TW201504583A - Monitoring method of gas appliance - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention provides a monitoring method of gas appliance, which is applied in a remote control system. The remote control system comprises multiple gas appliances connected to a repeater, which is further connected to a remote controller via a computer network. The monitoring method comprises: a user entering a command to control a specific gas appliance; sending the command to the repeater via the computer network; the repeater generating a control signal based on the command, and sending the control signal to the gas appliance so as to control the gas appliance; using a sensor configured on the gas appliance to detect certain operating data of the gas appliance and sending the data back to the remote controller for further analysis; and, when at least one of the operating data is determined to be abnormal, displaying a service signal on a screen of the remote controller for allowing the user to immediately perform further subsequent activities.

Description

Gas appliance monitoring method

The invention relates to gas appliances, and more particularly to a method of monitoring gas appliances.

Gas appliance refers to a device that uses combustion gas to produce a specific effect, including a gas water heater, a gas stove, a gas dryer, a gas fireplace, and the like. Such gas devices used in home life have high safety concerns, and therefore have special specifications for installation and operation. For example, a gas water heater is required to be installed outdoors, a gas furnace has a temperature limit, and a safety device that automatically shuts off the gas when the flame is turned off.

In general, the user must be in the installation position of the gas appliance to operate the gas appliance. However, for a gas water heater installed outdoors, it is very troublesome for the user to operate the water heater outdoors in a cold climate. To this end, the industry has developed a remote control that allows users to control the opening and closing, temperature setting and other matters of the gas water heater indoors.

In some cases, the aforementioned gas appliance needs to be pre-opened to have a predetermined effect. For example, in a very cold climate, the gas fireplace is preferably pre-opened a few hours before the user arrives home, so that the user arrives home. There will be warm space at the moment. This situation cannot be solved by the aforementioned remote controller because such a remote control can only control gas appliances within a limited distance.

In addition, in general, home life is usually equipped with a variety of gas appliances, each gas appliance has a dedicated remote control, this situation not only makes the remote control is not easy to collect, more often caused by misunderstanding and use.

When an abnormality occurs in a gas appliance, the user only knows the gas appliance. Unable to work, I don't know where an exception occurred. When you need to watch the manual of the gas appliance, you often forget where the manual is stored, so you don't know what to do; when you contact the repairer, you can't find the contact method of the operator immediately, and delay the repair of the gas appliance. time.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a method for monitoring a gas appliance, which can control the use of a gas appliance at a remote distance, and when an abnormality occurs in the gas appliance, the user can immediately know the service information.

In order to achieve the foregoing object, the present invention provides a method for monitoring a gas appliance, wherein at least one gas appliance is connected to a repeater, and the repeater is connected to a remote controller through a network, the remote controller has There is a screen, the monitoring method comprises the steps of: inputting an instruction on the remote controller; transmitting the command to the repeater via the network; generating a control signal according to the command, and transmitting the control signal to The gas appliance controls the gas appliance; detects a plurality of data in the operation of the gas appliance; and analyzes the data, and generates a service information and displays when at least one of the data is interpreted as abnormal On the screen of the remote controller.

In this way, different types of gas appliances in the home can be integrated, and only a common device such as a mobile phone or a computer can be used as a remote controller to remotely control the gas appliance in the home, and in the event of an abnormality, The service information of the gas appliance is known through the screen, so that the user can further process and effectively shorten the time for the gas appliance to wait for repair.

10‧‧‧ gas appliances

10a‧‧‧Water heater

10b‧‧‧ gas stove

10c‧‧‧Washing machine

10d‧‧‧Fireplace

11‧‧‧ Burner

12‧‧‧ Gas supply

13‧‧‧Igniter

14‧‧‧Blowers

15‧‧‧ water pipes

16‧‧‧ Controller

17‧‧‧Detector

18‧‧‧ transceiver

20‧‧‧Repeat

21‧‧‧ transceiver

22‧‧‧ Processor

23‧‧‧ memory

24‧‧‧Connected

25‧‧‧Control panel

26‧‧‧ screen

30‧‧‧Network (Telecom Network, Internet)

40‧‧‧ Remote controller (mobile phone, notebook, tablet)

402‧‧‧ screen

404‧‧‧Speaker

1 is a block diagram of a gas appliance according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a repeater according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a remote control system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 4 is a schematic diagram of another remote control system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a remote control system according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention; and FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a method for monitoring a gas appliance according to the present invention.

The remote control system of the gas appliance provided by a preferred embodiment of the present invention is mainly composed of a plurality of gas appliances 10, a repeater 20, a network 30, and a remote controller 40.

In the present embodiment, referring to FIG. 1, a gas appliance generally refers to a device that generates a specific function by burning gas, such as a gas water heater, a gas stove, a gas dryer, a gas fireplace, and the like. In general, the aforementioned gas appliance 10 has a burner 11, a gas supply 12, and a peripheral device. The gas supplier 12 supplies the burner 11 gas to allow the burner 11 to burn. The peripheral device herein generally refers to other components of the gas appliance except the burner 11 and the gas supplier 12, and includes an igniter 13, a blower 14, a water pipe 15, and the like. The peripheral equipment of different gas appliances is different. A controller 16 and a plurality of side detectors 17 are further mounted in the gas appliance 10 described above. The controller 16 is coupled to the burner 11, the gas supply 12, and the peripheral devices 13, 14, 15 for controlling the opening and closing and operating states of the gas appliance 10. The detectors 17 are respectively installed in the burner 11, the gas supplier 12 and the peripheral devices 13, 14, 15 for detecting various data of the gas appliance 10 during operation, and transmitting the data to the controller 16 for control. The basis. In the embodiment, the gas appliance 10 is further provided with a Zigbee transceiver 18 connected to the controller 16, and can receive the signal transmitted from the repeater 20 or send the signal to the repeater 20.

Referring to FIG. 2, the repeater 20 can be installed indoors. A Zigbee transceiver 21 is coupled to the gas appliances 10 such that the repeater 20 can transmit signals to the gas appliances 10 or receive signals from the gas appliances 10. The repeater 20 further has a processor 22, a memory 23, a port 24, a control panel 25, and a screen 26. The transceiver 21, the memory 23, the port 24, the control panel 25 and the screen 26 are both connected to the processor 22 and controlled by the processor 22. The control panel 25 is operable by the user to directly control the gas appliance 10; the screen 26 displays related information. In actual operation, when the user operates the control panel 25, a control signal is transmitted to the processor 22, and the processor 22 transmits the control signal to the specific gas appliance 10 through the transceiver 21. The controller 16 commands the gas appliance 10 to perform specific actions such as opening, closing, adjusting the flame size, temperature, and the like. Similarly, the results detected by the sensors 17 of the gas appliances 10 can also be transmitted to the repeater 20 via the transceiver 18 and the results displayed on the screen 26. The port 24 is connected to a network 30, which may be an internet, a regional network, a telecommunications network, or other network for long-distance communication, so that the repeater 20 can The remote controller 30 is connected to the network. The memory 23 stores a specific program that allows the repeater 20 to communicate with the remote controller 40 when the program is executed.

Referring to FIG. 3, in a remote control system according to an embodiment of the present invention, the gas appliance comprises a gas furnace 10a, a water heater 10b, a dryer 10c, and a fireplace 10d, which are transmitted through the Zigbee and the repeater 20 Connected. The remote controller 40 is a telephone or a mobile phone (hereinafter, exemplified by a mobile phone), and is connected to the repeater 20 by using the telecommunication network 30. When the mobile phone 40 dials a specific number, it can be connected to the repeater 20. Then, the user can press a specific button on the mobile phone 40, or a voice type. A specific command is input and transmitted to the repeater 20 via the telecommunications network 30. The repeater 20 generates a control signal according to the transmitted command. The control signal has an identification signal and a command signal, the identification signal is used to specify which gas appliance, and the command signal is used to control the gas device. Have a specific action. For example, the identification signal designates the gas furnace 10a, the command signal controls the gas supply 12 to open and activates the igniter 13, so that the gas furnace 10a can be opened.

The detector 17 of the gas appliance 10 detects certain numbers of the gas appliance 10, such as gas flow, blower speed, temperature, etc., and transmits the data to the repeater 20. When the user operates the mobile phone 40, a specific command is input and transmitted to the repeater 20 to command the repeater 20 to transmit the data detected by the gas appliance 10 to the mobile phone 40. The data can be transmitted to the mobile phone 40 in a text message or voice format.

When the processor 22 of the repeater 20 determines that the data detected by the detectors 17 is abnormal, for example, the temperature is too high, the gas is leaked, etc., the repeater 20 actively sends a warning message, for example: A text message or voice is sent to the user's mobile phone 40 to inform the user of the abnormal condition.

Referring to FIG. 4, in an embodiment, the network 30 is an internetwork, and the remote controller 40 is a desktop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, and an executable mobile phone. (Smartphone), personal digital assistant (PDA), etc., which can be connected to the Internet 30 and can execute a specific program (hereinafter, a notebook computer is taken as an example). The port 21 of the repeater 20 can also be connected to the internet 30. A specific program is installed in the notebook computer 40. When the user executes the program, communication with the program of the repeater 20 can be established through the Internet 30. The user can then operate the program to enter a particular command that is transmitted to the repeater 20 via the Internet 30. After receiving the instruction sent by the notebook computer 40, the repeater 20 generates a control signal. The control signal has an identification signal and a command signal. The identification signal is used to specify which gas appliance, and the command signal is used to control the gas appliance for a specific action. For example, the identification signal specifies the water heater 10a, and the command signal controls the gas supply 12 to increase the flow rate, so that the temperature of the hot water output by the water heater 10a can be increased.

The detector 17 of the gas appliance 10 detects the gas appliance 10 Certain data, such as: gas flow, blower speed, temperature, etc., and transmits such data to the repeater 20. When the repeater 20 is connected to the notebook computer 40 via the Internet 30, the repeater 20 automatically transmits the data detected by the detectors 17 through the Internet 30 to the same. Notebook computer 40. Thereby, the user can see the instant information of the gas appliances 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d on the computer 40.

When the related data about the gas appliance transmitted by the repeater 20 is judged to be abnormal, for example, the temperature is too high, the gas is leaked, etc., the notebook computer 40 will actively send a warning message, such as: voice or flash. To notify the user of this abnormal condition.

Referring to FIG. 5, in another embodiment, the remote control system of the gas appliance is based on the foregoing embodiment, except that the gas appliances 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d and the repeater 20 are permeable. The radio frequency (RF) wireless signal transmission data, the remote controller 40 is a tablet computer, the tablet computer 40 has a screen 402 and a speaker 404. Referring to Fig. 6, the method of monitoring the gas appliance of the present invention will be described later.

The tablet 40 executes an application and displays an input interface on the screen 402 for the user to input an instruction. The input command is transmitted to the repeater 20 through the network 30 to be converted into a control signal to control a specific gas. The device 10; the data in operation detected by the detector 17 of the gas appliance 10 is also transmitted to the tablet 40 via the repeater 20 and the Internet 30.

The tablet 40 has a database built therein, which stores various parameters of the normal operation of each gas appliance 10, abnormal codes corresponding to data when an abnormality occurs, and basic data of the user, such as address, purchase, and purchase. Air conditioning system models, etc.

When any data of the gas appliance transmitted from the repeater 20 is judged to be abnormal by the tablet 40, for example, the temperature is too high, the gas is leaked, and the like, the service information is displayed on the screen 402 of the tablet 40. The service information includes a web link of a troubleshooting method, and a web link of the troubleshooting method. It is established corresponding to the exception code when an exception occurs. The operator can set different webpages for different troubleshooting methods in advance for different abnormal conditions. The webpage can record the troubleshooting procedure or display the troubleshooting teaching video. When the user clicks on the webpage link on the tablet 40, the webpage of the corresponding troubleshooting method can be opened, and the information provided on the webpage can be viewed to understand how to correct the fault by itself. In practice, the service information can also be the information of the service base, such as the telephone number and address of the service location closer to the user, so that the user can contact the maintenance personnel through the service data of the service base for subsequent processing. .

In addition, when the gas appliance 10 is abnormal, the tablet 40 can send a warning message to remind the user that the warning message can be sounded through the speaker 404 of the tablet 40 or displayed on the screen 402 in a flashing pop-up window. Attention to the user.

By using the remote control system of the gas appliance provided by the invention, the user can remotely control various gas appliances in the home in any place where the network can be connected, for example, a gas water heater, a gas stove, a gas dryer, a gas fireplace, and the like. Moreover, the system integrates different types of gas appliances in the home, so that a remote control can be used to control different gas appliances, which is easy to install and easy to use. For example, when the user is on the way to work, he can use a mobile phone or a laptop to connect to the repeater to open the gas fireplace in the home in advance, so that when the user returns home, he can have a warmth. The indoor temperature; or, when the door is removed, the gas stove is not closed (or is not sure whether it is closed or not), and the system can also be used for remote control.

What is more worth mentioning is that when an abnormality occurs in the gas appliance, the user can immediately know the failure through the reminder of the warning message, and the service information can let the user know the cause of the abnormality and how to eliminate it in a short time. Failure, or contact the service representative of the operator for further processing, effectively shortening the time for the gas appliance to wait for repair.

The above description is only for the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and the equivalent method variations of the present invention and the scope of the patent application are intended to be included in the scope of the present invention.

10‧‧‧ gas appliances

10a‧‧‧Water heater

10b‧‧‧ gas stove

10c‧‧‧Washing machine

10d‧‧‧Fireplace

20‧‧‧Repeat

30‧‧‧Network (Internet)

40‧‧‧Remote controller (tablet)

402‧‧‧ screen

404‧‧‧Speaker

Claims (5)

A method for monitoring a gas appliance, wherein at least one gas appliance is connected to a repeater, the repeater is connected to a remote controller through a network, the remote controller has a screen, and the monitoring method comprises the following steps: Transmitting an instruction to the remote controller; transmitting the command to the repeater via the network; generating a control signal according to the command, and transmitting the control signal to the gas appliance to control the gas appliance Detecting certain data in the operation of the gas appliance; and analyzing the data, and generating a service information and displaying it on the screen of the remote controller when at least one of the data is interpreted as abnormal. The method for monitoring a gas appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the service information includes information of a service base. The method for monitoring a gas appliance according to claim 1, wherein the network is an internet, and the service information includes a webpage link of a troubleshooting method. The method of monitoring a gas appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the data is transmitted from the gas appliance to the repeater and transmitted to the remote controller through the network, and the data is at the far end Analysis on the end controller. The method for monitoring a gas appliance according to claim 1, wherein the remote control device further has a speaker, and the monitoring method further comprises the speaker emitting a sound when at least one of the data is judged to be abnormal.