read by the external inspection device 50.

The control unit 16 in the gas equipment 1 includes a remote controller 1
When a predetermined command signal such as hot water supply is received from the external inspection device 4 or the external inspection device 50, for example, a flag indicating execution of the control program is recorded in the built-in RAM. Then, the built-in combustion control sequence program executes the control program corresponding to the command signal by referring to the flag.
Further, the combustion control sequence program detects the state of the sensor from the sensor output data recorded in the built-in RAM, and writes the data for instructing the drive of the actuator necessary for the combustion control to the corresponding area in the built-in RAM. .
The control unit 16 refers to the command data written in the built-in RAM and gives a command signal to the actuator.

Therefore, the external inspection device 50 uses communication means to rewrite the information in the RAM contained in the control unit 16 in the gas device 1 to perform desired combustion control necessary for the inspection. It is possible to give an instruction, and by reading the information in the RAM, it is possible to monitor the sensor output corresponding to it or the state in the gas equipment.
Therefore, the external inspection device 50 is provided with a keyboard 51 and a monitor screen 52 as input means, and further,
A communication port 53 is provided.

The communication port 53 of the external inspection device 50 is RS
It is connected to the protocol conversion device 60 via the 232C cable 55. Then, the protocol conversion device 60 is connected to the connector 71 of the gas device 1 via another cable 70.

In the recent gas appliances, combustion control by a general-purpose microcomputer is generally used.
The M area and the control program are the same. Therefore,
The difference between manufacturers or models is the type of parts in the gas equipment, the address of the internal RAM, the input / output program to the internal RAM area, the actuator drive program,
It is a detailed part such as an input program of sensor data.
Therefore, in the external inspection device 50, those parts that cannot be made common correspond to the information files that are individual parts. On the other hand, in order to provide a worker with a common display screen and operability for each model, it has a general-purpose application program in which control of display and input to the worker is made common. The hot water supply capacity measurement program in the present embodiment is included in this general-purpose middleware application.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the internal structure of the external inspection apparatus. The same reference numbers are given to the same parts as in FIG.
The external inspection device 50 has, as hardware, the monitor screen 52, the keyboard 51, the connector terminal 53 that is a communication port, a CPU, a RAM, and a file device (not shown). The structure of programs and data in the file device is shown in FIG.

The software configuration in the external inspection apparatus 50 is such that the general-purpose middleware application 40 operates universally regardless of the manufacturer or the type of gas equipment.
And an information file 42 that is different for each manufacturer or for each gas appliance.

General-purpose middleware application 40
Receives an input from the keyboard 51 together with an OS (not shown), and performs necessary display on the monitor screen 52.
Therefore, the general-purpose middleware application 40 also includes data for providing a common inspection / measurement menu screen to workers. Further, a communication control program for performing communication via a cable connected to the connector terminal 53 is also included. This communication control program is a general-purpose OS
Create a message format and communicate with the outside by the standard communication protocol according to.

Further, the general-purpose middleware application 40 has an initial setting program for acquiring information on the manufacturer and model of the gas device to be inspected / measured when the external inspection device is first connected to the gas device. By executing this initial setting program, it is possible to automatically determine the manufacturer and product type of the gas equipment to be inspected.

The information file 42 that differs for each manufacturer or for each gas appliance is, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, different data program files 42A, 42 that differ for each manufacturer.
It consists of B. Then, for example, the data of manufacturer A
In the case of the program file 42A, inspection of manufacturer A
It has a password A used in the measurement process, a parameter A of a communication protocol unique to the gas equipment of the manufacturer A, and files 1 and 2 unique to the gas equipment of the manufacturer A. The peculiar file is, for example, an inspection program for each manufacturer or gas device that specifies a failed component while executing a specific inspection operation command, or operates a specific component individually to specify the failed component. Have.

The data program file 42B of maker B also has similar information. Although not shown, a plurality of similar data program files are provided. This information file 42 is not limited to each manufacturer,
It may be different for each gas model. The information file 42 is configured according to the specifications of the manufacturer.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the hot water supply capacity measuring process in the hot water supply capacity device (external inspection device) according to the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4, the worker operates the external inspection device 50 to activate the hot water supply capacity measurement program and selects the start button displayed on the screen. As a result, the hot water supply capacity measurement process is started. First, the following message is displayed on the screen (S10).

[Please close the Karan if it is open.
After that, when the operation lamp lights up, open the calan fully. ”During the measurement process, the gas equipment is being used in the kitchen, bathroom, etc. in order to make the gas equipment burn for measurement as described later. In some cases, it is necessary to stop combustion once. Therefore, the external inspection device 50 instructs the control unit 16 of the gas device 1 to turn off the operation by communication.
As a result, the operation lamp of the remote controller of the gas device 1 is turned off. Further, the worker closes the currant in the kitchen or the like. The external inspection device 50 reads the flow rate from the control unit 16 through communication, and determines that the flow rate is zero by closing the calan (S14). Even if the gas equipment is not used, it is naturally judged that the flow rate is zero. In this way, the external inspection device 50 recognizes the preparation completion for the measurement by turning off the gas device 1 and determining the flow rate of zero.

Subsequently, the external inspection device 50 is connected to the control unit 16
Is instructed to turn on (S16). This allows
The operation lamp of the remote control of the gas equipment 1 lights up. After confirming that the operation lamp is lit, the worker fully opens the currant. Further, the external inspection device 50, after instructing the operation to be turned on, instructs the control unit 16 to perform a predetermined minimum combustion preset in the program (S18).

The minimum combustion may be, for example, combustion corresponding to the lowest temperature in the settable range of the set temperature, or may be combustion at a gas supply amount preset for minimum combustion, that is, proportional valve opening. May be. Since the proportional valve opening controlled by the control unit 16 corresponds to the gas supply amount, according to the known heat amount per unit gas amount,
The amount of heat supplied (input) can be obtained.
Further, the minimum combustion is combustion only on the combustion surface 4a.

The external inspection device 50 acquires the hot water discharge temperature from the control unit 16 and confirms that the hot water discharge temperature is stable within a certain range after the start of the minimum combustion (S20). When it is confirmed that the hot water temperature has stabilized, external inspection device 50 starts hot water supply capacity measurement (S22). The measurement is performed for a predetermined time (for example, about 30 seconds). The external inspection device 50 acquires necessary data from the control unit 16 by communication during measurement (S2).
4). Specifically, the incoming water temperature and the outgoing hot water temperature are read out every predetermined timing (for example, 5 seconds), and the average value thereof is calculated. This average value is used when calculating the hot water supply capacity and the combustion efficiency described later. Further, the flow rate during measurement is acquired at predetermined timings and integrated to obtain the hot water discharge amount. Further, in order to obtain the thermal efficiency, the gas supply amount corresponding to the proportional valve opening is also acquired and integrated at every predetermined timing.

After a predetermined time has passed, the external inspection device 50
After the measurement is completed, the hot water supply capacity according to the above equation (1) is calculated using the acquired data (S26). Further, the obtained heat quantity (output), that is, output (kcal) = (outlet water temperature-inlet water temperature) × outflow water amount (liter) (2), is calculated to calculate the thermal efficiency. Thermal efficiency is calculated by thermal efficiency = output / input (3).

As described above, in the present embodiment, the external inspection device 50 may also obtain the thermal efficiency of the gas equipment. It is possible to judge the performance deterioration of the gas equipment not only by the hot water supply capacity but also by the thermal efficiency.

After the minimum combustion, the hot water supply capacity is measured by the maximum combustion. The external inspection device 50 instructs the control unit 16 to perform maximum combustion (S28). Like the above-mentioned minimum combustion, the maximum combustion may be combustion corresponding to the maximum temperature in the settable range of the set temperature, or the gas supply amount preset for maximum combustion, that is, the proportional valve opening degree. The combustion may be in (for example, fully open). However,
The proportional valve 8 is opened to the maximum in the range where the hot water that comes out does not boil. The flow rate at each timing is known when the minimum combustion has already been performed. If the flow rate is relatively low, the hot water may boil due to the gas supply amount corresponding to the full opening of the proportional valve. Therefore, in order to prevent this, if it is assumed that the flow rate detected during the minimum combustion (preferably the minimum flow rate) flows during the maximum combustion, the hot water discharged by the combustion due to the gas supply amount in the maximum combustion boils. It is preferable to determine whether or not to do so and adjust the gas supply amount, that is, the proportional valve opening so that the boiling water does not come out. The proportional valve opening is determined by using the above equations (2) and (3) to obtain an input such that the outlet heated water temperature does not boil. Further, the maximum combustion is combustion by both the combustion surfaces 4a and 4B.

Then, like the minimum combustion, the external inspection device 5
No. 0 confirms that the hot water discharge temperature is stable within a certain range (S30), starts hot water supply capacity measurement (S32), and communicates with the control unit 16 by communication during measurement for a predetermined time (for example, 30 seconds).
The necessary data is acquired from (S34). After a lapse of a predetermined time, the external inspection device 50 ends the measurement, calculates the hot water supply capacity according to the above equation (1) using the acquired information, and more preferably calculates the thermal efficiency (S36).

After calculating the hot water supply capacity and the thermal efficiency in the maximum combustion, the external inspection device 50 ends the capacity measurement (S3).
8) Then, the gas equipment is turned off (S40). The worker confirms that the operation lamp of the remote control is off, and closes the currant. Further, the external inspection device 50 displays the calculation results (the hot water supply capacity and thermal efficiency at the minimum combustion, and the hot water supply capacity and thermal efficiency at the maximum combustion) on the screen (S42).

With such a hot water supply capacity measuring process, it is possible to measure the hot water supply capacity in a short time (several minutes).
In addition, the worker can measure the hot water supply ability simply by opening and closing the cullan, which greatly simplifies the work. Further, since the calculation is performed based on the accurate data directly detected by the gas equipment, it is possible to obtain the hot water supply ability with high accuracy.

Then, by determining the hot water supply capacity at the minimum combustion and the hot water supply capacity at the maximum combustion, it can be determined whether or not the gas equipment has the hot water supply capacity as designed, and the performance deterioration of the gas equipment can be determined. . further,
The thermal efficiency can also determine the performance deterioration of the gas equipment. In particular, when the thermal efficiency in the minimum combustion is different from the thermal efficiency in the maximum combustion, it is possible to specify the combustion surface that is more deteriorated. For example, in general, the thermal efficiency in the maximum combustion is better than the thermal efficiency in the minimum combustion, but when it is opposite, it can be determined that the combustion surface 4b is further deteriorated. Further, when the thermal efficiency in the minimum combustion is significantly worse than the thermal efficiency in the maximum combustion, it can be determined that the combustion surface 4a is further deteriorated.

In the above embodiment, the external inspection device 50 is used.
However, although all necessary calculations for hot water supply capacity measurement are executed, a part or all of them may be executed by the control unit 16 of the gas device 1. For example, the control unit 16 of the gas device 1
Input (gas supply amount) integration, flow rate integration, or output calculation may be performed. In that case, the external inspection device 50 instructs the control unit 16 to issue a calculation command, and the control unit 16
The calculation result is read and the hot water supply capacity and thermal efficiency are calculated. Furthermore, the control unit 16 may perform calculations of hot water supply capacity and thermal efficiency.

The gas equipment in the embodiment of the present invention is
The present invention is not limited to a single gas water heater, but can be applied to a heat source device in a gas equipment system such as a gas central heating (GCH) system. The GCH system is a gas equipment system having a heat source device having a hot water supply function and a terminal connected to the heat source device via a hot water supply pipe, and the terminal is, for example, a floor heating terminal, an air conditioner, a dryer or the like.

The protection scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but extends to the inventions described in the claims and their equivalents.

[0040]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily measure the hot water supply capability of a gas appliance with high accuracy in a short time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a water heater which is a gas appliance having a hot water supply function.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an external inspection device connected to a gas device via a protocol conversion device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration inside an external inspection device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of hot water supply capacity measurement processing according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 gas water heater 2 heat exchanger 8 gas proportional valve 10 Flow rate sensor 11 Water temperature sensor 12 Hot water temperature sensor 2 16 Control unit 17 Remote control 50 External inspection device 60 Protocol converter

Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-8-219448 (JP, A) JP-A-7-77327 (JP, A) JP-A-11-248146 (JP, A) JP-A-7-305843 (JP , A) JP 7-310918 (JP, A) JP 4-344018 (JP, A) JP 9-303863 (JP, A) JP 6-288535 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) F23N 5/00 F24H 9/20

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A hot water supply capacity measuring device for measuring the hot water supply capacity of a gas appliance having a hot water supply function, wherein after the gas appliance is communicably connected, the gas appliance is caused to perform a predetermined combustion for measurement, and the combustion is performed. It acquires data relating to the state of the gas appliance, and calculates the hot-water supply ability of the gas appliance on the basis of the data regarding the combustion condition, the measuring combustion, minimum combustion and maximum combustion of the gas equipment
Is performed for a predetermined period of time, and the data regarding the combustion is obtained by the gas equipment at a predetermined timing.
Water temperature, hot water temperature, and water flow rate
Or during the minimum and maximum combustion of the water flow rate, respectively.
A hot water supply capacity measuring device characterized by including the accumulated amount of water. 2. The data according to claim 1, further comprising:
Gas supply amount detected at every fixed timing or the gas concerned
Integration of supply amount during minimum and maximum combustion
Including the amount, and using the integrated amount to improve the thermal efficiency of the gas equipment.
A hot water supply capacity measuring device characterized by calculating . 3. The hot water supply capacity measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the minimum combustion and the maximum combustion are combustion at a minimum set temperature and a maximum set temperature in a settable range, respectively. 4. The hot water supply capacity measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the minimum combustion and the maximum combustion are combustions at predetermined gas supply amounts, respectively. 5. The gas supply in maximum combustion according to claim 4, when the minimum combustion is performed first, and before the maximum combustion is performed, the flow rate detected during the minimum combustion flows during the maximum combustion. A hot water supply capacity measuring device characterized by determining whether or not hot water to be boiled by combustion depending on the amount thereof is boiled, and adjusting a gas supply amount so that the boiled hot water does not come out. 6. The gas equipment according to claim 2, wherein the gas equipment includes first and second combustion surfaces.
Small combustion is combustion by the first combustion surface, and the maximum
Combustion is combustion by the first and second combustion surfaces, and the first thermal efficiency and the previous in the calculated minimum combustion
Based on the second thermal efficiency in maximum combustion and
A hot water supply capacity measuring device characterized in that deterioration of the first or second combustion surface can be judged .