WO2022255342A1 - 液面高さ検出装置 - Google Patents

液面高さ検出装置 Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2022255342A1
WO2022255342A1 PCT/JP2022/022070 JP2022022070W WO2022255342A1 WO 2022255342 A1 WO2022255342 A1 WO 2022255342A1 JP 2022022070 W JP2022022070 W JP 2022022070W WO 2022255342 A1 WO2022255342 A1 WO 2022255342A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
liquid level
light
component
water level
calculation formula
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Application number
PCT/JP2022/022070
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English (en)
French (fr)
Japanese (ja)
Inventor
匡 小林
志織 東
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ローム株式会社
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Priority to JP2023525844A priority Critical patent/JPWO2022255342A1/ja
Publication of WO2022255342A1 publication Critical patent/WO2022255342A1/ja

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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01F—MEASURING VOLUME, VOLUME FLOW, MASS FLOW OR LIQUID LEVEL; METERING BY VOLUME
    • G01F23/00—Indicating or measuring liquid level or level of fluent solid material, e.g. indicating in terms of volume or indicating by means of an alarm
    • G01F23/22—Indicating or measuring liquid level or level of fluent solid material, e.g. indicating in terms of volume or indicating by means of an alarm by measuring physical variables, other than linear dimensions, pressure or weight, dependent on the level to be measured, e.g. by difference of heat transfer of steam or water
    • G01F23/28—Indicating or measuring liquid level or level of fluent solid material, e.g. indicating in terms of volume or indicating by means of an alarm by measuring physical variables, other than linear dimensions, pressure or weight, dependent on the level to be measured, e.g. by difference of heat transfer of steam or water by measuring the variations of parameters of electromagnetic or acoustic waves applied directly to the liquid or fluent solid material
    • G01F23/284—Electromagnetic waves
    • G01F23/292—Light, e.g. infrared or ultraviolet

Definitions

  • the invention disclosed in this specification relates to a liquid level detection device.
  • the object of the invention disclosed in this specification is to provide a liquid level detection device capable of improving the detection accuracy of the liquid level.
  • the liquid level detection device disclosed in this specification includes a light source that irradiates light toward the liquid surface, an optical sensor that receives light reflected from the liquid surface, and an output from the optical sensor. and a detection unit that detects the liquid level height based on the corresponding relationship between the detected light value and the liquid level.
  • FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a water level detection device.
  • FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a color sensor.
  • FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an experimental environment for experiments using the water level detection device.
  • FIG. 4 is a view of the substrate viewed in a direction perpendicular to the substrate surface.
  • FIG. 5 is a table showing an example of calculated water level results for each color component.
  • FIG. 6 is a table showing an example of variations in water level calculated for each color component.
  • FIG. 7A is a graph plotting the actual water level in the table of FIG. 5 on the horizontal axis and the water level calculated from the R component detection value on the vertical axis.
  • FIG. 7B is a graph plotting the actual water level in the table of FIG.
  • FIG. 7C is a graph plotting the actual water level in the table of FIG. 5 on the horizontal axis and the water level calculated from the B component detection value on the vertical axis.
  • FIG. 8 is a table showing an example of water level results calculated based on infrared component detection values.
  • FIG. 9 is a table showing an example of variations in water level calculated based on infrared component detection values.
  • FIG. 10 is a graph plotting the results shown in FIG.
  • FIG. 11 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration example when the water level detection device is mounted on equipment.
  • FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a calibration unit;
  • FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a water level detection device.
  • a water level detector is an example of a liquid level detector.
  • the water level detection device 1 shown in FIG. 1 has a substrate 2, a color sensor 3, a white LED 4, a control section 5, a switch SW and a resistor R. Color sensor 3 , white LED 4 , switch SW, and resistor R are mounted on substrate 2 .
  • the control unit 5 is, for example, a microcomputer.
  • a white LED (an example of a light source) 4 is a chip LED that emits white light.
  • the switch SW and the resistor R are arranged on a path through which a current flows to the white LED 4 by the power supply voltage VCC.
  • the switch SW is controlled to be turned on and off by the controller 5 . By turning on/off the switch SW, the white LED 4 can be switched between light emission and light extinguishing.
  • the resistor R limits the current flowing through the white LED 4 and adjusts the amount of white light.
  • a color sensor (an example of an optical sensor) 3 is a sensor IC capable of detecting color components of light. Specifically, the color components are an R component (red component), a G component (green component), and a B component (blue component).
  • the white LED 4 emits white light.
  • the white LED 4 irradiates the water surface (not shown) with white light.
  • the color sensor 3 receives light reflected by a water surface or the like and detects color components.
  • the color sensor 3 outputs the detected color components to the controller 5 as digital data. Digital data output from the color sensor 3 is, for example, 16-bit data.
  • the control unit 5 has a bit conversion unit 51 and a detection unit 52 .
  • the bit conversion unit 51 converts the digital data output from the color sensor 3 into 8-bit digital data, for example.
  • the detection unit 52 calculates the water level based on the bit-converted color component detection value and the calculation formula 5A for calculating the water level. Calculation formula 5A is stored in advance in control unit 5 (detection unit 52). The details of the calculation formula 5A will be described later.
  • the color sensor 3 can also detect IR (infrared) components in addition to RGB components.
  • FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the color sensor 3.
  • the color sensor 3 shown in FIG. 2 includes light receiving elements 31A, 31B, 31C and 31D, ADCs (AD converters) 32A, 32B and 32C, a logic circuit 33, an infrared blocking filter 34, a red light transmission filter 35A, It has a green light transmission filter 35B, a blue light transmission filter 35C, an infrared transmission filter 35D, and a switch .
  • the light receiving element 31A generates an analog current signal corresponding to the amount of red light incident through the infrared cutoff filter 34 and the red light transmission filter 35A. That is, the light receiving element 31A detects the R component (red component) of the input light.
  • the light receiving element 31B generates an analog current signal corresponding to the amount of green light incident through the infrared cut filter 34 and the green light transmission filter 35B. That is, the light receiving element 31B detects the G component (green component) of the input light.
  • the light receiving element 31C generates an analog current signal corresponding to the amount of blue light incident through the infrared cut filter 34 and the blue light transmission filter 35C. That is, the light receiving element 31C detects the B component (blue component) of the input light.
  • the light receiving element 31D generates an analog current signal corresponding to the amount of infrared light incident through the infrared transmission filter 35D. That is, the light receiving element 31D detects the IR component (infrared component) of the input light.
  • a photodiode, a phototransistor, or the like can be suitably used as each of the light receiving elements 31A, 31B, 31C, and 31D.
  • the ADCs 32A and 32B convert the analog current signals from the light receiving elements 31A and 31B into, for example, 16-bit digital data and output them. Also, the ADC 32C converts the analog current signal from either the light receiving element 31C or 31D into digital data according to the switching of the switch 36, and outputs the digital data.
  • the infrared cutoff filter 34 cuts off the IR component contained in the input light on the upstream side of each of the red light transmission filter 35A, the green light transmission filter 35B, and the blue light transmission filter 35C. By providing such an infrared blocking filter 34, the RGB components can be detected with high accuracy.
  • the logic circuit 33 sends digital data as RGB component detection signals and IR component detection signals output from the ADCs 32A, 32B, and 32C to the control unit 5 by I2C communication.
  • FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an experimental environment for an experiment using the water level detection device 1.
  • FIG. 4 is a diagram of the substrate 2 viewed in a direction perpendicular to the substrate surface of the substrate 2 (hereinafter simply referred to as the vertical direction) (X direction).
  • a water level detection device 1 (the control unit 5 is not shown in FIG. 3), a petri dish 6, drawing paper 7, and a dark box 8 were used.
  • Petri dish 6 is a container capable of containing water 9 . Water 9 and petri dish 6 are transparent.
  • the substrate 2 was arranged above the petri dish 6 so that the bottom surface 61A inside the petri dish 6 and the color sensor 3 and the white LED 4 faced each other in the vertical direction (X direction) (that is, the X direction is the vertical direction).
  • the distance L between the bottom surface 61A and the color sensor 3 was set to 15 mm.
  • a vernier caliper was used to set the distance L.
  • a white drawing paper 7 was placed below the bottom 61 of the petri dish 6 .
  • the substrate 2, the color sensor 3, the white LED 4, the petri dish 6, and the drawing paper 7 were placed inside the dark box 8. As a result, external light is blocked by the dark box 8, and detection of the external light by the color sensor 3 is suppressed.
  • the larger the value of the actual water level H the larger the detection values for each of RGB. This is probably because the greater the water level H, the shorter the distance from the white LEDs 4 to the water surface 91 and the less the amount of attenuation of the white light between the white LEDs 4 and the water surface 91 .
  • the above formulas (1), (2), and (3) are formulas for calculating the water level from the R component detection value, G component detection value, and B component detection value, respectively.
  • the average value of the water level values obtained by substituting the R component detection value sampled as described above into the right side of the above equation (1) is the actual water level (0 mm, 2 mm, 4 mm, 6 mm, 8 mm, 10 mm ) are shown in the table of FIG. That is, the average value of the three calculated water level values obtained by the formula (1) was calculated per one actual water level. Similar results for the G and B components using equations (2) and (3) above are also shown in FIG.
  • Fig. 7A shows a graph in which the actual water level in the table of Fig. 5 is plotted on the horizontal axis and the water level calculated from the R component detection value is plotted on the vertical axis ("calculated value" in Fig. 7A). Note that FIG. 7A also shows plots of actual water levels on both the horizontal axis and the vertical axis (“ideal value” in FIG. 7A). Similar graphs for the G component and B component are shown in FIGS. 7B and 7C, respectively.
  • the results calculated for each (0 mm, 2 mm, 4 mm, 6 mm, 8 mm, 10 mm) are shown in the table of FIG. That is, the variation of the three calculated water level values obtained by the formula (1) was calculated per one actual water level.
  • FIG. 6 also shows similar results for the G component and the B component using the above formulas (2) and (3).
  • the variation in the water level calculated from the detected values is small for any of the R, G, and B components. 3 ⁇ indicates the reproducibility of the calculated water level, and the reproducibility was high.
  • the control unit 5 (detection unit 52) as the calculation formula 5A (FIG. 1)
  • the control unit 5 (detection The unit 52) can detect the water level with high accuracy based on the output from the color sensor 3.
  • FIG. That is, water levels other than the water level at intervals of 2 mm as described above can also be detected.
  • the average value of the water level calculated by each of two or more of the above formulas (1), (2), and (3) may be calculated. That is, it is possible to detect the water level using at least one of the above formulas (1), (2), and (3).
  • FIG. 8 shows the result corresponding to FIG. 5 mentioned above based on the above equation (4).
  • 10 shows a graph in which the results shown in FIG. 8 are plotted.
  • FIG. 9 shows the result corresponding to FIG. 6 described above based on the above equation (4). From these results, it was found that the water level can be detected with high accuracy based on the value of the infrared component detected by the color sensor 3 and the above equation (4). Therefore, the above formula (4) may be stored in the control section 5 (the detection section 52) as the calculation formula 5A to detect the water level. Since the second-order coefficient of the above equation (4) is small, an approximation of the first-order expression may be calculated. Also, the value of each coefficient in the above equation (4) is, of course, only an example.
  • FIG. 11 schematically shows a configuration example in which the water level detection device 1 is mounted on a toilet tank 100 as an example of applicable equipment.
  • the toilet tank 100 has a housing portion 60.
  • the substrate 2 , the color sensor 3 and the white LED 4 included in the water level detection device 1 are arranged above inside the housing portion 60 .
  • the containing portion 60 can contain the water 9 .
  • the color of the housing portion 60 itself is white.
  • the experimental environment described above is adapted to the environment when the water level detection device 1 is mounted on the toilet tank 100.
  • a white sheet material may be arranged on the inner bottom surface of the housing portion 60 or may be arranged below the transparent bottom portion of the housing portion 60.
  • the container part 60 may be a container for uses other than the toilet tank.
  • control unit 5 may perform calibration in order to cope with aging.
  • the secular change is, for example, a change in the state of the water 9 stored in the storage portion 60 .
  • the control section 5 has a calibration section 53 as shown in FIG.
  • the calibration section 53 has a measurement implementation section 531 , a calculation formula generation section 532 , a water level calculation section 533 , a 3 ⁇ calculation section 534 , and a calculation formula selection section 535 .
  • the measurement execution unit 531 irradiates white light from the white LED 4 and measures the RGB component detection values from the color sensor 3 when the water level information is acquired. The measurement is performed multiple times (eg, three times) for each same water level.
  • the calculation formula generation unit 532 calculates a water level calculation formula for each component based on the water level indicated by the water level information and the RGB component detection values obtained by the measurement.
  • the water level calculation unit 533 calculates the water level by substituting the RGB component detection values obtained above into each water level calculation formula calculated above.
  • the 3 ⁇ calculator 534 calculates 3 ⁇ of the water level calculated above for each same water level indicated by the water level information (that is, equivalent to FIG. 6 described above).
  • the calculation formula selection unit 535 selects the water level calculation formula with the least variation from the water level calculation formulas for each of the RGB components based on the 3 ⁇ calculated above. Thereafter, the water level is detected based on the selected water level calculation formula. Therefore, the water level calculation formula used for water level detection is updated in accordance with aging.
  • the liquid stored in the storage unit 60 may be colored opaque water, or may be colored liquid other than water (for example, ink). Further, the liquid contained in the containing portion 60 may be gel-like. Also, the color of the sheet material or the color of the housing portion 60 may be a color other than white. In these cases, for example, in the experimental stage, among the calculation formulas calculated from the detected values of each of the R, G, and B components measured by the color sensor 3, a formula with good accuracy is selected and sent to the control unit 5. Store. It should be noted that the calibration function described above can also deal with changes in quality of the liquid, such as a change to opaque water or a change in liquid to a gel state.
  • an optical sensor that measures the detection value of only one of the R, G, B, and IR components may be used.
  • an illuminance sensor may be used instead of the color sensor 3, and the water level may be detected based on a calculation formula for calculating the water level from the illuminance.
  • a table representing the correspondence between the detected values of RGB components and the water level is created in advance, and the control unit 5 detects the water level based on the table. You may make it That is, it is not always necessary to detect the water level by calculation using a calculation formula.
  • the liquid level detection device (1) disclosed in this specification includes a light source (4) that irradiates light toward the liquid surface (91), and a light source (4) that receives light reflected from the liquid surface.
  • a configuration comprising an optical sensor (3), an optical detection value output from the optical sensor, and a detection unit (52) for detecting the liquid level height based on the correspondence relationship between the optical detection value and the liquid level height. (first configuration).
  • the correspondence relationship is a calculation formula (5A) for calculating the liquid level height from the light detection value, and the detection unit calculates the liquid level height based on the calculation formula may be calculated (second configuration).
  • the calculation formula may be a linear formula or a quadratic formula (third configuration).
  • the optical sensor outputs the light detection value of at least one of an R (red) component, a G (green) component, and a B (blue) component
  • the detection unit may have the correspondence relationship between the light detection value of at least one of the R component, the G component, and the B component and the liquid level (fourth configuration).
  • the optical sensor outputs the light detection value of the infrared component
  • the detection section outputs the light detection value of the infrared component and the liquid level height.
  • a measurement execution unit (531) that measures the light detection values of the RGB components by the light sensor when information on the liquid level is acquired; a calculation formula generator (532) for calculating a liquid level height calculation formula for each component of the RGB components based on the liquid level height information and the light detection value obtained by the measurement; a liquid level height calculation unit (533) for calculating the liquid level height based on the calculated liquid level height calculation formula and the light detection value obtained by the measurement; a variation calculation unit (534) for calculating a variation index of the calculated liquid level for each same liquid level indicated by the information on the liquid level; a calculation formula selection unit (535) that selects a liquid level height calculation formula from the liquid level height calculation formulas for each of the components based on the calculated variation index; (sixth configuration).
  • the light source and the optical sensor may be mounted on the same substrate (seventh configuration).
  • the liquid surface may be a water surface (eighth configuration).
  • the device (100) disclosed in this specification includes a liquid level detection device (1) having any one of the first to eighth configurations, and a storage section ( 60) and (ninth configuration).
  • a white member is further provided below the bottom of the housing portion or on the bottom surface inside the housing portion, and the light source (4) is capable of emitting white light.
  • a certain configuration may be used (tenth configuration).
  • the bottom portion of the accommodating portion may be white, and the light source may emit white light (eleventh configuration).
  • the liquid level detection device disclosed in this specification can be used, for example, to detect the water level.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Electromagnetism (AREA)
  • Thermal Sciences (AREA)
  • Fluid Mechanics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Measurement Of Levels Of Liquids Or Fluent Solid Materials (AREA)
PCT/JP2022/022070 2021-06-03 2022-05-31 液面高さ検出装置 WO2022255342A1 (ja)

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JP2021-093476 2021-06-03

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Citations (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS5684197A (en) * 1979-12-07 1981-07-09 Kobe Steel Ltd Detecting method for filling rate of flux in flux-cored wire for welding
JPS63169521A (ja) * 1987-01-07 1988-07-13 Toshiba Corp 変位計
JPS6484119A (en) * 1987-09-27 1989-03-29 Hamamatsu Photonics Kk Object state detector
JPH0194221A (ja) * 1987-10-06 1989-04-12 Hamamatsu Photonics Kk 対象物状態検出器
JPH01173833A (ja) * 1987-12-28 1989-07-10 Yamaha Corp 液体残量センサー
JPH01203919A (ja) * 1988-02-10 1989-08-16 Hamamatsu Photonics Kk 距離検出器
US5831268A (en) * 1996-11-25 1998-11-03 Morita; Yoshimitsu Sensing device for reflective clear material using infrared LED
JP2000153339A (ja) * 1998-11-19 2000-06-06 Isuzu Motors Ltd 流動性物質の充填度検出方法および充填度検出装置

Patent Citations (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS5684197A (en) * 1979-12-07 1981-07-09 Kobe Steel Ltd Detecting method for filling rate of flux in flux-cored wire for welding
JPS63169521A (ja) * 1987-01-07 1988-07-13 Toshiba Corp 変位計
JPS6484119A (en) * 1987-09-27 1989-03-29 Hamamatsu Photonics Kk Object state detector
JPH0194221A (ja) * 1987-10-06 1989-04-12 Hamamatsu Photonics Kk 対象物状態検出器
JPH01173833A (ja) * 1987-12-28 1989-07-10 Yamaha Corp 液体残量センサー
JPH01203919A (ja) * 1988-02-10 1989-08-16 Hamamatsu Photonics Kk 距離検出器
US5831268A (en) * 1996-11-25 1998-11-03 Morita; Yoshimitsu Sensing device for reflective clear material using infrared LED
JP2000153339A (ja) * 1998-11-19 2000-06-06 Isuzu Motors Ltd 流動性物質の充填度検出方法および充填度検出装置

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