TW201700922A - System and method for gas shut-off control based on Wi-Fi - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention discloses a Wi-Fi based gas shut-off control system and a Wi-Fi based gas shut-off control method. The Wi-Fi based gas shut-off control system includes a gas shut-off valve, a Wi-Fi access point, a gas valve controller, and a mobile device. The gas shut-off valve switches on or off according to a gas valve control signal to control the open and close of a household gas pipeline. The gas valve controller which is electrically coupled to the gas shut-off valve wirelessly receives a control command via the Wi-Fi access point and generates the gas valve control signal according to the control command. The mobile device which is connected to the Wi-Fi access point via a network connection capability generates the control command.

Description

Gas occlusion control system and method based on wireless network

This invention relates to gas occlusion control, and more particularly to gas escaping control for remotely operable operations.

Natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas (hereinafter referred to as gas) are one of the indispensable energy sources in today's homes, which brings convenience to daily life and brings danger. Therefore, some gas emergency shut-off valves have appeared on the market to reduce the possibility of accidents, such as external gas mechanical valves (including one-way mechanical shut-off valves and two-way mechanical shut-off valves) and electromagnetic quick-disconnect valves. . The standard gas switch itself does not provide an automatic emergency shut-off mechanism. In this case, an external gas mechanical valve can be used to assist the switch. As the name implies, because it is an external type, all have the advantage of easy installation, without changing the original gas pipeline. The electromagnetic quick-disconnect valve is part of the gas pipeline, which itself provides emergency shut-off. Regardless of the type of gas emergency shut-off valve, it must rely on the triggering of an external signal to cause it to be shut down urgently. For example, with a smoke detector, the gas emergency shut-off valve can be used to shut down gas in an emergency when the concentration of smoke in the room is excessive, or with a seismic detector. The gas emergency shut-off valve can cut off the gas immediately after the earthquake. To avoid bigger disasters. However, when the concentration of smoke is too high, it usually represents a certain degree of disaster, and while the earthquake detector can prevent natural disasters, human error is still a major cause of family fires. The more common situation is that I forgot to turn off the fire in my home before going out. Although many gas stoves have a safer disaster prevention design, if the user is not sure whether the gas has been shut down, he can take the initiative to source the gas from the far end. If you cut it, you can prevent it from happening.

In view of the deficiencies of the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a gas occlusion control system and method to reduce the incidence of fire accidents in the home.

The invention discloses a gas interception control system based on a wireless network, comprising: a gas barrier valve, wherein the control signal is turned on or off according to a gas control valve to control whether a gas pipeline is turned on or off; a wireless network base station; a gas valve controller electrically connected to the gas shutoff valve, wirelessly receiving a control command through the wireless network base station, and generating the gas valve control signal according to the control command; The mobile device is connected to the wireless network base station through a network function to generate the control command.

The invention further discloses a wireless network-based gas occlusion control method for generating a gas valve control signal, and a gas damper valve is controlled to open or close according to the gas valve control signal to control a gas tube. The method is conductive or non-conductive, the method comprising: wirelessly receiving, by a wireless network base station, a control command from a mobile device, the control command including an instruction to turn the gas shut-off valve on or off; and The command generates the gas valve control signal; wherein the command to include the opening of the gas shutoff valve is related to a network connection state of the mobile device.

The present invention further discloses a gas occlusion control method, which is executed by a processing unit of a mobile device for causing the mobile device to generate a control command related to opening or closing of a gas shutoff valve, the method comprising: Sending a broadcast signal; determining a control option of a user interface of the mobile device according to whether a response signal corresponding to one of the broadcast signals is received; and responding to an operation command to generate the control command; wherein, if the response signal cannot be received Then, the user interface is blocked from the control option for opening the gas shutoff valve, and the control command cannot include an instruction to open the gas shutoff valve.

The gas occlusion control system and method of the invention can provide users with safer home protection, and has the advantages of easy installation and low cost, and the mobile device can timely check and control the gas switch in the home at the remote end, so that the user even It is also easy to turn off the gas at home without being at home, to avoid disasters and to get a safer and more secure living environment.

The features, implementations, and effects of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

The technical terms of the following descriptions refer to the idioms in the technical field, and some of the terms are explained or defined in the specification, and the explanation of the terms is based on the description or definition of the specification. The disclosure of the present invention includes a gas occlusion control system and method and a mobile device for controlling gas occlusion. Since some of the components included in the gas occlusion control system of the present invention may be known components alone, the following description of the known components will be made without affecting the full disclosure and feasibility of the device invention. Abridged.

1 is a remote gas occlusion control system of the present invention. The gas occlusion control system 100 includes a mobile device 110, a network server 120, a wireless network base station 130, a gas valve controller 140, a gas shutoff valve 150, and a detector 160. The gas shutoff valve 150 is opened or closed according to the control signal of the gas valve controller 140 to control the opening or closing (ie, conduction or non-conduction) of the gas pipeline in the home. The gas valve controller 140 is coupled to the network server 120 via the wireless network base station 130 and also communicates with the detector 160 by wire or wirelessly. The detector 160 is, for example, a smoke detector or a seismic detector. On the other hand, the mobile device 110 is also connected to the network server 120 via the Internet, and further communicates with the gas valve controller 140 through the wireless network base station 130.

2 is a functional block diagram of the gas valve controller 140. The gas valve controller 140 includes a wireless network module 142, a Bluetooth module 143, a processing unit 144, a storage unit 146, a transmission port 148, and a light source module 149. The gas valve controller 140 is connected to the gas shutoff valve 150 through the transfer port 148. When the detector 160 is connected to the gas valve controller 140 in a wired manner, it is transmitted through the transmission module 148 and wirelessly connected through the Bluetooth module 143. The Bluetooth module 143 can be a general Bluetooth module or a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) module. When the detector 160 detects an environmental change (such as smoke or earthquake), it will send a signal (which can be regarded as a control command of the gas valve controller 140), and the gas valve controller 140 turns off the gas shutoff valve 150 according to the control command; That is to say, at this time, the action of the gas valve controller 140 is independent of whether it is connected to the network. Please refer to FIG. 3 together. FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the gas valve controller 140 when it is started. After the gas valve controller 140 is started, the processing unit 144 first checks whether the storage unit 146 stores the identification name of the wireless network (Wi-Fi) base station or the Service Set Identifier (SSID) and the corresponding password ( If a password is required to connect (step S310). If so, the processing unit 144 controls the wireless network module 142 to attempt to connect to the wireless network base station corresponding to the name (step S320); otherwise, the processing unit 144 controls the wireless network module 142 to search for a nearby wireless network base. The station tries to connect (step S340). If the wireless network base station corresponding to the name is connected in step S320 (ie, the determination result in step S330 is YES), indicating that the gas valve controller 140 is connected to the network, the processing unit 144 may block the gas shutoff valve. The state of 150 is transmitted to the network server 120 through the wireless network module 142, and starts to wait for the control command of the mobile device 110 to the gas shutoff valve 150 (step S360). At this time, if the mobile device 110 and the gas valve controller 140 are located under the same local area network (LAN) (meaning that the two are connected to the same wireless network base station 130), then the process is processed in step S360. Unit 144 can directly communicate the state of gas shutoff valve 150 to mobile device 110 through the regional network. The state of the above-described gas shutoff valve 150 is obtained by interrogating the gas shutoff valve 150 through the transfer port 148. If the decision result in the step S330 is NO, the flow proceeds to the step S340. In step S340, the gas valve controller 140 can be directly connected to the mobile device 110 through the wireless network module 142 or the Bluetooth module 143 (that is, the connection between the mobile device 110 and the gas valve controller 140 does not need to pass through the network. The router server 120 and the wireless network base station 130) transmit the SSID of the searched wireless network base station to the mobile device 110 after being connected, and the user can be listed through the user interface of the mobile device 110. The SSID specifies the wireless network base station 130 to be connected to the gas valve controller 140 and enters a password (if the wireless network base station 130 requires a password to connect). After the connection is successful, the processing unit 144 stores the identification name and password (if any) of the connected wireless network base station 130 in the storage unit 146 (step S350), and finally the gas valve controller 140 proceeds to step S360. In step S360, the processing unit 144 queries the gas shutoff valve 150 for its state at a preset time, and then transmits the state to the network server 120.

Please refer to FIG. 4, which is a flow chart of the operation of the gas valve controller 140 of the present invention. When the gas valve controller 140 is connected to the network, the processing unit 144 queries the gas shutoff valve 150 for its current state at a predetermined time interval (for example, 10 seconds) (step S410), and transmits the state through the network. It is transmitted to the web server 120 (step S420). Next, the processing unit 144 of the gas valve controller 140 determines whether a control command is received (step S430). If the answer of the step S430 is NO, the process returns to the step S410; if the determination is YES, the processing unit 144 determines whether the control command is from the mobile device 110 or the detector 160 according to the signal format of the control command (step S435). There may be two sources of control commands, the first being generated by the mobile device 110, the processing unit 144 being received by the wireless network module 142, the other being generated by the detector 160, and the processing unit 144 being transmitted through the Bluetooth module 143 or Transmission 148 receives. If the control command is from the detector 160 (NO in step S435), the gas shutoff valve is directly controlled according to the command of the control command (step S450) (for example, when a fire alarm or an earthquake occurs, the control command includes closing the gas shutoff valve 150) If the control command is from the mobile device 110 (YES in step S435), the control command includes the user's account number and password, and the command to turn the gas shutoff valve 150 on or off, and the processing unit 144 further determines the control command. Is the account password in the correct one (step S440). The account password is used to prevent the unintentional person from entering or closing the gas shutoff valve 150, and can be set by the mobile device 110. After the setting is completed, the storage unit 146 of the gas valve controller 140 stores the account password. The processing unit 144 compares the account password carried in the control command with the account password set in the storage unit 146 in step S440. If the account password in the control command is correct, the processing unit 144 issues a gas valve control signal to the gas shutoff valve 150 according to the control command (step S450), and then returns to step S410; if the account password is incorrect, the processing unit 144 ignores The control command either sends a message to the mobile device 110 to prompt the user for an account number and/or password error, after which the processing unit 144 returns to step S410.

Please refer to FIG. 5, which is a flow chart of the operation of the mobile device 110 of the present invention. The mobile device 110 includes a display unit (not shown) for displaying the user interface, a network connection module for connecting the network (not shown), and a processing for coupling the display unit and the network connection module. Unit (not shown). The mobile device 110 can be, for example, a device such as a smart phone or a tablet. The processing unit is configured to execute an application installed on the mobile device 110 to perform the occlusion control of the home gas. When the application is launched (e.g., the application executes from the beginning, the background switches to the foreground, or the mobile device 110 wakes up from the standby state), it first checks if the mobile device 110 is connected to the wireless network base station 130 (step S505). If it is connected, the control mobile device 110 transmits a broadcast signal through the wireless network base station 130 (step S510), and then determines whether a response message from the gas valve controller 140 is received (step S520). If a response message from the gas valve controller 140 is received, the representative mobile device 110 is in the same regional network as the gas valve controller 140, at which point the application of the mobile device 110 allows the user to turn the gas valve on and off (steps) S540); conversely, if the mobile device 110 is not connected to the wireless network base station 130 (NO in step S505), or the mobile device 110 sends a broadcast signal through the wireless network base station 130, it does not receive the gas from the gas. The response message from the valve controller 140 (NO in step S520) does not allow the user to open the gas valve (step S530). The intention of this design is that when the user is away from home (that is, the mobile device 110 is not in the same regional network as the gas valve controller 140), the user does not need the gas equipment in the home, so there is no need to interrupt the gas. The valve 150 is switched from the closed state to the open state. At this time, the application disables the related operation of opening the gas shutoff valve 150 in the user interface of the mobile device 110, so as to prevent the user from mistakenly turning off the original state. The gas valve is opened, so that the safety of the user's home can be more ensured; on the other hand, when the user returns home and the mobile device 110 is connected to the wireless network base station 130 in the home (meaning the mobile device 110 and the gas The valve controller 140 is under the same local area network. At this time, the application enables the related operation of opening the gas valve in the user interface of the mobile device 110, so that the user can directly open the gas shield through the mobile device 110. The valve 150 is broken to increase the convenience of use. However, when the user is at home, the gas shutoff valve 150 can be directly controlled by the physical button on the gas valve controller 140. The design can also increase the convenience of the switch gas shutoff valve 150. After step S530 (when the mobile device 110 is connected to the network server 120 and 140), the application of the mobile device 110 queries the network server 120 for the state of the gas shutoff valve 150 and displays it on the user interface; In contrast, after step S540 (at this time, the mobile device 110 is connected to the gas network base station 130 or directly connected to the gas valve controller 140), the application of the mobile device 110 queries the gas valve controller 140 for the gas shutoff valve 150. The status is displayed in the user interface. After the user interface is determined (ie, step S530 or step S540 is completed), the application waits for the used operation, that is, detects whether the user interface has an operation command generated (step S550). If not, the detection is continued; if an operation command is detected, the account number, the password, and the command to open or close the gas shutoff valve are transmitted to the gas valve controller 140.

Please refer to FIG. 6, which is a flowchart of the operation of the network server 120 of the present invention. After startup, the network server 120 checks whether the current state of the gas shutoff valve 150 from the gas valve controller 140 (via the wireless network base station 130) is received (step S610), and if so, updates the network. The state of the gas blocking valve 150 is blocked on the server 120 (step S620), and the confirmation signal is sent back to the gas valve controller 140, indicating that the status update signal is actually received (step S630); if not received, the network servo is not updated. The state of the gas blocking valve 150 on the device 120. Next, it is checked whether a control signal from the mobile device 110 to turn off the gas shutoff valve 150 is received (step S640). If the result of the determination in step S640 is YES, the account number, the password, and the command to close the gas shutoff valve are transmitted to the gas valve controller 140 (step S650), and the confirmation signal is returned to the mobile device 110 (step S660). The confirmation signal may be a success signal that the gas shutoff valve 150 has been closed, or a failure signal of various reasons (such as an incorrect account password, abnormal network connection, failure to close the gas shutoff valve 150 within a preset time, etc.) ). The application of the mobile device 110 then displays the content of the message corresponding to the confirmation signal on the user interface to notify the user. After step S660 is completed, the process returns to step S610. If the result of the determination in step S640 is NO, step S650 and step S660 are skipped, and the process returns directly to step S610.

The gas valve controller 140 can indicate the state of the gas valve controller 140 and/or the state of the gas shutoff valve 150 by controlling changes in color, brightness, flicker, etc. exhibited by the light source module 149. Figure 7 is a partial structural view of the gas valve controller 140 of the present invention. The light source module 149 is located inside the casing of the gas valve controller 140, and includes light sources 710-1~710-3 (the number is only used for illustration), and each light source may be, for example, a light emitting diode (LED). Light sources, each emitting light of a different color. The casing of the gas valve controller 140 includes at least four layers of structures, from the inside to the outside, a diffuser plate 720, a light blocking coating (or light blocking plate) 730, a protective plate 740, and a high reflective coefficient coating 750. The function of the diffusing plate 720 is to uniformly distribute the light energy emitted by the light source module 149, so that the light of the original point source is diffused into the light of the surface light source. The light blocking coating 730 is intended to block part of the light, allowing only a portion of the light to pass. For example, the light-shielding coating 730 can be printed with an identification pattern (such as the company's trademark). Only a part of the pattern allows light to pass through, and the light of the light source module 149 passes through the diffusion plate 720 and the light-blocking coating 730. The pattern is reflected on the protective plate 740. The protective plate 740 has a relatively hard material, and functions to protect the light-blocking coating 730 and the diffusing plate 720, and has a coating 750 having a high light-reflecting coefficient on the outside (or directly to physically make the surface of the protective plate 740 highly reflective) Coefficient), when the light source module 149 does not emit light, the appearance of the protection plate 740 can exhibit a black mirror effect, and when the light source module 149 emits light, a partial area of the protection plate 740 (corresponding to the light blocking coating 730 is printed with a pattern The area shows the pattern while the other areas still maintain a black mirror. In other embodiments, the light-blocking coating 730 can also be applied over the protective sheet 740, which is coated with a high-reflection coating 750. The processing unit 144 of the gas valve controller 140 can display various states of the gas valve controller 140 and/or the gas shutoff valve 150 by controlling the color, brightness, and/or flicker frequency emitted by the light source module 149, such as a normal connection. The line, the no power source, the wireless network base station 130, the network server 120, the on/off state of the gas shutoff valve 150, and the like are displayed in a recognizable pattern to enhance the appearance. For example, the blue light can be used to indicate that the connection is normal, and the blinking and non-flashing respectively indicate that the gas shutoff valve 150 is in an on/off state. In this way, it is more convenient for the user to know the state of the gas valve controller 140 and/or the gas shutoff valve 150 immediately when the user is at home.

Those skilled in the art can understand the implementation details and variations of the method invention of FIG. 3 to FIG. 6 by the disclosure of the apparatus of FIG. 1 and FIG. It is noted that the shapes, dimensions, proportions, and order of steps of the elements are merely illustrative, and are intended to be used by those of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention and not to limit the invention. Although the embodiments of the present invention are described above, the embodiments are not intended to limit the present invention, and those skilled in the art can change the technical features of the present invention according to the explicit or implicit contents of the present invention. Such variations are all within the scope of patent protection sought by the present invention. In other words, the scope of patent protection of the present invention is defined by the scope of the patent application of the specification.

100‧‧‧ Gas Interruption Control System
110‧‧‧ mobile devices
120‧‧‧Web server
130‧‧‧Wireless Network Base Station
140‧‧‧ gas valve controller
142‧‧‧Wireless network module
143‧‧‧Bluetooth module
144‧‧‧Processing unit
146‧‧‧ storage unit
148‧‧‧Transportation
149‧‧‧Light source module
150‧‧‧ gas barrier valve
160‧‧‧Detector
710-1~710-3‧‧‧Light source
720‧‧‧Diffuser
730‧‧‧Light barrier
740‧‧‧protection board
S310～S360, S410～S450, S505～S560, S610～S660‧‧‧ steps

1 is a remote gas occlusion control system of the present invention; [FIG. 2] is a functional block diagram of a gas valve controller 140; [FIG. 3] is a flow chart when the gas valve controller 140 is activated; [FIG. 4] FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation of the mobile device 110 of the present invention; [FIG. 6] is a flowchart of the operation of the network server 120 of the present invention; and [FIG. 7] A partial structural view of the gas valve controller 140 of the present invention.

100‧‧‧ Gas Interruption Control System

110‧‧‧ mobile devices

120‧‧‧Web server

130‧‧‧Wireless Network Base Station

140‧‧‧ gas valve controller

150‧‧‧ gas barrier valve

160‧‧‧Detector

Claims (11)

A wireless network-based gas occlusion control system, comprising: a gas damper valve for controlling whether a gas damper is turned on or off according to a gas damper to control whether a gas pipeline is turned on or off; a gas base controller; electrically connected to the gas shutoff valve, wirelessly receiving a control command through the wireless network base station, and generating the gas valve control signal according to the control command; and a mobile device And connecting to the wireless network base station through a network function to generate the control command. The wireless network-based gas interception control system of claim 1, wherein the control command includes an instruction to open or close the gas shutoff valve, and when the mobile device is not located with the gas valve controller In the same local area network, the mobile device cannot generate a control command containing an instruction to turn on the gas shutoff valve. The wireless network-based gas occlusion control system according to claim 1, further comprising: a network server connected to the mobile device and the wireless network base station via the Internet; Storing the open or closed state of the gas shutoff valve; wherein the gas valve controller queries the gas shutoff valve for the open or closed state at a preset time interval, and transmits the open or closed state to the network server . The wireless network-based gas occlusion control system according to claim 1, further comprising: a network server connected to the mobile device and the wireless network base station via the Internet; Storing the open or closed state of the gas shutoff valve; wherein the mobile device queries the network server for the open or closed state, and displays the open or closed state correspondingly in a user interface. The wireless network-based gas shutoff control system of claim 1, wherein the gas valve controller comprises: a processing unit; a wireless network module coupled to the processing unit; Coupling the processing unit, the gas valve controller is electrically connected to the gas shutoff valve through the transfer port; and a storage unit for storing a wireless network identification name; wherein the processing unit controls the wireless network mode The group searches for and establishes a connection with the wireless network base station according to the wireless network identification name, and the storage unit stores a set user account and password, the control command includes a user account and a password, and the processing unit Before the gas valve control signal is generated, the user account and password are compared with the set user account and password. The wireless network-based gas occlusion control system of claim 5, wherein the gas valve controller further comprises: a light source module coupled to the processing unit, comprising a plurality of illuminating elements; wherein the processing unit The light-emitting state and the blinking state of the light-emitting elements are controlled according to the on or off state of the gas barrier valve, and an identification pattern is presented. The wireless network-based gas occlusion control system of claim 5, wherein the gas damper controller further comprises a bluetooth module, and the gas occlusion control system further comprises: a detector through the bluetooth A technique is coupled to the gas valve controller for detecting an environmental change to generate a further control command; wherein the gas valve controller generates the gas valve control signal based on the other control command. A wireless network-based gas occlusion control method for generating a gas damper control signal, and a gas damper valve is controlled to open or close according to the gas damper control signal to control whether a gas pipeline is turned on or off. The method includes: wirelessly receiving, by a wireless network base station, a control command from a mobile device, the control command including an instruction to turn the gas shutoff valve on or off; and generating the gas valve according to the control command The control signal; wherein the command to open the gas shutoff valve is related to a network connection state of the mobile device. The wireless network-based gas occlusion control method of claim 8, further comprising: receiving a broadcast signal from the mobile device before receiving the control command; generating a response message according to the broadcast signal; The network connection status is related to whether the mobile device receives the response message. If the mobile device cannot receive the response message, the control command cannot include an instruction to turn on the gas shutoff valve. A gas occlusion control method is performed by a processing unit of a mobile device for causing the mobile device to generate a control command related to opening or closing of a gas shutoff valve, the method comprising: transmitting a broadcast signal Determining a control option of a user interface of the mobile device according to whether a response signal corresponding to one of the broadcast signals is received; and responding to an operation command to generate the control command; wherein if the response signal cannot be received, blocking the User Interface Regarding the control option to open the gas shutoff valve, the control command cannot include an instruction to open the gas shutoff valve. The gas interception control method according to claim 10, wherein the gas control controller controls the gas shutoff valve according to the control command, and the method further comprises: controlling to a network server or the gas valve The device queries the open or closed state of the gas shutoff valve; and displays the open or closed state on the user interface.