JPH0616856U - Moisture sensor sensitivity setting device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] Anyone can easily adjust the sensitivity of the moisture sensor without individual differences, know the history of sensitivity setting, and visually check the moisture detection of the moisture sensor. [Structure] A moisture sensor 1 of a snow melting system for heating a road, a sidewalk, etc., a switching unit 2 capable of switching the moisture detection sensitivity in multiple stages, and a stage for switching the moisture detected by the moisture sensor 1 to each stage. And a moisture indicator 3 capable of displaying in.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The moisture sensor sensitivity setting device of the present invention is used to set the sensitivity of a moisture sensor used to detect road surface moisture (snow, ice, water, etc.) in a snow melting system buried in the road surface such as a road or an airport. It is what is done.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 In recent years, a snow melting system (road heating) has been introduced in parts of roads and airports. This snow melting system detects outside air temperature, road surface temperature, snow accumulated on the road surface, presence of ice, etc., and determines whether or not to energize the heater for snow melting or freeze prevention based on the detection result.

A moisture sensor 1 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, for example, is used for the moisture detection. In this case, two ring-shaped first electrodes 22 and 23 and two second electrodes 24 and 25 having different diameters are provided in a cylindrical electrode housing 21 having a bottom (the second electrode 25 is an electrode housing 2). 1) and the second electrodes 24, 25 are electrically connected to each other, and an insulating material is provided between the electrodes 22, 23, 24, 25. It is insulated with. This moisture detection sensor 1 is installed on a road surface, and as shown in FIG. 4, lead wires 27 drawn from the first electrode 23 and the second electrode 24 are connected to a moisture detection circuit (not shown). In FIG. 4, 28 is a power cord, and 29 is an internal heater for evaporating water between the electrodes.

In the moisture detection sensor 1 described above, when snow or water enters between the first and second electrodes and the surface of the insulating material 26 between the electrodes gets wet, the impedance between the adjacent electrodes decreases. To do. In the moisture detection circuit, the output from the moisture detection sensor 1 is compared with a preset sensitivity setting input to determine the presence or absence of moisture, and the determination result is output.

Since the snow melting system operates the heater based on the water content detected by the water content sensor 1, if the water content sensor 1 has a low sensitivity, the water content (snow or ice) cannot be reliably detected. It is easy to lead to an accident, and if the sensitivity is too sensitive, even a small amount of water will be detected, and the time for energizing the heater will increase and the running cost will increase. Therefore, in order to improve the detection accuracy and suppress the running cost, it is necessary to accurately detect the water content, and it is necessary to adjust the sensitivity of the water sensor 1 accordingly.

In order to adjust the sensitivity of the moisture detection sensor 1, conventionally, a reference voltage is measured by a tester or the like and a semi-fixed resistor incorporated in a printed circuit board is operated. Also, in this case, we tried leaking the moisture sensor at the site and making fine adjustments while checking the correlation between the degree of leak and the sensitivity setting.

[0007]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 The conventional method for adjusting the sensitivity of the moisture detection sensor has the following problems. ． Since the visual adjustment was performed, individual differences among the adjusters appeared, and uniform sensitivity adjustment was not possible. ． Adjustment of the semi-fixed resistance mounted on the printed circuit board is troublesome, so advanced adjustment technology is required, and fine adjustment is difficult. Moreover, a device such as a tester is required for the adjustment, which is not a method that anyone can easily adjust. ． It was not possible to confirm whether the detection was performed according to the set sensitivity because the history of the sensitivity was unknown.

The object of the present invention is to make it possible to adjust the sensitivity of the moisture sensor in a stepwise manner so that anyone can easily adjust it, there is no individual difference in the adjustment, and the history of which sensitivity is set is clear. The impedance change (moisture detection) of the moisture detector can be visually confirmed.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the moisture sensor sensitivity setting device of the present invention detects moisture such as roads and sidewalks with the moisture sensor 1 and heats the roads and sidewalks based on the detected moisture. The moisture sensor 1 of the system is provided with a switching unit 2 capable of switching the moisture detection sensitivity in multiple stages, and a moisture display 3 capable of displaying the moisture detected by the moisture sensor 1 at each stage of the switching unit 2. It is a thing.

[0010]

[Action]

 Since the moisture sensor sensitivity setting device of the present invention is provided with the switching unit 2 capable of stepwise switching the moisture detection sensitivity in multiple steps, the detection sensitivity of the water sensor 1 can be changed by simply operating the switching unit 2. It is possible to set the desired sensitivity by selectively switching. Further, since the moisture indicator 3 which can display the moisture detected by the moisture sensor 1 at each stage of the switching unit 2 is provided, the moisture condition of roads and airports, that is, snowfall, snowfall, and freezing. It is also possible to visually check the situation such as.

[0011]

【Example】

 The moisture sensor sensitivity setting device of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the circuit diagram shown in FIG. In FIG. 1, 1 is a moisture sensor, 2 is a switching unit for switching the sensitivity of the moisture sensor 1, and 3 is a moisture indicator for displaying the moisture detected by the moisture sensor 1.

In FIG. 1, 4 is an oscillating circuit, 5 is a sensitivity width setting circuit, and 6 is a constant current circuit. Is to get.

In FIG. 1, 7 is a high-pass filter, and 8 is a rectifier circuit, which are for converting the output from the moisture sensor 1 into a signal to be input to the 10-point level meter IC 9.

For example, the same moisture detection sensor as shown in FIG. 5 is used as the moisture detection sensor 1, 10 dip switches SW1 to SW10 are used as the switching unit 2, and 10 are used as the moisture display 3, for example. The LEDs 1 to 10 are used, and the dip switches SW1 to SW10 and the LEDs LED1 to LED10 are matrix-wired. As a result, when the dip switch SW1 is turned on, the LED1 connected to it can be displayed (lighted), and when the dip switch SW2 is turned on, the LED2 connected to it can be displayed in the same manner as below. When the ip switch SW10 is turned on, the LEDs 10 connected to it can be displayed respectively.

As shown in FIG. 4, the LEDs 1 to 10 and the dip switches SW 1 to SW 10 are mounted on the board 10 with the LEDs 1 to 10 and the dip switches SW 1 to SW 10 vertically, respectively. SW 1 to SW 10 are made to correspond to the upper and lower sides.

When the sensitivity of the moisture sensor 1 is set by the dip switch SW1, the sensitivity is set to be fine on the dry side and coarse on the leak side according to the curve of the impedance characteristic of the moisture sensor 1 shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of the moisture sensor sensitivity setting device of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 will be described in detail with reference to the water content detection flowchart shown in FIG. First, in this type of moisture detection, an alternating current is required as a detection power supply applied to the electrodes of the moisture sensor 1 (for example, the electrodes 23 and 24 in FIG. 5) to prevent electrolytic corrosion. to eliminate error due to induction from the power of the internal heater 29 shown in the heater and FIG. 6 (commercial power), usually the low-frequency voltage of 10～30H _z is used. Therefore, in the circuit of FIG. 1, the AC voltage of about. 10 to 30H _Z oscillated from the oscillation circuit 4, to set the sensitivity range by entering the sensitive width setting circuit 5 of FIG. 1, the output from the sensitivity range set circuit 5 Is input to the constant current circuit 6 of FIG. 1 to obtain an alternating current of AC 0 to 10 V by the identification current circuit 6, and this is applied to the electrodes of the moisture sensor 1 (for example, the electrodes 23 and 24 shown in FIG. 5) as a detection power source. deep.

When snow or rain enters between the electrodes 23 and 24 adjacent to each other and the surface of the insulating material 26 between the electrodes 23 and 24 gets wet, the impedance between the electrodes 23 and 24 lowers, and accordingly. The output from the moisture sensor 1 changes. Cut the 50H _Z following ingredients were placed in the high-pass filter 7 the output of Figure 1, the moisture detecting sensor 1 or et rectifies it by the rectifier circuit 8 and a voltage of DC0V～10V, it 10 level meter 9 is input to the switching unit 2 and the display unit 3, and a snow melting heater (not shown) is turned on and off based on the output from the switching unit 2.

Further, in FIG. 1, when moisture is detected by the moisture sensor 1 whose sensitivity is set by the switching unit 2, the LED (at the position corresponding to the dip switch (for example, SW10) of the switching unit 2 for which the sensitivity is set is detected. For example, the LED 10) lights up. As a result, it is possible to confirm that the water content sensor 1 has detected the water content, and it is also possible to confirm which dip switch of the switching unit 2 has set the sensitivity of the water content sensor 1.

[0020]

[Effect of device]

 The sensitivity setting device of the moisture detection sensor of the present invention has the following effects. ． Anyone can easily set the sensitivity of the moisture sensor 1, which has an important influence on the control of the snow melting equipment, simply by switching the switching unit 2. ． Since the switching unit 2 is a multi-stage switching type, there is no individual difference regardless of who switches, and standardization of sensitivity adjustment can be achieved. Moreover, since it is easy to set the sensitivity to the operating state that can reduce the running cost, the running cost can be reduced. ． On-site trial run adjustment becomes easier and the adjustment can be done at the point when the construction is completed, so there is no need for a specialized person to go to the adjustment. ． The sensitivity setting at the trial run stage may not match the situation at the site, but even in this case, it is easy to revisit the sensitivity setting because the stage at which the sensitivity was set during the trial run is clearly known (history is known). . Therefore, no matter who goes to the site or asks the local administrator, the settings can be re-arranged and the process can be performed quickly and smoothly. ． Since the water content detected by the water content sensor can be visually confirmed at each stage of the switching unit 2 by the water content display 3, the water content of roads and airports, that is, the snowfall, snowfall, and icing conditions can be visually confirmed. You can check. Also, by lighting the moisture indicator 3, it is possible to clearly see at which stage the sensitivity is set. ． When centrally monitoring the snow melting equipment or systematizing the control, the accuracy and accuracy of the local control signal are important, but the sensitivity setting device of the present invention can perform processing close to digital, so centralized monitoring is possible. Suitable for control systemization.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing an example of a moisture sensor sensitivity setting device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the moisture sensor sensitivity setting device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the impedance characteristic of the moisture sensor and the moisture and the density of the sensitivity setting when the sensitivity is set by the moisture sensor sensitivity setting device of the present invention.

FIG. 4A is a front view showing an example of a mounting state of a switching unit and a moisture display in the moisture sensor sensitivity setting device of the present invention, and FIG. 4B is a side view of the same state.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a conventional moisture sensor.

FIG. 6 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a conventional moisture sensor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Moisture sensor 2 Switching unit 3 Moisture indicator

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A moisture sensor 1 of a snow melting system that detects moisture in a roadway, a sidewalk, etc. by a moisture sensor 1 and heats the roadway, a sidewalk, etc. based on the detected moisture. A moisture sensor sensitivity setting device, comprising: a possible switching unit 2; and a moisture indicator 3 capable of displaying the moisture detected by the moisture sensor 1 at each stage of the switching unit 2.