KR101184726B1 - Flow meter for measuring flow rate at several time slots - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A flow meter measuring a flow rate by setting a time slot is provided to always measure an accurate flow rate regardless of the flow rate and to accurately charges with respect to water usage in a low flow rate band at nighttime. CONSTITUTION: A flow meter measuring a flow rate by setting a time slot comprises a stabilizing amplifier(20), a time slot selector(30), a daytime amplifier(40), a nighttime amplifier(50), an A/D convertor(60), and a controller(70). The stabilizing amplifier amplifies flow rate signals sensed by a sensor(10) at a predetermined level. The time slot selector checks a sensing time of the flow rate signals amplified by the stabilizing amplifier on a real time basis for applying a flow rate correction variable, thereby dividing into preset daytime sensing signals or preset nighttime sensing signals. The daytime amplifier applies a daytime amplifying rate to the flow rate signals sensed at daytime according to a division of the time slot selector, thereby amplifying. The daytime amplifier applies a nighttime amplifying rate to the flow rate signals sensed at nighttime according to the division of the time slot selector, thereby amplifying. The A/D converter converts amplifying signals of the daytime amplifier or the nighttime amplifier into digital signals. The controller calculates the flow rate signals by applying the flow rate correction variables of the daytime and the nighttime to correct the flow rate signals of the daytime and nighttime input by a time calculator(80) amplified in the daytime amplifier and the nighttime amplifier at respectively different amplifying rates, thereby deciding a usage of tap water. [Reference numerals] (10) Sensor; (20) Stabilzing amplifier; (30) Time slot selector; (40) Daytime amlifier; (50) Nighttime amplifier; (60) A/D convertor; (70) Controller; (80) Time calculator

Description

Flow meter for measuring flow rate by setting time zones {Flow meter for measuring flow rate at several time slots}

The present invention improves the accuracy of the measurement by measuring the flow rate of different fluids at different time zones by applying different amplification rates at different time zones, and measures by time zone division setting to accurately detect leaks of minute fluids that are very difficult to detect. It relates to a flow meter with improved accuracy.

In particular, the present invention is a technology for accurately measuring the amount of tap water detected differently during the day and night time by setting the day time zone and the night time zone in advance, and applying the amplification rate of the data measured for each time zone to different minute flow rate accurately. In this way, it is possible to increase the accuracy of the billing corresponding to the usage amount, and to detect the leakage due to the failure of the pipeline so that quick action is possible.

Conventionally, various methods have been used with respect to a flowmeter for measuring the amount of fluid, such as water, oil, gas, etc. flowing through the inside of the pipe, and the flowmeter may be classified mechanically or electronically according to its operation.

The mechanical flowmeter measures the usage by directly displaying the amount of rotation as the gear connected to it rotates as the impeller or rotor rotates, and attaches a permanent magnet to the mechanical gear as the impeller or rotor rotates by attaching a permanent magnet to the impeller or rotor. The method has been used to measure the amount of use of the permanent magnet rotates to accumulate the rotational speed of the mechanical gear.

However, the mechanical flowmeter as described above rotates because a large number of gears are engaged with each other, so if the gear is worn for a long period of time, the gears are misaligned, and foreign matter is caught between the gears. There was a problem in that accurate metering was not possible due to a gradual error between the amount of fluid and the value measured through the flow meter.

Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, the electronic flow meter is used a lot. Electronic flowmeters use a method of installing a permanent magnet on an impeller or a rotor, and installing a permanent magnet or a sensor outside thereof to measure the number of fluids by measuring the rotational speed by magnetic force or interaction of the magnet.

Conventional flowmeters for measuring water pipes typically measure flow rates in the same measurement range for daytime hours with low water usage and nighttime hours with low water consumption, and thus have relatively low water consumption. The low flow rate at night time has a problem that it is not easy to measure.

In addition, even low flow rate, there was no way to clearly determine whether the detected amount is actually detected by the use or due to leaks due to poor pipe.

As a specific conventional leak detection system, as shown in FIG. 1, a water pipe 10, flow meters 21 and 22, and a leak detection device 30 are disclosed.

The water pipe 10 is connected between a storage device 13 capable of storing a fluid 12 such as water over a long section of several tens or hundreds of kilometers, and a pressurizing station 14 is located at an intermediate point of the connected water pipe 10. Maintain the proper pressure drop over the long section.

The flow meter 20 may be installed at the water supply point or the arrival point of the storage device 13 or the pressurizing station 14, or may be installed in the middle of the water supply pipe 10. However, at least two locations, the water point where the fluid 12 flows out and the point of entry where the fluid 12 flows in, must be installed. The flowmeter 21 at the water supply point A and the flowmeter 22 at the arrival point B measure the flow rates QA and QB and transmit them to the leak detection device 30. The flowmeter 20 continuously measures the flow rate at a predetermined interval and transmits the measured value in real time to the leak detection device 30.

The leak detection device 30 stores the flow rate data transmitted in real time in the database 40. On the other hand, when the monitoring time interval for the flow rate (Q) is greater than 1 second, that is, in the case of 1 minute, 10 minutes, 1 hour, etc., the value obtained by averaging all the flow rates (Q) measured during that time is used. However, in order to reduce the measurement error, the average value may be excluded by excluding the maximum value, the minimum value, or the measurement value having a larger deviation than the other measurement values during the time. The leak detection device 30 determines whether there is a leak using the flow rate (Q) information obtained as described above. However, since the leak is determined by using the information on the flow rate, it is possible to determine whether the leak is only when the fluid 12 flows into the water pipe 10.

On the other hand, the transmission interval is determined by the measurement time of the flowmeters 21 and 22, the speed of the communication line between the leak detection device 30 and the flowmeters 21 and 22, the reception speed of the leak detection device 30, and the like. Or it may be determined by the administrator in a policy.

The database 40 is a storage for storing necessary data. The database 40 includes a flow rate information DB 41 for storing measured flow rate information, and a reference information DB 42 for storing a leak of fluid, a criterion for leak determination, and the like.

The conventional system compares the flow rates measured at two points in FIG. 1, that is, water supply point A and arrival point B, thereby determining whether there is a leak.

In other words, if a leak occurs between the water supply point A and the arrival point B, the flow rate of the arrival point B will be smaller than the flow rate of the water delivery point A. Therefore, by comparing the flow rate measured at point A and the flow rate measured at point B, if the difference is found, it can be determined as a leak.

However, a problem is that measurement errors of the flow rate measured by the flow meter 20 may occur. The error of the flow rate measured by the flow meter 20 may be generated by the environment of the water pipe 10 while there is an error generated by the flow meter itself. Therefore, the flow rate QB measured by the flow meter 22 at the arrival point B will be smaller than the flow rate QA measured by the flow meter 21 at the water supply point A. Therefore, the leak detection apparatus 30 must compare the flow rate by correcting for this.

The present invention is to solve the problem that can cause the inaccuracy of the measurement according to the flow rate difference may appear by time in the case of the conventional flow meter, the flow rate measurement time zone is divided into day time zone and night time setting The purpose of the present invention is to provide a flow meter for measuring flow rate by setting a time zone to improve flow rate accuracy by applying different amplification factors and applying a corresponding flow calibration variable to convert the flow rate.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a flow meter for measuring the flow rate by setting one time zone so as to detect the flow rate to determine whether there is a leak.

Flow meter for measuring the flow rate by setting the time zone of the present invention for achieving the above object, the sensor is installed in the pipeline to constantly detect the amount of fluid flowing through the inside; A stabilization amplifier for amplifying the flow rate signal detected by the sensor into a stable flow rate signal; A time zone selector that checks the current time in real time in consideration of the difference in the amount of tap water used by the day time zone and the night time zone and classifies the flow signal detected by a predetermined day time zone or night time zone; An amplifier for amplifying the flow signal detected during the daytime according to the selection of the time slot selector; An amplifier for amplifying the flow signal detected in the night time zone according to the selection of the time slot selector; An A / D converter for converting an amplified signal of a daytime detection signal amplifier or a nighttime detection signal amplifier into a digital signal; A controller for calculating an amount of usage by calculating an amplified signal input from the A / D converter; And a time calculator for inputting a time set for daytime with a large amount of tap water to a controller and a time set for nighttime with relatively low amount of tap water.

In the present invention, the controller applies the flow rate signal detected by the sensor to the amplification ratio stored and managed differently according to the day time zone and the night time zone setting of the time calculator to apply the flow rate correction variable corresponding to the signal converted into a digital signal. It is characterized by determining the flow rate.

In the present invention, the day time zone and the night time zone set by the time operator are characterized in that they are variable.

In the present invention, the controller stores and manages a leak determination program for determining whether the pipe is leaked based on the result of comparing the detected flow signal and the reference signal.

According to the flow meter for measuring the flow rate by setting the time zone of the present invention, it is possible to accurately measure the flow rate at any time, even in the water pipe at night, regardless of the large or small flow rate, there is an advantage that accurate charging is possible.

In addition, according to the present invention, by detecting even a minute leak of the water pipe, day and night, it is possible to save the unnecessary waste of water, there is an advantage that can be quickly made appropriate measures according to the leak.

1 is a block diagram of a conventional leak detection system.
2 is a control block diagram of a flow meter in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 3 is a flow chart measurement range comparison of the conventional flow meter measurement range of the present invention.
4 is a diagram showing the problem according to the minimum amount of data required for flow rate measurement.
Figure 5 is a correlation diagram of the application of amplification factor and flow rate calibration variable according to the present invention.
Figure 6 is a view showing a problem solved by the application of the flow calibration parameters in accordance with the present invention.
7 is a flow chart measuring method of the flow meter according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The flow meter of the present invention is installed in the pipeline as shown in Figure 2, the sensor 10 for constantly detecting the amount of fluid flowing therein, and to amplify the flow signal detected by the sensor 10 to a predetermined level Time to divide the time zone to check the detection time of the stabilization amplifier 20 and the flow signal amplified by the stabilization amplifier 20 in real time to apply the flow calibration variable to be divided into a pre-set day time zone or night time zone detection signal Day time zone amplifier 40 for amplifying the flow signal detected in the day time zone according to the division in the selector 30 and the time zone selector 30 by applying a day time zone amplification rate, and the time zone selector 30 A night time amplifier 50 for amplifying the flow signal detected in the night time zone by applying the night time amplification ratio, and amplifying the day time amplifier 40 or the night time amplifier 50 A / D converter 60 for converting a call into a digital signal, and a digital signal input from the A / D converter 60, the daytime time zone and the night time zone flow rate signal inputted from the time calculator 80 The controller 40 determines the amount of tap water used by calculating the flow rate calibration variables for the day time zone and the night time zone so as to correct the amplification at the amplifier 40 and the night time zone amplifier 50 at different amplification rates.

In the time calculator 80 of the present invention, the time set by the controller 70 in the daytime with the high tap water consumption and the night time with the relatively low tap water consumption are selected and separated by the time zone selector 30. Enter the real time at all times.

The day time zone and the night time zone input from the time calculator 80 may not be fixed time, but may be set differently according to seasons. For example, the sunrise time and the sunset time are different depending on the season, so this can be taken into account. In summer, the shower is usually used to cool down even at night.

The stabilization amplifier 20 is provided as the first stage amplifier 100 for first amplifying a predetermined level to facilitate the determination in the controller 70 of the flow signal detected by the sensor 10, time The group selector 30, the daytime detection signal amplifier 40, and the nighttime detection signal amplifier 50 detect the sensor 10 amplified by a predetermined level in the stabilization amplifier 20 of the first stage amplifier 100. It serves as a second stage amplification unit 200 for dividing the flow rate signal by time zone and applying a different amplification rate to amplify the detected flow signal into a digital signal at a predetermined level so that the conversion of the detected flow signal into a digital signal is performed accurately. will be.

The controller 70 controls the flow rate correction variable corresponding to the amplification rate in the second stage amplifier 200 which stores and manages the flow rate signal detected by the sensor 10 according to the daytime and nighttime time settings of the time calculator 80. Determine the flow rate by converting the digital signal by applying.

The controller 70 also stores and manages a program for determining leaks. Since the amount of tap water is largely used during the daytime, the controller 70 determines the actual use, whereas the amount of tap water is relatively not used during the nighttime, depending on the actual use or Since it is difficult to distinguish whether or not it is due to leakage, it is desirable to make and manage data on tap water usage and leakage data separately at night time.

For example, if the detected flow rate is above a certain level, it is judged to be the flow rate actually used, and if it is below a certain level, it is judged as a leak due to the rupture of the pipe and is not applied to the charge point. It is to be used as the data necessary for quick identification.

The amplification rate and flow rate calibration parameters will be described in more detail as follows. The electromagnetic flowmeter is a device that measures the flow rate by measuring the minute voltage signal measured from the sensor and converts it into a frequency signal through the VF converter. However, when the flow rate is small, the voltage signal measured from the sensor is very fine and accordingly the converted frequency signal is very small. Therefore, in order to measure more accurately, it is necessary to increase the measurement time to obtain a certain amount of detection data.

For example, to secure more than 0.1%, more than 1000 data needs to be secured. In this case, however, the input resolution may be increased, but the response time may be a problem because additional time is required for data acquisition.

Accordingly, the counter value can be obtained by increasing the amplifier amplification rate instead of increasing the measurement time.

Generated Counter Value = (Modified Amplification Rate / Existing Amplification Rate) X (Previous ADC Value)

In the above formula, if the (modified amplification ratio / existing amplification ratio)> 1, the counter value appears in incremental form, and it is possible to increase the amount of data that can be obtained at the same time. Can be.

In addition, since the amount of data measured at the same time is large, the measurement resolution is improved compared to the conventional measurement method, and thus the measurement accuracy may be improved.

The electronic flowmeter of the present invention measures and amplifies the fine voltage signal measured from the sensor, and quantifies and displays it in the flow rate unit required by the user through the product of the calibration variables.

As shown in FIG. 3, the voltage signal that can be obtained through the sensor is very small at night time when water consumption is low. On the other hand, since the voltage signal obtained in the daytime when the water usage is high is relatively large, the difference between the voltage signal obtained by the sensor during the night and daytime is very large. Without considering this point, the conventional electronic flowmeter is designed to process the input signal in a large range including the water usage in the daytime, so that the minute flow rate, which is the minute voltage signal in the nighttime, cannot be measured properly.

Therefore, in order to be able to measure the micro-flow sensor signal in the night time as described above, data must be accumulated for a predetermined time, which causes a problem in that the time required from the signal input to the output becomes long as shown in FIG. 4.

Therefore, in the present invention, considering that the data amount of the input signal of the electronic flowmeter is correlated with the measurement accuracy, if the data amount is 100, a circuit capable of handling one or less errors can be configured to achieve a maximum accuracy of ± 1%. As shown in FIG. 6, the signal response time is minimized and the amplification rate of the night time zone is measured to be larger than the time zone so that the maximum amount of data can be obtained as shown in FIG. 5. You can solve the problem.

Referring to the operation of the flow meter to improve the accuracy of the measurement by the time zone classification setting of the present invention.

First, the day and night time zones, which are important technologies for achieving the object of the present invention, are set separately, and then set to be input to the controller 70 through the time calculator 80 during the operation of the apparatus (S1).

The flow rate flowing through the conduit is detected by the sensor 10 (S2), and the detected signal may be a signal that is very weak to analyze the flow rate, and thus, the stabilized amplifier 20 of the first stage amplifier 100 is used. A predetermined level is amplified (S3).

The amplified flow rate detection signal is input to the second stage amplification unit 200 and processed. First, the time zone selector 30 receives real-time data input from the controller 70 when the flow rate detection signal is detected. By judging through the selection of one of two time zones or day time zone (S4).

After that, when it is determined by the time selector 30 that the day time zone (S5), the flow rate detection signal is input to the day time detection signal amplifier 40 and amplified by a predetermined level (S7).

Daytime detection signal amplifier 40 is amplified by applying a relatively low amplification rate, since the sensor 10 detects that the flow rate is large, so that there is little cause to reduce the accuracy of the detection signal.

If it is determined that it is not the day time zone, it is determined whether the night time zone is correct (S6), and the flow rate detection signal is input to the night time detection signal amplifier 50 and amplified by a predetermined level (S8).

In the night time detection signal amplifier 40, since the sensor 10 detects that the flow rate is small, there are many factors that reduce the accuracy of the detection signal, and thus amplifies by applying a high amplification factor.

The predetermined level amplification process in step S8 is to amplify the flow detection signal at night time zone. As described above, since the flow rate used in the night time zone is less than that of the day time zone, the detection signal may be a very weak signal. For accuracy of the flow rate measurement, the controller converts the flow rate by applying a predetermined calibration variable corresponding to the amplification rate again.

The flow rate detection signal amplified by the predetermined level in step S7 or S8 is input to the A / D converter 60, converted into a digital signal (S9), and input to the controller 70 (S10).

Therefore, the controller 70 determines the flow rate by running the flow measurement program stored and managed in its own memory. In this case, the controller 70 distinguishes whether the input digital signal corresponds to the daytime flow rate detection signal or the nighttime flow rate detection signal, and applies the different calibration variables to calculate the daytime flow rate or the nighttime flow rate. .

If the detected flow rate is greater than the reference flow rate, that is, if the detected flow rate signal is greater than the reference signal (S11), it is determined as the actual usage of the daytime or nighttime time (S12) and stored and managed in the DB (S13). ) To be charged (S14).

On the other hand, if the measured flow rate is less than the reference flow rate as a result of the measurement in step S11, that is, if the detected flow rate signal is less than the reference signal, the flow rate is not actually used in the daytime or nighttime time, for example, the pipe is damaged. It is determined that the leak due to such as (S15) is stored and managed in the DB (S13), so that appropriate measures such as repairing the pipeline are made.

10 sensor 20 stabilization amplifier
30: time zone selector 40: day time amplifier
50: night time amplifier 60: A / D converter
70: controller 80: time calculator
100: first stage amplification unit 200: second stage amplification unit

Claims (4)

In the flow meter is provided with a sensor 10 is installed in the pipeline to detect the amount of fluid flowing through the pipeline,
A stabilization amplifier 20 for amplifying the flow rate signal detected by the sensor 10 to a predetermined level;
A time zone selector 30 for dividing the time zone to check the detection time of the flow signal amplified by the stabilization amplifier 20 in real time for application of the flow calibration variable and classify it into a preset day time or night time zone detection signal;
A daytime zone amplifier 40 for amplifying the flow rate signal detected during the daytime zone by applying the daytime zone amplification ratio according to the division in the time zone selector 30;
A night time zone amplifier 50 for amplifying the flow rate signal detected in the night time zone by applying the night time zone amplification ratio according to the division in the time zone selector 30;
An A / D converter 60 for converting an amplified signal of the daytime amplifier 40 or the nighttime amplifier 50 into a digital signal; And
The digital signal input from the A / D converter 60, the daytime and nighttime flow rate signals inputted from the time operator 80 are different in the daytime amplifier 40 and the nighttime amplifier 50 respectively Flow meter for measuring the flow rate by setting the time zones, characterized in that consisting of a controller 70 for determining the tap water usage by calculating by applying the flow rate correction variable for each day time and night time to correct the amplified by. delete  The flow meter of claim 1, wherein the daytime and nighttime zones input by the time operator 80 and separated by the time zone selector 30 vary according to seasons. . According to claim 1, wherein the controller 70 is amplified by a different amplification rate for each day time zone and night time zone and the leakage to determine whether the leakage of the pipe based on the flow signal and the reference signal comparison result calculated according to the flow rate calibration variable application Flow meter for measuring the flow rate by setting the time zone, characterized in that the storage program management.

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