JPH03236515A - Gas appliance - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve safety by providing a flow rate adjusting valve for adjusting the amount of inflow gas required for combustion and abnormality informing means for previously generating a characteristic inflow gas amount pattern and informing an external monitoring device of an abnormal state. CONSTITUTION:When an abnormality detection part 7 transmits a signal indicative of abnormality occurrence to a control part 8, a characteristic gas inflow amount pattern is generated by actuating abnormality informing means 11. The abnormality informing means 11 includes a mechanism capable of forcedly sucking gas by a proportional valve 12 changed abnormality in the crosssectional area of a gas flow passage (openings of the valves) by an abnormality informing control part 13, and a check valve 14 and a fin 15. In this construction, the abnormality informing means 11 forces a large amount of the gas flow instantaneously following the occurrence of an abnormal state transmitted from the abnormality detection part 7 through the control part 8 and informs a safety device for monitoring externally the amount of the gas flow of a fact of the occurrence of the abnormality for automatic interruption of an original gas valve.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a gas appliance connected downstream of a gas meter that constantly monitors a gas flow path and automatically shuts off in response to an abnormality or a specific gas flow rate pattern. be.

Conventional technology In recent years, in order to prevent explosions caused by gas leaks and fires caused by forgetting to turn off gas appliances, safety measures have been introduced to cut off the gas supply when it is determined that a dangerous condition has occurred inside the gas meter. devices are becoming more and more integrated. Fourth
The system configuration diagram is shown in the figure, in which a gas meter 2, a flow rate measuring means 3 that emits a signal according to the amount of gas passing through the gas meter 2, and a shutoff means 4 that stops the gas supply are provided in the gas supply line indicated by the thick line 1. , comprising a shutoff control section 5 that determines the usage state based on the flow rate signal of the flow rate control means 3, determines that there is an abnormality when the proper gas usage conditions set and stored in advance are deviated from, and issues a closing signal to the shutoff means 4. There is.

Furthermore, an arbitrary gas appliance 6 is connected to the downstream side of the gas meter 2, and an example of the configuration of this conventional gas appliance 6 is shown in FIG.

7 is an abnormality detection unit that detects room temperature, C○, C01NOx, etc., and determines whether the current environment is safe enough to burn gas normally, and whether there are any dangerous conditions that could adversely affect the human body. be. Reference numeral 8 denotes a control section, which controls an appropriate combustion state in the combustion section 9 or interrupts combustion in response to a signal from the abnormality detection section 7. Reference numeral 10 denotes a flow rate control valve that can linearly change the gas inflow amount in response to a signal from the control section 8.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, with the above configuration, even if a certain gas appliance detects abnormal values such as room temperature or NOx and interrupts its own combustion, it will not continue to burn to other appliances that are currently burning. I cannot convey this information. If gas appliances not equipped with these abnormality detection units were to be used at the same time in the same room, this could lead to a dangerous situation.

In view of the above problems, the present invention improves safety by applying sensor information from an abnormality detection unit installed in a certain gas appliance to other gas appliances, and preventing danger to the entire system. This is what we aim to do.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, in addition to the flow control valve that adjusts the amount of gas inflow necessary for combustion, we intentionally generate a characteristic gas inflow pattern and use an external monitoring device to detect abnormal conditions. The device is equipped with an abnormality notification means that notifies the user of the abnormality.

Effect: With the above-described configuration, the present invention can notify an external monitoring device of the presence or absence of an abnormal condition detected inside the gas appliance by intentionally changing the amount of gas inflow.

In other words, the "gas inflow amount" can be treated as an "information transmission medium."

Therefore, if a safety device is installed in the gas meter at the gas supply source that constantly monitors the gas flow path and automatically shuts off in response to an abnormality or a specific gas flow pattern, it is possible to prevent The gas supply source will be automatically shut off based on the abnormality notification signal (specific flow rate pattern).

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of the overall configuration of a gas appliance, with thick lines indicating gas flow paths. 7 detects room temperature, Co, Co, -No, etc., and determines whether the environment is currently safe enough to burn gas normally, but whether it is in a dangerous state that may have an adverse effect on the human body. This is an abnormality detection unit that recognizes Reference numeral 8 denotes a control section, which controls an appropriate combustion state in the combustion section 9.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a flow rate control valve that can linearly change the amount of gas inflow according to a signal from the control unit 8. Furthermore, flow control valve 1
An abnormality notification means 11 is connected to the gas inlet corresponding to the previous stage of 0. For example, when a signal indicating the occurrence of an abnormality is transmitted from the abnormality detection section 7 to the control section 8, the abnormality notification means 11
By driving, a characteristic gas inflow amount pattern is generated. A specific example of the configuration of the abnormality notification means 11 is shown in FIG. 12 is a proportional valve whose cross-sectional area (valve opening) of the gas flow path can be arbitrarily changed by the abnormality notification control unit 13, and 14 is a check valve. Reference numeral 15 denotes a chamber equipped with a mechanism that can forcibly suck in gas using a fan.

On the other hand, the external safety device that constantly monitors the overall total gas flow rate in the gas meter at the gas supply source is assumed to have the same system configuration as the conventional example shown in Figure 4. If a drastic change in gas flow rate is observed, or if the total gas flow rate exceeds a specified value, it is determined that an abnormality has occurred and the gas main valve is shut off.

The abnormality notification means 11 shown in FIG. 2 can be replaced with the equivalent circuit shown in FIG. 3 if the gas pressure is treated as a voltage and the gas flow rate is treated as an ift flow, so this will be explained using this. Assuming that no abnormal condition has occurred, the resistance value (valve opening) in 12 should be kept at a medium level, and the switch (fan) in 15 should always be off. In this case, the voltage applied to the IN side (gas Since the pressure) is considered to be constant, the current (gas flow rate) is determined by the magnitude of the load (combustion amount) connected to the OUT side. If an abnormal condition occurs here,
- By temporarily passing a large current (gas flow rate), we want to transmit information to the safety device that monitors the gas flow consumed by each (gas) appliance at the voltage source (gas meter). Therefore, when an abnormal condition occurs, the resistance value of 12 is set to the minimum (valve is fully open), and the switch of 15 (
By turning on the fan), the electric fi
(gas flow I) is forced to increase. In other words, control is performed here by switching the resistance value (valve opening degree) of 12 at 12 degrees, but if you want to avoid affecting the current flowing to the OUT side (gas flow rate), you can add a constant current to the OUT side. A circuit may be added.

When an abnormal condition occurs, after the abnormality notification means 11 operates as described above, the combustion section 9 interrupts its own combustion in response to a signal from the control section 8. (Speaking from a circuit perspective, the load connected to the OUT side is brought into a high impedance state.) In the above configuration, the abnormality notification means 11 includes the abnormality detection section 7
With the occurrence of an abnormal condition that is transmitted from the controller 8 through the control unit 8, - Since a large gas flow rate is caused to flow at times, a safety device that monitors the gas flow rate externally is notified of the occurrence of an abnormal condition. As a result, the gas main valve can be automatically shut off.

In this example, we have shown an example of a configuration that strengthens the safety function of notifying information about abnormal conditions detected by gas appliances. The gas flow path can now be used as a general-purpose information transmission path, such as for transmitting temperature and humidity information.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the gas appliance of the present invention provides the following effects.

(1) When multiple gas appliances are used at the same time, the gas main valve can be automatically shut off even if the gas appliance detects an abnormality in the environment, making the entire system more sensitive to safety. It becomes like this. Especially when used in the same room, overall safety is ensured by the most sensitive sensor information, and even if one sensor malfunctions, similar sensors on other gas appliances will cover it. I can do it.

(2) The gas safety shutoff device installed in conventional gas meters could only detect abnormalities in the gas flow rate itself, such as gas leaks or forgetting to turn off gas appliances, but the gas appliance of the present invention can detect various other abnormalities. Since sensor information is converted into the gas inflow rate format and transmitted to the gas safety shutoff device, information other than gas flow rate can be used effectively throughout the system without any special wiring work. In other words, each gas appliance does not simply consume gas for combustion, but by intentionally controlling the time-series pattern of gas inflow, the "gas flow path"
It can be treated as a unidirectional information transmission path.
A low-cost HA system can be realized.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a gas appliance according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an abnormality notification means of the gas appliance,
FIG. 3 is an electrical equivalent circuit diagram of the abnormality notification means, FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a system including a gas appliance having a gas safety device, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a conventional gas appliance. 7... Abnormality detection section, 8... Control section, 9
... Combustion part, 10 ... Flow rate control valve, 1
1... Abnormality notification means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A condition detection section that measures and detects the environmental conditions necessary for normal combustion of gas in the combustion section, a flow rate control valve that adjusts the amount of gas flowing into the combustion section, and an appropriate combustion state of the combustion section. a control unit that controls combustion or interrupts combustion in response to a signal from the condition detection unit; and a control unit that transmits information to an external monitoring device by generating a specific gas inflow pattern in response to a signal from the condition detection unit; A gas appliance equipped with a notification means.