JP6212426B2 - Electromagnetic flow meter - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electromagnetic flow meter, and in particular, a power supply circuit technique that generates a DC power supply for processing an input DC power supply signal and supplies the DC power supply to a control circuit, and generates an excitation DC power supply from the input DC power supply and supplies it to the excitation circuit. About.

  In general, in an electromagnetic flow meter that measures the flow rate of a fluid having electrical conductivity, an excitation current whose polarity is alternately switched to an excitation coil arranged so that the direction of magnetic field generation is perpendicular to the flow direction of the fluid flowing in the measurement tube The flow rate signal obtained by detecting the electromotive force generated between a pair of electrodes arranged in the measurement tube orthogonal to the magnetic field generated from the excitation coil and amplifying the electromotive force generated between the electrodes, By sampling and signal processing, the flow rate of the fluid flowing in the measuring tube is measured.

FIG. 8 is a principle diagram of an excitation circuit used in an electromagnetic flow meter. FIG. 9 is a signal waveform diagram showing the operation of the excitation circuit of FIG.
Usually, in an excitation circuit that supplies an excitation current Iex to the excitation coil Lex, isolation type switch circuits SW1 to SW5 made of a photocoupler, a MOSFET, and the like are provided, and positive polarity Iex is supplied by a control signal from the control circuit. In the positive period TP, SW1 and SW4 are turned on and SW2 and SW3 are turned off. In the negative period TN in which negative polarity Iex is supplied, the SW1 and SW4 are turned off and the SW2 and SW3 are turned on. Are switched at a constant cycle.

  At this time, two power supplies of a high voltage EH and a low voltage EL are prepared in advance, and the switch SW5 is switched to the H side in the high voltage period TH at the time of starting Iex by a control signal from the control circuit. In the low voltage period TL at the time of Iex steady-state excitation using EH, a method is used in which the switch SW5 is switched to the L side and excitation is performed with the low voltage EL (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Specifically, in TH that starts from the beginning of the positive period TP that supplies positive polarity Iex, Iex rises slowly due to the inductance of Lex. For this reason, SW5 is switched to the H side, and EH is supplied to Lex as the excitation power supply voltage. As a result, the rise of Iex is accelerated.
Thereafter, in the TL starting from the time when Iex reaches the target current Is, the constant current circuit CCS makes Iex a constant current and the flow rate is measured. For this reason, SW5 is switched to the L side, and EL is supplied to Lex as an excitation power supply voltage. Thereby, the heat_generation | fever in CCS is suppressed.

Next, in accordance with the arrival of TN that supplies negative polarity Iex, the same operations as those of the above-described TH and TL are performed.
In this way, excitation at the high voltage EH at the time of Iex startup and excitation at the low voltage EL at the time of Iex steady state can accelerate the rise of the excitation current Iex when switching the excitation polarity, and the excitation frequency can be further increased. By doing so, 1 / f noise can be reduced, and heat generation in the constant current circuit CCS can be suppressed at the time of Iex steady state, and errors in flow rate measurement values due to temperature effects on peripheral parts can be generated. It becomes possible to reduce.

JP 2000-241215 A

  FIG. 10 is a specific example of a power supply circuit used in an electromagnetic flow meter. In a general electromagnetic flow meter 50, an operation power source used in the control circuit 52 and the excitation circuit 53 is generated by a power circuit 51 from an input DC voltage DCin of, for example, 24 V supplied from a host device (not shown). At this time, in order to isolate the power supply from the host device and the operation power supply used in the control circuit 52, the power supply circuit 51 is a switching transformer 51B to MAEQ switching power supply circuit.

  Specifically, in the power supply circuit 51, DCin is switched by the switching control circuit 51A and input to the primary side of the switching transformer 51B, and the high-frequency signal obtained from the secondary side of the switching transformer 51B is output by the rectifier circuits 51C and 51E. After the rectification, the regulators 51D, 51F and 51G make the voltage constant and supply it to the control circuit 52 and the excitation circuit 53.

  Here, when it is desired to reduce the size and cost of the electromagnetic flow meter 50, a method of reducing the switching transformer 51B can be considered. However, in the general electromagnetic flow meter 50, since both the control circuit 52 and the excitation circuit 53 are combined to consume about 10 W of power, the winding of the switching transformer 51B and the core can be further reduced. There was a problem that it was difficult to downsize.

  Further, in the case of improving the S / N ratio of the flow rate signal and improving the measurement accuracy of the electromagnetic flow meter 50, a method of reducing the 1 / f noise by increasing the excitation frequency earlier and increasing the excitation frequency. Alternatively, a method can be considered in which the excitation current itself is increased to increase the amplitude of the obtained flow rate signal. However, both of these methods require an increase in the power of the operating power supply supplied to the excitation circuit, which increases the size and cost of the switching transformer 51B.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object thereof is to provide an electromagnetic flow meter capable of downsizing a switching transformer of a power supply circuit.

In order to achieve such an object, an electromagnetic flow meter according to the present invention includes an excitation circuit having excitation polarity switching means for alternately switching the polarity of an excitation voltage or an excitation current supplied to the excitation coil at a constant period, supplies generates a DC signal processing from an input DC power source power supply to the control circuit, an electromagnetic flow meter comprising a power supply circuit for supplying to said excitation circuit to generate exciting DC power source from the input DC power source, The input DC power supply is switched and input to the primary winding of the switching transformer, and the pulse signal obtained from the secondary winding of the switching transformer is rectified by a rectifier circuit to generate the signal processing DC power supply. Obtained by switching current flowing from the input DC power source to the choke coil with a switching element. And a non-isolated boost DC-DC converter that generates the excitation DC power supply by charging the capacitive element via a diode pulse signal, the step-up DC-DC converter, "DC power supply for said exciting A first operation mode in which the voltage is limited to a certain upper limit voltage; and a second operation mode in which the voltage of the excitation DC power supply decreases to a value lower than the upper limit voltage in accordance with an increase in the current of the excitation DC power supply. These control operation modes are provided, and the operation is performed in the first operation mode immediately after the excitation polarity is switched by the excitation circuit.

Another electromagnetic flow meter according to the present invention generates a DC power source for signal processing from an input DC power source and supplies it to the control circuit, and also generates an excitation DC power source from the input DC power source and supplies it to the excitation circuit. An electromagnetic flow meter comprising a power supply circuit for switching the input DC power source to input to the primary winding of the switching transformer, and a rectifier circuit for the pulse signal obtained from the secondary winding of the switching transformer. A switching power supply circuit that generates the signal processing DC power supply by rectification, and a current that flows from the input DC power supply to the choke coil is switched by a switching element, and the obtained pulse signal is charged by a capacitive element via a diode. and a step-up DC-DC converter of non-insulated for generating a DC for the excitation power supply by the boosting DC-DC The inverter amplifies a difference between an output voltage detection voltage obtained by resistance-dividing the output voltage of the excitation DC power supply and a reference voltage indicating an upper limit voltage of the output voltage, and thereby according to the output voltage An output voltage control circuit that outputs a voltage feedback control voltage for controlling an ON period of the switching element, a peak current detection voltage indicating a peak current of a current that flows due to switching in the switching element, and the voltage feedback control voltage; The peak current that outputs the PWM adjustment signal for voltage / current feedback control for limiting the peak current of the exciting DC power source and controlling the ON period of the switching element according to the output voltage Based on the limiting circuit, the switching clock signal, and the PWM adjustment signal, the switching element In which and a flip-flop circuit for generating and outputting a PWM signal for on-off control.

  According to the present invention, the exciting DC power supplied to the exciting circuit is supplied from the step-up DC-DC converter that does not use the switching transformer and is provided separately from the switching power supply circuit that uses the switching transformer. Therefore, the burden on the switching transformer can be reduced by the power of the exciting DC power supply.

  For this reason, for example, about 3/4 of the power consumption of the entire electromagnetic flowmeter is consumed by the excitation circuit, and the remaining about 1/4 is consumed by another circuit such as a control circuit. According to the present invention, the rated power required for the switching transformer can be reduced to about 1/4 of the conventional one. Therefore, the size of the winding of the switching transformer can be reduced and the size of the core can be reduced, so that the size of the switching transformer can be reduced. This makes it possible to reduce the size and cost of the entire electromagnetic flow meter.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the electromagnetic flowmeter concerning one Embodiment. It is a circuit diagram which shows the structure of a step-up DC-DC converter. It is a circuit part which shows the structure of an excitation circuit. It is a signal waveform diagram which shows the operation | movement in the output voltage control mode of a step-up DC-DC converter. It is a signal waveform diagram which shows the operation | movement in the peak current limiting mode of a step-up DC-DC converter. It is explanatory drawing which shows the operation mode of a step-up DC-DC converter. It is a signal waveform diagram which shows operation | movement of an excitation circuit. It is a principle figure of the excitation circuit used with an electromagnetic flowmeter. FIG. 9 is a signal waveform diagram illustrating an operation of the excitation circuit of FIG. 8. It is a specific example of the power supply circuit used with an electromagnetic flowmeter.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
First, an electromagnetic flow meter 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an electromagnetic flow meter according to an embodiment.

  The electromagnetic flow meter 10 has a function of measuring the flow rate of a fluid having conductivity, and is arranged so that the magnetic field generation direction is perpendicular to the flow direction of the fluid flowing in the measurement pipe Pex of the detector 16. An excitation current Iex whose polarity is alternately switched is supplied to the excitation coil Lex, and an electromotive force generated between a pair of electrodes arranged in the measurement tube Pex perpendicular to the magnetic field generated from the excitation coil Lex is detected. After the electromotive force is amplified, the flow rate of the fluid flowing through the measurement pipe Pex is measured by sampling and signal processing.

[Electromagnetic flow meter]
Next, the configuration of the ammeter according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the electromagnetic flow meter 10 includes a switching power supply circuit 11, a step-up DC-DC converter 12, a constant voltage power supply circuit 13, a control circuit 14, an excitation circuit 15, a detector 16, as main circuit units. A setting / operation device 17 is also provided.

  The switching power supply circuit 11 has a function of generating a signal processing DC power source from an input DC power source DCin (for example, 24 V) from a host device (not shown) and supplying the signal processing DC power source to the control circuit 14. As parts, a switching control circuit 11A, a switching transformer 11B, a rectifier circuit 11C, and a voltage regulator 11D are provided.

  The switching control circuit 11A switches DCin at a high frequency of, for example, about several tens KHz to several MHz and supplies the DCin to the primary winding of the switching transformer 11B. The rectifier circuit 11C rectifies the high-frequency pulse signal output from the secondary winding of the switching transformer 11B to generate a DC analog signal processing operating voltage VmA (for example, 24V) and a ground potential VmCOM (0V). To the control circuit 14. The voltage regulator 11D generates an operation voltage VmD (for example, 5V) for digital signal processing from VmA, and supplies it to the control circuit 14.

  The step-up DC-DC converter 12 is composed of a non-insulated step-up choke converter circuit, and the current flowing from DCin to the choke coil is changed to a pulse width of DCin based on a clock signal CLK having a PWM frequency Tpwm having a high frequency of, for example, several hundreds KHz. High frequency switching is performed by modulation PWM (Pulse Width Modulation), and the obtained high frequency signal is charged by a capacitive element via a diode to generate an excitation DC voltage VexHL (for example, 100V-24V) and supply it to the excitation circuit 15. And a function of performing voltage feedback control and current feedback control at the time of switching.

  The constant voltage power supply circuit 13 generates a constant current control voltage VexCC (for example, 5 V) for controlling the constant current circuit CCS from DCin by the voltage regulator 13A and supplies it to the excitation circuit 15, and DCin by the voltage regulator 13B. Has a function of generating a common drive voltage VexSW (for example, 10 V) for driving the switch circuit of the excitation circuit 15 and supplying it to the excitation circuit 15.

  The control circuit 14 includes a CPU, a signal processing circuit, a transmission I / F circuit, etc., and controls the excitation circuit 15, calculates a flow rate based on the electromotive force detected from the electrodes of the detector 16, and outputs a flow rate signal to the host device. Has the function to perform.

The excitation circuit 15 has a function of supplying an excitation current whose excitation polarity is switched at a constant cycle to the excitation coil Lex of the detector 16 based on the control from the control circuit 14.
At this time, as in the prior art, the excitation circuit 15 prepares a power supply capable of variable output from a high voltage to a low voltage in advance in order to speed up the excitation current when switching the excitation polarity. Excites with a high voltage, and with a low voltage during normal operation.

The detector 16 includes a measurement pipe Pex through which a fluid to be measured for flow rate flows, an excitation coil Lex that generates a magnetic field by an excitation current from the excitation circuit 15 with respect to this Pex, and a pair provided on the inner surface of Pex. Detection electrodes.
The setting / operating device 17 has a function of detecting a setting operation input by an operator and outputting it to the control circuit 14 and a function of displaying a display output from the control circuit 14 with an LED or an LCD.

[Step-up DC-DC converter]
Next, the configuration of the step-up DC-DC converter 12 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of the step-up DC-DC converter.

  The step-up DC-DC converter 12 includes a capacitive element C1 having one end connected to the terminal N11 to which DCin is supplied and the other end connected to the ground potential VexCOM via the terminal N12, and a choke coil having one end connected to the N11. L1, a diode D1 having an anode terminal connected to the other end of L1 and a cathode terminal connected to N14 that outputs VexHL, a capacitor element C2 having one end connected to N14 and the other end connected to VexCOM, and an input terminal There is provided a switching element Q1 made of a MOSFET, a bipolar transistor or the like whose (drain terminal) is connected to the other end of L1.

In addition to these, the step-up DC-DC converter 12 is provided with an output voltage control circuit 12A, a peak current limiting circuit 12B, and a flip-flop circuit FF.
The output voltage control circuit 12A amplifies the difference between the output voltage detection voltage V1 obtained by resistance-dividing VexHL and the reference voltage Vref indicating the upper limit voltage Vlim of VexHL, thereby increasing the ON period of Q1 according to VexHL. The voltage feedback control voltage V2 for controlling is output.

The peak current limiting circuit 12B compares the peak current detection voltage V3 indicating the peak current of the current flowing by the high frequency switching in Q1 with the voltage feedback control voltage V2, thereby limiting the peak current of IexHL and responding to VexHL. And has a function of outputting a PWM adjustment signal PR for voltage / current feedback control for controlling the ON period of Q1.
The flip-flop circuit FF has a function of generating and outputting a PWM signal for on / off control of Q1 based on the clock signal CLK for high frequency switching and the PWM adjustment signal PR.

  The output voltage control circuit 12A includes a series connection circuit of two resistance elements R1 and R2, one end connected to N14 and the other end connected to VexCOM, and a non-inverting input terminal ( (+ Terminal) is connected to the output voltage detection voltage V1 obtained by resistance-dividing by R1 and R2 of RV, the inverting input terminal (− terminal) is connected to the reference voltage Vref, and the difference between these V1 and Vref is amplified. A phase compensator comprising an operational amplifier U1 for outputting V2 obtained from the output terminal, a series connection circuit of a resistor element R3 and a capacitor element C3, one end connected to the output terminal of U1 and the other end connected to VexCOM. PC is provided.

  The peak current limiting circuit 12B includes a peak current detecting resistor RI having one end connected to the output terminal (source terminal) of Q1 and the other end connected to VexCOM, and a non-inverting input terminal (+ terminal) having both ends of RI. The inverting input terminal (− terminal) is connected to V2 output from the output voltage control circuit 12A, and the PWM adjustment signal PR obtained by comparing V2 and V3 is reset to FF. A comparator U2 for outputting to the terminal R is provided.

  In the flip-flop circuit FF, the set terminal S is connected to the terminal N13 to which CLK is input, the output terminal Q is connected to the control terminal (gate terminal) of Q1, and the reset terminal R is PWM adjustment from the peak current limiting circuit 12B. This is an RS type flip-flop circuit that is connected to the signal PR and controls on / off of Q1 by a PWM signal from Q.

[Excitation circuit]
Next, the configuration of the excitation circuit 15 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a circuit unit showing the configuration of the excitation circuit.
In the excitation circuit 15, when switching the excitation polarity between the positive period TP and the negative period TN in the constant excitation cycle Tex (= TN + TP), the excitation current Iex is positively switched by turning on TP and turning off to TN. Switch circuits SW1 and SW4 that are switched and supplied to TN, and switch circuits SW2 and SW3 that switch Iex to a negative polarity by turning on TN and turning off TP are provided. These SW1 to SW4 may be configured using a well-known isolation circuit made of a photocoupler or MOSFET that operates with the common drive voltage VexSW.

SW1 is a circuit that has an input terminal connected to the excitation power supply voltage VexHL, an output terminal connected to one end N1 of the excitation coil Lex, and is turned on at TP and turned off at TN.
SW2 is a circuit in which the input terminal is connected to N1, the output terminal is connected to the input terminal of the constant current circuit CCS, and is turned off at TP and turned on at TN.
SW3 is a circuit that has an input terminal connected to VexHL and an output terminal connected to the other end N2 of Lex, and is turned off at TP and turned on at TN.
SW4 is a circuit in which the input terminal is connected to N2, the output terminal is connected to the input terminal of the CCS, and is turned on at TP and turned off at TN.

  In SW1, the anode of the control side diode is connected to the operating voltage Vm from the control circuit 14, and the cathode terminal is connected to the anode terminal of the control side diode of SW4. In SW2, the control-side diode has an anode terminal connected to Vm and a cathode terminal connected to the anode terminal of the control-side diode of SW3. In addition, the cathode terminal of the control side diode of SW4 is connected to the polarity switching signal EXD1 from the control circuit 14 via the resistance element R11, and the cathode terminal of the control side diode of SW3 is controlled via the resistance element R12. The polarity switching signal EXD2 from the circuit 14 is connected.

[Operation of this embodiment]
Next, the operation of the step-up DC-DC converter 12 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 4 and FIG. FIG. 4 is a signal waveform diagram showing an operation in the output voltage control mode of the step-up DC-DC converter. FIG. 5 is a signal waveform diagram showing the operation of the step-up DC-DC converter in the peak current limiting mode.

  When the excitation power supply current IexHL is lower than the reference current Im and the excitation power supply voltage VexHL is equal to the upper limit voltage Vlim, the step-up DC-DC converter 12 operates in the output voltage control mode shown in FIG. 4 and IexHL is Im or more. , VexHL is less than the upper limit voltage Vlim, the step-up DC-DC converter 12 operates in the peak current limiting mode shown in FIG.

  As a basic operation, in both the output voltage control mode and the peak current limit mode, first, the flip-flop circuit FF is set in synchronization with the time T1 when the clock signal CLK rises from the L level to the H level, and the output is performed. The control signal PWM from the terminal Q rises from L level to H level.

  As a result, the switching element Q1 is turned on, the coil current IL flowing through the choke coil L1 gradually increases due to the inductance of L1, and the peak current detection voltage V3 generated at both ends of the peak current detection resistor RI is also gradually increased. Increase. The capacitive element C2 is charged with the excitation power supply voltage VexHL immediately before time T1, and when the Q1 is turned on, the voltage VD at the anode terminal of the diode D1 becomes lower than VexHL. The current ID becomes zero.

  Thereafter, at time T2, when the peak current detection voltage V3 increases and reaches the voltage feedback control voltage V2 from the operational amplifier U1, the PWM adjustment signal PR is output from the comparator U2, and the control signal PWM from the FF is Fall from H level to L level. As a result, Q1 is turned off and ID starts flowing due to the high voltage generated at L1, and then C2 is charged during a period from time T3 when CLK rises again from L level to H level, and IL and ID Gradually decreases, and after time T3, the operation from time T1 is repeated.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation mode of the step-up DC-DC converter.
In the basic operation described above, as shown in FIG. 4, when IexHL is lower than Im and the on-duty of Q1 is 50% or more, VexHL rises to more than twice the input voltage DCin as a result. For this reason, voltage feedback control works, and VexHL operates in a mode in which the upper limit voltage Vlim = VexH is constant when V1 and Vref are equal, that is, in the output voltage control mode M1 shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, in the basic operation described above, as shown in FIG. 5, when IexHL is Im or higher and the on-duty of Q1 is less than 50%, VexHL is less than twice the input voltage DCin as a result. For this reason, the current feedback control works, VexHL shows a value lower than Vlim, and the operation is performed in the mode in which VexHL decreases as IexHL increases, that is, in the peak current limiting mode M2 shown in FIG. .

When IexHL increases during the output voltage control mode M1 and reaches Im, the peak current limit mode M2 is entered. Im at this time, when the maximum output power of the step-up DC-DC converter 12 is Pmax, 1).
Im = Pmax / Vlim (1)

  Further, in the peak current limiting mode M2 in which the current feedback control is working, when IexHL reaches the target current Is, IexHL is controlled to a constant current by the constant current circuit CCS. Therefore, the constant current operation shown in FIG. It will operate in mode M3.

In this way, since the voltage boost DC-DC converter 12 uses both voltage feedback control and current feedback control, VexHL automatically rises and falls according to IexHL as shown in FIG.
Since the general boost DC-DC converter 12 is only voltage feedback control, it works to keep the output voltage constant regardless of the output current, but according to the boost DC-DC converter 12 according to the present embodiment, Not only voltage feedback control by the output voltage detection resistor RV but also current feedback control by the peak current detection resistor element RI works.

As a result, VexTH is limited to the upper limit voltage Vlim or less every PWM cycle Tpwm, and VexTH is controlled to automatically decrease as IexHL increases. In addition, since the peak current of IexHL is controlled every PWM cycle Tpwm, even if the constant current circuit CCS is short-circuited, IexHL does not significantly exceed Is and provides overcurrent protection. .
Therefore, there is no need to separately supply two types of exciting DC power sources consisting of VexH (100 V) and VexL (24 V), which are required in the conventional power supply circuit, and voltage switching signals and switching switches from the control circuit 14 are eliminated. Is also unnecessary.

In the present embodiment, when actually realizing the step-up DC-DC converter 12 that automatically switches between these operation modes, the following two points may be considered as circuit constants.
First, as the resistance value of RI, when V2 output from U1 shows the maximum value, that is, in the constant current operation mode M3, the resistance value is such that V3 at both ends of RI is equal to V2. Set. At this time, each circuit constant may be set so that VexHL when IexHL which is an average value of ID is Is is equal to VexL. Thereby, the current operation mode M3 is defined.
The voltage value of VexHL can be calculated by the following equation (2) when the on-duty of Q1 is Don and the on-resistance of Q1 and the voltage drop of D1 are ignored.
VexHL≈DCin / (1-Don) (2)

  Second, the maximum value of VexHL is set by R1 and R2 of RV so as not to exceed the breakdown voltage of circuit elements such as Q1, D1, C1, and C2 and SW1 to SW4 to which VexHL is applied. As a result, it is possible to prevent VexHL from boosting beyond the breakdown voltage of these circuit components before the rise of IexHL when switching the excitation polarity. At this time, the rise of IexHL can be made as steep as possible by setting a maximum value as high as possible with a certain margin for the breakdown voltage of these circuit components.

Next, the operation of the excitation circuit 15 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is a signal waveform diagram showing the operation of the excitation circuit.
The excitation current Iex for the excitation coil Lex is switched in polarity between the positive period TP and the negative period TN in a certain excitation cycle Tex (= TN + TP) by polarity switching signals EXD1 and EXD2 from the control circuit 14.

First, during the positive period TP from time T11, EXD1 is controlled to L level and EXD2 is controlled to H level, so SW1 and SW4 are turned on and SW2 and SW3 are turned off. As a result, in the excitation circuit 15, VexHL → SW1 → N1 → Lex → N2 → SW4 → CCS → VexCOM is formed as a positive loop in which Iex flows. The current gradually increases from the current -Is, and then the polarity is reversed to reach the reference current Im at time T12.
Here, since the period from T11 to T12 is Iex <Im, the step-up DC-DC converter 12 operates in the output voltage control mode M1 of FIG. As a result, the excitation power supply voltage VexHL becomes a high voltage VexH equal to the upper limit voltage Vlim.

After T12, Iex gradually increases from Im and reaches Im at time T13. Thereby, since the period from T12 to T13 is Iex ≧ Im, the step-up DC-DC converter 12 operates in the peak current limiting mode M2 of FIG. As a result, VexHL gradually decreases from VexH as Iex increases.
Further, since Iex reaches Is during the period from time T13 to time TN head time 21, the step-up DC-DC converter 12 operates in the constant current operation mode M3 of FIG. Thereby, Iex becomes Is constant, and VexHL becomes constant at the low voltage VexL.

  Therefore, VexHL composed of the high voltage VexH is supplied from the step-up DC-DC converter 12 to the excitation circuit 15 when the excitation current rises in the period from T11 to T12 in the positive period TP. As a result, the rise of Iex can be accelerated and 1 / f noise can be reduced by increasing the excitation frequency fex.

  Thereafter, during the period from T12 to T13, VexHL gradually decreases as VexH increases as Iex increases, and VexHL composed of the low voltage VexL from the step-up DC-DC converter 12 in the steady state from T13 to T21. It is supplied to the excitation circuit 15. Thereby, since the voltage applied to CCS at the time of a steady state is reduced, the heat generation from the power transistor of CCS can be suppressed, and the generation of errors in the flow rate measurement value due to the temperature effect on the peripheral components can be reduced.

  For the negative period TN after T21, the excitation polarity is reversed in the excitation circuit 15 from the positive period TP, but the circuit operation in the step-up DC-DC converter 12 is T21 of TN corresponding to T11, T12, and T13 of TP. , T22, and T23 are the same, and detailed description thereof is omitted here.

[Effects of the present embodiment]
Thus, in the present embodiment, the switching power supply circuit 11 is obtained from the secondary winding of the switching transformer 11B by switching the input DC power supply DCin to high frequency and inputting it to the primary winding of the switching transformer 11B. The high frequency signal is rectified by the rectifier circuit 11C to generate a signal processing DC power supply (VmA, VmB), and the step-up DC-DC converter 12 switches the current flowing from DCin to the choke coil L1 with the switching element Q1. The excitation DC power supply (VexHL) is generated by charging the obtained high frequency signal with the capacitive element C2 via the diode D1.

  As a result, VexHL supplied to the excitation circuit 15 is supplied from the step-up DC-DC converter 12 that does not use the switching transformer and is provided separately from the switching power supply circuit 11 that uses the switching transformer 11B. Therefore, the burden on the switching transformer 11B can be reduced by the amount of power of VexHL.

  For this reason, for example, about 3/4 of the power consumption of the entire electromagnetic flowmeter is consumed by the excitation circuit, and the remaining about 1/4 is consumed by another circuit such as a control circuit. According to this embodiment, the rated power required for the switching transformer can be reduced to about 1/4 of the conventional one. Therefore, the size of the switching transformer 11B can be greatly reduced with respect to the thinning of the winding of the switching transformer 11B, the reduction of the core, and the like, and the switching transformer 11B can be downsized. Thereby, it becomes possible to realize downsizing and cost reduction of the entire electromagnetic flow meter 10.

  Also, when improving the S / N ratio of the flow rate signal and improving the measurement accuracy of the electromagnetic flow meter 10, the rise of the excitation current Iex is further accelerated to increase the excitation frequency fex, thereby reducing 1 / f noise. And a method of increasing the excitation current Iex itself and increasing the amplitude of the obtained flow rate signal. Both of these require an increase in the power supplied to the excitation circuit 15, but according to the present embodiment, the increase in the power supplied to the excitation circuit 15 does not affect the switching transformer 11B. Measurement accuracy can be improved without the need for cost and cost.

  Further, as described with reference to FIG. 10, according to a general detector structure, the electrode of the detector connected to the control circuit and the exciting coil Lex are isolated. In addition, as described with reference to FIG. 8, in the general circuit configuration of the excitation circuit 15, an isolation type switch circuit SW <b> 1 to SW <b> 4 using a photocoupler or MOSFET is used to control the power supply system on the control circuit side and the excitation power supply. Are isolated. For this reason, the step-up DC-DC converter 12 does not need to be isolated from DCin supplied from the host device. Therefore, it is not necessary to use a switching transformer in the step-up DC-DC converter 12, and a non-insulated step-up DC-DC converter 12 having a simple circuit configuration can be realized.

  In the present embodiment, the difference between the output voltage detection voltage V1 obtained by resistance-dividing VexHL and the reference voltage Vref indicating the upper limit voltage Vlim of VexHL is amplified, so that the on-period of Q1 according to VexHL By comparing the output voltage control circuit 12A that outputs the voltage feedback control voltage V2 for controlling the voltage and the peak current detection voltages V3 and V2 that indicate the peak current of the current that flows due to the high-frequency switching in Q1, IexHL A peak current limiting circuit 12B that outputs a PWM adjustment signal PR for voltage / current feedback control for limiting the peak current and controlling the on period of Q1 in accordance with VexHL, and a clock signal CLK for high frequency switching and PWM adjustment Based on the signal PR, a PWM signal PWM for controlling on / off of Q1 is It may be provided a flip-flop circuit FF which forms the output.

  As a result, in the step-up DC-DC converter 12, when the excitation current Iex rises, the voltage feedback control of the output voltage control circuit 12A works to automatically switch to the output voltage control mode M1, and VexHL consisting of VexH is supplied. When the exciting current Iex is steady, the current feedback control of the peak current limiting circuit 12B is activated to automatically switch to the constant current operation mode M3, and VexHL composed of the low voltage VexL is supplied.

  Therefore, in the step-up DC-DC converter 12, it is not necessary to separately generate and supply VexH and VexL from DCin, and it is not necessary to switch and supply VexH and VexL to Lex in the excitation circuit 15. For this reason, the circuit configuration of the step-up DC-DC converter 12 and the excitation circuit 15 can be simplified, and the entire electromagnetic flow meter 10 can be reduced in size, cost, and measurement accuracy can be improved.

  Further, the inductance of Lex varies depending on the diameter of the measuring tube Pex of the detector, and the rise time of Iex also varies depending on the diameter. For this reason, in the conventional electromagnetic flowmeter, it is necessary to adjust also the timing which switches VexL / VexH from a control circuit according to a diameter. If this adjustment is not performed and, for example, the switching timing from VexH to VexL is too early, the rise of Iex is delayed, the steady-state period is shortened, and the measurement error increases. In addition, if the switching timing from VexH to VexL is too late, surplus current to CCS is generated, heat generation in the power transistor of CCS is increased, and errors in flow rate measurement values due to temperature effects on peripheral components are generated. Increase.

  According to the present embodiment, VexH and VexL are automatically switched by the output voltage control circuit 12A and the peak current limiting circuit 12B of the step-up DC-DC converter 12 based on the magnitude of Iex according to the inductance of Lex. And supplied to Lex. For this reason, even when the apertures of Pex are different, the shift of the switching timing does not occur, the increase in measurement error can be suppressed, and common to various detectors having different apertures of Pex, without performing adjustments specific to the aperture. Thus, the manufacturing cost and the management cost can be further reduced.

[Extended embodiment]
The present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Various changes that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made to the configuration and details of the present invention within the scope of the present invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Electromagnetic flowmeter, 11 ... Switching power supply circuit, 11A ... Switching control circuit, 11B ... Switching transformer, 11C ... Rectifier circuit, 11D ... Voltage regulator, 12 ... Boost DC-DC converter, 12A ... Output voltage control circuit, 12B ... Peak current limiting circuit, 13 ... constant voltage power supply circuit, 13A, 13B ... voltage regulator, 14 ... control circuit, 15 ... excitation circuit, 16 ... detector, 17 ... setting / operating device, Lex ... excitation coil, Pex ... measurement tube , Q1 ... switching element, D1 ... diode, L1 ... choke coil, C1, C2, C3 ... capacitive element, RI ... peak current detection resistor element, FF ... flip-flop circuit, U1 ... operational amplifier, U2 ... comparator, RV ... output Resistance for voltage detection, R1, R2, R3 ... resistance element, PC ... phase compensator, SW1, S 2, SW3, SW4 ... switch circuit, R11, R12 ... resistance element, CCS ... constant current circuit, N11, N12, N13, N14, N1, N2 ... terminals, DCin ... input DC power supply, VexHL ... excitation power supply voltage, VexCOM ... ground potential, IexHL ... excitation power supply current, IL ... coil current, ID ... diode current, Iex ... excitation current, Vex ... excitation voltage, Vref ... reference voltage, V1 ... output voltage detection voltage, V2 ... voltage for voltage feedback control , V3 ... peak current detection voltage, PR ... PWM adjustment signal, CLK ... clock signal, PWM ... control signal, VexSW ... common drive voltage, VexCC ... constant current control voltage, Vm, VmA, VmB ... operating voltage, EXD1, EXD2 ... polarity switching signal, VexH ... high voltage, VexL ... low voltage, Vlim ... upper limit voltage, Is ... target current, m ... reference current, M1 ... output voltage control mode, M2 ... peak current limit mode, M3 ... constant current operation mode, Tpwm ... PWM cycle, Tex ... exciting period, TP ... positive period, TN ... negative period.

Claims (2)

An excitation circuit having excitation polarity switching means for alternately switching the polarity of the excitation voltage or excitation current supplied to the excitation coil at a fixed period, and a signal processing DC power supply from the input DC power supply are supplied to the control circuit. , An electromagnetic flowmeter comprising a power supply circuit that generates excitation DC power from the input DC power supply and supplies the excitation DC power to the excitation circuit,
The input DC power supply is switched and input to the primary winding of the switching transformer, and the pulse signal obtained from the secondary winding of the switching transformer is rectified by a rectifier circuit to generate the signal processing DC power supply. A switching power supply circuit,
A non-insulated step-up DC-DC that generates the exciting DC power source by switching the current flowing from the input DC power source to the choke coil with a switching element and charging the obtained pulse signal with a capacitive element via a diode. With a converter ,
The step-up DC-DC converter includes a first operation mode in which the voltage of the exciting DC power supply is limited to a certain upper limit voltage, and the voltage of the exciting DC power supply is increased according to an increase in current of the exciting DC power supply. The electromagnetic control device has two control operation modes of a second operation mode that decreases to a value lower than the upper limit voltage, and operates in the first operation mode immediately after the excitation polarity is switched by the excitation circuit. Flowmeter. An electromagnetic flow meter including a power supply circuit that generates a signal processing DC power supply from an input DC power supply and supplies the signal processing DC power to the control circuit, and generates an excitation DC power supply from the input DC power supply and supplies the excitation DC power to the excitation circuit,
The input DC power supply is switched and input to the primary winding of the switching transformer, and the pulse signal obtained from the secondary winding of the switching transformer is rectified by a rectifier circuit to generate the signal processing DC power supply. A switching power supply circuit,
A non-insulated step-up DC-DC that generates the exciting DC power source by switching the current flowing from the input DC power source to the choke coil with a switching element and charging the obtained pulse signal with a capacitive element via a diode. With a converter,
The step-up DC-DC converter includes:
By amplifying the difference between the output voltage detection voltage obtained by resistance-dividing the output voltage of the excitation DC power supply and the reference voltage indicating the upper limit voltage of the output voltage, the switching element of the switching element is controlled according to the output voltage. An output voltage control circuit that outputs a voltage feedback control voltage for controlling the on period; and
By comparing the peak current detection voltage indicating the peak current of the current flowing by switching in the switching element with the voltage feedback control voltage, the peak current of the exciting DC power supply is limited and the output voltage is A peak current limiting circuit for outputting a PWM adjustment signal for voltage / current feedback control for controlling the ON period of the switching element;
An electromagnetic flowmeter comprising: a flip-flop circuit that generates and outputs a PWM signal for on / off control of the switching element based on the clock signal for switching and the PWM adjustment signal.

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