JP7126473B2 - gas shutoff device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a gas cutoff device (gas meter) that has a flow rate measuring unit that measures a gas flow rate and that can provisionally measure the gas flow rate by the flow rate measuring unit even when flooded.

A gas shutoff device is usually configured to shut off gas by a shutoff section when a sensor detects some abnormality. This can stop the gas supply. Therefore, when an emergency such as an earthquake or flood occurs, the sensor detects the occurrence of the emergency, and the gas is shut off by the cutoff unit based on the detection result.

By the way, when an emergency such as an earthquake or flood occurs, the gas cutoff device may be submerged. If the gas cutoff device is submerged, it must be replaced. However, it is difficult to replace all submerged gas cutoff devices installed in the gas supply network in a short period of time in an emergency. Therefore, after an emergency occurs, the gas may be cut off and the gas may remain unusable for a long period of time.

In this case, emergency use of gas may help people's lives. In view of this, Patent Literature 1 proposes a gas cutoff device that enables temporary use by restarting measurement of the gas flow rate even when the inside of the measurement flow path is flooded.

The gas cutoff device disclosed in Patent Document 1 can forcibly cancel the gas cutoff by the cutoff unit, and after the forcible cancellation, prohibits the cutoff unit from shutting off the gas again for a certain period of time. is configured to With this configuration, it is possible to temporarily use the gas cutoff device in an emergency.

JP 2018-25411 A

The gas cutoff device disclosed in Patent Literature 1 has a configuration in which the gas cutoff can be forcibly canceled by the operator performing a special operation or the like with the operation input section after the gas cutoff by the cutoff section. For this reason, the timing of forcibly canceling the cutoff of gas is left to the operator's judgment.

However, due to flooding, an unacceptable amount of water may remain in the measurement flow path of the gas cutoff device. If the gas cutoff is forcibly canceled in such a case, the flow rate measurement may become abnormal, the gas cutoff device may malfunction, or the gas cutoff device may be connected to the gas cutoff device via an indoor pipe. In some cases, temporary use may not be possible due to failure of the gas equipment currently in use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a gas shutoff device capable of forcibly canceling the shutoff of gas at an appropriate timing during flooding.

One aspect of the gas cutoff device according to the present invention includes a flow rate measurement unit that measures the flow rate of gas flowing through a measurement flow path, a humidity sensor that detects humidity in the measurement flow path, and a humidity sensor that detects the humidity in the measurement flow path. A shutoff unit that opens and closes, an input unit, and a control unit, wherein the control unit shuts off the gas by the input unit in a state in which the measurement flow path is closed by the shutoff unit. When an instruction to cancel blocking is input, it is determined whether the value detected by the humidity sensor is less than a predetermined value, and if it is determined to be less than the predetermined value, the measurement flow path is closed The cut-off unit is controlled to switch to the open state.

According to the present invention, with the above configuration, it is possible to provide a gas shutoff device capable of forcibly canceling the shutoff of gas at an appropriate timing during flooding.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a gas cutoff device according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration relating to a shutdown cancellation determination process of the gas shutoff device shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a shutdown cancellation determination process by the gas shutoff device shown in FIG. 1; FIG.

(Circumstances leading to obtaining one form of the present invention)
When an emergency such as an earthquake or flood occurs and the gas cutoff device (gas meter) is flooded, the gas cutoff device closes the measurement flow path with the cutoff part based on the detection value of the sensor such as the pressure sensor or the seismic sensor. It is configured to cut off the supply of gas.

By the way, in such an emergency, the inventors of the present invention have found that if a certain amount of water has been drained from the measurement flow path of the gas shutoff device, the shutoff part can be opened as an emergency for a short period of time so that the gas supply can be resumed. It has been found to be preferable to

Therefore, the inventors of the present invention obtained the following knowledge as a result of earnestly examining the gas cutoff device disclosed in Patent Document 1, which enables provisional use after an emergency occurs.

That is, the gas cutoff device disclosed in Patent Document 1 can forcibly cancel the gas cutoff by the cutoff unit, and after the forcible cancellation, the gas cutoff by the cutoff unit is prohibited for a certain period of time. is configured to

However, the forced release of gas shutoff is performed according to the operator's input, and depending on the drainage condition in the measurement flow path of the gas shutoff device, the gas shutoff may be canceled according to the operator's input. Forced release may result in abnormal flow rate measurement, failure of the gas cutoff device, or failure of gas equipment installed in the customer's house that is connected to the gas cutoff device via an indoor pipe. I found that there is a possibility.

Further, in recent years, a gas cutoff device provided with a humidity sensor for detecting the humidity in the measurement flow path has been used. Therefore, the present inventors discovered that it is possible to estimate the state of drainage in the measurement channel of the gas cutoff device based on the value detected by the humidity sensor. By adopting a configuration that can determine whether or not to permit the release of the gas shut-off based on the value detected by the humidity sensor, the measurement channel is forcibly opened from the closed state at an inappropriate timing. It has been found that it is possible to prevent the situation from becoming a state.

Specifically, when it is determined that the humidity value detected by the humidity sensor is less than a predetermined value, the gas cutoff is forcibly canceled in response to the operator's instruction to forcibly cancel the gas cutoff. be configured to allow

On the other hand, while it is determined that the humidity value detected by the humidity sensor is equal to or higher than the predetermined value, it is determined that an unacceptable amount of water remains in the measurement channel of the gas cutoff device. Even if an operator's instruction to forcibly cancel the gas cutoff is received, the forcible cancellation of the gas cutoff is not permitted, and the cutoff unit maintains the measurement flow path in a closed state.

By configuring in this way, the inventors have found that it is possible to check the state of drainage in the measurement channel of the gas shutoff device after submersion, and to forcibly release the shutoff of gas at an appropriate timing.

The above findings of the present inventors have not been clarified so far, and have novel technical features that produce remarkable effects. Accordingly, the present invention specifically provides the following aspects.

A gas cutoff device according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a flow rate measurement unit that measures the flow rate of gas flowing through a measurement flow path, a humidity sensor that detects humidity in the measurement flow path, and opening and closing of the measurement flow path. an input unit, and a control unit, wherein the control unit causes the input unit to cancel shutoff of the gas in a state in which the measurement flow path is closed by the shutoff unit. is input, it is determined whether the value detected by the humidity sensor is less than a predetermined value, and if it is determined that the value is less than the predetermined value, the measurement channel is opened from the closed state. and controlling the blocking unit to switch to the state.

According to the above configuration, the control section is configured to determine whether or not to switch the measurement channel from the closed state to the open state based on the value detected by the humidity sensor. For this reason, it is possible to determine whether or not to forcibly cancel the gas shut-off in consideration of the drainage state in the measurement flow path.

Therefore, the gas shutoff device according to the first aspect of the present invention has the effect of being able to forcibly release the shutoff of gas at an appropriate timing during flooding.

In the gas cutoff device according to the second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect described above, the predetermined value may be, for example, 50% humidity.

Further, the predetermined value may be set and changed from the outside according to the site.

Hereinafter, typical embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same or corresponding elements are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout all the drawings, and duplicate descriptions thereof will be omitted.

[Configuration of gas cutoff device]
The gas cutoff device 100 according to the present embodiment is a gas meter including a flow rate measurement unit 20, a control unit 21, an input unit 22, a cutoff unit 23, and a humidity sensor 24, as shown in FIG. be. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a gas cutoff device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the gas cutoff device 100, the measurement flow path 11 is a supply pipe connected to a main pipe (not shown) laid under a public road or a gas pipe for propane gas or the like at the upstream end in the gas flow direction. 10 via the first connection portion 25 . On the other hand, the measurement flow path 11 is connected at its downstream end to the indoor pipe 12 leading to the consumer via the second connection portion 26 .

The measurement flow path 11 is provided with a blocking section 23, a humidity sensor 24, and a flow rate measurement section 20 in this order from the upstream side.

The blocking unit 23 is a device that opens and closes the measurement channel 11 , and closes or opens the measurement channel 11 according to control instructions from the control unit 21 . The shutoff unit 23 can be, for example, an electromagnetic shutoff valve or a motorized shutoff valve that can be driven in both opening and closing directions. The cutoff unit 23 may be configured to cut off the measurement flow path 11 in response to an electrical signal transmitted from the control unit 21 when an emergency such as an earthquake occurs. A configuration in which the measurement flow path 11 is blocked may be employed.

The humidity sensor 24 is a device that detects the humidity inside the measurement flow path 11 , and the detected value is sent to the control section 21 .

The flow rate measurement unit 20 is a device that measures the flow rate of gas flowing through the measurement channel 11 per unit time. The flow rate measurement unit 20 may be a membrane gas meter or an ultrasonic gas meter. Alternatively, for example, the gas flow rate may be determined by a flow sensor using an electronic detection principle or an instantaneous flow meter such as a fluidic type. A gas flow rate value measured by the flow rate measurement unit 20 is transmitted to the control unit 21 .

The control unit 21 performs various controls of each unit included in the gas cutoff device 100, and includes a calculation unit (not shown) such as a CPU and a storage unit (not shown) such as ROM and RAM. The storage unit stores, for example, the basic program of the gas cutoff device 100 and information such as various fixed data. Control. Note that the control unit 21 may be configured by a single control unit that performs centralized control, or may be configured by a plurality of control units that cooperate with each other to perform distributed control.

The input unit 22 is a user interface for an operator to operate the gas cutoff device 100 . The gas cutoff device 100 according to the present embodiment is configured such that an operator can operate the input unit 22 to input an operation instruction signal. The input unit 22 can be exemplified by, for example, an operation button, an operation lever, a touch panel, and the like.

Further, as the operation instruction signal input via the input unit 22, for example, a blocking release instruction for instructing to switch the blocking unit 23 from the closed state to the open state can be exemplified. For example, when the measurement channel 11 is closed by the blocking unit 23 , the operator inputs a block release instruction via the input unit 22 to open the measurement channel 11 from the closed state by the blocking unit 23 . can be switched with

As described above, the gas cutoff device 100 according to the present embodiment is configured so that the operator can switch the measurement flow path 11 from the closed state to the open state via the input unit 22 to cancel the cutoff of the gas. . However, in a state in which an unacceptable amount of water remains in the measurement flow path 11, when the operator inputs an instruction to cancel the cutoff and the cutoff of the gas is canceled, the gas cutoff device 100 or the customer installed in the gas cutoff device 100 Problems such as failures may occur in gas appliances that are

Therefore, the gas shutoff device 100 according to the present embodiment is configured to determine whether or not to permit the release of gas shutoff even when the operator inputs a shutoff cancellation instruction via the input unit 22. (blocking cancellation determination processing).

[Block cancellation determination process]
Next, the configuration of the gas shutoff device 100 according to the present embodiment and the shutoff cancellation determination process will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the gas shutoff device 100 shown in FIG. 1 relating to shutoff cancellation determination processing. FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing an example of a shutdown cancellation determination process by the gas shutoff device 100 shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 21 includes a blocking cancellation control unit 31 and a blocking cancellation permission determination unit 32 as functional blocks related to blocking cancellation determination processing.

The cutoff release control unit 31 controls the cutoff unit 23 so as to switch the measurement channel 11 from the closed state to the open state and release the cutoff of the gas.

When a cutoff cancellation instruction is input from the input unit 22 , the cutoff cancellation permission determination unit 32 determines whether or not to permit the gas cutoff cancellation based on the value detected by the humidity sensor 24 .

That is, as shown in FIG. 3, after the occurrence of an emergency, when the measurement flow path 11 is closed by the shutoff unit 23, the operator operates the input unit 22 to temporarily use the gas shutoff device 100. to input an instruction to release the gas shutdown (step S11).

When receiving a gas block release instruction from the input unit 22 while the measurement channel 11 is in the closed state, the block release permission determination unit 32 compares whether the value detected by the humidity sensor 24 is less than a predetermined value. , to determine whether or not to permit release of the gas cut-off (step S12).

If the value detected by the humidity sensor 24 is less than the predetermined value ("Yes" in step S12), the disconnection release permission determination unit 32 determines to permit release of the gas disconnection (step S13). Then, when it is determined that the disconnection of the gas is permitted, the disconnection cancellation permission determination unit 32 transmits a permission signal for permitting the disconnection of the gas to the disconnection cancellation control unit 31 .

Upon receiving the permission signal from the blocking release permission determination unit 32, the blocking release control unit 31 controls the blocking unit 23 to forcibly switch the measurement channel 11 from the closed state to the open state (step S14).

On the other hand, when the value detected by the humidity sensor 24 is equal to or greater than the predetermined value ("No" in step S12), the block release permission determination unit 32 determines not to permit release of the gas block (step S15).

By the way, the predetermined value that serves as a criterion for determining whether or not to permit the release of the gas cutoff can be determined as follows.

The predetermined value can be, for example, 50% humidity. It is preferable that this predetermined value can be set and changed from the outside according to the site where the gas cutoff device 100 is installed.

It should be noted that the gas may not be cut off again for a certain period of time after the measurement channel 11 is forcibly switched from the closed state to the open state by the cutoff unit 23 and the cutoff of the gas is released.

Further, in the determination of whether to permit the release of the blocking by the blocking release permission determination unit 32, the configuration for determination based on the value detected by the humidity sensor 24 has been described. However, for example, it may be configured such that blocking release is permitted under the sole condition that the inside of the flow path is determined to be air based on the value of the propagation time or gain value measured by the ultrasonic sensor. Alternatively, a combination of determination based on the propagation time or gain value measured by the ultrasonic sensor and determination based on the value detected by the humidity sensor 24 may be configured to permit release of blocking.

The present invention is not limited to the description of the above embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the claims, and techniques disclosed in different embodiments and multiple modifications Embodiments obtained by appropriately combining technical means are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be widely and suitably used in fields such as gas shutoff devices that require forced release of shutoff of gas supply even when gas supply is shut off due to flooding or the like.

Reference Signs List 11 measurement flow path 20 flow rate measurement unit 21 control unit 22 input unit 23 cutoff unit 24 humidity sensor 31 cutoff release control unit 32 cutoff release permission determination unit 100 gas cutoff device

Claims (2)

a flow rate measurement unit that measures the flow rate of gas flowing through the measurement flow path;
a humidity sensor that detects the humidity in the measurement channel;
a blocking unit that opens and closes the measurement channel;
an input unit;
a control unit;
The control unit detects, with the humidity sensor, when a cutoff release instruction for instructing release of cutoff of the gas is input from the input unit in a state in which the measurement flow path is closed by the cutoff unit. a gas cutoff device for determining whether or not the measured value is less than a predetermined value, and for controlling the cutoff section to switch the measurement flow path from a closed state to an open state when it is determined to be less than the predetermined value. 2. The gas cutoff device according to claim 1, wherein said predetermined value is 50% humidity.

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