JPH07175968A - Liquid supplying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To collect a charge even after a fault is generated in a prepaid card type liquid supplying device. CONSTITUTION:This device is provided with a city water meter 12 and a solenoid valve 13 provided in a city water pipe path 11, a prepaid card reader/writer 27 and a water supply controller 14 for being supplied with flow rate pulses from the city water meter 12 and opening and closing the solenoid valve 13. The water supply controller 14 is provided with a RAM 31 for storing the time and data when the final flow rate pulse is outputted from the city water meter 12 and also storing the city water using amount of each month.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a prepaid card type liquid supply device, and more particularly to a liquid supply device which takes measures in case of failure such that charge processing cannot be performed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A liquid supply device for quantitatively supplying water by using a prepaid card composed of a magnetic card is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-21
No. 91119.

This liquid supply device processes the charge collected by measuring the flow rate pulse from the water meter, and when the amount of water corresponding to the charge data of the prepaid card is supplied,
The solenoid valve is automatically closed.

[0004]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention
No means are provided for responding to a failure.

For this reason, if the water meter is broken or broken, for example, the charge processing cannot be performed.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a liquid supply device which solves the above problems.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a flow meter provided in a liquid supply pipe line for measuring a liquid supply amount and outputting a flow rate pulse, and a solenoid valve provided in the liquid supply pipe line. And a liquid supply device electrically connected to the flow meter and the solenoid valve and capable of supplying a liquid supply amount according to a prepaid charge, the liquid supply control device comprising: A means for storing the date and time when the final flow rate pulse is output from the flow meter is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a flow meter provided in the liquid supply pipe line for measuring the liquid supply amount and outputting a flow rate pulse, an electromagnetic valve provided in the liquid supply pipe line, the flow meter and A liquid supply device electrically connected to a solenoid valve and comprising a liquid supply control device capable of supplying a liquid supply amount according to a prepaid fee, wherein the liquid supply control device is the liquid supply control device. And a disconnection detecting means for detecting disconnection between the solenoid valve and the solenoid valve, and a means for storing a date and time when the disconnection detecting means detects disconnection.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the means for storing the date and time when the last flow rate pulse is output is provided so as to provide the date and time of failure occurrence which is a standard when calculating the usage amount after the occurrence of failure. To work.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the means for storing the date and time when the disconnection is detected serves to provide the date and time of failure occurrence which is a standard for calculating the usage amount after the occurrence of the failure.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a liquid supply device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Indicates.

The liquid supply device 10 has a water meter 12 and a solenoid valve 13 arranged in the water pipe 11, and a water supply controller 14 for controlling the opening / closing of the solenoid valve 13.

The water meter 12 is, for example, a battery-driven positive displacement flow meter and is installed in each home.

The water meter 12 has a microcomputer 15, a flow rate detection / amplification circuit 16, a display 17, and an output circuit 18, and is electrically connected to the water supply controller 14 by an electric wire 19.

When the water tap 20 provided at the end of the water pipe 11 is opened, the water meter 12 turns the water pipe 11
The amount of water supply flowing through is measured, and the flow rate signal is output to the water supply control device 14.

The solenoid valve 13 controls the flow of water in the water pipe 11, and is electrically connected to the water supply controller 14 by the electric wire 21.

The water supply controller 14 includes a microcomputer 22, a display 23 for displaying the amount of water used, a display changeover switch 24, a driver circuit 25 for opening and closing the solenoid valve 13, and a charge data magnetically. A card reader / writer (hereinafter, referred to as a card R / W) 27 into which the prepaid card 26 recorded in the above is inserted, a disconnection detection circuit 28 that detects that the electric wire 21 is disconnected, and a battery 29 as a power source. Have.

The program of the microcomputer 22 is ROM
Stored in 30.

The RAM 31 is a data memory.

The RTC 32 is a real time clock IC and has a calendar clock function.

Reference numeral 33 is an address bus, and 34 is a data bus.

The liquid supply device 10 having the above-described configuration operates generally as described below.

The liquid supply device 10 is activated by inserting the prepaid card 26 into the card R / W 27 of the water supply control device 14.

Now, assume that the amount of money stored in the prepaid card 26 is 1000 yen.

The card R / W 26 reads out this amount,
The microcomputer 22 calculates the amount of water supply that can be used with this amount. Then, the water supply amount is displayed on the display device 23. At the same time, the solenoid valve 13 is opened.

The water supply is now ready for use. When water is used by turning the water tap 20, the water meter 12 emits a flow rate pulse at a constant flow rate, for example, every 10 L (L is a unit liter).

The microcomputer 22 receiving the flow rate pulse subtracts the water supply amount displayed on the display 23 and displays the value.

Next, the date and time when the flow rate pulse is received is set to the RTC.
It is read from 32 and stored in the RAM 31. Then, the fee of the prepaid card is reduced and the value is written. When the amount of water supply falls below a predetermined amount, the indicator is flashed to warn that the remaining amount of water supply has decreased. Further, when the remaining amount of water supply becomes 0 by using water, the solenoid valve 13 is closed.

When opening and closing the solenoid valve, check for disconnection,
When disconnection occurs, the microcomputer 22 reads the date and time from the RTC 32 and stores it in the RAM 31.

Since the RAM 31 and the RTC 32 are backed up by the battery, the stored contents are not erased until the battery is exhausted, and the RTC 31 operates normally.

Next, the state transition of the water supply control device 14 will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is a state transition diagram of the water supply controller 14.

The power-on reset A11 is a process performed when the battery is connected before shipping (when the battery is replaced thereafter).

After the power-on reset A11, the timer interrupt period is set and the timer process A12 is performed. Three internal timers are used, and interrupts are generated at fixed intervals. Each timer counter is a display changeover switch reading process A1
3. After performing the card process A14 and the integrated data storage process A15, the process returns to the timer process 12.

The card processing A14 carries out a processing A17 of calculating the remaining amount of use by detecting the card insertion and displaying it on the display. When the remaining amount of the card becomes 0, the disconnection detection process A19 is performed at the same time as the valve closing control process A18.

The flow rate pulse processing A15 is started by an irregular interruption by the flow rate pulse transmitted from the water meter 12, performs input time storage, integrated value calculation, remaining usage amount calculation, card balance processing, input date and time processing. After the end of A20, the process returns to the timer process.

Next, the contents of each process in FIG. 2 will be described. [Power-on Reset A11] FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the power-on reset A11.

In the figure, step S1 (hereinafter "step")
Is omitted), the timer interrupt period of the timer counters T1, T2, T3 is set. As a result, thereafter, an interrupt is generated at the constant cycle set in S1.

In next step S2, it is checked whether or not the prepaid card 26 is inserted in the card R / W 27. If the prepaid card 26 is inserted in the card R / W 27, the process proceeds to FIG. 5, which will be described later. When the prepaid card 26 is not inserted in the card R / W 27, the process ends. [Timer Processing A12] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the timer processing A12.

When the processing of the power-on reset A11 is completed, the processing of FIG. 4 is activated.

S11 indicates that the timer counter T1 is activated at a cycle of 0.5 s. S18 to S in 0.5s cycle
24 processing is executed.

At S18, the timer counter T1 is cleared to zero. In S19, it is judged whether or not the switch 7 is turned on for the first time, and if it is the first time, the failure mode is analyzed in S22.
The failure mode determines whether the solenoid valve has failed, the water meter has failed, or both, and whether or not a water meter transmission pulse has occurred after the solenoid valve was closed.

In S23, the failure mode and the date and time are displayed. S
It is judged at 20 whether it is the second time that the switch 7 is turned on, and 2
If it is the first time, the monthly usage amount is displayed in S24.

In S21, it is judged whether or not the switch 7 is turned on for the third time, and if it is the third time, the used amount before two months is displayed in S25. Then, when the switch 7 is turned on next, processing is performed so as to display the remaining water supply amount.

S12 indicates that the timer counter T2 is activated every 1s cycle. S16, S17 in 1s cycle
The process of is executed. In S16, the timer counter T2 is cleared to zero. In S17, it is determined whether a card has been inserted. If inserted, jump to FIG.
If the card has not been inserted, the process ends and waits for the card insertion determination until the next timer interrupt cycle.

S13 indicates that the timer counter T3 is activated every month. S14, S in 1 month cycle
The process of 15 is executed. In S14, the timer counter T
Clear 3 to 0. RAM usage for 1 month in S15
Memorize to [Card processing A14, remaining amount calculation processing A16, display control processing A17, valve control processing A18, disconnection detection processing A1
9] FIG. 5 shows the processing contents of the card processing A14 and the processing A16, A17, A18, A19 related thereto in FIG.

When the card is inserted in S40, the next step is S41.
Enter the data of the card from the card R / W27 with S42
Check if there is any money left on the card. If there is no balance, the process ends in S48. If there is a balance, the usable water remaining amount is calculated from equation (1) in S43.

[0048]

[Equation 1]

In S44, the value of V _R calculated in S43 is displayed on the display 23. Then, in S45, a signal is output to the solenoid valve driver circuit 25 to open the solenoid valve. At the same time, in S46, the signal from the disconnection detection circuit 28 is input to determine whether or not disconnection has occurred. If a wire break has occurred, the wire break date and time is read from the RTC 24 in S47 and stored in the RAM 31. And it ends.

As a result, the date and time when the disconnection is detected is stored in the RAM 23.

Details of the disconnection detection circuit 28 are shown in FIG. [Flow rate pulse processing A15, input date / time processing A20] FIG. 6 shows processing when a flow rate signal is input.

When the flow rate signal is input, the integrated value is calculated from equation (2) in S61.

Tb ₁ = Tb ₀ + q Tb ₀ : integrated value before flow rate pulse input q: flow rate value per pulse (2) The input date and time of the flow rate pulse is read from the RTC 24 in S 62 and stored in the RAM 23.

Here, it is assumed that the electric wire 19 is broken or the water meter 12 fails due to an accident.

In this case, the RAM 23 stores the date and time when the final flow rate pulse is output from the water meter 12.

Subsequent to S62, the integrated value Tb ₁ obtained from the calculation of S61 is stored in the RAM 23 in S63. S6
In step 4, the remaining amount is calculated.

In step S65, the remaining amount of the calculation result in step S64 is displayed.

In step S66, the balance of the card is written in the card.

In S67, it is determined whether the remaining amount is less than the warning start amount. If it is less than the warning start amount, the display starts blinking in S73. If the remaining amount is not less than the warning start amount, the blinking of the display is canceled in S68.

In S69, it is determined whether or not the remaining usage amount is zero.
If it is 0, the solenoid valve is closed in S70. If the remaining usage amount is not 0 in S69, the process ends.

When the signal for closing the solenoid valve is output in S70, S7 is output.
At 1, the signal from the disconnection detection circuit 28 is input to determine whether or not disconnection detection has occurred. When disconnection occurs, S72
The disconnection date and time is stored in the RAM 31. And it ends.

The RAM 31 stores the date and time when the disconnection is detected.

Next, the features of the liquid supply device 10 configured as described above and operating as described above will be described.

A Charge collection is possible even if the liquid supply device 10 breaks down Case 1: Water meter 12 and water supply control device 14 in FIG.
If the electric wire 19 that connects to and is disconnected, or the water meter 1
When 2 fails: When the electric wire 19 is broken or the water meter 12 fails, the flow rate pulse is not supplied to the water supply control device 14, and in general, the charge processing for the subsequent use of water cannot be performed. Therefore, in the conventional liquid supply device,
No charges could be collected for the amount of water used after the above disconnection or failure.

However, according to the liquid supply device 10 of the present embodiment, the collection fee can be estimated by the following operations.

Switch ON the switch 24 in FIG.
And

As a result, the water meter 1 is displayed on the display 23.
The date and time when the final flow rate pulse is output from 2 is displayed.

As a result, it is possible to know how far before the present time the failure occurred.

The switch 24 is further switched.

By the first switching, the display 23
The amount used in the previous month is displayed in.

When switched to the second time, the display unit 23 displays the usage amount of the previous two months.

Based on the displayed date and time of the failure and the daily usage amount before that, the usage amount after the failure is estimated, a charge corresponding to the estimated usage amount is calculated, and this is calculated as a prepaid card. We collect from 26.

Case 2: When the electric wire 21 is broken while the solenoid valve 13 is open When the electric wire 21 is broken while the solenoid valve 13 is open, even if the remaining charge of the prepaid card 26 is exceeded. The solenoid valve 13 does not close, and the water supply continues to be supplied.

Even after the wire 21 is broken, the water charge processing is continued.

For this reason, it is only necessary to collect the charge obtained by performing the charge processing at a later date.

B Failure mode of liquid supply device 10 can be displayed. In FIG. 1, switch 24 is operated.

As a result, step S22 in FIG. 4 is performed, and any one of the following is displayed on the display 23 of FIG. 1. Electromagnetic valve failure Water meter failure Electromagnetic valve / water meter failure After electromagnetic valve closed state Receiving Flow Rate Pulse from Water Meter Next, a specific configuration of the disconnection detection circuit 28 in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 7.

In FIG. 7, parts corresponding to those shown in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals.

The capacitor 40, the microcomputer 22, and the wiring 41 connecting the capacitor 40 to the analog input port AIN of the microcomputer 22 constitute the disconnection detection circuit 28.

To operate the self-holding solenoid valve 13,
It operates by passing a current through the coil 42 of the drive unit 13a to generate a magnetic force. Here, when the current i1 flows from the upper side to the lower side of the drawing with respect to the coil 42, the solenoid valve 1
Let's assume that 3 opens.

The microcomputer 22 outputs a pulse (pseudo AC) from the timer output port TO in order to obtain sufficient energy to operate the solenoid valve. Step-up transformer 43
Generates a high-voltage AC signal at the output stage by boosting the input signal.

The high-voltage AC signal obtained by the step-up transformer 43 is rectified from AC to DC by the rectifying element 44 and charged in the capacitor 40 (the charging time is preliminarily measured by experiments and is known). .

When opening the solenoid valve 13, the output port P ₀₁
"H" is output to, a current is supplied to the operation coil of the relay 45, and the common contact and the a contact are held so as to be connected.

When closing the solenoid valve 13, the output port P
Output "L" to ₀₂ .

After the relay 45 operates (the operation delay time of the relay 45 is known), "H" is output to the output port P ₀₂ so that the relay 46 operates, and the coil 42 is operated.
Hold the operation delay time of (known).

After the operation of the solenoid valve 13 is completed, the output port P ₀₂
After outputting "L" to the output port, "L" is output to the output port _P01 and the processing is completed.

Among the above control methods, the capacitor 40
After the end of charging, the voltage is measured at the analog input port AIN to confirm that it is charged, and the coil 42 of the solenoid valve 13 is energized (at this time, if normal, the charge of the capacitor 40 is charged). Is discharged, but is not discharged at the time of disconnection), the voltage is measured again at the analog input port AIN, and if the voltage is not around 0 V, an alarm is generated as a disconnection abnormality.

As a result, it is detected that the electric wire 21 is broken while the solenoid valve 13 is operating.

A self-diagnosis method when the solenoid valve 40 is not operated for a long time will be described.

The capacitor 40 is charged by the method described above. However, since it is not necessary to operate the solenoid valve 13, the charge amount may be the minimum necessary to be monitored by the analog input port AIN (the time required for this charge is also known).

The relay 45 is controlled so that the current state of the self-holding solenoid valve 13 is performed again (if it is currently open, the opening operation is performed), and the relay 46 is operated to electromagnetically charge the charge of the capacitor 40. To the coil 42 of the valve 13,
The charge discharge status of the capacitor 40 is monitored.

Thus, even when the solenoid valve is not operated for a long period of time, the disconnection can be detected without operating the solenoid valve. Further, since energy consumption at that time can be small, it can be used in, for example, a battery driven system.

In each of the above embodiments, the liquid supply device for supplying tap water has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and liquids other than tap water (for example, petroleum products such as kerosene and gasoline, chemical products, etc.) can be used. Of course, the present invention can also be applied to a system for supplying).

Further, in each of the above embodiments, the prepaid card is used to collect the fee, but the prepaid method is not limited to this, and for example, a specific coin is inserted instead of the prepaid card. But it's okay.

[0095]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Even if a failure is discovered, for example, about a month after the failure occurs, it is possible to estimate the amount of liquid used after the failure by specifying the date and time of the failure. You can collect it.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a liquid supply device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a state transition diagram showing movement of a processing mode of a microcomputer of the water supply device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of a power-on reset A11 in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of timer processing A12 in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of card processing executed after a prepaid card is inserted into a card reader / writer.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of processing when a flow rate pulse is input.

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram of a disconnection detection circuit and a portion related thereto in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Liquid Supply Device 11 Water Pipe Line 12 Water Meter 13 Solenoid Valve 14 Water Supply Control Device 15,22 Microcomputer 16 Flow Rate Detection Amplification Circuit 17,23 Indicator 18 Output Circuit 19,21 Electric Wire 20 Water Tap 24 Display Change Switch 25 Driver Circuit 26 Prepaid Card 27 Card Reader / Writer 28 Disconnection Detection Circuit 29 Battery 30 ROM 31 RAM 32 RTC 40 Capacitor 41 Wiring 42 Coil 43 Step-up Transformer 44 Rectifier 45, 46 Relay

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A flow meter provided in a liquid supply pipe line for measuring a liquid supply amount and outputting a flow rate pulse, a solenoid valve provided in the liquid supply pipe line, the flow meter and the solenoid valve electrically. In the liquid supply device including a liquid supply control device that is connected to, and is capable of supplying a liquid supply amount according to the prepaid fee, the liquid supply control device outputs the final flow rate pulse from the flow meter. A liquid supply device having a structure for storing the date and time when the liquid supply is performed. 2. A flow meter provided in the liquid supply pipe line for measuring the amount of liquid supply and outputting a flow rate pulse, a solenoid valve provided in the liquid supply pipe line, the flow meter and the solenoid valve electrically. And a solenoid valve, which is connected to the liquid supply controller and is capable of supplying a liquid supply amount according to the prepaid charge. A liquid supply device comprising: a disconnection detection unit that detects disconnection between the two and a unit that stores a date and time when the disconnection detection unit detects the disconnection.