JPH0419499A - Remainder monitoring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a remainder monitoring device with high safety by providing a means which measures a flow rate of gas, a means which inform the outside of the fact that a value of counter reaches a specified warning rate, a means which input exchange information and an exchange rate, and a means which subtracts the exchange rate from the counter rate. CONSTITUTION:A remainder monitoring device is made up of a flow rate sensor 11 which converts a flow rate of gas supplied from a bomb to an electric signal, a bomb exchanging switch 12 which manually operated at the time of exchanging the bomb, and a CPU control part 20 having a CPU, a remainder management counter 22, and the like. The used amount of the gas is integrated by the remainder management counter 22. When the counted rate reaches a remainder warning level, the signal is automatically transmitted to an upper center to perform warning. When the bomb is exchanged, the bomb exchanging switch 12 is operated and calculation is carried out by the remainder management counter 22. As a result, The error between the value of the counter and an actual used amount is eliminated, thereby safety against gas-shortage is improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a gas remaining amount monitoring device, and particularly relates to resetting a remaining amount management counter that monitors the remaining amount of a cylinder such as LP gas. .

(Prior Art) Conventionally, as a remaining amount monitoring device for monitoring the remaining amount of a cylinder of LP gas or the like, there is a microcomputer gas meter as shown in FIG.

In Fig. 5, 1 is a flow rate sensor that converts the gas flow rate into an electrical signal, 2 is a cylinder exchange switch that is operated by a person when replacing a cylinder, and 3 is a CPU control unit that controls the remaining amount and controls the upper system. communication.

Further, the CPU control unit 3 includes a CPU 4, a remaining capacity management counter 5, and a memory 6 for storing remaining capacity management levels.

The operation of the microcomputer gas meter will be explained below.

(1) First, when gas is used, an electrical signal corresponding to the amount used is sent from the flow rate sensor 1 to the CPU control unit 3, and the remaining amount management counter 5 is integrated.

(2) When the remaining amount management counter 5 reaches the remaining amount warning level in the memory 6, the CPU 4 issues an alarm to the upper system. In addition, the remaining amount warning level can be set from the 1st to the 3rd level.
A warning will be issued each time.

(3) When the third level of remaining amount warning is reached, the remaining amount management counter 5 is automatically reset to 0, but for operational purposes, the cylinder is often replaced before reaching the third level of remaining amount warning. .

(4) Since the remaining amount management counter 5 is cleared to O when the cylinder exchange switch 2 is operated, the delivery person is required to operate the cylinder exchange switch 2 when exchanging the cylinder. Note that it is also necessary to operate the cylinder replacement switch 2 when the cylinder is replaced after the third level of remaining amount warning.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The conventional remaining amount monitoring device described above is based on the premise that all cylinders are replaced at once. In other words,
Clear the remaining amount management counter to 0.

However, in actual operation, it is necessary to replace the cylinders early (at about 70% usage) to prevent gas from running out, and in such cases, instead of replacing all cylinders, for example, two cylinders In many cases, only one of them is replaced.

When performing such an operation, in the conventional method, as shown in Fig. 6 (a)
As shown in FIG. 1, first, the actual amount used in the cylinder is 50%, and the counter amount of the remaining amount management counter 5 also shows 50%. Then, the remaining amount warning level is reached and a warning is issued. The gas supplier then decides on a replacement schedule and will perform the replacement at a later date.

Then, as shown in FIG. 6(b), the cylinder is replaced when the actual amount used is 70%. At this point, the counter amount of the remaining amount management counter 5 also indicates 70%.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6(C), when one of the two cylinders is replaced, the cylinder exchange switch 2 is operated even though the actual cylinder usage is 20%. Then, the counter value of the remaining amount management counter 5 is cleared to 0.

If the counter amount of counter 5 is cleared to 0 in this way, an error will occur between the actual amount used in the cylinder and the counter amount of the remaining amount management counter. The problem was that it was dangerous.

The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned problems and eliminates the error between the actual usage amount and the remaining amount management counter that occurs when replacing the cylinder, and provides a remaining amount monitoring device that is more secure against running out of gas. purpose.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a remaining amount monitoring device that includes a cylinder, a means for measuring the flow rate of gas supplied from the cylinder, and a counter for measuring the flow rate. a means for notifying the outside when the counter amount of the counter reaches a preset warning amount; a means for inputting replacement information and the replacement amount when replacing the cylinder; and a means for inputting the replacement information and the replacement amount; and means for subtracting the exchange amount from the counter amount based on the counter amount.

(Function) According to the present invention, when replacing a cylinder, the amount of gas exchanged can be subtracted from the count amount of the remaining amount management counter, so there is an error between the reset amount of the remaining amount management counter and the actual amount used in the cylinder. The actual amount of gas used can be matched with the remaining amount management counter, and the remaining amount of gas can be appropriately managed.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a remaining amount monitoring device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in this figure, 11 is a flow rate sensor that converts the gas flow rate into an electrical signal, 12 is a cylinder exchange switch that is operated by a person when exchanging cylinders, 13 is a setting device, 14 is a serial interface, and 15 is a telephone line 16. It is an NCU modem that automatically calls and communicates with the upper center using the CPU.
controlled by

20 is a CPU control unit, and this CPU control unit 20 includes a CPU 21, a remaining amount management counter 22, a ROM 23 in which programs are stored, a remaining amount warning level a, a replacement amount of cylinders b, a telephone number of a host center, etc. RAM where C is stored
Consists of 24.

The operation of the remaining amount monitoring device of the present invention will be explained below.

(1) When starting up the remaining amount monitoring device, use the setting device 13 to input remaining amount warning level a, cylinder replacement amount b, telephone number of the upper center, etc. This data is stored in RAM24.

Below, as shown in Figure 2, the remaining capacity warning level is 50%,
2 levels of 80%, the amount of cylinder replacement is 1 out of 2 (
50%).

(2) When gas is used, the remaining amount management counter 22 is accumulated according to the amount used [see FIG. 2(a)].

(3) The remaining amount management counter 22 is at the remaining amount warning level (50%).
), a 50% warning is automatically sent to the higher-level center [see Fig. 2 (b)].

(4) The delivery staff who received the 50% warning made a delivery plan and
Replace the cylinder on the scheduled delivery date (one week later, etc.).

(5) By the time the cylinder is replaced, the amount used is already about 70% [see Figure 2 (c)].

(6) After replacing one cylinder (50%) [see FIG. 2(d)], the delivery person operates the cylinder exchange switch 12.

(7) When the cylinder exchange switch 12 is operated, the remaining amount management counter 22 is reset according to the following formula (1).

Reset amount of the remaining amount management counter r - Count amount of the remaining amount management counter m - Replacement amount of cylinder b... (1) "However,
In the above calculation, when the remaining amount management counter is <0, it is assumed to be 10. ” Due to the above operation, the remaining amount management counter 22 becomes 20%, and there is no error from the actual amount used [Figure 2 (e)]
.

FIG. 3 is an example showing another mode of cylinder exchange.

If you are behind schedule to replace the cylinders and the remaining capacity warning level has already reached 80% (see Figure 3 (a)), you will need to replace both cylinders. There is.

Therefore, both cylinders are replaced [see Figure 3 (b)].
.

In this case, first, when the cylinder exchange switch 12 is operated for the first time, the counter amount of the remaining amount management counter 22 becomes 30% [see FIG. 3(c)].

Next, when the cylinder exchange switch 12 is operated for the second time, the counter value of the leftover management counter 22 becomes 0% [Figure 3 (
See d)].

In this way, by performing the operation twice, the remaining amount management counter 22 is cleared to 0, and there is no error from the actual remaining amount.

In the above embodiment, since a plurality of cylinders are usually installed and the replacement amount of the cylinders may not be known in advance, the replacement amount of the cylinders is set in advance.
As a matter of fact, we explained the operation of operating the cylinder exchange switch for the number of cylinders to be replaced, but as shown in Figure 4, the total number of cylinders to be installed is four, and three of them are
In the case of customers who exchange books, they do not necessarily need to operate the cylinder exchange switch for the number of bottles exchanged.
A batch of books is regarded as one exchange, and the amount of gas exchanged is set at 75%. In other words, from the setting device 13, the RAM2
The remaining amount management counter 22 may be reset by setting the replacement amount of the cylinder in step 4 to 75%, that is,
In FIG. 4, the actual amount used in the cylinder is 80%, and the amount counted by the remaining amount management counter 22 is also 80% [see FIG. 4(a)].

In this state, replace the three cylinders.

In this case, from the above formula (1), the recent amount r of the remaining amount management counter = the counted amount of the remaining amount management counter 80% - the cylinder replacement amount 75%, which is 5%, which matches the actual amount used of the cylinder. I will do it.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments,
Various modifications are possible based on the spirit of the present invention, and these are not excluded from the scope of the present invention.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above in detail, according to the present invention, when replacing a cylinder, the replacement amount can be subtracted from the count amount of the remaining amount management counter, so it is possible to subtract the replacement amount from the amount counted by the remaining amount management counter. There is no difference between the actual amount of cylinder used, and safety against running out of gas can be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a remaining amount monitoring device showing an embodiment of the present invention;
Figures 2 to 4 are diagrams showing examples of cylinder replacement in the remaining amount monitoring device, Figure 5 is a configuration diagram of a conventional remaining amount monitoring device, and Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of replacing a cylinder in the remaining amount monitoring device.
The figure is a diagram showing an example of replacing a cylinder in a conventional remaining amount monitoring device. 11... Flow rate sensor, 12... Cylinder exchange switch, 13... Setting device, 14... Serial interface, 15... NCU modem, 16... Telephone line, 2
0...CPU control unit, 21...CPU, 22...
Remaining capacity management counter, 23...ROM, 24...RA
M5a: Remaining amount warning level, b: Replacement amount of cylinder, C: Telephone number of upper center, etc. Patent applicant: Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. (1 other person) Agent: Patent attorney Mamoru Shimizu (1 other person) 〆γ (3 pieces of moxibustion) 斗φ芒明's ta amount, annotation a! , [s? Diagram showing the 7th O, Nbe branch 4 central threat, 1

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] (a) a cylinder; (b) means for measuring the flow rate of gas supplied from the cylinder; and (c) a counter that integrates the flow rate, and a counter amount of the counter is set in advance. (d) When replacing a cylinder, a means for inputting replacement information and the replacement amount; (e) means for inputting replacement information and the replacement amount from the counter amount based on the replacement information; A remaining amount monitoring device comprising: means for subtracting the replacement amount.