JPH1089680A - Safety device for gas apparatus and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically interrupt gas supply while a gas apparatus is out of use by detecting the state of opening of an intermediate valve. SOLUTION: A gas apparatus is provided which includes an intermediate valve for opening and closing a flow passage for gas flowed in from the outside and an intermediate valve knob 7 for opening and closing the intermediate valve, wherein it further includes a use detecting part for detecting whether or not the gas apparatus is in use, valve opening detection part 9, 11 for detecting the state of opening of the intermediate valve, a control part for judging the opening state of the intermediate valve while the gas apparatus is out of use by inputting signals detected by the use detection part and the valve opening detection part, and a valve driving part 13 for closing the intermediate valve so as to interrupt the flow passage for gas supplied to the gas apparatus by the control of the control part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a gas appliance that uses gas as fuel, and more particularly to a gas appliance that automatically shuts off gas supply by sensing an open state of an intermediate valve when the gas appliance is not used. The present invention relates to a safety device and a control method thereof.

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, as shown in FIG. 1, a gas supplied through an indoor gas pipe (2) is supplied to an indoor gas pipe (2) installed for using gas equipment. A rubber hose (4) to be supplied is connected, and between the indoor gas pipe (2) and the rubber hose (4), the flow path of the gas flowing into the rubber hose (4) through the indoor gas pipe (2) is interrupted. An intermediate valve knob (6) for opening and closing the intermediate valve is provided. With this configuration, when using the gas appliance, the user turns the intermediate valve knob (6) in the C direction to open the intermediate valve, and when not in use, turns the intermediate valve knob (6) in the D direction to close the intermediate valve. Thus, the flow path of the gas supplied to the gas equipment is opened and closed, and the flow path of the gas flowing into the gas equipment is interrupted. In such a conventional gas safety device, since the opening and closing operation of the intermediate valve knob (6) is performed by a manual operation of the user, if the user does not stop the intermediate valve knob (6) after using the gas equipment, the gas is not released. There is a danger of leakage, which causes the user to feel uneasy.

[0002]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and when the gas equipment is not used, the gas supply is automatically detected by sensing the open state of the intermediate valve. An object of the present invention is to provide a safety device for a gas appliance and a control method therefor, which can be conveniently used and can eliminate anxiety about gas leakage by emitting an alarm sound while simultaneously shutting off.

[0003]

Means for Solving the Problems To solve the above problems and achieve the object. According to the safety device for a gas appliance according to the present invention, in a gas appliance including an intermediate valve that opens and closes a flow path of gas flowing from the outside and an intermediate valve knob that opens and closes the intermediate valve, whether or not the gas appliance is used is determined. Use sensing means for sensing, a valve opening sensing means for sensing an opening state of the intermediate valve, a signal sensed by the use sensing means and the valve opening sensing means is inputted, and when the gas appliance is not used, Control means for judging the open state of the intermediate valve, and valve driving means for closing the intermediate valve so as to shut off the flow path of the gas supplied to the gas equipment under the control of the control means are provided from the outside. And an intermediate valve for opening and closing the flow path of the gas to be introduced.
According to the safety control method for gas appliances according to the present invention,
In a control method of a gas appliance including an intermediate valve that opens and closes a flow path of a gas flowing from the outside, a use determining step of determining whether the gas device is used, and an open determining step of determining an open state of the intermediate valve. A measuring step of measuring an opening time of the intermediate valve, and, when the gas appliance is not used, a valve shutting off the intermediate valve by driving a motor when an opening state of the intermediate valve has passed a predetermined time. And a step.

[0004]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part of the embodiment.

[0005] In the figure, a body (1) shown by hatching in the figure is a gas safety device for automatically shutting off gas supply by detecting the open state of an intermediate valve when gas equipment not shown is not used. This is the base part of this torso (1)
An indoor gas pipe (3) to which gas from the outside is supplied is connected to the right side of the body, while a gas supplied through the indoor gas pipe (3) is supplied to the left side of the body (1). A hose (5) for supplying to equipment (not shown) is connected. Furthermore, between the indoor gas pipe (3) and the hose (5), the gas supplied from the indoor gas pipe (3) to the hose (5) is intermittently switched as described below by an operation of the user, as described later. An intermediate valve knob (7) for opening and closing the valve is provided.
A permanent magnet (9) shown by a broken line is attached to one side of the intermediate valve knob (7). A reed switch (11) that is turned on / off by a magnetic force generated by a permanent magnet (9) is provided on one side of the body (1). And
A motor (13) for rotating the intermediate valve knob (7) is provided below the body (1) so as to open and close the intermediate valve by the on / off operation of the reed switch (11). FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of the motor. As shown in FIG. 3, the output shaft member (15) of the motor (13) has a drive gear (17) rotated by the power generated from the motor (13). A driven gear (19) is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the intermediate valve knob (7) so that the drive gear (17) can be assembled so as to mesh with the driven gear (19). . A description will be given with reference to FIG. 4 which is a block diagram for detecting the open state of the intermediate valve of the gas safety device configured as described above. As shown in FIG.
(50) detects the use of the gas equipment described above, and the valve opening sensor (52) generates from the permanent magnet (9) and the permanent magnet (9) so as to detect the opening state of the intermediate valve (64). And a reed switch (11) that is turned on / off by the applied magnetic force. Furthermore, the timer part (54) is a valve opening detection part (52)
The open state time of the intermediate valve (64) sensed by the control unit (56) is measured, and the control unit (56) uses the use signal sensed by the use sense unit (50) and the intermediate valve (52) sensed by the valve open sense unit (52). 64) and the time measured by the timer section (54) are inputted respectively, and when the gas appliance is not used, it is determined whether or not the intermediate valve (64) is in the open state, and the intermediate valve (64) is determined. ) Is connected so as to control the drive of the motor (13) so that the intermediate valve (64) is automatically closed when a predetermined time has elapsed.

The buzzer driving section (58) has a buzzer (60) that receives a control signal output from the control section (56) and issues an alarm sound for warning that the intermediate valve (64) has opened. Drive control, the motor drive unit (62) receives the control signal output from the control unit (56), the intermediate valve (64) which is a gas passage connecting the indoor gas pipe (3) and the hose (5). The drive of the motor (13) is controlled to shut off. Hereinafter, the operation and effect of the gas appliance safety device and the control method thereof configured as described above will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the control operation of the gas appliance according to the present invention. In FIG. 5, S represents a step. First, step S1
Then, it is determined whether or not the power supply has been approved for the gas appliance. If the power supply has not been authorized (ie, in the case of NO), the gas appliance is held in the operation standby state. If the result of the determination in step S1 is that the power supply has been approved (in the case of YES), the flow proceeds to step S2 to determine whether or not gas equipment is used.
And outputs the detected signal to the control unit (56).

Therefore, it is determined whether or not the gas appliance is in use by inputting a signal sensed by the use sensing unit (50) to the control unit (56). The process returns to step S1, and the operations from step S1 are repeated.

If the result of the determination in step S2 is that the gas appliance is not in use (NO), the operation proceeds to step S3,
Whether the intermediate valve (64) is opened or not is sensed by the valve sensor (52). When the user operates the intermediate valve knob (7) and turns it in the direction of A (see FIG. 2), permanent magnet
Since the reed switch (11) is turned off while the (9) and the reed switch (11) are separated, the controller (56) receives the off signal of the reed switch (11) and opens the intermediate valve (64). Determine the status.

If the result of determination in step S3 is that the intermediate valve (64) is not open (NO), the operation returns to step S2 and repeats the operation of step S2 and subsequent steps to repeat the operation of the intermediate valve (64). If) is opened (in the case of YES), the process proceeds to step S4, and the timer section (54) measures (opens) the time during which the intermediate valve (64) is opened. Next, in step S5, the valve opening time (Tv) measured by the timer section (54) is a predetermined time (T1;
If the gas device is not used, the time during which the intermediate valve is determined to be open) has not elapsed (if NO), the process returns to step S4 and continues the operation of step S4 and subsequent steps while measuring the time. Is repeated.

As a result of the determination in step S5, when the valve opening time (Tv) has passed a predetermined time (T1) (in the case of YES), the gas equipment is not used, and the user operates the intermediate valve (64). )
Is determined to be open, and the process proceeds to step S6.
The control unit (56) outputs a control signal to the motor driving unit (62) so as to shut off gas flowing through the intermediate valve (64).

Therefore, in the motor drive section (62), the control section (5)
6) The control signal output from (30) is input and the motor (1
3) is driven, and the motor (1) is driven by the drive of the motor (13).
The driving gear (17) coupled to the shaft of (3) rotates in conjunction with the driven gear (19) of the intermediate valve knob (7) to rotate the driven gear (19) while rotating, so that the intermediate valve knob (7) is rotated. Rotates in the direction B (see FIG. 2) to shut off the intermediate valve (64). At this time, in step S7, whether or not the intermediate valve (64) is shut off is detected by the valve opening sensor (52).
This is because when the intermediate valve nove (7) is rotated by driving of the motor (13) and is rotated in the direction B (see FIG. 2), the permanent magnet (9) and the reed switch (11) come into contact with or come close to each other. Since the reed switch (11) is turned on by the magnetic force generated from the permanent magnet (9), the control unit (56) receives the ON signal of the reed switch (11) and shuts off the intermediate valve (64). Is determined.

If the result of determination in step S7 is that the intermediate valve (64) is not shut off (NO), the process returns to step S6 and repeats the operations of step S6 and subsequent steps to repeat the operation of the intermediate valve (64). If (64) is interrupted (in the case of YES), the process proceeds to step S8 and the control unit (56) sets the motor (13)
The control signal is output to the buzzer drive unit (58) so as to warn that the intermediate valve (64) is open while stopping the operation. Accordingly, the control signal output from the control unit (56) is input to the buzzer driving unit (58) to drive the buzzer (60) to generate an alarm sound, and in step S9, the timer unit (54) generates an alarm sound. Measure the time, the alarm sound generation time (Tb) is the control unit (56)
If the predetermined time (T2; time for notifying that the intermediate valve is open) has not elapsed (NO), the process returns to step S8, and the time is continuously counted. The operation of step S8 and subsequent steps are repeatedly performed.

If it is determined in step S9 that the alarm sound generation time (Tb) has exceeded a predetermined time (T2) (in the case of YES), the flow proceeds to step S10, and the buzzer driving unit (58) performs control. The buzzer (60) is stopped by the control of the section (56). next,
In step S11, it is determined whether or not the power supply approved for the gas appliance has been cut off. If the power supply has not been cut off (in the case of NO), the process returns to step S2 and repeats the operation from step S2. When the power is turned off (YES
In the case of), the operation ends while the gas appliance is kept in the operation standby state.

As described above, according to the gas appliance safety apparatus and the control method thereof according to the present invention, when the gas appliance is not used, the open state of the intermediate valve (64) is sensed and the gas supply is performed. Is automatically cut off and an alarm sound is emitted, which is convenient for use and has an effect of eliminating anxiety about gas leakage.

[0014]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a gas safety device having a conventional configuration.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part of the gas safety device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective view showing a coupled state of an intermediate valve knob and a motor in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a control block diagram of a safety device for a gas appliance.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a control operation in FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Indoor gas pipe 5 Hose 7 Intermediate valve knob 9 Permanent magnet 11 Reed switch 13 Motor 17 Drive gear 19 Follower gear 50 Usage sensor 52 Valve open sensor 54 Timer 56 Control 58 Buzzer drive 62 Motor drive 64 Intermediate valve

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A gas appliance provided with an intermediate valve for opening and closing a flow path of a gas flowing from the outside, and an intermediate valve knob for opening and closing the intermediate valve, wherein use sensing means for sensing whether or not the gas device is used; A valve opening detecting means for detecting an opening state of the intermediate valve, and a signal detected by the use detecting means and the valve opening detecting means are inputted to determine an opening state of the intermediate valve when the gas appliance is not used. A safety device for a gas appliance, comprising: a control unit that performs the control, and a valve driving unit that closes the intermediate valve so as to shut off a flow path of the gas supplied to the gas appliance under the control of the control unit. 2. The safety device for a gas appliance according to claim 1, further comprising timer means for measuring an opening time of the intermediate valve and an alarm sound generation time. 3. The safety device for a gas appliance according to claim 1, further comprising: an alarm sound generating means for generating an alarm sound so as to warn an open state of the intermediate valve under the control of the control means. 4. The valve opening detecting means includes a permanent magnet,
The safety device for a gas appliance according to claim 1, further comprising a reed switch that is turned on / off by a magnetic force generated by the permanent magnet. 5. The control means drives the valve drive means so as to close the intermediate valve when the opening time of the intermediate valve elapses a predetermined time when the gas appliance is not used. The safety device for gas appliances according to claim 1, wherein 6. The valve driving means includes: a motor that drives the intermediate valve to close; a driving gear that rotates in conjunction with the driving of the motor; and a valve that is coupled to the driving gear to rotate the intermediate valve knob. The safety device for a gas appliance according to claim 1, further comprising a driven gear that causes the driven gear to rotate. 7. A method for controlling a gas appliance provided with an intermediate valve for opening and closing a flow path of a gas flowing from the outside, wherein a use determining step of determining whether the gas device is used, and determining an open state of the intermediate valve. Opening determination step to perform, a measurement step of measuring the opening time of the intermediate valve, and when the gas device is not used, when the opening state of the intermediate valve passes a certain time, the motor is driven to drive the intermediate valve. And a valve shut-off step of shutting off the gas.