JPH1082780A - Oil leakage detector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely detect leakage of an oil having a high temperature, by providing a discharge quantity limiting member having two branch bodies which is connected to a fluid outlet on the lower side and a detection means that is connected to a fluid outlet on the higher side and detects a displacement due to swelling by installing an oil absorption body that absorbs oil and swells thereby. SOLUTION: When a small amount of oil leaking constantly flows into a fluid inlet 2, it enters a flow adjusting mechanism 10 via a fluid outlet 5 at a lower side and a passage 7 passing through a filter 4 and is discharged from a needle valve 11 to the outside of the system. When the quantity of the leaked oil exceeds an allowable range, it flows out to a fluid outlet 6 and a pipe 18 and swells an oil absorption body 21 of a detection unit 20. The swelling makes a piston 22 to rise, then a magnetic piece 23 is brought into close proximity of a reed switch 25 and makes the switch 25 to turn on. It is possible to visually observe movement of the position of the piston 22 via a window 24 of the detection unit 20. when a great amount of oil having a high temperature leaks out, the oil absorption body 21 is melted. However, a temperature fuse 40 is melted and cut so that leakage of the oil can be detected.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an oil leak detector for detecting oil leaks.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a transportation pipeline or the like, oil leak detecting means is disposed at a location where leakage is likely to occur, such as a joint, from the viewpoint of safety measures, and monitoring of the oil leak is performed intensively at a monitoring station. Have been done.

[0003] Such an oil leakage detecting means requires reliability over a long period of time.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 533, a combination of a highly oil-absorbing resin that absorbs oil and swells and a switch that electrically detects the swelling displacement of the highly oil-absorbing resin is used.

[0004]

On the other hand, a pump connected to a pipeline in a petrochemical factory or the like is equipped with a mechanical seal and constantly generates a small amount of oil leakage, so that abnormal leakage from the mechanical seal is caused. If an attempt is made to detect oil with the above-described highly oil-absorbing resin, a small amount of oil leakage during normal operation may cause the highly oil-absorbing resin to gradually swell and cause erroneous detection. For this reason, it is necessary to periodically replace the highly oil-absorbing resin with a new one, and there is a problem that maintenance work and cost are required.

When a large amount of oil leaks at a temperature of 200 ° C. or more, such as in a petroleum refining plant, the high oil-absorbing resin is denatured before it swells, and detection errors occur. There is a problem of getting up.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an oil leakage detector capable of preventing swelling of a substance to be detected due to a small amount of oil leakage that occurs during normal operation. Is to do. It is another object of the present invention to provide an oil leak detector that can reliably detect high-temperature oil leaks.

[0007]

That is, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an inflow port connected to an oil leakage monitoring device, and an inflow port located below the inflow port and having upper and lower sides. A branch body having two outlets provided so as to be connected to each other; a discharge limiting member connected to the low-side outlet; and a high-side outlet connected to the high-side outlet. An oil absorbing body that absorbs oil and swells so as to be located lower than the oil absorbing body is accommodated, and a detecting unit that detects displacement due to swelling of the oil absorbing body is provided.

[0008]

A small amount of oil leaked during normal operation is discharged to the outside of the apparatus upstream of the detecting means by a discharge amount restricting member, thereby preventing the oil from flowing into the oil absorbing body.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a branch provided with a filter housing chamber 3, and an inlet 2 through which oil leaks from a monitored device flows into the branch. Outflow ports 5 and 6 are formed at two places that are lower than the inflow port 2 and have a vertical relationship with each other.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a cylindrical filter having an upper opening 4a.
Is connected to the inflow port 2, and is attached so that the opening 4 b at the bottom is sealed with the branch body 1. A flow rate adjusting mechanism 10 is connected to the outlet 5 located on the lower side via a flow path 7 extending downward. The flow rate adjusting mechanism 10 is configured as a needle valve 11 whose valve opening can be adjusted by moving a needle 11 a forward and backward by a knob 12.

On the other hand, a detection unit 20, which will be described later, is connected to the outlet 6 located at a higher place via a pipe 18 so as to be located below the outlet 6.

Reference numeral 20 denotes the above-described detection unit, which slides on a cylinder 26 also serving as a case, in accordance with a displacement caused by swelling, with an oil-absorbing body 21 made of a substance which absorbs oil by contacting the oil and swells. A piston 22 made of a heat-resistant resin and having a magnetic piece 23 provided on an upper part thereof;
Is swollen, the reed switch 25 provided at a position where the magnetic force is changed by the magnetic piece 23 is housed, and oil leaked through the pipe 18 is absorbed by the oil absorbing body 21.
It is configured to wet.

A terminal housing 30 is attached to the upper end of the detection unit 20, and a cable 28 of a reed switch 25 and a cable 41 of a temperature fuse 40 to be described later are relayed by an internal terminal block 31, and a resistor 41 to be described later is connected. R
It is connected to the transmission cable 32 via t and Ro.
Reference numeral 24 in the figure denotes a window formed in the cylinder 26 for visually confirming the movement of the piston 22 from outside.

Reference numeral 40 denotes a thermal fuse which is housed in the flow path of the pipe 18 connecting the branch 1 and the detection unit 20 so as to come into contact with the oil flowing from the branch 1, and via a cable 41. To the terminal housing 30.

In this embodiment, when a small amount of oil leaking constantly flows into the inlet 2, the oil leaks through the filter 4 via the outlet 5 on the lower side. Road 7
To the needle valve 11 of the flow control mechanism 10
From the system.

Since the oil flowing into the needle valve 11 is filtered by the filter 4, the needle valve 11 is not blocked even if the oil leakage contains dust and the like. Reliability as a limiting member can be secured.

Therefore, if the valve opening of the needle valve 11 is adjusted by the knob 12 to the upper limit flow which does not need to be detected, a small amount of oil leakage can be detected by the detection unit 20, that is, the oil absorber 21.
Can be blocked.

Next, when an oil leak with a flow rate exceeding the allowable range occurs, the amount of oil leaking into the inlet 2 exceeds the flow rate that can be discharged from the flow path 7, so that the pipe 6 18 to swell the oil absorbing body 21 of the detection unit 20.

The piston 22 rises due to the swelling of the oil absorbing body 21, the magnetic piece 23 approaches the reed switch 25, and switches the reed switch 25 from OFF to ON. At this time, it can be confirmed by visual observation from the window 24 of the detection unit 20 that the piston 22 has moved to a position where the oil leak has occurred at a steady amount or more.

If a large amount of hot oil leaks, the pipe 18
Detection unit 20 without being cooled in a flow path such as
, The oil absorbing body 21 melts and loses the swelling function. However, since the thermal fuse 40 provided in the flow path of the pipe 18 is blown, leakage can be detected.

Needless to say, when the oil at a temperature that blows the thermal fuse 40 and swells the oil absorbing body 21 flows into the detecting unit 20, both the thermal fuse 40 and the reed switch 25 cause a state change. can do.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of an oil leakage detecting circuit, in which a first series circuit comprising a temperature fuse 40 and a resistor Rt, and a second series circuit comprising a reed switch 25 and a resistor Ro. Are connected in parallel, and the current detecting means 5
0 is connected to a constant voltage source V. It is desirable that these resistors Rt and Ro be attached to the terminal block 31 (FIG. 1).

In a small amount of oil leakage under normal conditions, the oil absorbing member 21 does not operate the reed switch 25, so that the reed switch 25 is kept in the OFF state, and the current Ia determined by the resistance Rt of the first series circuit is increased. It flows to the detecting means 50.

When oil leakage is detected by the oil absorbing member 21, the reed switch 25 is turned ON, so that the sum of the current Ia flowing through the first series circuit and the current Ib flowing through the second series circuit is obtained. That is, Ia + Ib flows to the current detecting means 50.

Further, if a large amount of high-temperature oil leaks, the cooling in the flow path becomes insufficient, so that the temperature fuse 40 is blown, and the oil absorbing body 21 cannot swell and leads Since the switch 25 maintains the OFF state, the current flowing to the current detecting means 50 becomes zero.

When oil leakage is detected by the oil absorber 21 and the thermal fuse 40, the thermal fuse 40 is blown,
Further, since the reed switch 25 is turned ON, the current Ib regulated by the resistor Ro of the second series circuit flows to the current detecting means 50.

As a specific example, the resistance Rt is set to 3 kΩ and the resistance R
Assuming that o is 2 kΩ and the voltage of the constant voltage source V is 6 V, the output current value I displayed on the current detecting means 50 is as follows. Normal 2mA Oil leakage detection 5mA High-temperature oil detection 0mA Oil leakage detection and high-temperature oil detection 3mA As described above, the current values in each state are different from each other. The state can be accurately grasped.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, the inflow port connected to the oil leakage monitoring device and the two inflow ports provided below and above the inflow port are provided. A branch body having an outlet, a discharge limiting member connected to the low-side outlet, and connected to the high-side outlet, and positioned lower than the high-side outlet. And a detecting means for detecting displacement due to swelling of the oil absorbing body, so that the discharge limiting member discharges an unnecessary amount of leaked oil to the outside of the system. Thus, oil can be prevented from flowing into the oil absorber, and swelling of the oil absorber due to a small amount of oil leakage can be prevented.

Further, since the temperature detecting means is provided in the flow path connecting the outlet on the high side of the branching body and the detecting means, even if the oil absorbing body loses the swelling function due to the high-temperature oil, the leakage is ensured. Oil can be detected.

Further, since a filter is provided between the inflow port and the two outflow ports, it is possible to prevent the needle valve from being clogged by dust or the like contained in oil leakage and to secure reliability as a discharge amount limiting member. can do.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an apparatus showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing one embodiment of an oil leakage detection circuit of the same device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Inlet 4 Filter 5 Low side outlet 6 High side outlet 10 Flow control mechanism 20 Detection unit 21 Oil absorber 23 Magnetic piece 25 Reed switch 40 Thermal fuse

Claims (5)

[Claims] A branch body having an inflow port connected to the oil leakage monitoring device, and two outflow ports located below the inflow port and provided up and down; A discharge limiting member connected to the outflow port on the side, and the oil is swollen by absorbing oil so as to be connected to the outflow port on the high side and positioned lower than the outflow port on the high side. An oil leak detector that contains an oil absorber and includes a detecting unit that detects displacement due to swelling of the oil absorber. 2. The oil leak detector according to claim 1, wherein said discharge amount limiting member is a flow rate adjusting means. 3. The oil leak detector according to claim 1, wherein a temperature detecting means is provided in a flow path connecting the outlet at a high place side of the branch body and the detecting means. 4. The oil leak detector according to claim 3, wherein said temperature detecting means is a thermal fuse. 5. The oil leak detector according to claim 1, wherein a filter is provided between the inlet and the two outlets.