KR102572061B1 - Electromagnetic current meter - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an electromagnetic flow meter which measures flow velocity in an open channel such as a river, a canal, culverts, or a sewer. The electromagnetic flow meter includes: a detection unit (10) installed at a lower end of a rod body (39) and has an induction coil and a water flow pipe (12); and a camera module (20) installed above the detection unit (10), whereby images transmitted from the camera module (20) are output to a smartphone (40) in real-time. Through the present invention, the electromagnetic flow meter enables real-time observation of a underwater insertion part of the electromagnetic flow meter and the flow current around the electromagnetic flow meter, and allows for precise settings of the position and posture of the insertion part of the flow meter, thereby significantly enhancing the measurement accuracy of the flow velocity in the open channel.

Description

Electromagnetic current meter {ELECTROMAGNETIC CURRENT METER}

The present invention relates to an electromagnetic current meter for measuring flow velocity in a hydraulically open channel such as a river, a waterway, a gullet or a sewer. The sensing unit 10 composed of is installed, the camera module 20 is mounted on the top of the sensing unit 10, and the image transmitted from the camera module 20 is output to the smart phone 40 in real time.

An electromagnetic velocimeter is a device for measuring flow velocity by sensing an induced current varied by a water flow passing through a water pipe in which an induction coil is installed.

Conventional electromagnetic current meters, including Patent No. 2038706, operate by detecting the electromotive force as the water flows through the magnetic field created inside the tube body in which the induction coil is installed and converting it into flow velocity. As it is established on the premise of flow, it is generally used for measuring the flow of various pipes rather than open channels, and since the water passing area is fixed according to the flow of the full pipe, it is commonly used as a flowmeter rather than a flowmeter.

Unlike rotor-type current meters, which are mainly used as open-channel current meters, electromagnetic current meters do not have physically rotating parts, and the inside of the tubular body through which water flows can be configured smoothly, so there is little risk of failure and maintenance has the advantage of being simple, and has excellent measurement accuracy.

However, as described above, due to the nature of its operation, the electromagnetic current meter detects effective measurement values only for pipes in a full pipe state in which the flow direction is always constant. However, it was practically impossible to apply it as a flow meter for open channels such as rivers or sewers. This is because the position and attitude of the tube body with the induction coil must be accurately maintained so that the tube body with the induction coil is parallel to the flow direction of the water flow to obtain meaningful measurements. If a slope is formed between the central axis of the pipe and the flow direction of the water flow, not only the deflection component of the flow velocity is incorrectly detected, but also the measured value is seriously distorted.

After all, in order to utilize an electromagnetic current meter as an open channel current meter, it is necessary for the user of the current meter to accurately set the position and attitude while continuously observing the input part in the water stream with the naked eye. In addition to being impossible, it is fundamentally impossible to determine the direction of water flow from the outside in the case of high turbidity water flow such as sewage, so the conventional electromagnetic velocimeter cannot be applied as an open channel current meter such as river or sewer despite the various advantages described above.

In view of the above problems, the present invention is devised so that the electromagnetic current meter can be used as an open channel current meter by allowing the user to accurately set the input position and posture of the current meter while observing the input configuration below the surface of the water and the state of the water flow in real time. As such, in the electromagnetic current meter, the sensing unit 10 is installed at the lower end of the rod body 39, and the sensing unit 10 is installed with an induction coil in the water passage 12, which is a tube with both ends open. And is configured to measure the flow rate by detecting the electromotive force caused by the water flow, the camera module 20 is installed on the upper part of the sensor 10, the objective lens 21 of the camera module 20 is on the downstream side of the water flow , and the camera module 20 is connected to the smartphone 40, and the image pickup information transmitted from the camera module 20 is output to the touch screen 45 of the smartphone 40 in real time Electromagnetic current meter, characterized in that am.

In addition, in the present invention, a display line 60, which is a flexible wire, is installed at the downstream end of the water flow pipe 12, and the display line 60 is developed in a direction parallel to the water flow according to the water flow, and the camera module 20 It is an electromagnetic current meter characterized in that the display line 60 in a developed state in the imaging area of is included.

Through the present invention, real-time observation of the subsurface inlet of the electromagnetic current meter and the surrounding water flow is possible, and it is possible to accurately set the position and posture of the current meter inlet, thereby dramatically improving the measurement accuracy of the flow rate with the number of electromagnetic current meters can be improved by

In addition, in establishing the above-described real-time observation configuration for the bottom of the water surface, the overall configuration of the electromagnetic current meter can be simplified by using a commercially available smart phone 40, thereby enabling easy portability and reducing manufacturing costs. can

In particular, by utilizing the self-mounted storage device 42 of the smart phone 40, it is possible to store images taken at the bottom of the surface of the water inlet of the electromagnetic current meter and the surrounding water flow, as well as the control unit 30 and the smart phone 40 of the current meter. ), it is possible to save measured values and captured images together, so it is possible to improve the utilization of measurement information during office work.

1 is a perspective view of the present invention
Figure 2 is a partially cut exploded perspective view of the present invention
3 is a configuration diagram of the present invention
Figure 4 is a partially cut perspective view of one embodiment of the present invention to which a wireless module is applied
Figure 5 is a configuration diagram of the embodiment of Figure 4
6 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention in which a control unit and a smartphone are connected
Fig. 7 is an explanatory diagram from the user's point of view of the embodiment of Fig. 6;
8 is a perspective view of an excerpt of an embodiment of the present invention to which a mark line is applied
9 is an exemplary view of a smartphone screen of the embodiment of FIG. 8
10 is a perspective view of an excerpt of an embodiment of the present invention in which a light emitting unit is installed;

The detailed configuration of the present invention will be described through the accompanying drawings.

First, FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the appearance of the present invention. As shown, the present invention detects the electromotive force caused by the water flow passing through the water pipe 12 in which the induction coil is wound and converts it into flow velocity. And, it is composed of a sensing unit 10 including the water passage 12, a camera module 20, a rod body 39, a control unit 30, and a smart phone 40.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the present invention is a pole-type portable flowmeter for measuring flow velocity in various types of open channels such as rivers, waterways, or sewers, and at the measuring point or the waterside of the measuring point, the user can use the upper part of the rod body 39 is gripped and the sensing unit 10 at the bottom of the bar 39 is put into the lower surface of the water to measure, and the measured value is confirmed through the display 35 of the control unit 30 mounted on the upper part of the bar 39 .

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a sensing unit 10 is installed at the lower end of the rod body 39 of the current meter of the present invention, and the sensing unit 10 is a water passage pipe 12 open at both ends. ), an induction coil is installed to create a magnetic field inside the water pipe 12, and the magnetic field detects the electromotive force caused by the passage of the water flow and converts it into flow velocity.

In addition, a camera module 20 is installed above the sensing unit 10 of the present invention. The camera module 20 is a digital camera composed of an objective lens 21, an imaging device, and a signal transmission device. Waterproofness is given in consideration of the input, and as indicated by the dotted line in FIG. 2, the objective lens 21 of the camera module 20 collimates the downstream side of the water flow.

That is, in the camera module 20 of the present invention, the objective lens 21 is set so that the collimation line coincides with the central axis of the water passage 12 on a plane, but has a slight slope on the side, whereby the sensing unit 10 The downstream area of ) is photographed, and the angle of view of the camera module 20 is that part of the sensing unit 10, including the front end of the water passage 12 as well as the area on the front side of the sensing unit 10 is the shooting area. It is set wide enough for my inclusion.

This camera module 20 is connected to the smartphone 40, and the image pickup information transmitted from the camera module 20 is output in real time to the touch screen 45 of the smartphone 40, where the connection means the camera module 20 ) is wired or wirelessly connected so that the transmission information of the information device can be input to the CPU (Central Processing Unit) 41 of the smartphone 40, which is an information device, and the detailed connection and information transmission state between each component is shown in FIG. 3 and illustrated in FIG. 5 .

First, FIG. 3 illustrates a wired connection state, and as in the same drawing and FIG. 1, the camera module 20 and the smartphone 40 are electrically connected through a signal line 47, and the signal line 47 on the drawing ) is shown as being drawn from the control unit 30 at the top of the current meter rod body 39 rather than the camera module 20, but this is to prevent damage due to external exposure of the signal line 47 to the rod body ( 39) and the output end of the signal line 47 is drawn from the housing of the control unit 30, and in the same embodiment, actual information distribution between the camera module 20 and the signal line 47 and the control unit 30 is not performed. don't

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the flow velocity measurement value output from the sensing unit 10 is input to the microcontroller unit (MCU) 31 in the control unit 30 through a separate wire and output to the display 35, and is separately The imaging information transmitted from the raw camera module 20 is transmitted to the data connector 43 of the smart phone 40 via the signal line 47 and then input to the CPU 41.

In this way, the image capturing information input to the CPU 41 of the smartphone 40 is recorded in the storage device 42 connected to the CPU 41 and output to the touch screen 45 connected to the CPU 41, so that the user can The image of the water flow captured by the camera module 20 can be checked in real time, and the inside of the water flow pipe 12 and the water flow of the sensing unit 10 including the water pipe 12 are observed by observing bubbles or drifts in the water flow pipe 12 in the image. You can instantly check your position and attitude, and adjust them accurately.

4 and 5 are embodiments in which wireless communication is applied to the above-described connection between the camera module 20 and the smartphone 40, the camera module 20 is equipped with a wireless module 50, and the smartphone 40 The wireless module 50 is also mounted, but the wireless module 50 of the camera module 20 and the wireless module 50 of the smartphone 40 are applied with the same standard and protocol. .

Here, the wireless module 50 is not a main communication unit 46 such as a chipset for a mobile communication network and a chipset for a wireless LAN of the smartphone 40, but a module that performs low-power short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth or ZigBee. As the wireless module 50 of the camera module 20 and the wireless module 50 of the smartphone 40 are paired with each other, a session is established and maintained between the camera module 20 and Image pickup information is distributed among the smart phones 40 .

In particular, most smartphones 40 currently on the market are equipped with a low-power short-range wireless module 50 such as Bluetooth. It can be performed without difficulty, and in this process, no modification or attachment of additional devices to the smartphone 40 is required.

On the other hand, FIGS. 6 and 7 show that the control unit 30 of the current speedometer of the present invention, the camera module 20, and the smart phone 40 are connected, and the transmission information of the camera module 20 is directly input to the smart phone 40. Rather, it is an embodiment in which the transmission information of the camera module 20 is input to the smartphone 40 via the control unit 30, and through this, the advantages of recording, managing, and utilizing various information such as flow rate measurements and captured images You can get it.

That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the data connector 43 of the smartphone 40 is connected to the MCU 31 of the control unit 30 through the signal line 47, and the camera module 20 is also indicated by a dashed-dotted line in the drawing. As a configuration connected to the MCU 31 of the control unit 30 through the marked separate wired wiring, the flow rate measurement information transmitted from the sensing unit 10 is input to the MCU 31 built in the control unit 30 and then detected. At the same time as being output to the display 35 of the unit 10, the image capturing information transmitted from the camera module 20 is first input to the MCU 31 of the control unit 30, and then the MCU 31 of the control unit 30 It is transmitted to the data connector 43 of the smart phone 40 via and is finally input to the CPU 41.

At this time, the MCU 31 of the control unit 30 transmits the image capturing information of the camera module 20 to the data connector 43 of the smartphone 40, and at the same time, the flow velocity measurement value information transmitted from the sensor 10 is also transmitted. It is transmitted along with the imaging information, so that the user can simultaneously check the digitized flow rate information and the real-time captured image in the same state as in FIG. 7 .

In particular, as described above, since real-time image information as well as real-time flow rate measurement can be stably recorded and stored through the storage device 42 of the smartphone 40, real-time image and flow rate information when performing internal business later can be usefully utilized and managed.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, the GPS module 48 may be connected to the CPU 41 of the smartphone 40 to obtain location information of the smartphone 40 at the time. The GPS module 48 is basically installed in the smartphone 40, and this can also be implemented without any modification or installation of additional devices, and thus, as shown in FIG. Accurate location information can also be recorded and managed.

Through the accompanying recording of location information, not only the significance of the data itself, such as the convenience and efficiency of management by location of measurement values and images, but also the measurement location that may be caused by misjudgment or negligence of the measurer performing the measurement work in the field Errors can also be prevented or checked.

On the other hand, FIGS. 8 and 9 show an embodiment in which the indicator line 60 is configured. As shown, the indicator line 60, which is a flexible wire, is installed at the downstream end of the water flow pipe 12, When (10) is put into the water flow, as shown in FIG. 9, the indicator line 60 develops in a direction parallel to the water flow according to the water flow.

That is, since it may be difficult to accurately grasp the direction of the water flow only with a simple water flow image, the display line 60, which is a flexible wire material that can visually display the direction of the water flow, is installed. At this time, the shooting area of the camera module 20 is expanded. By setting the display line 60 in the displayed state to be included, it is possible to check the same screen as in FIG. 9 .

A synthetic fiber having excellent flexibility may be used as a material for the marking line 60, and thus the direction of the water flow can be accurately grasped even in a situation where a fine flow velocity is created.

In addition, visibility may be maximized by applying fluorescent paint or luminous paint to the outer circumferential surface of the display line 60 .

In particular, as shown in FIG. 9, in outputting an image such as water flow through the touch screen 45 of the smartphone 40, by displaying the reference line 49 on the screen of the touch screen 45, the above-described sensing unit ( 10) position and attitude can be checked with one degree of accuracy, which is possible only by setting the image information output software of the smartphone 40 without manipulation or modification of the camera module 20 such as the objective lens 21, and the camera module 20 Since the position of ) on the sensing unit 10 is always fixed, the water flow direction can be accurately grasped by comparing the reference line 49 and the display line 60 on the screen of the touch screen 45 .

In addition, as shown in FIG. 10, by installing the light emitting part 66 at the end of the indicator line 60 and at the front end of the water pipe 12, the direction of the water flow can be accurately grasped even when measuring the water flow with high turbidity or at night. , A small light source such as a waterproof LED may be applied to the light emitting unit 66 .

That is, even when the display line 60 cannot be confirmed on the screen of the touch screen 45 due to turbid water flow or night measurement, the display line 60, the end light emitting part 66 and the water passage 12, the tip light emitting part 66 By checking the position of the touch screen 45 on the screen, the shape and direction of the display line 60 can be estimated, and thus the direction of the water flow can be grasped.

At this time, the light emitting part 66 at the end of the display line 60 and the light emitting part 66 at the tip of the water pipe 12 emit different colors, so that more accurate and easier observation is possible.

10: sensing unit
12: water pipe
20: camera module
21: objective lens
30: control unit
31: MCU
35: display
39: Bongche
40: Smartphone
41: CPU
42: memory
43: data connector
45: touch screen
46: Ministry of Communications
47: signal line
48: GPS module
49: baseline
50: wireless module
60: mark line
66: light emitting part

Claims (2)

As an electromagnetic current meter, a sensing unit 10 is installed at the lower end of the rod body 39, which is introduced to the lower surface of the water surface. It is configured to measure the flow rate by detecting the electromotive force caused by the sensor, and the camera module 20 is installed on the upper part of the sensor 10, and the objective lens 21 of the camera module 20 collimates the downstream side of the water flow. In the electromagnetic current meter in which the camera module 20 is connected to the smartphone 40 and the image pickup information sent from the camera module 20 is output to the touch screen 45 of the smartphone 40 in real time,
A marking line 60, which is a flexible wire, is installed at the front end of the water flow downstream of the water passage 12, and the marking line 60 is developed in a direction parallel to the water flow according to the water flow, and the camera module 20 expands within the shooting area. An electromagnetic current meter, characterized in that the state indicator line 60 is included. delete

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