JPH0135435Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) This invention relates to an energy-saving controller for an antifreeze heater used for antifreeze.

(Prior art) Generally, when thinking about how to prevent water pipes, etc. from freezing in cold regions, the lowest temperature in that region is assumed, and measures are taken to prevent water pipes, etc. from freezing or bursting even if exposed to that lowest temperature for a long time. If you try to prevent water pipes from freezing by winding commonly used string-shaped electric heaters, the power consumption of each electric heater is quite large. Moreover, there are many places where electric heaters are wound, and especially recently, hot water supply systems have changed to more comfortable methods such as outdoor boilers, so in cold regions it is necessary to prevent freezing of these many pipes. The amount of electricity required to prevent freezing is enormous, several hundreds of watts per hour, throughout the cold period.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) However, the conventional antifreeze heater has the following problems.

In other words, for example, in a region where the lowest temperature is considered to be -15°C, conventional electric heaters with thermostatic controllers turn on at around 3°C, start energizing, and at that point -
Full power is supplied to prevent freezing at 15℃, which not only wastes electricity but also causes the electric heater to overheat, which is dangerous, and boiling water temporarily comes out when the tap is turned on. This results in an unpleasant feeling.

The present invention aims to solve these problems and relates to an energy-saving controller for an antifreeze heater that supplies more power as the outside temperature decreases.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The energy saving controller for the antifreeze heater according to the present invention has the following configuration in order to solve the above problems.

Freeze prevention heater 10 below the lowest expected temperature
The energization time is set as 100%, and the energization time is set as 0% at temperatures above 0°C to 2°C, at which water pipes, etc. no longer freeze. The outside air temperature is detected by the temperature sensor 12 and the voltage is compared by the voltage comparator 16 with a sweep voltage generation circuit 14 whose time can be set. The feature is that the energization time is automatically controlled by a method such as only energizing the device.

(Function) Since the temperature sensor 12 detects the outside temperature and the energy saving controller controls the energization time, it is possible to continue supplying the anti-freeze heater 10 with the minimum amount of power that will not cause the water pipes etc. to freeze at that temperature.

(Embodiments) Below, preferred embodiments embodying the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Explaining based on the block diagram shown in FIG. 1, 12 is a temperature sensor, and a thermistor, a PN junction semiconductor, etc. can be used.
Reference numeral 20 denotes a temperature-voltage conversion circuit that extracts the resistance change of the thermistor as a voltage change when the temperature sensor 12 is used, for example, a thermistor. Specifically, the circuit shown in FIG. 2, which has functions such as a linearizer and a buffer, is preferable. Can be used for 1
6 is a voltage comparator (FIG. 3) that compares the output voltage from the temperature-voltage conversion circuit 20 and the output voltage from the sweep voltage generation circuit 14; The relay 22 operates so that the antifreeze heater power is turned on only when the output voltage from the circuit 14 exceeds the voltage. Positive feedback is applied to this to provide hysteresis so that the output does not become unstable. The sweep voltage generating circuit 14 may be any sawtooth wave generating circuit that changes the voltage over time, and the circuit shown in FIG. 4 can be suitably used. Here, R2 is for setting and adjusting the sweep time, and is for changing the sweep speed depending on the heat capacity of the object to be prevented from freezing. For items with a small heat capacity that are easy to heat and store, it is better to uniformly heat them in a relatively quick cycle, and on the other hand, for items with a large heat capacity, it is better to perform a slow sweep and turn on and off for quite a long time, so this adjustment is necessary. Although it is used for this purpose, it is not necessary. 24 is a PUT (programmable unidirectional transistor). Figure 2 R1 is for setting and adjusting the minimum temperature. For example, it is for adjusting whether -15℃ is the 100% energization time for the antifreeze heater or -30℃. Equivalent to 26 in .

Next, the operation of the energy saving controller for the antifreeze heater will be explained.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing the relationship between the output voltage of the temperature-voltage conversion circuit 20 and the temperature, and FIG. 6 is a graph showing the relationship between the output voltage of the sweep voltage generating circuit 14 and time. FIG. 7 shows the output of the voltage comparator 16, which is turned on when the output voltage of the sweep voltage generation circuit 14 of FIG. 6 is higher than the output voltage of the temperature-voltage conversion circuit 20 of FIG. 5. Therefore, when the temperature is very low, the output voltage of the sweep voltage generation circuit 14 always exceeds the output voltage of the temperature-voltage conversion circuit 20, and at this time the antifreeze heater 10 is constantly energized (100 % output) (Figure 7b). Conversely, when the outside temperature exceeds 0°C to 2°C, the on time is exhausted and the antifreeze heater 10 is turned off (Fig. 7c).
At this intermediate temperature, control is performed to increase the energization time as the outside temperature decreases, which is necessary for the outside temperature (FIG. 7a).

To give another example, when an electric heater is used for freezing prevention, a thyristor or triax equal phase control system can be adopted, and electrical control proportional to temperature can also be performed using a transformer, slide transformer, etc. This energy-saving controller 18 not only controls the antifreeze heater 10 on and off (Fig. 8), but also controls three-phase AC using the magnetic switch 28 (Fig. 9), or controls the solenoid valve 30. It has an extremely wide range of uses, such as being able to prevent freezing by regulating the flow rate of hot water (Fig. 10).

(Effects of the invention) As described above, the present invention differs from the conventional method in which when the temperature drops below 0°C, the antifreeze heater is suddenly turned on by the thermostat under the same heating conditions as the lowest temperature. control, it is possible to achieve significant energy savings. In other words, the lowest temperature occurs only for a few days during the severe cold period of a long cold period, and moreover, it is temporary before dawn, so it is the same as before.
100% energization only needs to be done at this time; other than that time,
This is because only a small amount of electricity needs to be supplied,
With this energy-saving controller, it is possible to achieve significant energy savings and, in turn, reduce antifreeze costs. This energy-saving controller can control multiple antifreeze heaters, making it highly economical.

Although the present invention has been variously explained above with reference to preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and it goes without saying that many modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a block diagram of the energy-saving controller, Figures 2, 3, and 4 are circuit diagrams.
Figures 5 and 6 are voltage-temperature and voltage-time graphs, Figure 7 is output-time graphs, and Figures 8 and 9.
10 are schematic circuit diagrams. 10... Antifreeze heater, 12... Temperature sensor, 14... Sweep voltage generation circuit, 16... Voltage comparator, 18... Energy saving controller, 20... Temperature-voltage conversion circuit, 22... Relay, 24... PUT, 28... Magnetic switch, 30... Solenoid valve.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] Set the energization time of antifreeze heaters, etc. to 100% when the lowest expected temperature is below, and set the energization time to 0% when the temperature is about 0°C to 2°C or higher, and then An energy-saving controller for antifreeze heaters that detects outside temperature and automatically controls energization time.