RU2658107C1 - Autonomous electronic dual-mode flow meter - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: physics.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to physics, namely to instruments for measuring and testing, in particular, to devices for measuring volume or mass of liquids, gases or solids by passing them through measuring devices in continuous flow. Autonomous electronic, dual-mode flowmeter includes following elements: rotor consisting of impeller, pinion, annular magnet and restrictive disk, stator consisting of winding and magnetic circuit, lever operating mode switching, consisting of permanent magnet, lever and plate, reduction gear, shutoff element, electronic logic unit consisting of microcontroller, data transmission module, two or more Hall sensors, electromagnet, stator winding control module, display and storage battery.

EFFECT: technical result is provision of possibility of independent from external supply of electrical energy operation of leakage monitoring system, regular transmission of information on volume of water or gas consumed to supplier, as well as overlap or partial restriction of supply of water or gas to consumer in case of non-payment of supplier's services without connection to constant power source due to dual-mode operation of device: in sensor mode (water or gas meter) and in actuator (actuating device) mode.

1 cl, 10 dwg

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to the field of physics, and in particular to devices for measuring and testing, in particular to devices for measuring the volume or mass of liquids, gases or bulk solids by passing them through a measuring device in a continuous stream.

Description of the Related Art

From the existing level of technology is known "COUNTER OF CONSUMPTION OF COLD (HOT) WATER WITH ADAPTIVE AUTOMATIC CONTROL SYSTEM" (RF Patent No. 2554317, published March 17, 2014, published on June 27, 2015). The specified device contains a housing with an impeller and magnets, a counting mechanism, a sensor for remote transmission of readings and a sealing element. The meter has a control unit for water consumption and a water leakage sensor based on the closure of electrical contacts located in the lowest or other place in the room, where there is the greatest likelihood of water flowing out as a result of an accident, a unit for automatically shutting off water and electricity supply, a unit for providing information to the consumer, water supplier , electricity supplier, emergency services, emergency power supply. The technical result of this invention is to increase the safety of water consumption in the home and at work, information exchange with the water supplier regarding the provision of the service and its payment, shutting off the water supply in an emergency and in case of late payment of the provided service by the consumer.

The disadvantage of this device is the need for constant power, which requires the installation of additional wires, as well as the installation of the actuator in the water supply system. Another disadvantage is the design of the water leakage sensor based on the closure of electrical contacts, which requires an arrangement in the lowest or other place in the room, where the probability of runoff resulting from an accident is highest.

Closest to the proposed invention is a "COUNTER FOR ACCOUNTING WATER" (RF Patent No. 2337320, application. 28.02.2007, publ. 27.10.2008). The specified device contains an impeller installed in the cavity of the housing with two magnets diametrically located on it, a Hall sensor mounted on the outer part of the housing above the path of the magnets during rotation of the impeller, a pulse power generation unit for the Hall sensor, a microcontroller-based control and calculation unit, an optimization unit conversion factor, timer, LCD indicator, power supply, communication unit with a computer. The invention provides improved measurement accuracy, reduced energy consumption and accounting for the operating time of the counter.

A significant drawback of this device is the need for a power source, which requires the installation of additional wires, as well as the possibility of its operation only in water meter mode.

An advantage of the claimed invention is that the claimed invention can work without being connected to a power source, and also that the claimed invention can work both in meter mode and in the mode of an actuator for controlling the supply of water or gas, which allows, for example, remotely block or partially restrict the supply of water or gas to the consumer in case of non-payment of the supplier's services. The device also allows for regular transmission of information about water or gas consumption to the supplier’s data processing center, as well as service data that allows you to monitor the operation of the device: internal battery charge level, flow shutoff speed (for example, you can remotely detect the need for maintenance by the flow shutoff speed or complete replacement of the device), the level of the communication signal and the external magnetic field (analysis of this information allows you to identify attempts to affect the device to residents and cause the inspection agency).

The tasks solved by the invention

The problem of the currently known water and gas flow control devices is that they do not allow, without having a permanent power supply, to ensure uninterrupted operation of the leakage control system, regular transmission of information about the volume of consumed water or gas to the supplier, as well as blocking or partial limitation of water supply or gas to the consumer in case of non-payment of the supplier's services or if an emergency leak is detected.

The present invention has been implemented to solve the above problem, and therefore, the technical problem of the present invention is to provide a device that would allow the leakage control system to function independently of the external supply of electrical energy, regularly transmit information about the amount of water or gas consumed to the supplier, and blocking or partial restriction of the supply of water or gas to the consumer in case of non-payment of the supplier's services without connecting to a constant power source.

The technical result of the claimed invention is the provision of the possibility of a leakage control system independent of the external supply of electrical energy, the regular transfer of information about the amount of water or gas consumed to the supplier, as well as the blocking or partial restriction of the supply of water or gas to the consumer in case of non-payment of the supplier's services without connecting to a constant source power supply due to the dual-mode operation of the device: in the sensor mode (water or gas flow meter) and in the actuator mode (use wearable device).

The technical result is achieved in that the energy for the functioning of the claimed invention is extracted from the energy of a flow of water or gas passing through it.

Brief Description of the Drawings

FIG. 1 is a structural and functional diagram of an autonomous electronic dual-mode flow meter.

FIG. 2 - structural and functional diagram of the rotor.

FIG. 3 - structural and functional diagram of the stator.

FIG. 4 - structural and functional diagram of the lever for switching modes of operation.

FIG. 5 is a structural-functional diagram of the plate.

FIG. 6 - structural and functional locking element.

FIG. 7 - structural and functional electromagnet.

FIG. 8 is a top view of the housing.

FIG. 9 is a bottom view of the housing.

FIG. 10 is a structural and functional diagram of an electronic logic unit with communication elements through a radio channel and a storage battery.

Disclosure of invention

In order to explain the invention in more detail, an embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A stand-alone electronic dual-mode flow meter consists of a rotor (1 in Fig. 1), a stator (2 in Fig. 1), a lever for switching operating modes (3 in Fig. 1), a gearbox (4 in Fig. 1), a locking element (5 on Fig. 1), a switching electromagnet (6 in Fig. 1), an electronic logic unit with communication elements through a radio channel and a storage battery (Fig. 10).

The self-contained electronic dual-mode flowmeter can operate both in the sensor mode (water or gas flow meter) and in the actuator mode (actuator). Autonomous electronic dual-mode flowmeter operates as follows.

The rotor is an element of the energy generator and a measuring element and consists of an impeller (7 in Fig. 2), which converts the flow into rotational motion of the rotor, an axis (8 in Fig. 2), positioning the rotor in space, gears (9 in Fig. 2) providing torque transmission in the actuator mode to the gearbox, a ring magnet (10 in Fig. 2), in the sensor mode forming a rotating magnetic field, which is read by the Hall sensor on the electronic unit and forms magnetic field lines in the stator, as a result of which generation of electromotive force occurs, and in the actuator mode interacting with the rotating stator magnetic field formed by switching the windings by the electronic unit, as a result of which the rotational disk transmitting the rotor and gear in its composition, a restrictive disk (11 in Fig. 2), designed to prevent flow swirls and gear protection.

The stator is an element of the energy generator, removing electromotive force from the windings, the windings (12 in Fig. 3), wound sequentially, form alternating magnetic poles N-S-N-S on the magnetic circuit. The windings are switched to a diode bridge to obtain a constant voltage from a variable electromotive force, the voltage, in turn, is used to charge a buffer battery that feeds the electronic part of the device. Also a constituent element of the stator is a magnetic circuit (13 in Fig. 3).

One embodiment of the stator may be its performance with the number of windings greater than 2, for example, 2 windings are used for switching in electric motor mode, and 1 or 2 windings for current generator mode. This design will simplify the electronic part of the circuit.

The operating mode switching lever brings and removes the gear of the gearbox to transmit torque from the rotor to the locking element. The operating mode switching lever consists of a permanent disk magnet (14 in Fig. 4), which is fixed inside the plastic lever (15 in Fig. 4), a seat for the axis of rotation of the lever (16 in Fig. 4), a seat for the manipulated gear ( 17 in Fig. 4), a plastic plate, which at one end is integral with the lever, and the second end is free. The second end is installed in the limiter (19 in Fig. 5) so that it is in a stressed state. The length and thickness of the plate is selected based on the coefficient of elasticity of the plastic, so as to provide a clamp to the side walls of the housing (20 in Fig. 5). The rigidity of the plate should not impede the movement of the lever under the influence of an external magnetic field on the disk magnet fixed in the lever.

The reducer (4 in Fig. 1) transfers the rotational moment from the rotor (1 in Fig. 1, Fig. 2) to the locking element (5 in Fig. 1, Fig. 6) and brings the force developed by the rotor into the force necessary for turning locking element.

In the case of the execution of the claimed invention in a more compact size, the gearbox may be a worm, combined or planetary. In this case, the reduction coefficient should provide the force necessary to rotate the locking element.

The locking element may be made in the form of a cylinder (5 in Fig. 1, Fig. 6). The locking element operates with a flow of liquid or gas. The locking element has disc magnets in the lower part, with the help of which its position is determined using Hall sensors located on the electronic board. Rotating the element 90 degrees allows you to manipulate the flow - open or close it. In order to reduce friction between the element and the housing, the locking element can be equipped with an insert of fluoroplastic or caprolon. One of the options for the implementation of the element may be its manufacture of fluoroplastic or caprolon.

The electromagnet (6 in Fig. 1, Fig. 7) changes the position in the space of the mode lever and consists of a magnetic circuit (23 in Fig. 7), poles (24 in Fig. 7) and a winding (25 in Fig. 7).

An electronic logic unit with communication elements via a radio channel and a storage battery located at the bottom of the case consists of a wireless module (for example, LoRa) for communication with a data center (DPC) (26 in FIG. 10), a Bluetooth Low Energy module (27 in FIG. .10) for communication with leakage sensors for emergency shutdown of the water or gas supply, the Hall sensor (28 in Fig. 10), in the sensor mode counting the rotor speed and, therefore, the volume of water or gas passed through, in the actuator mode determining the position of the ring magnet For correct switching of the stator windings (motor mode), the Hall sensor (29 in Fig. 10), which tracks the position of the shut-off element open / closed, the electromagnet (30 in Fig. 10) to act on the mode switching lever (sensor or actuator), the control module stator windings (31 in Fig. 10), which controls the switching of stator windings in different modes, namely: in the sensor mode, as necessary, the stator winding control module connects the windings to the diode bridge to form the battery charge voltage, in the actuator mode odklyuchaet to the power supply lines the stator windings in the desired sequence, for the engine speed, a display for displaying information about the flow of gas or water service information (32 in FIG. 10), a battery (33 in FIG. 10), which is an element of the device’s power supply (the recommended embodiment of the battery is Li-Pol), a microcontroller (34 in FIG. 10) that provides the logic of the device.

The device is enclosed in a housing made by injection molding. The flow channel is drilled in the finished cast. External and internal connecting threads are cut into the nozzles.

In sensor mode, the device monitors and calculates the volume of water or gas that has passed through it and monitors the voltage level on the battery and, as necessary, connects the stator windings to the battery to recharge it.

The Bluetooth channel is in tracking mode for receiving a signal from external leakage sensors. If such a signal is detected, it provides a control signal to the electromagnet and the device switches to actuator mode. Then, the microcontroller monitors the rotor speed (the mechanism closes due to the passing flow), as soon as the pulses from the Hall sensor (28 in Fig. 10) cease to arrive in a certain time, the microcontroller sends signals to the stator winding control module (31 in Fig. 10) and turning into engine mode, the rotor turns the locking element to the “closed” state, which is determined by the Hall sensor (29 in Fig. 10). In the event of leakage elimination, the microcontroller, turning the rotor, puts the shut-off element in the “open” state, and, having supplied a control signal to the electromagnet, puts the device into sensor (flow meter) mode.

A wireless communication channel (for example, LoRa) is used for regular (monthly) transmission of data on water or gas consumption to the Data Processing Center (DPC) of the supplier, and service data can also be transmitted via the wireless communication channel, namely: signal level, battery level, speed rotation of the locking element and other technical information. Information about the speed of rotation of the element can serve as a signal for the maintenance of the device.

In case of non-payment of bills for the provided services, the device may, at the command of the Data Processing Center, block or partially restrict the water supply. In this case, the device will function in the same way as in the leak repair mode.

It is also possible to organize the service function of regularly turning the locking element to prevent souring and overgrowth of deposits on the walls of the locking element. The specified function can be carried out, for example, at night in the absence of an incoming flow of liquid or gas and, therefore, the absence of rotation of the rotor.

Claims (1)

1. An autonomous electronic dual-mode flow meter, characterized in that it includes the following elements: a rotor consisting of an impeller, gear, an annular magnet and a restrictive disk, a stator consisting of a winding and a magnetic circuit, an operating mode switching lever, consisting of a permanent magnet, a lever and plates, gearbox, locking element, electronic logic unit, consisting of a microcontroller, a data transmission module, two or more Hall sensors, an electromagnet, a stator winding control module, a display and a storage battery.

Images