JP4105007B2 - Gas meter and gas meter release acceptance method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a gas meter that measures the amount of gas used, and more specifically, detects an abnormality and performs gas shut-off and various alarms, and also displays a shut-off reason or an alarm reason (hereinafter collectively referred to as a reason). The present invention relates to a gas meter provided with a gas meter and a method of accepting release of the gas meter.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, a gas meter with a built-in microcomputer calculates the amount of gas used by the customer and monitors the gas usage status through various sensors. Safety is ensured by warning.
[0003]
In this case, a shut-down reason or a warning reason is displayed on the display unit of the gas meter, and the worker performs a return operation based on these reasons. In addition, priorities are given to these interruption events and alarm events. If two or more interruption events or alarm events occur, the conventional gas meter will cancel the higher priority event if it is canceled. The reason for ranking was automatically canceled.
[0004]
In addition, as a prior art in which an abnormality of the gas meter is displayed by a flashing signal, an inner pipe in which priority is given to the display and only the higher priority is displayed when two reasons are displayed. There is a leakage inspection device (for example, Patent Document 1).
[0005]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 3-66560 (pages 3-7, 3, 5 and 6)
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the conventional gas meter, even when two or more events occur, it is assumed that the events have different priorities, and it is not assumed that two or more events with the same priority occur. However, as the function of the gas meter becomes more complex and sophisticated, it has become clear that two or more reasons of the same priority will occur. Therefore, it is expected that the conventional gas meter cannot properly cope with such a situation, and it has been a technical problem to return the gas meter safely and reliably.
[0007]
In the inner pipe leakage inspection apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is not considered that two or more reasons with the same priority are generated, and thus the above problem has not been solved.
[0008]
An object of the present invention is to provide a gas meter and a gas meter release acceptance method that can safely and reliably return the gas meter even when two or more reasons of the same priority occur.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention of claim 1 is directed to a detection unit for detecting an abnormality of a gas meter, a blocking unit for blocking a gas flow path, a display unit for displaying a blocking / alarming reason, and an alarm for generating an alarm. And when the abnormality that causes the interruption is detected in the detection unit, the interruption unit is set in the interruption state, the interruption reason is held in the memory, the interruption cause is displayed on the display unit, and an alarm is generated in the detection unit In the gas meter comprising a safety unit that causes the alarm unit to be in an alarm state and to store the alarm reason in a memory and to display the alarm reason on the display unit when an abnormality as a reason is detected, the safety unit includes the security unit The process of step S1 for fetching a release command input from the outside in the interruption state due to the interruption event or the alarm state due to the alarm event, and the interruption event or the alarm event In the process of step S2 for determining whether or not there is a reason having a higher priority than the reason subject to the release instruction when two or more are held in the memory, the release instruction in the process of step S2 If there is a reason that has a higher priority than the reason that is the subject of the release command, the process of step S3 that rejects acceptance of the release command for the reason that has a lower priority than the reason that is the subject of the release command, In the case where there is no reason having a higher priority than the reason subject to the release command, the processing in step S4 for releasing the blocking reason or alarm reason subject to the release command and the processing in step S4 Step S5 is performed to determine whether or not a reason of the same priority is held in the memory after canceling a blocking reason or an alarm reason which is a target of the release command. If it is determined in the process of step S5 that the reason of the same priority is held in the memory, only the canceled blocking reason or alarm reason is deleted from the memory, and the same as the deleted blocking reason or alarm reason A process including the process of step S6 for holding other reasons for priority in the memory is executed.
[0010]
The invention of claim 2 is that in claim 1, when the security section determines that the reason of the same priority is not held in the memory in the process of step S5, from the canceled blocking reason or alarm reason In step S7 for determining whether or not a low priority event is held in the memory, and in the processing in step S7, a low priority event is held in the memory. If it is determined that all the low-priority reasons are canceled, the processing in step S8 is canceled. After all the low-priority reasons are canceled in step S8, all the canceled reasons are deleted from the memory. A process including the process of step S9 is executed.
[0011]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, when the security unit holds two or more reasons for the interruption or alarm in the memory, the display unit periodically displays each interruption or alarm reason. And a process including a process of stopping display on the display unit of the interruption cause or the alarm reason released in the process of step S4 or the process of step S8.
[0012]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 4 shows that when an abnormality that causes a shut-off is detected, the gas flow path is shut off to display the shut-off reason, and an abnormality that causes an alarm is detected. In the gas meter release accepting method for displaying the alarm reason as an alarm state when the alarm is performed, step S1 for fetching a release command input from the outside in the shut-off state due to the shut-off reason or the alarm state due to the alarm reason; In step S2 for determining whether or not there is an event having a higher priority than the event subject to the cancellation command when two or more events or alarm events are held in the memory, the cancellation is performed in step S2. If there is a reason with a higher priority than the reason subject to the order, the reason for the reason with a lower priority than the reason subject to the cancellation order In step S3 for rejecting acceptance of the removal order, and in step S2, if there is no reason with a higher priority than the reason subject to the release order, the blocking reason or warning reason subject to the release order is released. Step S4, step S5 for determining whether or not the reason for the same priority is held in the memory after canceling the interruption cause or the alarm reason which is the object of the release instruction in step S4, and the step S5 If it is determined that the reason of the same priority is stored in the memory, only the canceled blocking reason or alarm reason is deleted from the memory, and other reasons of the same priority as the deleted blocking reason or alarm reason are deleted. And step S6 held in the memory.
[0013]
The invention of claim 5 is characterized in that, in claim 4, when two or more of the blocking reasons or warning reasons are held in the memory, each blocking reason or warning reason is periodically displayed on the display unit, and And a step of stopping the display of the blocking reason or the alarm reason released in step S4 on the display unit.
[0015]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, as an embodiment, a gas meter to which a gas meter and a gas meter release receiving method according to the present invention are applied will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0016]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the gas meter according to the present embodiment.
[0017]
The gas meter 10 includes a flow sensor 11 for detecting a gas flow rate, a seismic sensor 12 for detecting a vibration such as an earthquake, a pressure sensor 13 for measuring a gas pressure, a gas flow path blocking unit 14, a display unit 15, a return switch ( SW) 16, a communication (I / F) 17 connected to a remote monitoring center 21 via a telephone line (network) 20, and a microcomputer (CPU not shown) for executing various arithmetic processes necessary for controlling the gas meter 10. , A memory 18 including a memory, a timer, an input / output interface, and the like, and a battery 19 serving as a power source for operating the circuit.
[0018]
In the above configuration, the flow sensor 11, the seismic sensor 12, and the pressure sensor 13 each constitute a detection unit that detects an abnormality of the gas meter. However, the sensor serving as the detection unit is not limited to the above-described sensor, and may be another sensor.
[0019]
For the gas meter 10, an operator connects the communication device 22 and the gas meter 10 with a communication cable (not shown), and transmits a predetermined command or the like to set various modes or cancel a reason for interruption or alarm. It can be carried out. In addition, various modes can be set and the reason for blocking / warning can be canceled by transmitting a predetermined command or the like from the monitoring center 21 via the telephone line 20.
[0020]
The shut-off unit 14 includes a shut-off valve (not shown) that opens and closes the gas flow path and an opening / closing drive unit thereof. The shut-off unit 14 in the present embodiment is closed by the controller 18 (hereinafter referred to as a shut-off state) when an occurrence of an earthquake, an abnormality such as a gas pressure, a gas flow rate, or the like is detected. When it is confirmed, the shut-off state is released by the controller 18 and the gas can be used again.
[0021]
There are two types of shut-off states: recoverable shut-off and non-recoverable shut-off. Among these, in the resettable cutoff, the cutoff state is canceled by receiving a return command from the communication device 22 or the monitoring center 21 or by a return signal sent from the return switch 18. On the other hand, in the non-recoverable cutoff, the resettable cutoff is performed by receiving a release command from the communication device 22 or the monitoring center 21, and then a return command is further received from the communication device 22 or the monitoring center 21, or from the return switch 18. The shut-off state is canceled by the return signal sent.
[0022]
The display unit 15 displays not only the amount of gas used, but also the reasons for shutoff and alarm. The display unit 15 in the present embodiment also has a function as an alarm unit that generates an alarm (hereinafter referred to as an alarm state).
[0023]
The return switch 16 functions as a return unit for returning from the interruption state or the alarm state. When the return switch 16 is pressed by a customer (or an operator), a return signal is sent to the controller 18, and the controller 18 executes a return leak confirmation (gas leak confirmation) process accordingly. Note that description of the return leakage confirmation process is omitted here.
[0024]
The controller 18 calculates the amount of gas used and displays it on the display unit 15 and constantly monitors the detection signal sent from each sensor to determine whether an earthquake has occurred, abnormal gas flow rate or gas pressure, power supply, etc. In the case of detecting an interruption cause such as a voltage drop, a sensor failure, or an alarm reason, if the cause is an interruption reason, the interruption part 14 is set to the interruption state, and the interruption cause is displayed on the display unit 15. The display unit 15 is set in an alarm state and a process for displaying an alarm reason is executed. Furthermore, the process which notifies the monitoring center 21 of the interruption | blocking reason of the gas meter 10, the alarm reason, etc. is performed as needed. These processes are executed according to a state monitoring program, an abnormality determination program, a shut-off / alarm program, a communication program, etc. stored in a memory (not shown).
[0025]
In addition, the controller 18 detects two or more abnormalities that may be the cause of the interruption or alarm, and requires a release command to return from the interruption state due to the interruption reason or the alarm state due to the alarm reason. If the priority order is the same, even after canceling one blocking event or alarm reason, one or more other blocking events or alarm events are not canceled and the reason is retained internally And when two or more abnormalities that become blocking events or alarm events are detected, each blocking event or alarm event is periodically displayed on the display unit 15, and the canceled blocking event or alarm event is displayed on the display unit 15 to stop the display at 15.
[0026]
In addition, when two or more abnormalities that become blocking events or warning events are detected and the priorities are different from each other, only the blocking events or alarm events with higher priority may be displayed alone or periodically. Then, the interruption reason or the alarm reason of each priority order may be displayed periodically.
[0027]
The above processing in the controller 18 is performed as a function of the security unit in the present embodiment, and is executed according to a release acceptance program stored in a memory (not shown). Note that description of other functions of the controller 18 is omitted.
[0028]
Next, a processing procedure in the case where the controller 18 receives a release command after setting the blocking unit 14 to the blocking state will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
[0029]
In addition, although the cancellation | release from an interruption | blocking state is demonstrated here, since it is the same also about the cancellation | release from an alarm state, description is abbreviate | omitted. Similarly, description of other related processes and the procedure of the release operation is also omitted.
[0030]
The controller 18 takes in the release command transmitted from the communication device 22 or the monitoring center 21 (step S1), and determines whether or not a blocking event having a higher priority than the target blocking event is held in the memory (step S1). S2). Here, when there is a blocking event with a high priority, acceptance of the release command is rejected (step S3), and a standby state is set. If there is no blocking event with a high priority in step S2, the target blocking event is canceled (step S4), and then it is determined whether or not the blocking event with the same priority is held in the memory ( In step S5), when there is a blocking event with the same priority (step S5: Yes), the released blocking event is deleted from the memory, and other blocking events with the same priority are left in the memory (step S6). ) Wait until a new release command is received.
[0031]
On the other hand, when there is no blocking event with the same priority in step S5 (step S5: No), it is determined whether or not a blocking event with a lower priority than the canceled blocking event is held in the memory (step S7). Here, when a blocking event with a low priority is held (step S7: Yes), all the blocking events are canceled (step S8), and the released blocking event is deleted from the memory (step S9). If a blocking reason with a low priority is not held in step S7 (step S7: No), the process proceeds to step S9, and the released blocking reason is deleted from the memory.
[0032]
In the processing of the cancellation acceptance program, when two or more events with the same priority occur, even if one event is canceled, one or more other events remain. Can be released while checking one by one, and the gas meter can be safely and reliably restored. In addition, when two or more events with different priorities occur, by canceling the events with higher priorities as in the past, the events with lower priorities are also cancelled. There is no need to send a release command, and the return operation can be performed efficiently.
[0033]
In the flow of the above embodiment, when there are two or more blocking events with the same priority, when one blocking event is canceled, the other blocking events with the same priority are also canceled. Also good. According to this, when an emergency is required, the gas meter can be promptly restored. In this way, when one blocking event is canceled, the processing of the cancellation acceptance program that also cancels other blocking events of the same priority is performed by, for example, transmitting a predetermined switching command from the communication device 22 or the monitoring center 21. This can be realized by switching the mode in the gas meter.
[0034]
In this embodiment, the release instruction acceptance flow shown in FIG. 1 is processed by software in the controller 18, but it may be modified so that the security unit is configured by hardware using a logic IC or the like. It is possible within the range.
[0035]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, when two or more reasons of the same priority occur, even if one of the reasons is canceled, one or more other reasons remain. It is possible to cancel each cause one by one while checking it, and the gas meter can be returned safely and reliably.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when a release command is accepted in an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the gas meter according to the embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Gas meter 11 Flow sensor 12 Seismic sensor 13 Pressure sensor 14 Blocking part 15 Display part 16 Return switch 17 Communication I / F
18 Controller 19 Battery 20 Telephone line 21 Monitoring center 22 Communication device

Claims (5)

Detection unit that detects an abnormality in the gas meter, a blocking unit that blocks the gas flow path, a display unit that displays a blocking / alarming reason, an alarming unit that generates an alarm, and an abnormality that causes the blocking in the detecting unit is detected The shut-off unit is shut off when the shut- down reason is held in the memory and the display unit displays the shut-off reason, and when an abnormality that causes an alarm reason is detected in the detection unit, the alarm unit is In a gas meter comprising a safety unit that holds the alarm reason in a memory as an alarm state and displays the alarm reason on the display unit,
The security section
A process of step S1 for capturing a release command input from the outside in the blocking state due to the blocking reason or the alarm state due to the warning reason;
The process of step S2 for determining whether or not there is a reason having a higher priority than the reason subject to the release command when two or more of the blocking reasons or warning reasons are held in the memory;
In the process of step S2, if there is a reason having a higher priority than the reason subject to the release instruction, the step of rejecting acceptance of the release instruction for a reason lower in priority than the reason subject to the release instruction The process of S3;
In the process of step S2, if there is no reason having a higher priority than the reason for the cancellation command, the process of step S4 for canceling the blocking reason or the warning reason for the cancellation command;
A process of step S5 for determining whether or not a reason of the same priority is held in a memory after canceling a blocking reason or an alarm reason which is a target of the release command in the process of step S4;
If it is determined in the processing of step S5 that the reason for the same priority is held in the memory, only the canceled blocking reason or alarm reason is deleted from the memory, and the same priority as the deleted blocking reason or alarm reason is deleted. Processing in step S6 for storing other reasons in the memory;
The gas meter characterized by performing the process containing this. The security section
If it is determined in the processing of step S5 that the reason for the same priority is not held in the memory, it is determined whether or not the reason for the lower priority than the released blocking reason or alarm reason is held in the memory. The process of step S7 to
In the process of step S7, when it is determined that a reason having a lower priority than the canceled blocking reason or alarm reason is held in the memory, the process of step S8 for canceling all the reasons of lower priority ,
After canceling all the low priority reasons in step S8, the process of step S9 deleting all the canceled reasons from the memory;
The gas meter according to claim 1, wherein a process including: is executed . The security section
A process of periodically displaying each blocking event or alarm event on the display unit when two or more blocking events or alarm events are held in the memory;
A process for stopping the display on the display unit of the interruption reason or the alarm reason released in the process of the step S4 or the process of the step S8;
The gas meter according to claim 1, wherein a process including: is executed . When an abnormality that causes a shut-off is detected, the gas flow path is shut off and the shut-off reason is displayed.When an abnormality that causes an alarm is detected, the gas meter displays the alarm reason as an alarm status. In the cancellation acceptance method,
Step S1 that captures a release command input from the outside in the blocking state due to the blocking reason or the alarm state due to the warning reason;
Step S2 for determining whether or not there is an event having a higher priority than the event subject to the release command when two or more of the blocking event or the alarm event are held in the memory;
In step S2, if there is a reason having a higher priority than the reason subject to the release command, step S3 rejecting acceptance of the release command for a reason lower in priority than the reason subject to the release command; ,
In the step S2, if there is no reason having a higher priority than the reason for the cancellation command, the step S4 for canceling the blocking reason or the warning reason for the cancellation command;
Step S5 for determining whether or not the reason of the same priority is held in the memory after canceling the interruption reason or the alarm reason that is the target of the release instruction in Step S4;
If it is determined in step S5 that the reason of the same priority is held in the memory, only the canceled blocking reason or alarm reason is deleted from the memory, and the same priority as the deleted blocking reason or alarm reason is used. Step S6 for storing the reason in the memory;
A release acceptance method for a gas meter, comprising: A step of periodically displaying each blocking event or alarm event on the display unit when two or more blocking events or alarm events are held in the memory;
Stopping the display on the display unit of the blocking reason or the alarm reason released in step S4;
The release accepting method for a gas meter according to claim 4, comprising:

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