KR20130074376A - Digital water meter for watching water-quality as well as flow quantity in home aqua-grid system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A digital water meter of a home aqua grid system for monitoring a flow rate and a water quality is provided to measure a water quality and indicate an optimal water quality related to a pipe. CONSTITUTION: A water meter (500) joined to a water quality measuring device (100) includes a flow sensor. A water quality sensor (10) is mounted on the floor surface of the water meter. The water quality measuring device is arranged in the front surface of the water meter. The water quality measuring device receives water quality information from the water quality sensor. [Reference numerals] (30) Input unit; (55) Central processing unit; (58) Memory unit; (70) Display unit; (80) Alarming unit

Description

Digital water meter for watching water-quality as well as flow quantity in home aqua-grid system}

The present invention relates to a digital water meter capable of inspecting flow rate and water quality at the same time, and is particularly applicable to a home aqua grid system.

A water meter (water meter) is a device installed in a water pipe to measure the amount of water used in each home, furniture, or building.

On the other hand, 'Home Aqua Grid System' is currently being developed at the Incheon Municipality level. It goes beyond the water meter, which is simply measured by integrating the flow rate, and is a system such as transmission data collector and server for data storage and analysis by wire or wireless. In conjunction with the smart water meter (smart water meter) that can send data or receive control commands (smart water meter) is a network that is formed.

In connection with such a 'home aqua grid system', there is a 'system and method of living using a home aqua grid' of the application number 10-2010-0134233, the application is a smart water meter network to provide a living convenience Seems to

There is a desire to use water of optimum water quality in connection with water pipes, and to satisfy this need, 'Optimum water quality measurement and notification device and method of water pipes' of Patent 10-0749318 is disclosed.

The water meter is installed in the water pipe to which the water is supplied to individual homes, and it has a good position to measure the water quality. The water meter measures the flow rate and displays it by integrating it. The sensor is built in.

It would be desirable to combine this water meter with the water quality measurement device according to the patent to display the optimal water quality associated with the measurement of the water quality and piping along with the integration of the flow rate.

In this case, if the water quality measuring device is installed in the pipe, the length of the pipe is increased by that much, and a more straight pipe part is required. In this case, it is difficult to put it in the report box in which the water meter is mounted. This is because installation may not be easy. In addition, if the size of the straight pipe is required, the installation may require a plumbing, which can cause a lot of problems. In addition, the volume of the upper and lower parts in the report box equipped with a water meter does not have much margin.

Therefore, it is necessary to avoid affecting the length of the straight pipe in the water flow direction of the water meter whenever possible.

On the other hand it would be desirable if the water meter combined with the water quality measurement device could be applied and used in a home aqua grid system.

The present invention satisfies such a request.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a water meter incorporating a water quality measuring device that does not affect the length of a straight pipe in the water flow direction of the water meter. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a water meter combined with a water quality measuring device capable of displaying the water quality in addition to the integrated display of the flow rate and also displays the optimum water quality in connection with the piping. Another object of the present invention is to provide a water meter combined with a water quality measuring device that can be applied to a home aqua grid system as a smart water meter. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a water meter which can be optimally mounted in a water meter and has a water meter that is optimally combined with the water meter.

The present invention provides a water meter with a built-in flow sensor; A water quality sensor is mounted on the bottom surface of the water meter; It is provided in front of the water meter and provides a water meter combined with a water quality measuring device, characterized in that it comprises a water quality measuring device for receiving the water quality information from the water quality sensor installed on the bottom surface of the water meter.

According to the present invention, in a water meter coupled with the water quality measuring device, the water quality measuring device has a control unit which is connected to the flow rate sensor and stores a user input or preset initial optimum value; The control unit includes: impurity content measuring means for tap water, which receives a signal on the impurity content of the tap water from the water quality sensor and measures the impurity content of the current tap water; Water supply termination whether or not judging means that the water supply is terminated when the flow rate received from the flow sensor is 0; When it is determined that the water supply is finished by the water supply end determination means, the impurity content of the tap water is measured by comparing the impurities content of the tap water with the optimum value in the current state where the water supply is finished, and the current value. Optimum value judging and updating means for newly storing the impurity content of tap water in U as less than the optimum value and storing the value as an optimum value; Preferably, the impurity content measuring means includes an optimum impurity content determining means for comparing the amount of impurities present in the tap water with the optimum value.

According to the present invention, the water quality measuring apparatus further includes a display unit for displaying the impurity content of the tap water measured by the water quality sensor under the control of the controller and a notification unit for displaying the determination result of the optimum impurity content determination means. desirable.

According to the present invention, the control unit of the water quality measuring device further has a flow rate storage means for taking in and storing flow rate information of the flow meter of the water meter; The water quality measuring device further has a communication interface for communicating with a management server, wherein the flow rate information stored in the flow rate storage means and the impurity content of the tap water measured by the impurity content measuring means of the tap water and the optimum impurity content determining means It is preferable to transmit the determination result to the management server.

According to the present invention, while the water quality meter is optimally combined with the water meter, it does not affect the length of the straight pipe in the water flow direction of the water meter, and there is no problem when the water quality measuring device is combined with the left and right symmetry and is mounted in the report box. There will be no. In addition, the water quality measurement device is connected to the management server and the network with a communication interface can be applied to the home aqua grid system.

1 is a mounting perspective view of a water meter coupled to a water quality meter in accordance with the present invention;
2 is a block diagram of a water meter coupled to a water meter according to the present invention;
3 is a view showing the operation of the control unit in the water meter combined with the water quality measuring instrument according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 shows a water meter 1000 to which a water quality measuring device according to the present invention is coupled.

A water meter 500 is provided and the water quality measuring device 100 is mounted on the front surface of the body of the water meter 500.

The water quality sensor 10 is mounted on the bottom surface of the water meter 500, and the water quality measuring apparatus 100 receives information about water quality from the water quality sensor.

In addition, the water meter 500 has a built-in flow sensor, the water quality measurement device 100 receives the current flow rate information from the flow meter.

A connection part 11 provided with connection lines is provided from a lower portion of the water meter 500 to provide the water quality sensor 10 and the information on the flow rate sensor of the water meter 500 to the water quality measuring apparatus 100.

2 is a block diagram of a water meter 1000 to which the water quality measuring device is coupled.

As shown, the water quality sensor 10 is mounted on the bottom surface of the water meter 500, and information of the flow sensor embedded in the water meter 500 is transmitted to the water quality measuring apparatus 100.

The water quality sensor 10 may be an impurity detector for detecting the amount of impurities in the tap water, and may include a detection terminal unit and a circuit unit for electrically processing a signal of the detection terminal.

The circuit unit electrically processes the signal sensed by the detection terminal, and the processing signal is sent to the control unit 50 of the water quality measurement apparatus 100 and the control unit 50 measures the amount of impurities in the tap water.

Values detected by the water quality sensor 10 may be a variety of things related to water quality standards, for example, conductivity of tap water, turbidity, residual chlorine, hydrogen ion concentration (PH) or harmful substances (for example, Lead, fluorine, ammonia nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, etc.).

When the water quality sensor 10 detects the conductivity of the tap water, an electrode is provided as the sensing terminal as in the conventional TDS measuring device, and the conductivity of the tap water flowing through the electrode is sensed through the circuit unit. The controller 50 measures the amount of impurities.

When the water quality sensor 10 detects turbidity of tap water, the light source unit irradiates light to the tap water as the detection terminal and receives light emitted from the light source unit, as in a conventional turbidity meter. The light receiving unit may be provided, and the circuit unit may be an optical conversion converter that converts and outputs the intensity of light received by the light receiving unit. The controller 50 measures turbidity according to the voltage input from the light conversion converter.

The measurement of the turbidity is typically a transmitted light method, scattered light method, surface scattered light method, transmission-scattered light method, and the like, and various such methods may be employed according to the present invention.

When the water quality sensor 10 detects the amount of residual chlorine in the tap water, an electrode by a galvanic electrode method or a polar graph method is provided as a detection terminal as in the conventional residual chlorine measuring device, and flows to the electrode through the circuit part. The intensity of the diffusion current or the electromotive force is input to the controller 50, whereby the controller 50 measures the amount of residual chlorine in the tap water.

When the water quality sensor 10 detects the hydrogen ion concentration (PH) of the tap water, a hydrogen ion detection electrode is provided as the detection terminal as in the conventional hydrogen ion concentration meter, and the circuit unit according to the detected voltage or current The hydrogen ion concentration (PH) is detected and accordingly the control unit 50 measures the hydrogen ion concentration of the tap water.

When the water quality sensor 10 detects an ion concentration of tap water, an ion electrode and a comparison electrode are provided as the sensing terminals as in the conventional ion concentration meter, and the potential difference or current sensed according to these electrodes through the circuit unit. Is input to the controller 50, and thus the controller 50 measures the ion concentration of the tap water.

The controller 50 of the water quality measuring apparatus 100 includes a central processing unit 55 and a storage unit 58.

The central processing unit 55 is mainly composed of a microprocessor, and the storage unit 58 includes a ROM and a RAM and is to be processed by the program and the central processing unit 55 which determine the operation order of the central processing unit 55. Remember the data.

In addition, the water quality measuring apparatus 100 according to the present invention may have an input unit 30, in which case, the user can set the optimum amount of impurities of the tap water desired by the user to the control unit 50.

In other cases, an input unit 30 is not provided separately, and this value may already be set by the maker and stored in the storage unit 58.

As will be described later, the amount of impurities in the optimum tap water initially set and stored in this way constitutes an initial optimum value.

According to the present invention, the controller 50 detects whether water supply is finished through the flow sensor of the water meter 500.

The controller 50 according to the present invention continuously updates the optimum amount of impurities (optimal value) of tap water as described below according to use, and this value is input from the water quality sensor 10 and measured. Compared with the amount of impurities, the determination result is notified through the notification unit 80, and additionally necessary matters are displayed through the display unit 70.

3 is a flowchart showing an operation performed by the control unit 50 of the water quality measuring apparatus 100 according to the present invention.

First, the controller 50 measures the amount of impurities present in the tap water according to the input signal detected by the water quality sensor 10 (step S1), and compares this value with an optimum value. (Step S2) If it is the initial use, it will be set and compared with the initial optimum value stored in the storage unit 58.

In this case, the result of the comparison is notified through the notification unit 80. In this case, the amount of impurities in the current tap water is less than the optimum value, indicating that drinking is possible in a good state. (Step S3)

Next, the controller 50 determines whether water supply is finished through the flow sensor built in the water meter 500 (step S4), and when the water supply is determined to be finished, the amount of impurities at the end of the current water supply and Compare the optimal values. (Step S5)

If the amount of impurities present in the tap water is smaller than the optimum value, the value is newly set as an optimum value and stored in the storage unit 58. (Step S6)

Therefore, in the case of initial use, the optimum value is updated when the current amount of impurities in tap water at the end of water supply is smaller than the initial amount of impurities in the current tap water and by the user's input or the initial optimum value set by the manufacturer. The initial stored value will be retained.

In subsequent uses, if the amount of impurities in the tap water at the end of the embargo is less than the optimal value updated in the previous use, the value will be updated as the optimum value.

In this way, the water quality measuring device 100 is updated to the optimum value of the smallest amount of impurities in the use so far at the time when the use is currently stopped (that is, at the end of water supply), and the tap water in the use is updated. If the amount of impurity is greater or less than the optimum value in the notification unit by the user will be able to determine the optimal quality of the tap water.

The controller 50 may set the value immediately determined according to the signal transmitted from the water quality sensor 10 as the impurity amount of the tap water. In other cases, the controller 50 may determine the amount of the impurity of the current tap water as an average value of the continuous measured values. Can be. For example, the average value for a particular time interval value can be determined as the amount of impurities present in the tap.

Specifically, if the average value is determined as the amount of impurities in the current tap water over a period of 3 seconds, if the value measured at one second intervals is 49, 50, or 51, the average value of 50 is the amount of impurities in the current tap water. This value is compared with the optimum value described above.

In particular with respect to steps S2 and S3, it is possible to inform the user by comparing the quantity of impurities presently measured with the water quality criteria. In this case, the controller 50 may store a preset water quality standard, and in other cases, the water quality standard may be input through the input unit 30.

For example, when the water quality sensor 10 detects turbidity of tap water, when the water quality standard for tap water is used, the turbidity should be less than 0.5 NTU, and the controller 50 stores the turbidity standard. In step S2, the controller 50 compares the currently measured tap water turbidity and the optimal value, and also compares the currently measured tap water turbidity and water quality standards. Accordingly, when the turbidity is less than the water quality standard (0.5 NTU), it is notified in the step S3 as a good thing through the notification unit 80.

Conductivity, turbidity, ionic concentrations that indicate the amount of harmful substances (e.g. lead, fluorine, ammonia nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, etc.), residual chlorine, etc. are good if the amount is small. In the case of drinking water, the water quality standard sets the maximum content limit suitable for drinking water. Therefore, in this case, the present invention can be achieved under the control of the controller 50 as described above.

However, if it is good to enter within a certain range, such as the hydrogen ion concentration of tap water (in the case of hydrogen ion concentration, pH 5.8 to 8.5 is acceptable in accordance with the water quality standards for drinking water), the control unit 50 is The optimal value requires the absolute value of the deviation from the value that is acceptable for the intrinsic optimal value, and the amount of impurity currently measured in relation to steps S2 and S5 is the deviation of the impurity amount and the essential optimal value of the currently measured tap water. The absolute value of is required.

For example, in the case of tap water, neutral pH 7 can constitute an intrinsic optimal value, which is the absolute value of the deviation between the intrinsic optimal value of PH 7 and the acceptable PH value. Becomes

In the initial case, the deviation value set with respect to the essential optimum value constitutes the initial optimum value, and then the deviation value updated at the end of the water supply will constitute the optimum value.

In addition, the absolute value of the deviation between the pH of the currently measured tap water and the value of the intrinsic optimal value of PH 7 becomes the amount of impurities currently measured.

Thus, for example, if up to PH 7.5 or PH 6.5 is initially tolerated for the intrinsic optimal value PH7, the initial optimal value according to the invention will be 0.5.

If the pH of the tap water currently measured in step S2 is 7.3, the absolute value of the deviation with respect to the intrinsic optimum value PH 7 is 0.3, which is smaller than the optimum value 0.5 according to the present invention, and thus is marked as good in the alarm unit 80. It is done.

In addition, when the pH of the tap water at the end of the water supply is 7.2 at step S5, since the deviation value is 0.2 and smaller than the optimum deviation value 0.5, the optimum value is updated at step S6.

The controller 50 determines that the water supply is terminated when the flow rate / flow rate of the tap water is 0 from the flow sensor.

The water quality measuring apparatus 100 is provided with a reset unit for initializing an optimum value, for example, when using one water pipe and then using it for another water pipe, so that the conventionally stored optimum value can be initialized. It is preferable.

According to the present invention, the water quality measurement apparatus 100 may have a network interface unit (not shown) and may be connected to a management computer (not shown) through a network such as a wired or wireless internet. In this case, the controller 50 may store the measured impurity content of the current tap water by time, and may store the optimum value by time, and manage the content or the optimal value of the impurity content of the current tap water stored by time. Can be transferred to a computer

In this case, the management computer collectively collects impurity data of tap water through the present water quality measurement 100 installed in various places, thereby enabling overall management.

In this case, the controller 50 may also collect flow rate information from the water meter 500 and transmit it to the management computer.

Accordingly, according to the present invention, the water meter 1000 combined with the water quality meter can be applied to a home aqua grid system as a smart water meter.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 31 denotes a reset switch, 32 and 33 indicate an input value setting switch, and 81 and 82 respectively indicate whether an optimum value has been reached. That is, in this use, if the amount of impurities in the tap water is larger than the optimum value, the red light 81 is turned on, otherwise the green light 82 is turned on to function as the alarm unit 80 as a whole.

As such, according to the present invention, the water quality measuring device 100 is installed on the front of the water meter 500 and the water quality sensor 10 is mounted on the bottom surface of the water meter 500, and the water quality measuring device 100 is provided. ) Receives a flow rate value from the flow rate sensor built in the water quality sensor 10 and the water meter 500.

According to this structure, the water quality meter is optimally combined with the water meter, so that it does not affect the length of the straight pipe in the water flow direction of the water meter, so there is no problem when it is mounted in the report box. In addition, the water quality measurement device is connected to the management server and the network with a communication interface can be applied to the home aqua grid system.

Meanwhile, according to the present invention, the water meter may change left and right according to the flow direction of water, and at this time, the water quality measuring device 100 coupled to the water meter 500 should always be located in front of the water meter. 100 is preferably symmetrical and is applicable even if the left and right sides of the water meter 500 are changed.

It will be appreciated that this has been achieved the object of the present invention. Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments, the scope of the claims is defined by the claims.

500: water meter
100: water quality measurement device
50:
10: water quality sensor

Claims (4)

(a) a water meter with a built-in flow sensor; A water quality sensor is mounted on the bottom surface of the water meter;
(b) a water meter coupled to the water quality measuring device, which is installed on the front of the water meter and comprises a water quality measuring device which receives water quality information from a water quality sensor installed on the bottom surface of the water meter. The method of claim 1,
(b1) the water quality measuring device has a control unit which is connected to the flow rate sensor and stores a user input or preset initial optimum value;
(b2) the control unit
(b21) an impurity content measuring means of the tap water which receives a signal of the impurity content of the tap water from the water quality sensor and measures the impurity content of the current tap water;
(b22) water supply termination whether or not judging means for determining that water supply is complete when the flow rate received from the flow sensor is 0;
(b23) When it is determined that the water supply is finished by the water supply termination determination means, the impurities content of the tap water in the current state in which the water supply measured by the tap water is terminated is compared with the optimum value. An optimum value judgment and updating means for newly storing the impurity content of the tap water in a current state less than the optimum value and storing the value as an optimum value;
(b24) a water meter combined with a water quality measuring device, comprising: an optimum impurity content determining means for comparing the present impurity content of the tap water with the optimum amount of impurities measured by the tap water. The method of claim 2,
The water quality measuring apparatus further includes a display unit which displays the impurity content of the tap water measured by the water quality sensor under the control of the controller, and a notification unit which displays the determination result of the optimum impurity content determination unit. Water meter combined with. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The control unit of the water quality measuring device further has a flow rate storage means for taking in and storing flow rate information of the flow meter of the water meter;
The water quality measuring device further has a communication interface for communicating with a management server, wherein the flow rate information stored in the flow rate storage means and the impurity content of the tap water measured by the impurity content measuring means of the tap water and the optimum impurity content determining means Water meter combined with a water quality measuring device, characterized in that for transmitting the determination result to the management server.

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