阅读说明：本技术 燃气表 (Gas meter ) 是由 长友谦治 木场康雄 岩本龙志 榎本光伸 于 2019-08-23 设计创作，主要内容包括：燃气表(10)具有切断阀(1)、恢复部(2)、流量计测部(3)、显示部(6)、与外部进行通信的通信部(4)、控制部(5)、区域信息设定部(7)以及区域信息比较部(8)。而且,燃气表通过区域信息比较部(8)将区域信息设定部(7)中保有的预先设定的区域信息与通过通信部(4)受理的远程切断指示中附加的区域信息的指定值进行比较,在区域信息一致的情况下将切断阀(1)闭阀。(The gas meter (10) is provided with a shut-off valve (1), a recovery unit (2), a flow rate measurement unit (3), a display unit (6), a communication unit (4) that communicates with the outside, a control unit (5), an area information setting unit (7), and an area information comparison unit (8). The gas meter compares, by means of a region information comparison unit (8), the preset region information held in the region information setting unit (7) with a specified value of the region information added to the remote shutoff instruction received by the communication unit (4), and closes the shutoff valve (1) when the region information matches.)

1. A gas meter is provided with: a shut-off valve for shutting off the flow of the gas; a flow rate measuring unit that measures a gas flow rate; a restoration unit for opening the shut valve; a display unit that displays a state; a communication unit which communicates with the outside; an area information setting unit that sets and stores area information relating to the installed gas piping system and the like; and a control unit that controls the shut-off valve, the flow rate measuring unit, the recovery unit, the display unit, the communication unit, and the area information setting unit, wherein in the gas meter,

when a remote cut instruction with a specified value of zone information added thereto is received by the communication unit, the control unit closes the cut valve when the zone information stored in the zone information setting unit matches the specified value of the zone information added to the remote cut instruction.

2. The gas meter of claim 1, wherein,

further, a history storage unit for storing a history of cutting and the like is provided,

the control unit stores the shut-off valve in the history storage unit and displays the shut-off valve on the display unit in response to the event that the area information stored in the area information setting unit matches the specified value of the area information added in the remote shut-off instruction and the shut-off valve is closed.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a gas meter that remotely closes a shut-off valve by communication.

Background

Conventionally, a gas meter is introduced as an important safety device into an entire household, and when an earthquake occurs, for example, the gas meter detects vibration by a built-in vibration sensor and cuts off gas when a predetermined magnitude of the earthquake occurs.

In order to check whether or not there is a gas leak in a gas pipe for supplying gas, it is necessary for a gas supply worker to close the upstream side of gas supply and close the gas demand side of a gas meter, after an event such as an earthquake occurs. As a method for closing a valve on a gas demand side of a gas meter, there is a method for forcibly closing the valve by remote control from the outside through communication, for example (see patent document 1, for example).

Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing a conventional gas shutoff device described in patent document 1. As shown in fig. 4, the valve driving device includes an external device 114, a communication unit 113 constituting the fluid shutoff device 102, a control unit 115, and a shutoff valve driving unit 109. The fluid shutoff device 102 further includes a shutoff valve drive control unit 118 and a pressure determination unit 122 which are incorporated in the control board 117 together with the communication unit 113 and the control unit 115, the shutoff valve drive control unit 118 receiving a signal from the control unit 115 to control the operation of the shutoff valve drive unit 109, and the pressure determination unit 122 receiving a signal from a pressure detection unit 120 for detecting the pressure of the fluid to determine a situation related to the pressure of the fluid and transmitting a signal related to the determination result to the control unit 115. The control board 117 further includes: a trigger SW 124 that transmits a trigger signal to the control unit 115; and a battery voltage monitoring unit 123 that monitors the voltage of the battery 116 that supplies power to the control unit 115.

The operation of the main components of the conventional gas shutoff device will be described with reference to fig. 4. The communication unit 113 shown in fig. 4 is configured to perform bidirectional communication. When the communication unit 113 receives a remote shut-off/recovery command from the external device 114, the communication unit 113 causes the shut-off valve driving unit 109 to perform the shut-off/recovery driving operation via the shut-off valve drive control unit 118, and outputs a command reception/execution response to the external device 114. With this configuration, it can be confirmed by the external device 114 that the opening and closing operation of the shutoff valve driving unit 109 is reliably performed.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2010-133916

Disclosure of Invention

However, in the conventional configuration, in order to remotely cut off the gas meters upon receiving a signal from the external device 114, it is necessary to select each gas meter provided in a system of gas pipes for which gas leakage is to be confirmed from a monitoring center or the like, and to transmit a remote control instruction to each gas meter. Therefore, there is a problem that it is complicated in terms of management and operation to transmit a remote control instruction while checking the relationship between the gas piping and each gas meter.

The present disclosure provides a gas meter, which sets area information including system information of a gas pipe in advance for the gas meter, and when the valve is closed by remote control in batches from a monitoring center, instructs the gas meter to add the area information to be closed, and specifies the gas pipe to be closed exclusively to put the gas meter in a cut-off state, thereby efficiently performing a gas leakage inspection operation of the gas pipe.

The gas meter in this disclosure has: a shut-off valve for shutting off the flow of the gas; a flow rate measuring unit that measures a gas flow rate; a recovery unit for opening the shut valve; a display unit that displays a state; a communication unit which communicates with the outside; an area information setting unit that sets and stores area information relating to the installed gas piping system and the like; and a control unit for controlling the shut valve and the components. When a remote shutoff instruction to which a specified value of the area information is added is received by the communication unit, the control unit of the gas meter closes the shutoff valve when the area information stored in the area information setting unit matches the specified value of the area information added in the remote shutoff instruction.

With this configuration, when each gas meter is to be shut off by remote control from a monitoring center or the like, a remote shut-off instruction can be transmitted so as to add area information including the target gas piping system. Therefore, the gas meter that has received the remote shutoff instruction can compare the attached area state (for example, the pipe number of the target gas pipe) with the area information set in advance in the gas meter, and can shut off the shutoff valve only when the area information matches.

Since the gas meter of the present disclosure has the regional information of the gas piping system and the like set in advance, it is possible to transmit a remote shutoff instruction to which the regional information matching the gas piping to be inspected is added in a batch from the monitoring center, and it is possible to easily put the gas meter installed in the gas piping to be inspected into a shutoff state, and to efficiently perform the gas leakage inspection.

Further, since the event that the specified area information is forcibly turned to the shut-off state remotely is displayed, the shut-off event can be easily recognized when the inspection work is performed on site, and the gas leakage inspection can be performed more efficiently.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a gas meter according to an embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a relationship between a gas meter and a gas pipe in the embodiment.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an operation performed when the remote shutoff instruction is received by the gas meter in the embodiment.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram of a gas meter in the related art.

Detailed Description

Next, a gas meter according to an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

(embodiment mode)

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a gas meter according to an embodiment.

In fig. 1, a gas meter 10 includes: a shut-off valve 1 for shutting off the flow of the gas; a recovery unit 2 that transmits a signal for opening the shut valve 1 in a closed state; a flow rate measuring unit 3 for measuring a gas flow rate; and a communication unit 4 that communicates with the external communication unit 11. Further, the gas meter 10 includes: a display unit 6 that displays various states of the gas meter 10; a history storage unit 9 that stores a history of events such as the shutoff of the shutoff valve 1; and a control unit 5 that controls each component of the gas meter 10. The gas meter 10 further includes: an area information setting unit 7 that receives area information of a gas piping system or the like in which the gas meter 10 is installed through the communication unit 4, and that sets and stores the area information in advance through the control unit 5; and an area information comparing unit 8 that compares, when the communication unit 4 receives the remote disconnection instruction, the area information in the remote disconnection instruction extracted by the control unit 5 with the area information held by the area information setting unit 7.

Here, the external communication unit 11 transmits various commands including the area information from the monitoring center or the setter to the communication unit 4 of the gas meter 10 by, for example, wireless communication.

Next, the operation of the gas meter 10 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to fig. 1 and 2.

First, setting of area information such as a gas piping system in which the gas meter 10 is installed will be described with reference to a relational diagram between the gas meter and the gas piping shown in fig. 2.

Fig. 2 shows an example of the area information. Fig. 2 shows the arrangement relationship between the gas piping in the gas piping system a and the installed gas meters. A gas piping system a among the plurality of gas piping systems is divided into a plurality of gas pipings (gas piping a-1, gas piping a-2, gas piping a-B-1, gas piping a-B-2, and gas piping a-B-3), and each of the gas pipings is provided with gas meters m1 to m11 having the same structure as the gas meter 10 shown in fig. 1.

The area information of the gas piping system and the like in which the gas meters m1 to m11 are installed is as follows: for example, information "area information is a-1" is set in the gas meter m1, and information "area information is a-2" is set in the gas meter m 4. Then, area information is set in the same format for all the gas meters m1 to m 11.

The external communication unit 11 transmits the area information shown in fig. 2 to the gas meters m1 to m 11. When the control units 5 of the gas meters m1 to m11 receive a setting command of area information of the gas piping system or the like in which the gas meters m1 to m11 are installed through the external communication units 11 and the communication units 4, the control units 5 issue a setting instruction to the area information setting unit 7 in response to the received setting command, and the area information is stored in the area information setting unit 7.

Through the above operation, the gas meters m1 to m11 are set in advance with the area information of the gas piping system and the like in which the gas meters m1 to m11 are installed.

Next, remote disconnection control will be described.

The external communication unit 11 identifies a region where a gas leakage inspection operation is required after occurrence of an event such as an earthquake, and transmits a remote shutoff command to any of the gas meters m1 to m11 installed in the region to be shut off, the remote shutoff command being added with area information to which any of the gas meters m1 to m11 to be shut off belongs.

In the gas meters m1 to m11, the control unit 5 receives the remote disconnection command via the external communication unit 11 and the communication unit 4, analyzes the received remote disconnection command to extract additional area information, and issues a comparison instruction to the area information comparison unit 8 for the extracted area information.

Upon receiving the comparison instruction, the area information comparing unit 8 compares the extracted area information with the area information held by the area information setting unit 7, and if the extracted area information matches the preset area information, the area information comparing unit 8 responds to the control unit 5 that the area information matches. Then, the control unit 5 receives a response of the matching of the area information from the area information comparing unit 8, and shuts off the shut valve 1.

The operation of the remote disconnection instruction will be described with reference to the flowchart of fig. 3.

First, the communication unit 4 receives a communication message (step S1). The control unit 5 determines whether or not the command is a remote disconnection command, and extracts area information if the command is a remote disconnection command (step S2). Next, the control unit 5 compares the extracted region information with the region information held by the region information setting unit 7 by the region information comparing unit 8 (step S3). When the extracted area information matches the preset area information as a result of the comparison, the shut valve 1 is shut off (step S4). On the other hand, if the extracted region information does not match the preset region information, the shut valve 1 is not shut (step S5).

The area information described above is not limited to the embodiment, and may be any information that is determined systematically, such as a serial number that assigns a number to an area. The area information may be a method of specifying only an arbitrary plurality of bits for specifying the ID of the existing gas meter 10.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the area information of the gas piping system or the like in which the gas meter 10 is installed is set in advance in the area information setting unit 7, and when a remote disconnection instruction to which the area information is added is received, the area information comparison unit 8 compares the added area information with the area information of the gas meter set in advance. Then, the shut valve 1 is shut off only when the additional region information matches the preset region information. With this configuration, it is possible to easily perform the remote control of cutting off only the target gas meters 10 obtained based on the region information of the gas leakage inspection target in a batch manner, and it is possible to efficiently perform the gas leakage inspection.

In the present embodiment, the history storage unit 9 and the display unit 6 are provided. The communication unit 4 can receive a remote shutoff instruction with a specified value of the area information added thereto, and the history storage unit 9 can store and display an event that the shutoff valve 1 is closed when the area information set in advance in the area information setting unit 7 matches the specified value of the area information added to the remote shutoff instruction, on the display unit 6. With this configuration, when the display of the display unit 6 is confirmed on site, it is possible to easily recognize what reason the gas is shut off, and when the content of the history storage unit 9 is confirmed, it is possible to confirm the event even after the inspection, and it is possible to perform the gas leakage inspection and the event management more efficiently.

Further, the content displayed on the display unit 6 and the content stored in the history storage unit 9 can be displayed not only as the cause of disconnection, but also as the area information itself, or if the cause of disconnection is an earthquake, for example, information such as the earthquake magnitude can be displayed and recorded as a rough reference quantitatively or graphically. With this configuration, it is possible to flexibly use information of inspection work on site and management information of inspection work, and it is possible to more efficiently perform gas inspection work.

As described above, the gas meter according to the first disclosure includes: a shut-off valve for shutting off the flow of the gas; a flow rate measuring unit that measures a gas flow rate; a recovery unit for opening the shut valve; a display unit that displays a state; a communication unit which communicates with the outside; an area information setting unit that sets and stores area information relating to the installed gas piping system and the like; and a control unit for controlling the respective components. When a remote cut instruction with a specified value of the zone information added thereto is received by the communication unit, the control unit closes the shut-off valve when the zone information stored in the zone information setting unit matches the specified value of the zone information added to the remote cut instruction.

With this configuration, the gas meter provided in the gas pipe to be inspected for gas leakage can be easily shut off by remote control, and gas leakage inspection can be efficiently performed.

The gas meter according to the second disclosure may further include a history storage unit that stores a history of shutoff or the like, and the control unit may store an event that the shutoff valve is closed when the area information stored in the area information setting unit matches a specified value of the area information added to the remote shutoff instruction in the history storage unit and display the event on the display unit, in particular, in the first disclosure.

With this configuration, when an inspection work is performed on site, the shut-off event can be easily recognized, and the gas leakage inspection can be performed more efficiently.

Industrial applicability

As described above, the gas meter according to the present invention can transmit a remote shutoff instruction to which region information matching the gas pipe to be inspected is added in a batch manner from the monitoring center, and can easily put the gas meter installed in the gas pipe to be inspected in a shutoff state, and thus can be applied to an electric meter, a water meter, and the like.

Description of the reference numerals

1: a shut-off valve; 2: a recovery section; 3: a flow rate measuring unit; 4: a communication unit; 5: a control unit; 6: a display unit; 7: an area information setting unit; 8: an area information comparing unit; 10. m 1-m 11: a gas meter; 11: an external communication unit.