MXPA05013512A - Meter register and remote meter reader utilizing a stepper motor - Google Patents

Abstract

A meter for flowing material, e.g., water, has a meter register having an electronic display, e.g., an LED or LCD display, and a mechanical read-out display driven by a stepper motor to record units of water that flowed through the meter. In the event of an electrical power failure, the LED or LCD readout values are lost, however, the mechanical read-out values remain. Further, signals are transmitted to a microprocessor of a meter register to change the rotation of the stepper motor so that the meter register can be used with different types of meters. Still further, a meter generator co-acting with a meter register forwards an electrical pulse signal after a quantity of material or utility passes through a water meter to a microprocessor of a remote reader. The remote reader includes an odometer coupled to a stepper motor.

Description

METER TOTALIZER AND REMOTE METER READER USING A GRADUAL SPEED ENGINE CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED REQUESTS The present invention claims the benefit of the request for E. U. A. Provisional Serial No. 60 / 478,235, filed June 13, 2003 and from the request of E. U. A. Provisional Serial No. 60 / 547,716, filed on February 25, 2004, applications that are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to meter totalizers for measuring the amount of material that has flowed, for example, water and to remote meter readers connected to meter totalizers and, more particularly, to meter totalizers that use a motor From stepper speed to spin the wheels of an odometer, and to remote meter readers in indoor and outdoor connected to a meter totalizer, the meter reader uses a stepper motor to spin the wheels of an odometer.

Description of the Related Art Meters, such as water meters or gas meters, measure the amount and, in some cases, the flow velocity of a fluid passing through them. Generally speaking, these meters include meter totalizers. The totalizer is coupled to the measuring chamber of the meter body and records the volume of material flowing through it. The water meters of the initial prior art had the meter totalizers coupled directly to the measuring chambers. This coupling included an impeller shaft attached to an element of the impeller chamber, which then propelled a plurality of gears into the meter totalizer and driven an odometer. Although these geared arrangements are reliable, they are costly and affected the accuracy of the measuring chamber through the friction caused by the gears and mechanical seals. Subsequently, the meter totalizers and measurement chambers changed and used magnetic couplings. This allowed the arrival of a sealed totalizer. The sealed totalizers of the prior art used a magnetic follower provided within the totalizer, which co-operated with a magnetic impeller provided in the body of the meter. The magnetic follower was coupled to a geared arrangement that drove an odometer. The magnetic follower is magnetically driven by the magnetic exciter, causing the geared arrangement to drive the odometer. The sealed totalizers still have the wear problems and reduced friction problems associated with the direct impulse totalizers of the prior art. Subsequently, electronic totalizers were developed, for example, as described in the commonly assigned PCT publication No. WO 02/073735 (hereinafter also referred to as "WO 02/073735"). The meter totalizer described in WO 02/073735 includes magnetic trackers from which a pulse is used to create an electrical signal through a battery activated circuit board provided in the totalizer. The electronic signal is used to provide information that refers to the volume of material flowing through the meter. The battery also supplies power to an LED or LCD in such a way that a measurement reading, such as the amount of fluid passing through the meter, can be taken by means of a meter reader. With the advent of remote measurement, the need for an LED or LCD, or for that matter a mechanical reading, such as the gear-driven odometer, is generally not necessary. However, if there was an electrical fault or the battery had insufficient electrical voltage to operate the LED or LCD, a subsequent reading could not be taken. Consequently, the volume of fluid that passed through the meter during the last billing period would be lost. Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide a meter totalizer to overcome this problem. In addition, there are many different manufacturers of meters and different styles of meters, such as in the case of fluid measurement, which include multi-jet meters or positive displacement meters. Generally speaking, each of these meters requires its own particular meter totalizer that not only correlates the magnetic movements with the volume of fluid flowing through the meter but also includes the proper gear for the particular type of meter. For example, a positive displacement meter of 20 millimeters ("mm") must have its own unique totalizer and can not use the same meter totalizer as a positive displacement meter of 25 mm even for meters provided by the same manufacturer. This can be extremely expensive for the manufacturer to provide different designs of meter totalizers. In addition, if a service has different meters that are supplied to it or meters that have different units of measurement, it must have different totalizers for each of those meters. Therefore, an object of the invention is to provide a meter totalizer that can be used with more than one unit / meter totalizer and meter size.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a service meter totalizer having an electronic transmitter that transmits information via a communication link to a separate receiver. The totalizer also includes a mechanical odometer and a hand or other indicator of material that has flowed, for example, water, driven by stepper motors. In addition, the present invention relates to a service meter totalizer that can be adapted to many meter styles and sizes. The remote totalizer includes a look-up table that has characteristic flow information about various sizes and types of meters. The meter totalizer is then activated to emulate a specific meter totalizer characteristic. Moreover, the present invention relates to a service meter totalizer system utilizing a remote reader system.

The remote reader system includes an arrangement for using information generated from a meter reading system causing a mechanical odometer to be driven by a stepper motor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a service meter. Figure 2 is a top plan view of a meter totalizer of the prior art. Figure 3 is a side elevational view of the meter shown in Figure 2. Figure 4 is a side elevational view, partially in section, of a meter totalizer made in accordance with the present invention. Figure 5 is a top plan view of the totalizer shown in Figure 4. Figure 6 is a partial sectional elevation view of the meter totalizer shown in Figure 4 co-operating with a meter. Figure 7A is a graph showing the accuracy versus flow rate of several meters. Figure 7B is a graph showing the pulses per minute versus the flow rate of several meters. Figure 8 is a table showing codes that correspond to various types of meters. Figure 9 is a graphic representation of a meter totalizer made in accordance with the present invention that is programmed to be used with a specific meter. Figure 10 is a meter totalizer made in accordance with the present invention having switches to enable the meter totalizer to be used with several meters.

Figure 10A is an enlarged view of the area enclosed in a circle of Figure 10, showing a bank of switches. Fig. 11 is a meter totalizer made in accordance with the present invention connected to an off-site meter reading device having the aforementioned switches shown in Fig. 10A; Figure 12 is a side elevational view of a remote meter reading system made in accordance with the present invention. Figure 13 is a schematic of a remote meter reading system showing a first waveform emitted from the meter reading system. Figure 14 is a schematic of a remote meter reading system showing a second waveform emitted from the meter reading system. Figure 15 is a schematic of a remote meter reader system showing a third waveform emitted from the meter reading system. Figure 16 is a schematic of a remote meter reading system showing a fourth waveform emitted from the meter reading system. Figure 17 is a schematic of a remote meter reading system showing a fifth waveform emitted from the meter reading system. Figure 18 is a top perspective view of a remote meter reader used in the meter reading system shown in Figures 12-17 made in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 19 is a side elevational view of a water meter of the prior art. Figure 20 is a side elevational view of another water meter of the prior art. Figure 21 is a side elevation view of another prior art water meter and Figure 22 is a side elevational view of a remote meter reader made in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In the following description of the non-limiting embodiments of the invention, the spatial or directional terms, such as "interior", "exterior", "left", "right", "top", "bottom", "horizontal", " "vertical" and the like, refer to the invention as shown in the figures of the drawing. However, it should be understood that the invention may assume several other alternative orientations and, consequently, these terms should not be considered as limiting. In addition, all numbers expressing dimensions, physical characteristics and so on, used in the description and claims, should be understood as being modified in all cases by the term "approximately". Accordingly, unless otherwise indicated, the numerical values shown in the following description and claims may vary depending on the desired properties sought by the practice of the invention. In the end, and not as an attempt to limit the application of the doctrine of equivalents to the scope of the claims, each numerical parameter must at least be considered in view of the number of significant digits reported and applying ordinary rounding techniques. In addition, all scales written here must be understood to encompass any and all subscales assumed herein. For example, an indicated scale of "1 to O" should be considered to include any and all subscales between (and inclusive of) the minimum value of 1 and the maximum value of 10; that is, all subscales that start with a minimum value of 1 or more and end with a maximum value of 10 or less, and all subscales between, for example, 1 to 6.3, or 5.5 to 10 or 2.7 to 6.1. Also, as used herein, terms such as "placed on" or "supported on" mean placed or supported on but not necessarily in direct contact with the surface. Furthermore, in the description of the non-limiting modalities of the invention, it is understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the particular non-limiting modalities shown and described, since the invention is capable of other modalities. Moreover, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and not limitation and, unless otherwise indicated, like reference numbers refer to like elements. The non-limiting embodiments of the invention are described for use in a water meter; however, as will be appreciated, the invention is not limited thereto, and the non-limiting embodiments of the invention can be used with any type of signal transmission device, for example, but not by limiting the invention to the same, any type of signal transmission meter that measures the movement of materials, for example, but not limiting the invention to the same, fluids, such as water and gas. Although not limited to the invention, the water meter in the following description is of the type described in WO 02/073735, which document is hereby incorporated by reference. A general description of the water meter described in WO 02/073735 is presented herein; for a detailed description of the water meter, reference can be made to WO 02/073735. Figure 1 shows a service meter 10, for example, a water meter of the type described in WO 02/073735. The meter 10 includes a meter body 12, a meter totalizer 14 and a flow measurement chamber 15. The invention is not limited to the flow measurement chamber and any of the types used in the art, for example, a Positive displacement chamber or a vane measuring chamber or several jets, can be used in the practice of the invention. In operation, the measuring chamber typically has a movable measuring element that drives a magnetic pulse gear that is magnetically coupled to a magnetic follower gear provided in the meter totalizer 14. In this way, the totalizer 14 can be sealed and not directly coupled to the driver element in the flow measurement chamber 15. Referring to FIG. 2, a top view of a meter totalizer of the prior art also designated by the number 14 is shown. Typically, the prior art totalizer 14 includes a surface plate 18 having an odometer 20 and a wheel, hand or dial 22. The rotation of the magnetic follower causes the disk 22 to rotate and several gears to rotate by driving the odometer 20. Referring now to Figures 2 and 3, the totalizer 14 further includes a body or cup 24 within which a magnetic follower 26 is received. A driving arrow 28 is attached to the magnetic follower 26. A drive gear (not shown) is attached to the driving shaft 28 and a plurality of gears 30 co-act with the driving gear. A driving shaft 32 is attached to one of the gears and, in turn, is attached to the disk 22. A lens 34 is attached to the body or cup 24 to provide a sealed totalizer having a window for viewing the surface plate 18. rotation of the magnetic follower 26 causes the driving shaft 28 to rotate, thereby causing the driving gear (not shown) and the gears 30 to rotate, which, in turn, causes the driving shaft 32 and the disk 22 to rotate. The rotation of the gears 30 also drives the odometer 20. Figures 4 and 6 show a totalizer 40 made in accordance with the present invention. The totalizer 40 includes a body or cup 42 and a lens 44 similar to that of the meter 14 of the prior art. A magnetic follower 46 is provided and is rotatably coupled by a driving shaft 47 to a circuit board 48 having a microprocessor. Magnetically activated switches or reed switches 50 (only one shown in Figures 4 and 6) are provided on the lower surface of the circuit board 48 and are adapted to be activated and deactivated by the magnetic follower 46. The microprocessor is coupled to the reed switches 50 and a battery 52. The reed switches 50 indicate the rotation of the measuring chamber in a manner described below. A light emitting visual presenter (LED) or a liquid crystal display (LCD) presenter 54 (shown clearly in Figure 5) is provided and electrically coupled to the circuit board 48 and the battery 52 in any convenient manner. Also, a stepper motor or stepper solenoid 56 is provided and electrically coupled to the microprocessor of the circuit board 48 and battery 52. In a non-limiting embodiment of the invention, the stepper motor 56 is mechanically coupled to an odometer 58 (clearly shown in Figure 5). The stepper motor 56 may be the same type of motor used in many battery-activated clocks. For example, but not limiting the invention, the arrow of the stepper motor rotates in the order of 3.6 ° per pulse and operates because of a DC power, for example, the battery 52. A surface plate 60 is provided (clearly shown in Figure 5) having suitable cuts for the LCD or the LED 54 and the visual odometer display 58. The meter totalizer 40 is adapted to be coupled or attached to a meter body 63, which has a driving magnet 64. A second stepper motor 65 is provided to drive the handle 22. The stepper motor 65 is also coupled to the microprocessor. With reference to Figure 6, in operation, the measuring chamber 62 of the meter or meter body 63 drives the impeller magnet 64 in a first direction 66. The magnetic forces of the impeller magnet 64 cause the magnetic follower 46, likewise, to rotate in the first direction 66. Magnetic pulses activate and deactivate the reed switches 50 which indicate the rotation of the measuring chamber and emit electrical pulses to the microprocessor. The microprocessor correlates the pulses with a flow volume and / or a fluid velocity and, in turn, sends a signal to the LCD or LED 54 to indicate the material flow rate through the meter 63. Alternatively, the LCD or LED 54 can indicate the volume of material that has flowed through the meter 63. Simultaneously, the circuit board 48, by means of the microprocessor, sends a signal to the stepper motor or to the stepper solenoid 56, which causes a stepper or stepper motor solenoid arrow (not shown) turn, which, in turn, causes the odometer 58, a mechanical device driven by gears, to indicate the volume of material that has flowed through the meter 63. Alternatively, the stepper motor or stepped solenoid 56 can drive the gear coupled to the odometer 58. Optionally, the circuit board 48 can also send a signal to an antenna which, in turn, sends a signal to a meter reading device outside the site that record a volume of material that has flowed through the meter 63. For a discussion that relates to meter totalizers that transmit signals to an off-site meter reading device, reference may be made to WO 02/073735. In case the battery 52 dies or there is an electrical failure of the circuit board 48, the LCD or LED 54 will lose its respective reading, and the stepper motor 56 will stop pushing the odometer 58. Likewise, in this case, the microprocessor memory will also lose the information (unless it is equipped with expensive non-volatile memory) contained therein that relates to the meter reading, such as the amount of material that has flowed through the meter. However, in the practice of the invention, even though the stepper motor 56 stops driving the odometer 58, the reading on the odometer 58 remains. This reading on the odometer 58 indicates the amount of material that has flowed. through the meter just before when the battery died and / or the electrical failure of the circuit board 48 occurred. Therefore, a meter reader can make a visual reading of the odometer. The odometer reading is a quantity of material, for example, but not limiting the invention, of water, which passed through the meter from the last meter reading when the batteries and / or circuit board were functioning. Although the odometer reading will stop when the battery dies and / or the circuit board becomes non-operational, it will have a reading that will be indicative of a certain amount of material that passed through the meter after the last reading. Therefore, a service provider, for example, may recover some fees for the use of services during the period when the meter totalizer stopped recording consumption. In other words, the service provider may collect fees for the period beginning at the time the meter was last read and ending at the time the battery 52 died and / or the electrical failure of the board of circuits 48 occurred. As can now be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the present invention overcomes problems and limitations of the meter totalizers of the prior art. More particularly, services that use meter totalizers that have electronic meter totalizers with LEDs and LCDs may lose substantial revenue if the battery dies or if there is an electrical fault. The meter totalizers that incorporate the features of the invention have the stepper motor 56 and odometer 58 to overcome this problem. Furthermore, the all-mechanical totalizer of the prior art is expensive to manufacture in relation to the electronic totalizer as described herein which uses a stepper motor or stepless solenoid to drive an odometer. Another advantage of the present invention over the prior art is that the drag caused by the gears on the magnetic follower gear is eliminated by the present invention., resulting in a meter with more accurate readings of water consumption. Furthermore, the present invention allows a comparison of the reading of the LED 54 and the reading of the odometer 58 which can be an indicator of whether there is a failure in the totalizer if the readings are significantly different. Another advantage of the present invention is that the meter totalizer 14 is viewed as a mechanical totalizer, even though it processes the meter information electronically. This is especially true if the reading of the LED 54 is not present. Also, the present invention can provide flow rate information on the reading of LED 54 instead of volume, in which case it will aid in the detection of leaks. Likewise, it is believed that instead of an LCD or LED arrangement 54, the stepper motor 56 and odometer 58 arrangement can be used. Accordingly, the totalizer 40 will have a similar appearance to the prior art totalizer 14. Moreover, instead of the magnetic follower 46, magnetic activated switches, such as reed switches 50, can be provided to co-act with the driving magnet 64 and to eliminate the magnetic follower 46 which co-operates with the reed switches 50. Accordingly, the rotation of the impeller magnet 64 will generate magnetic pulses to the magnetically activated switches (reed switches 50), which will then be electronically coupled to the circuit board 48. This reduces drag on the drive magnet 64 in the body of the meter and is believed to improve the pressure of the meter. Another problem described in the background of the invention relates to meter totalizers that have to be designed not only for different meter manufacturers, but also for different sizes and styles of meters manufactured by that manufacturer. With reference to Figure 7A, each meter has a performance curve, for example, for a standard W Series Turbo sold by Sensus, the expected yield curve is curve 68; for a propeller meter sold by Sensus, the expected performance curve is curve 69 and for a multi-jet meter (PMM) sold by Sensus, the expected performance curve is curve 70 with respect to accuracy at each speed flow. In addition, each meter totalizer has a unique ratio of magnetic pulses per minute corresponding to a flow rate, for example, with reference to Figure 7B, a multi-jet meter totaliser sold by Master Meter has the expected ratio shown by curve 72; a turbine meter totalizer sold by Badger Meter has the expected ratio shown by curve 73 and a positive displacement meter totalizer sold by Neptune has the expected ratio shown by curve 74 with respect to the magnetic impulses per minute corresponding to the flow speed. The present invention provides a computer memory through a microprocessor of several performance curves, several meters and meters of various sizes as shown in Figure 8. Specifically, for example, the manufacturer's positive displacement meter A for a meter 15 millimeter ("mm") water would have a "code 1" designation and would have the yield curve and pulse rate ratio against pulses per minute provided listed in a look-up table provided in the computer's memory. Also, the positive displacement water meter of manufacturer B of 15 mm would also have the respective performance curve and ratio of flow rate to pulse per minute provided in the look-up table in the computer's memory. The same applies to multi-stream meters of various sizes from manufacturers C, D and E. Referring to Figure 9, a meter totalizer 78 made in accordance with the present invention including a transmit and receive antenna is shown. 80 in the meter totalizer 78. A signal controller 82 is provided which outputs a signal 84 to the meter totalizer 78 via a transmit and receive antenna 86 provided in the controller 82. The signal controller 82 sends the signal to identify to which totalizer the totalizer 78 is coupled. For example, the signal controller 82 can send a signal 84 to indicate that the meter totalizer 78 must be coupled with a 15 mm multi-jet meter manufactured by the manufacturer C and, therefore, the code 3 would be sent to the meter totalizer 78 to program the microprocessor. The meter totalizer 78 would then issue a signal 88 to the signal controller 82 to indicate that the meter totalizer 78 has been programmed for a 15 mm multi-jet water meter manufactured by the manufacturer C. As a result, the meter totalizer 78 emulates a meter totalizer for a 15 mm multi-jet meter manufactured by the manufacturer C. Alternatively, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 10 A, a meter totalizer 89 may be provided with a bank of switches 90. The switches of the bank of switches 90 can be immersion switches which, when arranged in a specific numerical and / or alphabetic order, are indicators of how the meter totalizer will act and with which meter it will be coupled. For example, but not limiting the invention, if switch positions provide a designation "1000", it would mean code 1, manufacturer A for a positive displacement meter of 15 mm which would indicate that the meter totalizer 78 has been programmed for a totalizer of 15 mm positive displacement meter manufactured by the manufacturer A. Accordingly, the meter totalizer 78 emulates a meter totalizer for a positive displacement meter of 15 mm manufactured by manufacturer A. Figure 1 1 shows a meter totalizer 92 that has a meter reading system, such as the Dialog® meter reading system sold by Master Meter, Inc., with a remote reader 93 coupled to the totalizer by means of an electrical cable coupling 94. Typically, a battery 95 (shown faded) provides power to the reader remote 93. Alternatively, instead of cable coupling 94, a wireless communication arrangement using radio waves could be provided. The remote reader 93 includes a reading element 96 with which a non-contact reader can co-act, such as a Dialog® reader, a LED numerical display 97 and an odometer 98 driven by a stepper motor 99 (shown in faded form) such as that described hereinabove. With this arrangement, a signal is sent via the cable link 94 or remotely by radio waves to the remote reader 93. The information carried by the signal is stored in the computer of the remote reader 93 and displayed by the LED 97 visual presenter, as well as presented visually by the odometer 98, which is driven by the stepper motor 99. In case the battery 95 died or the remote meter 93 had an electrical fault, a meter reader can take the reading from the odometer 98. The remote reader can also provide a visual LCD presenter or LED flow rate indicator. Although this would not be the most accurate meter reading of the meter totalizer, as described above, having an odometer driven by a stepper motor in combination with a LED visual presenter would make it possible for a service provider, for example, to charge the end user the amount of fluid material identified on the odometer as opposed to losing that reading for the entire meter reading period. Referring again to Figure 5, an infrared sensor 100 and an infrared emitter 102 may be provided to receive and send infrared signals respectively, which communicate with the microprocessor of the meter totalizer. In this case, a transponder (not shown) can be used to indicate which type of meter will be used with the meter totalizer 44. In addition, it is possible to optionally calibrate the totalizer for the specific meter to be used. Specifically, the meter and the meter totalizer can be calibrated by matching the totalizer meter reading with a specific performance curve. For example, at low flow rates, the pulses of the stepper motor by 3.79 liters can be X, and, at medium flow rates, the pulses for the stepper motor by 3.79 liters can be Y, and, at high flow rates, the pulses of the stepper motor by 3.79 liters can be Z. The readings taken from the coaction of the reed switches 50 (figures 4 and 6) and the magnetic tracker 46 can also be calibrated in a way similar, for example, the meter can be calibrated on a test stand, or in the field. Likewise, the odometer 58 driven by the stepper motor or the stepper solenoid 56 can be set to any number, such as "0000", after its calibration by passing a signal to the microprocessor by means of the external infrared sensor 100 for Adjust the odometer reading to a set value. For example, if a meter totalizer fails in the field and had a "XXXX" odometer reading, the stepper motor that drives the odometer can be activated by the microprocessor to produce a "XYXZ" reading, or any other number , so that the meter totalizer conforms to a desired value. In addition, because the present invention uses only a stepper motor arrangement, the meter totalizer can be used for all types and sizes of fluid meters by adjusting the pulses to drive the stepper motor to adjust the odometer., that is, for one unit of the fluid, the stepper motor can be pulsed after ten rotations of the magnetic follower 46, while in another case for a fluid unit, the stepper motor can be pulsed after fifteen rotations. of the magnetic follower 46. Figures 12-18 show a remote meter reading system 10 (Figures 13-16) and 111 (Figure 17) made in accordance with the present invention. Specifically, Figure 12 generally shows a remote meter reading system 1 10 that includes a meter, such as a water meter 1 12. The water meter 1 12 includes a water meter body having a water meter body. measurement and a meter totalizer. In the practice of the invention, it is preferred to use the meter totalizer 40 which incorporates features of the invention and described above.; however, the invention is not limited to the type or design of the water meter, flow measurement chamber and / or meter chamber, and any of the types described herein and in the prior art, for example, but not limited to WO 02/073735 can be used in the practice of this embodiment of the invention. A meter generator 14 is coupled to the water meter 1 12. The type of meter generator does not limit the invention. In practicing the invention, but not limiting it, a meter generator sold by Rockwell International under the trademark GTR was used. In general, the meter generator includes an arrangement that co-operates with the meter totalizer or is part of the meter totalizer as is well known in the art, whereby, after a series of rotations, the measuring chamber of the meter meter causes a signal to be generated, for example, an electrical impulse. As can be seen, the signal can be generated by an optical reading system or a magnetic reading system, which co-operates with the hand of a meter totalizer. Since meter generators are known in the art, an additional description referring to meter generators is not considered necessary. The meter generator 1 14 shown in Figs. 13-16 and the meter generator 115 shown in Fig. 17 are coupled to a remote reader 1 18 by means of cables 1 16. The prior art arrangements have shown these types of systems with which an electrical voltage impulse generated by the meter generators 1 14 and 1 15 drive a motor in the remote reader 1 18 which, in turn, drives an odometer. However, a problem of the prior art is that many of these types of meter generators are becoming obsolete. In addition, many meter manufacturers use a unique generator type signal to drive the remote reader. Consequently, since these remote reader-type systems are outdated by manufacturers, it is becoming increasingly difficult to replace them. Figures 13-17 show different types of electrical current pulses that can be generated by the meter generator 14, depending on the manufacturer. Figure 13 shows a first electrical voltage impulse signal 120 emitted from the meter generator 14. Figure 14 shows a second electric voltage pulse signal 122 coming from the generator 114. Figure 15 shows a third pulse signal of electrical voltage 124 coming from the generator 1 14. Figure 16 shows a fourth electrical voltage impulse signal 126 coming from the generator 1 14. Figure 17 shows a fifth electrical voltage impulse signal 128 coming from the generator of the type switch 115. The signals provide information that can be used to determine a flow unit through the meter, for example, but not limiting the invention, signal 128 operates on a generator switch 15 to close the switch during a certain period of time. time by impulse. In operation, a pulse indicates a unit of flow through the meter. Referring to Figure 18, the remote reader 1 18 includes a housing 130 which houses a mechanical odometer 132 having a bank or plurality of wheels 136. A stepper motor 134, rotational or a linear stepper motor, is linked mechanically to the mechanical odometer 132 in a manner known in the art for rotating the wheels of the odometer 132. A battery 138 is provided to provide power to the stepper motor 134 and is electrically coupled to a circuit board 140. Non-polarized connectors 142 and polarized connectors 144 are electrically coupled to the circuit board 140 in any convenient manner, and the circuit board 140 is electrically coupled to the stepper motor 134 in any convenient manner. In operation, the unpolarized meter generator 114, shown in Figures 13-15, could be electrically coupled by means of the cables 116 to the non-polarized connectors 142, and the polarized generator 115 shown in Figure 17, would be electrically coupled by means of from the cables 116 to the polarized connectors 144. The meter generator 14, which has a switch closing arrangement as schematically shown in FIG. 17, would require that the meter generator 14 be electrically coupled by means of the cables 1 16 to the non-polarized connectors 142 for closing the circuit-breaker. Circuit board 140 includes filters suitable for accepting only positive voltage pulses. In addition, the circuit board 140 includes circuitry that compares if the voltage coming from the generators is above six volts. In addition, the circuit board 140 includes circuitry that can determine if the positive voltage pulse times are greater than fifteen milliseconds. The circuit board 140 has circuitry that converts the positive portion of the electric voltage pulses that come from the meter generators 1 14, 1 15 into a digital signal. The digital signal is amplified using the energy that comes from the battery and sends the appropriate electrical signal to the stepper motor 134 to cause the appropriate wheels 136 of the odometer 132 to rotate. The stepper motor 134 will then advance a first odometer wheel a fixed amount, eg, either 3.6 or 36 °, per pulse. In the case of a switched type meter generator 15, such as that shown in FIG. 17, a digital type signal is emitted and travels through the cables 1 16 to the polarized connectors 144 for opening the switch. This signal is amplified by the circuit board 140 activated by the battery 138 to advance the odometer wheel as described above. The present invention essentially allows a universal type remote meter reading system that can operate on almost any type of meter generator type system. Accordingly, the remote reading-type system 10 shown in Figures 13-16 and the remote reading-type system 1 1 1 shown in Figure 17 can be used in areas that include many types of different meter generators 1 14, 1 15 resulting in a single reader system 1 10 or 1 1 1. In addition, the remote reader 1 18 (figure 18) can be equipped with a radio generating signal to transmit the meter information, such as a volume of water passing through the water meter 1 12, to a remote data collection system (sometimes referred to as a concentrator) or sent through various telephone means or other means of communication by means of circuits provided on the circuit board. The present invention using the stepper motor 134 replaces most, if not all, gears required for remote readers of the prior art. In addition, the present invention can be equipped with a feature for setting a programming on the odometer 132 to correlate the odometer reading with the meter reading 1 12. Figure 19 shows a prior art water meter 200 having a totalizer of meter 201 which includes a LCD or LED 202 odometer display, Hall effect switch, a reed switch or wiegand wire picker 204 a battery power source 206 and a circuit board 208 having a microprocessor for converting gross signals coming from the reed switch 50, Hall effect switch or wiegand wire switch 204 to the odometer visual presenter 202. A hard cable connection 210 may be provided to electrically couple a raw signal coming from the circuit board 208 to a remote reader 212 by means of cables 214 and 216. Examples of these types of meter totalizers They are manufactured by many meter manufacturers, such as Master Meter, for multi-jet meters, positive displacement meters and turbine meters. Figure 20 shows another prior art meter 218 which includes an encoder 220 having terminals 220 for receiving wires 224, 226 and 228 to electrically couple a raw signal coming from the encoder 220 to the remote reader 212. This encoder can be , but not limiting the invention to the same, a turbine or mixed meter Sensus® ECR or Neptune ARB in a PD. Figure 21 shows another prior art meter 230 that includes a remote generator totalizer 232 that includes a terminal 234 for receiving cables 236 and 238 to electrically couple a signal that comes from the remote generator totalizer 232 to the remote reader 212. These meter totalizers are Master Meter® Electrical Ourput Register, Sensus® GTR, as well as totalizers manufactured by AMCO Elster, Neptune or Badger. Although the meters shown in Figures 19-21 are acceptable, there are problems when there is a failure in the meter totalizer. Another disadvantage of these meter totalizers is that the meter totalizers are read by a meter reader, and the tendency is to eliminate the manual reading when using remote radio frequency reading. However, in the case of electronic meter totalizers, there may be a serious spill in existing batteries and, in the case of municipalities that have older totalizers that still have many years to live, there is a substantial expense to replace the older meter totes. In these cases, the remote reader 239 shown in Figure 22 can be provided. The remote reader 239 is similar to the remote reader 1 18 but is preferably attached to an exterior or interior of a building or house. The remote reader 239 includes a body 240, an antenna / receiver array 242, cable terminals 246, a microprocessor 248, a battery or replaceable power source 250, a stepper motor 252, a circuit board controller 254 and DIP switches 256 coupled to the circuit board 254. The respective cables 214, 216, or 224, 226, 228 or 236, 238 are coupled to suitable terminals 246. Either separate screw terminals are used for each type of signal generated by a specific meter or the microprocessor 248 selects the appropriate processing as programmed by the DIP switches 256. The terminals 246 are electrically coupled to the microprocessor 248, the controller board circuits 254 and the battery 250. Suitable signals received from the cables 214, 216, or 224, 226, 228 or 236, 238 then drive the stepper motor 252, which is electrically coupled to the circuit board controller 254. This in turn causes a mechanical visual presenter 258 of the remote reader 212 to change in a manner similar to that described hereinabove with respect to the remote reader 1 18. Also, a signal can be output from the antenna / receiver array 242. in such a way that a meter reading can be read remotely by means of radio signals. The pulse of the stepper motor and the generation of signals from the antennas require a substantial amount of energy compared to a visual LED display of the totaliser 201 shown in FIG. 19. Accordingly, the separate replaceable power source provided with the Remote reader 212 makes it possible to easily replace batteries if necessary. In addition, the mechanical visual presenter 258 ensures that, should a failure occur in the visualizers of the LED / LCD of the meter totalizers, at least one intermittent reading may be obtained from the last meter reading. The present invention allows service providers to gradually phase and replace meters to convert them from indoor meter reading requirements to outdoor / radio meter reading without prematurely replacing the meters. This can save time and financial resources for a service provider. In other words, the present invention allows public service providers, particularly small and medium enterprises, to gradually upgrade to radio reading without having to dismantle encoder or generator meters, or replacing relatively new meters. The present invention allows updating a service meter reading system by phasing the new system at a speed supported by the company's budget. The form of the invention shown and described above represents non-limiting and illustrative embodiments of the invention. It is understood that several changes can be made without departing from the teachings of the invention defined by the following claimed subject matter.

Claims (21)

1. A meter totalizer for measuring an amount of material passing through a meter having a driving means, characterized in that it comprises: a body; a signal generating means received by the body and adapted to be driven by the driving means; a signal receiving means adapted to receive the signal from the signal generating means, the signal receiving means is adapted to convert the received signal into an electrical signal; first means for receiving the electrical signal and causing a first representation of the material passing through the meter and second means for receiving an electrical signal and causing a second representation of the material passing through the meter.

2. The meter totalizer according to claim 1, characterized in that the first means includes a digital visual presenter.

3. The meter totalizer according to claim 2, characterized in that the first means is one of a liquid crystal display or visual presenter of light emitting diodes.

4. The meter totalizer according to claims 1-3, characterized in that the second means comprises a stepper motor coupled to an odometer.

5. The meter totalizer according to claim 4, characterized in that the odometer is a mechanical odometer.

6. The meter totalizer according to claim 1, characterized in that the driving means comprises a magnetic driver, the signal generating means comprises a magnetic follower, and a signal receiving means comprises a reed switch.

7. A meter characterized in that it comprises: a body defining a flow passage cavity; a measuring chamber received by the body; a totalizer attached to the body and in communication with the measuring chamber, the totalizer has a mechanical drive system to drive a mechanical reading system indicating the volume of material flowing through the body of the meter; an electrical reading system coupled to the totalizer to create an electrical signal indicating the volume of material flowing through the body of the totalizer and an electrical / mechanical system electrically coupled to the electric reading system, whereby an electrical signal causes the system Mechanical impeller boosts the mechanical reading system.

8. The meter according to claim 7, characterized in that the mechanical drive system comprises a stepper motor coupled to the mechanical reading system, whereby an electrical signal causes the stepper motor to rotate and drive the mechanical reading system .

9. The meter according to claim 8, characterized in that the mechanical reading system comprises an odometer.

10. The meter according to claim 8, characterized in that the mechanical reading system is an arrow indicator driven by the stepper motor.

The meter according to claims 7-10, characterized in that the mechanical reading system is a gear-driven odometer.

12. The meter according to claims 7-10, characterized in that the electrical reading system, the electrical / mechanical system and the mechanical reading system are located away from the meter totalizer and the meter body.

13. A universal meter reading totalizer, characterized in that it comprises: a body; a signal generating means received by the body and adapted to be driven by a driving means, and adapted to create a signal corresponding to an amount and / or flow velocity of material flowing through a meter; a signal receiving means adapted to receive the signal from the signal generating means, the signal receiving means has means for indicating the quantity and / or flow rate of material passing through a meter and a means for adjusting the signal for convert the signal received by the driving means to correlate it with the specific type of meter.

14. The meter totalizer according to claim 13, characterized in that the signal generator means is a magnetic driver.

15. The meter totalizer according to claim 13, characterized in that the signal receiving means is a magnetic follower.

16. The meter totalizer according to claim 13, characterized in that the means for adjusting the signal comprises a look-up table, and wherein the means for adjusting the signal is activated to convert the signal received by the driving means through an input. in the query table for corresponds to a specific type of meter.

17. A meter reading system, characterized in that it comprises: a meter; a meter generator that co-operates with the meter, the meter generator produces an electrical impulse signal after a quantity of material or service passes through the meter and a remote reader electrically coupled to the meter generator, the remote reader it includes an odometer coupled to a stepper motor, where the electrical impulse signal causes the stepper motor to change a reading on the odometer.

18. The meter reading system according to claim 17, characterized in that the electrical pulse signal is selected from the group of a polarized pulse signal and a non-polarized pulse signal, and the remote reader further comprises a first connection for the signal of polarized pulse and a second connection for the unpolarized pulse signal, a battery, a microprocessor connected to the battery, and the first and second connections and the microprocessor connected to the stepper motor.

19. A method for obtaining a meter reading, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: (a) providing a meter having a measuring chamber for measuring the amount of material passing through it; (b) providing a driving means coupled to the measuring chamber adapted to provide a driving signal; (c) providing a totalizer for co-acting with the driving means and (d) causing an electronic signal to result in an electronic visual display and driving a stepper motor to cause a reading on a mechanical visual presenter.

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that the mechanical visual presenter is an odometer.

21. A method for adjusting a universal totalizer to a meter, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: (a) providing a meter for measuring the volume of material passing through it; (b) providing a meter totalizer adapted to co-operate with a plurality of meters; (c) provide information to the meter totalizer about the meter and (d) co-act the meter totalizer with the meter so that the meter totalizer provides flow information that corresponds to the meter.