JPH04148111A - Gas appliance - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To use gas appliances safely which requires to be operated for a long time by forming an ON.OFF circuit which outputs ON signal intermittently which has a shorter time width than the safe time of use. CONSTITUTION:It is monitored that the output of a timer T which measures the operation time of a hot water pouring device A, namely the time of continuance of the hot water pouring operation exceeds 20 minutes which are the safe time of use of a hot water supplying device 1. For this purpose it is judged with 20 minutes as a standard whether or not 19 minutes which are one minute before said 20 minutes have passed. If 19 minutes are exceeded, a gas burner 34 is maintained in the state of fire extinguishing for one minute even if the hot water pouring is not completed (in winter, for instance, when the time required for hot water pouring is long). Namely a hot water pouring valve 32 is closed and by its closing a water pressure responding gas valve 38 is operated to shut off a gas circuit to the gas burner 34. When one minute has passed with the gas burner 34 extinguished, the hot water pouring valve 32 is opened again, and afterwards until the water level in a bath tab 30 that is detected by a water level sensor 37 reaches a target water level, the 19-minute hot water pouring action and one-minute stopping of the hot water pouring is alternately repeated, that is, intermittent hot water pouring actions proceed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides a gas appliance connected to a gas circuit equipped with a safety valve that automatically shuts off the gas circuit in the event that the gas appliance is accidentally left in use for a long period of time. It relates to gas appliances of the type that are used, and can be used, for example, in hot water filling equipment.

[Prior Art and Problems] A gas meter is installed upstream of the gas circuit of each home to measure the amount of gas consumed in the home.

The above-mentioned gas meter is equipped with a safety valve that closes if the gas appliance continues to operate for a certain period of time (hereinafter referred to as "safe usage time") in order to prevent gas leaks or forgetting to turn off the gas appliance. There are some that incorporate That is, if the gas flow rate measured by the flow meter incorporated in the gas meter does not change continuously beyond the safe use time, the gas circuit is shut off.

However, the demand for gas appliances that receive gas supply from the gas meter has diversified in recent years, and there has been a demand for appliances that do not function as intended under the above-mentioned safe usage time restrictions. Ta.

For example, taking a hot water filling device as an example, the bathtubs used in this device have gradually increased in capacity, and as the capacity of the bathtubs continues to increase, the hot water filling operation will not be completed within the safe use time mentioned above. There is a possibility that it will not be completed. If the hot water filling operation is not completed within the safe use time, the safety valve device in the gas meter is closed and the water filling operation is forcibly stopped.

From this, the safety valve system of the above type! There is a problem in that a gas circuit in which a gas meter equipped with a gas meter is already installed cannot be used with a device that operates for a long time beyond the above-mentioned safe use time.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and is a system that is connected to a safety valve device that forcibly shuts off the gas circuit when the downstream appliance is continuously used beyond a predetermined safe usage time. In gas appliance J, when an appliance that needs to operate for a relatively long period of time is used, the safety valve device is prevented from shutting off, and as a result, if the safety valve device is incorporated into an existing gas meter. but,
The objective is to enable the use of gas appliances that require long-term operation.

[Means 1] The technical means of the present invention to solve the above problem is to form an ON/OFF circuit that intermittently outputs an ON signal with a time width shorter than the safe use time, and
The device was made to operate intermittently in accordance with the N signal.

[Effect] The above technical means works as follows.

When a gas appliance is started, the ON/OFF circuit begins to output an ON signal, and the ON signal puts the gas appliance into an operating state.

Since the above-mentioned ON signal is set to a time width shorter than the safe use time set in the safety valve device of the gas meter, the above-mentioned ON signal will no longer be output from the ON-OFF circuit before the safe use time arrives, and this This causes the appliance to temporarily stop before the upstream safety valve device shuts off the gas circuit.

Next, since the above-mentioned ON signal is output intermittently, once the above-mentioned gas appliance is stopped, it is turned on again.
- The OFF circuit begins to issue an ON signal and its operation resumes, after which the instrument operation is repeated intermittently.

In this way, according to the above technical means, it is possible to continue the operation of the instrument while avoiding the circuit breaking operation by the safety valve device disposed on the upstream side.

Also, the safety valve equipment! will function effectively as usual for other gas appliances that will receive gas supply (gas appliances that do not operate intermittently).

[effect] The present invention has the following unique effects.

Even if the appliance is used for a relatively long period of time, the upstream safety valve device will not shut off, so even if the safety valve device described above is incorporated into an existing gas meter, it cannot be used safely in the downstream gas circuit. Applicable to gas appliances that are used over time.

[Example] Next, the above-described example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

As shown in Figure 1, a gas meter (2) is installed upstream of the gas circuit piped to each home.
A water heater f1+ is installed in the downstream gas circuit of the gas meter (2).
is installed, and the heat exchanger (lO) of the water heater (1)
and the bathtub (30), there is a hot water filling circuit (
35) is formed. Furthermore, on the downstream side of the bathtub (30), there is a water heater sensor (39), a hot water filling valve (32), and a water level sensor f for monitoring the water level in the bathtub (30).
37) (consisting of water pressure gauges in this embodiment) are arranged in this order from the upstream side. A water pressure responsive gas valve (38) and a gas proportional valve (33) downstream thereof are inserted into the gas circuit to the gas burner (34) that heats the bathtub (30). The above hot water filling valve (32), etc. are now controlled by a control circuit (5) to which signals from the hot water section setting device (45) and hot water filling switch 131) installed on the bathroom wall are applied. ing.

Next, the gas meter (2) inserted into the gas circuit to the water heater [11] is equipped with a safety valve device that keeps the valve closed if the gas appliance used is left in continuous use for a certain period of time. (20) is incorporated, and the gas meter (2)
A microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as a microcomputer) built into the judgment circuit (27) stores the safe usage time corresponding to the gas consumption category of each gas appliance, as shown in Figure 2. . In addition, the gas circuit in the gas meter (2) is equipped with a flow meter (25) that measures the gas flow rate in the circuit.
is installed.

When a specific gas appliance is used, the gas meter (2) determines the amount of gas consumed by the specific gas appliance based on the output of the flow meter (25), and also uses this gas amount and the second Search and determine the safe usage time corresponding to the specific gas appliance mentioned above from the table in the figure. If the flow rate detected by the flow meter (25) does not change after the safe use time described above, it is determined that the device has been forgotten to be turned off or there is a gas leak, and the safety valve (20) is forcibly shut off to ensure a safe state. secure. or,
To reset the safety valve (20) that has been shut off, manually operate the reset button (28).

On the other hand? IA Zhang'l'A place(Al Ha, So(7)!
It is controlled according to the control program (see Fig. 3) in the microcomputer built into the If m device (5). The explanation will be given according to the flowchart shown in Figure 3.In the following explanation, it will be assumed that appliances belonging to the gas consumption category of 39,500 kcal/h or more are used among the gas consumption categories shown in Figure 2. do.

■First, wait for the hot water filling switch (31) to be turned on, and when the hot water filling switch (31) is turned on, the water heater (
1) Open the hot water filling valve (32) inserted in the hot water filling circuit pulled out from the hot water filling circuit (drawing reference number f811. +821
(see steps).

09 Next, the gas proportional valve (33) is controlled so that the temperature detected by the hot water temperature sensor (39) installed in the hot water filling circuit (35) and the set temperature of the hot water temperature setting device (451) are equal. By controlling the combustion amount of (34),
Start filling the water heater (1) with hot water. At this point, the timer fTl built into the microcomputer in the controller (5) is reset, and the duration of the long bow movement begins to be measured (+831° (84) in the figure).
Step Hyomei).

01 Next, it is monitored whether the output of the timer fT+, which measures the operation time of the water filling device fAl, that is, the duration of the water filling operation, exceeds the safe operating time of the water heater fil. Therefore, based on the safe usage time of the water heater il+ of 20 minutes (see the bottom column of FIG. 2), it is determined whether 19 minutes, which is one minute before this, has not elapsed. That is, the step (88) in the drawing is executed to determine whether the time measured by the timer (T+) has not exceeded 19 minutes.

Further, after the step (88) in the drawing is executed,
Water level sensor (37) inserted in the thirst circuit (35)
) to determine whether or not thirst has been completed (see step (86) in the drawing).

■If the output of the timer FT+, which measures the duration of 4 tensions, exceeds 19 minutes, which is 1 minute less than the safe usage time of the water heater (1), if the water heater (1) is not fully drained (during winter, etc.) Even if the time is long), the gas burner (3
4) is kept extinguished for one minute (drawing code (85)
). That is, by closing the depletion valve (32), the hydraulically responsive gas valve (38) is operated to cut off the gas circuit to the gas burner (34). As a result, even if the safety shutoff valve (20) is installed in the gas meter (2) installed upstream of the gas circuit led into each home, the inconvenience of the safety shutoff valve (20) being operated to shut off the gas circuit can be avoided. .

(1) When one minute has elapsed since the gas burner (34) was extinguished, the water level sensor (37
) until the water level in the bathtub (30) detected by the bathtub (30) reaches the target water level, as shown in the time chart shown in Figure 4 above, the intermittent water filling operation alternately repeats the 19-minute hot water filling operation and the 1-minute hot water filling stop operation. progresses.

(3) When the water level in the bath [f3 (1) reaches the target water level, the hot water filling valve (32) is closed and the gas burner (34
The water is kept in the extinguished state, thereby stopping the hot water filling operation.

In this embodiment, the C function section in the microcomputer that repeatedly measures the time of 19 minutes until 4 tensions are completed corresponds to the ON/OFF circuit described in the technical means section.

In addition, if a normal gas stove or gas stove (not shown) installed downstream of the gas meter (2) is used beyond the corresponding safe usage time, the safety shutoff valve of the gas meter (2) will be closed. It goes without saying that (2o) operates as a cutoff.

On the other hand, in the above embodiment, only the depletion device was described, but other gas appliances may be operated intermittently as long as it does not go against the spirit of the present invention.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is an overall explanatory diagram of the gas circuit, and Figure 2 is the gas meter (
Judgment port B in 2) Table showing the relationship between the gas extinguishment category stored in the microcomputer of f271 and safe use time, Part 3
FIG. 4 is a time chart showing the intermittent operation of the gas appliance according to the embodiment of the present invention.
In the diagram, (1)...Water heater (2)...Gas meter

Claims (1)

[Claims] For gas appliances that are connected to a safety valve device that forcibly shuts off the gas circuit if downstream appliances are continued to be used beyond a predetermined safe usage time, an ON signal with a duration shorter than the safe usage time is activated. ON/OF that outputs intermittently
A gas appliance in which an F circuit is formed and the appliance is operated intermittently in accordance with the ON signal of the ON/OFF circuit.