JPS63119781A - Gas blocking valve apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A. Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a gas cutoff valve device that cuts off gas supply in response to cutoff request signals from various sensors or manual buttons.

B. Prior Art This type of gas cutoff valve device is used to cut off the gas supply in order to prevent raw gas from being released due to an earthquake or fire. , a shutdown request signal from various sensors such as the seismic sensor 3 and a pressure sensor on the supply side, a shutdown request signal from an abnormal flow rate detection circuit provided in the control circuit 1, or a shutdown request signal from the HA control panel 5 for home automation. The shutoff valve 6 is closed by a shutoff request signal etc. from a provided manual button, and returned to open by operating a return button 6b. When returning, it is necessary to prevent the release of raw gas due to forgetting to close the gas cock or pilot burner of the equipment, so as shown in Figure 4, when the valve returns to opening, the gas flow is monitored for a certain period of time to ensure that the flow rate exceeds a certain value. If detected, it will be shut off again.

As the flow rate monitoring sensor 7, a so-called pulse type gas meter is used, which outputs a pulse every time a predetermined flow rate passes by a pulse generator 7a composed of a permanent magnet and a reed switch that are linked to the output shaft of an integrating gas meter. If no pulse is input for 2 minutes, it is determined that there is no gas flow and the valve is held open, and a return display is displayed on the HA control panel 5.
If a pulse is input, it will be shut off again.

Furthermore, if a gas appliance is used while monitoring the gas flow during recovery, the shutoff valve 6 will operate, so the user must wait a certain period of time (for example, 2 minutes) after opening the valve, and during this waiting period In order to indicate that there is, an indicator lamp 8 made of a light emitting diode or the like is made to blink.

C6 Problems to be Solved by the Invention As mentioned above, the reason why the time-consuming flow rate detection is performed without detecting the pressure when the valve returns to open is because the shutoff valve receives a shutoff request signal due to detection of raw gas release, etc. After the cut-off operation,
This is because the pressure on the secondary side of the shutoff valve has dropped to atmospheric pressure, so using a method of detecting gas leaks using a pressure gauge cannot determine whether the gas cock of the device has been closed after the gas has been shut off. However, in reality, most gas shutoffs are done unnecessarily, such as malfunctioning gas leak alarms, shutoffs due to safety checks from outside telephone lines, and shutoffs due to malfunctioning seismic sensors. Therefore, it is extremely inconvenient to perform the reset operation each time and wait for a certain amount of time.In addition, you cannot tell whether the reset operation is necessary until you use gas, which is even more inconvenient. There was a drawback.

In addition, primary batteries such as lithium batteries are normally used in gas cutoff valve devices to supply power to the control circuit, solenoid valves, and the light emitting diodes mentioned above, and under normal usage conditions, the batteries will not need to be replaced for about 10 years. Although unnecessary, for users who frequently experience malfunctions as described above, there is a problem in that the power consumption by the solenoid of the shutoff valve becomes abnormally high, and for example, the battery life is reduced to a fraction or less.

The present invention was made in view of the above problems, and its purpose is to prevent gas from actually flowing even if an alarm signal is input from a gas leak alarm or seismic sensor. In this case, it is not necessary to operate the shutoff valve, and after that, it is necessary to monitor the gas flow and shut off the shutoff valve only when gas actually flows. The control circuit 1 is kept in the gas flow monitoring state while the valve is kept open, reducing the number of times the shutoff valve operates, eliminating the above-mentioned inconvenience, and preventing shortening of battery life. An object of the present invention is to provide a valve device.

Means for Solving the D0 Problem The gas cutoff valve device according to the present invention has a cutoff valve disposed on the gas flow path, and controls the gas supply to be cut off by cutoff request signals from various sensors and manual buttons. The control circuit has a flow rate monitoring sensor that detects the gas flow rate on the secondary side of the shutoff valve on the gas flow path, and the control circuit has a flow rate monitoring sensor that detects the gas flow rate when a shutoff request signal is input until a release signal is input. The system enters a gas flow monitoring state in which the gas flow is monitored, and if a gas flow is detected in the gas flow monitoring state, the shutoff valve is closed, and if no gas flow is detected, the shutoff valve is kept open. The feature is that when a cutoff request signal is input from a gas leak alarm or an RF5m sensor, the cutoff valve is not actually closed but placed in a gas flow monitoring state.

80 Effect According to the above configuration, when a cutoff request signal is input, if gas is being used, a gas flow is immediately detected and the cutoff valve is closed, but if no gas flow is detected, the cutoff valve is closed. From now on, until a release signal is input, the shutoff valve will be maintained in a state where it is activated immediately when gas flow is detected, so even though the shutoff valve is not actually closed, the shutoff will continue. It can perform exactly the same function as the

F. Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the device of the present invention, in which a control circuit 1 includes a gas leak alarm 2, a seismic sensor 3,
Various sensors such as a supply side pressure sensor 4 and a HA control panel 5 for home automation are connected, and the control circuit 1 receives cutoff request signals from these sensors and sends a valve control signal to the solenoid 6a to shut off the cutoff. Activate valve 6.

The shutoff valve 6 is manually returned to its open state using an operation button 6b, and a return signal is input to the control circuit 1 by the back electromotive force generated in the solenoid 6@ at this time. The flow rate monitoring sensor 7, which also serves as an integrating gas meter, is equipped with a pulse generator 7a that outputs one pulse every time a predetermined flow rate passes.The control circuit 1 uses the flow rate detection pulse from the flow rate monitoring sensor 7 to The gas flow lid is constantly monitored, and when an abnormal flow rate due to release of raw gas is detected, the shutoff valve 6 is immediately activated. Further, the display lamp 8 flashes to indicate that gas flow is being monitored during the return operation.

Control circuit l operates as shown in FIG.

When the control circuit 1 is activated, it monitors the abnormal flow rate as a normal routine, and also monitors the gas leak alarm 2,! 11. Always check the shutoff request signals from the sensor 3, pressure sensor 4, etc. When the cutoff request signal is input, a gas flow monitoring state is entered in which the presence or absence of a flow rate detection pulse from the pulse generator 7a is monitored and the gas flow in the gas flow path is monitored until the next release signal is input. When gas flows in the gas flow monitoring state and a flow rate detection pulse is input, the shutoff valve 6 is shut off. The operation after the shutoff valve 6 is shut off is the same as in the conventional example, and when a return signal is input by operating the return button 6b, 2
The gas flow is monitored for several minutes, and if a flow rate detection pulse is input during that time, it is determined that there is a gas leak and the circuit is shut off again.If there is no gas leak, the display lamp 8 is turned off to display a return to normal operation. to return to. In this embodiment, a manual button and a release button are provided on the HA control panel 5, but it goes without saying that they may be provided separately.

According to the above configuration, even if the seismic sensor 3 operates and a cutoff request signal is input to the control circuit 1, the cutoff valve 6 will not close if there is no gas flow, but if the earthquake stops. It is virtually impossible to use gas equipment or release raw gas until a release signal is input from the HA control ff15 after the earthquake or after it is determined that the seismic sensor 3 has malfunctioned. Even if the shutoff valve 6 is not in operation, it performs the shutoff function. In addition, if the release button is operated, the gas flow monitoring state of the control circuit 1 is normally canceled and there is no need to reset the shutoff valve 6. It is now possible to use gas equipment, and f! Compared to the conventional example in which the cutoff valve 6 was operated every time the As sensor 3 malfunctioned, unnecessary battery consumption can be reduced.

In the above embodiment, the cutoff request is manually released, but the release signal may be automatically generated after an appropriate period of time (for example, 10 minutes) has elapsed since the cutoff request signal was input. If the seismic sensor 3 is activated, it is thought that breakage of the gas pipe will occur within a few minutes, and if this occurs, a large amount of gas flow will be detected and the shutoff valve will be activated immediately, but it will not take more than 10 minutes. If the problem does not occur within this period, the risk of the malfunction has passed, and there is no problem in canceling the control prohibition state. Therefore, if it is automatically canceled, the valve opening operation In addition, it is possible to eliminate the inconvenience that gas does not come out when the user uses gas without knowing that the bad currency sensor 3 has malfunctioned as described above. The configuration for automatically canceling requests in this way is as follows:
For example, a timer may be formed in the control circuit 1 by software or hardware, the timer may be started in response to a cutoff request signal, and its time-up output may be used as a release signal.

By the way, since the shutoff valve 6 is arranged behind the meter cock 9 on the gas flow path, if the temperature drops with the meter cock 9 closed, the pressure in the gas flow path will decrease, and the pressure will decrease. The sensor 4 will output a cutoff request signal. When such a situation occurs, the control circuit 1 enters the gas flow monitoring state as described above, so it is necessary to perform a return operation when using gas, and there is no problem actually occurring in the gas flow path. There is an inconvenience that a return operation must be performed even though there is no such thing. What is shown in FIG. 3 is a means for avoiding such inconvenience, in which a release signal is generated based on the output of the pressure sensor 4. That is, when a cutoff request signal is received, which is a pressure drop signal generated when the pressure in the gas flow path falls below a predetermined value, if a flow rate detection pulse is generated, the cutoff valve 6 is cut off, but the flow rate detection When no pulse is generated, the pressure sensor 4 monitors whether the gas pressure in the gas flow path has returned, and when the gas pressure has returned, the routine automatically returns to normal. With this configuration, even if the pressure in the gas flow path decreases and the control circuit 1 enters the gas flow monitoring state, when the pressure returns to normal, the gas flow monitoring state of the control circuit 1 is automatically canceled. This eliminates the need for manual return operations, improving usability.

In this way, by configuring the system to automatically cancel requests for shutdown requests from various sensors, there is no need to press the request cancellation button each time a seismic sensor malfunctions. It is very convenient to be able to continue gas flow monitoring for as long as necessary.

It is also appropriate if the gas flow monitoring state is to be continued for a long time and there is a risk that the shutoff valve will operate due to the detection of a trace amount of gas flow that far exceeds safety standards.

The timer may be configured to be reset at regular time intervals (for example, 10 minutes).

G. Effects As described above, the present invention has a cutoff valve disposed on the gas flow path, and a control circuit that cuts off the gas supply in response to cutoff request signals from various sensors and manual buttons. The control circuit has a flow monitoring sensor that detects the gas flow rate on the secondary side of the shutoff valve, and the control circuit monitors the gas flow with the flow rate monitoring sensor until the release signal is input when the shutoff request signal is input. If a gas flow is detected in the gas flow monitoring state, the shutoff valve is closed, and if no gas flow is detected, the shutoff valve is kept open.For example, when an earthquake actually occurs, the shutoff valve is closed. When the seismic sensor malfunctions due to shock or some kind of shock (which actually happens quite often), the shutoff valve is set to the gas flow monitoring state without closing it. The advantage is that the next time you use gas, you can skip the waiting time required in the past, and you can also significantly reduce the power consumed by the shutoff valve solenoid and improve battery life. There is,
Furthermore, when the gas flow monitoring state is automatically canceled, there is an advantage that the conventional inconvenience of not knowing that the shutoff valve is open until the gas cock is opened can be eliminated.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Section 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram showing the same operation as above, FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory diagram showing the operation of another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is an operation explanatory diagram showing the operation of a conventional example. 1 is the control circuit, 2 is the gas leak alarm, 3 is the FJI5g sensor, 4 is the pressure sensor, 5 is the HA control panel, 6 is the cutoff valve,
7 is a flow rate monitoring sensor. Agent Patent Attorney Ishi 1) Chief 7 Figure 1 Turtle Return Figure 3

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) It has a shutoff valve installed on the gas flow path, and has a control circuit that shuts off the gas supply based on shutoff request signals from various sensors and manual buttons. The control circuit has a flow rate monitoring sensor that detects the gas flow rate, and when a cutoff request signal is input, the control circuit enters a gas flow monitoring state in which the gas flow is monitored by the flow rate monitoring sensor until a release signal is input, and the control circuit is in a gas flow monitoring state where the gas flow is monitored by the flow rate monitoring sensor. 1. A gas cutoff valve device that closes a cutoff valve if a gas flow is detected in the state, and maintains the cutoff valve in an open state if no gas flow is detected. (2) When the shutoff request signal is generated by a manual button, a release signal is obtained manually, and when it is generated by various sensors, a release signal is automatically obtained. Gas cutoff valve device described in. (3) The control circuit includes a pressure sensor that generates a cutoff request signal when the gas pressure in the gas flow path becomes less than a predetermined value.
In the gas flow monitoring state, if the flow monitoring sensor does not detect a gas flow and the pressure sensor detects that the gas pressure in the gas flow path has returned, the shutoff valve is kept open and the gas flow monitoring state is canceled. The gas cutoff valve device according to claim 2, characterized in that: