JP3209462B2 - Flow data storage device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flow rate data storage device which obtains a flow rate signal from a flow meter and stores data on a flow rate change over time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to ascertain the usage status of a fluid such as water supply at each use location, a recording device may be installed at the location for a predetermined period to record a temporal change in flow rate. Conventionally, this type of recording apparatus does not store all the flow signals obtained during the measurement period due to the storage capacity of the storage means, but measures the time interval in units of a certain amount of distribution, and this unit The time when the time interval of the input signal changes for each flow rate is stored so that long-term recording can be performed.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, a rotating plate 18 is coaxially fixed to a rotating shaft 16 of an impeller 14 provided in a pipe 9, and a magnet 20 is mounted on the surface of the rotating plate 18, and The rotation of the magnet 20 by the fluid passing through the pipe 9 is sensed by the sensing unit 12 installed in the vicinity, and the rotation of the impeller 14 becomes half
Sends the flow meter signal that outputs the flow rate signal to the processing means, and does not store it individually when the pulse time interval is constant, but when the flow rate changes and the pulse time interval changes, the flow rate data Was sent to the storage means and stored.

[0004]

However, conventionally,
The data only when the flow rate signal changed was sent to the storage means to reduce the amount of storage so that the measurement results could be stored for a long period of time. Changes from time to time,
He had memorized all the data during the change.
That is, as shown in FIG. 4, when the flow rate starts increasing at time T1 and becomes constant at time T5,
In the process of changing from 1 to T5, T2, T3,
Since the time interval between the pulse at each time of T4 and the immediately preceding pulse also changes, the flow rate data at this time was sent to the storage means and stored. The data generated in the process of such a change cannot be directly used for the flow rate measurement and is useless data. However, since the data is stored in the storage unit, the capacity of the storage unit is saturated and the measurement period is shortened. Had become.

[0005]

Therefore, in the present invention, in order to be able to store the measurement results over a long period of time, if a change in the flow rate is confirmed, the flow rate data within a predetermined time is determined from the change. Is constructed so as not to store the data.

[0006]

The flow rate data is not immediately stored in the storage means even if a change in the flow rate is confirmed due to a change in the interval of the flow rate signal.
The data generated during the change can be omitted, the storage amount can be reduced, the saturation time of the storage capacity can be extended, the flow rate can be measured over a long period of time, and the measurement result can be stored.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a flow data storage device according to the present invention will be described below. The flow data storage device 2 is connected to the flow meter 4 as shown in FIG. 2, and has a processing unit 6 for processing a signal from the flow meter 4, a storage unit 8 for storing the flow data processed by the processing unit 6, and the like. The processing means 6 is further connected to a timing means 5 and a setting means 7,
The flow rate in the pipe 9 to which the flow meter 4 is attached is measured, and the information can be stored.

As shown in FIG. 3, the flow meter 4 comprises a rotating section 10 provided inside a pipe 9 such as a water pipe, and a sensing section 12 for sensing the rotation of the rotating section 10. It is connected to the means 6 and outputs a signal. The rotating unit 10 includes an impeller 14 provided in the pipe 9 and an impeller 1
When the impeller 14 is rotated by tap water flowing through the pipe 9, the rotary plate 18 also rotates at the same rotation speed. It is determined in advance how many liters of tap water corresponds to one revolution of the impeller 14. A magnet 20 is attached to the rotating plate 18, and an N pole and an S pole are formed at both ends of the rotating plate 18 with the center rotating shaft 16 interposed therebetween. The sensing unit 12 reacts to the north pole and south pole of the magnet 20 and can detect the approach thereof, and outputs the signal to the processing unit 6 as described above.

The processing means 6 processes the N-pole and S-pole signals (pulses) from the flow meter 4 and outputs them to the storage means 8. The contents of the processing are not output to the storage means 8 when the pulse from the flow meter 4 is being sent at a constant interval, but when a change occurs in the pulse interval, the time and immediately before this change. The number of pulses between the change and the change is output as a set of data. In this way, it is assumed that there is a constant flow rate in the pipe 9 from the time when the signal is recorded to the next recording, and the flow can be processed, and at which point the flow rate changes from what value to what value. If the determination can be made, the flow rate during the entire measurement period can be grasped, and the amount of data stored in the storage means 8 can be reduced. Further, the processing unit 6 does not immediately transmit the pulse interval to the storage unit 8 even when the pulse interval fluctuates, and stores it in the storage unit 8 even if the fluctuation has occurred within the predetermined time α. Not to be. The predetermined standby time α is appropriately determined according to the flow rate or the like, and is input from the setting unit 7 to the processing unit 6.

Next, the storage process of the processing means 6 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, F-1, F
In -2 and F-3, the elapsed time TM from the change detection point, the reference value ta for the time interval comparison, and the number of signals Pb until the time α elapses from the change detection point are initialized to zero. Next, in F-4, it is determined whether or not a signal is received. If there is a signal, the process proceeds to F-5. In F-5, the signal receiving time is inserted in the signal input time T1, and the number Pa of signals in the stable state is set to 1 in F-6. Next, signal reception is determined in F-7, and if not, T-10 in F-10.
It is determined whether β time has elapsed from 1. β is a state in which no signal is output, that is, a time when it can be confirmed that the use of the fluid has been stopped, and β is a state in which no signal is received in F-10.
When the time has elapsed, the process proceeds to F-11, where Pa + Pb is entered in Pa, T1 is entered in Z in F-12, and time Z and the number of signals Pa are stored in F-13.

When the signal is received at F-7, the process proceeds to F-8, where the reception time of the received signal is entered at T2, and at T-9, T2 is received.
Is subtracted from T1 to determine the time interval tn of the flow signal,
Proceed to 14. In F-14, if there is no change in comparing ta and tn, that is, when the flow rate is constant, F-1
At 5, Pa + Pb + 1 is put into Pa, and F-16 and F-1
At 7, Pb and TM are initialized to 0. After this, F-2
Proceed to 8 to set T1 to T2, return to F-7, and wait for reception of the next flow signal.

On the other hand, when a change is detected between ta and tn in F-14, the process proceeds to F-18, and it is determined whether TM is 0 or not. If TM is not 0, the process proceeds to F-20. If it is 0, T1 is added to Z in F-19 and the process proceeds to F-20. In F-20, TM is set to TM + tn, and the flow advances to F-21. In F-21, it is determined whether TM is longer than a predetermined standby time α, and if not, the process proceeds to F-22 and Pb is set to Pb.
Add +1 and proceed to F-28, change T1 to T2, F-7
And waits for reception of the next flow signal.

If TM is greater than α in F-21, it is determined that the predetermined standby time α has elapsed, and in F-23, Z and Pa are sent to the storage means 8 and stored. And F-24, F-
At 25, F-26 and F-27, Pa is set to Pb + 1,
Pb is set to 0, the reference value ta for comparison is set to tn, and TM is set to 0.
To Thereafter, the process proceeds to F-28, where T1 is set to T2 and F2 is set.
Return to -7.

Therefore, even if the time interval between the pulses sent from the flow meter 4 fluctuates, the flow data storage device 2 treats and stores the fluctuation as a state where no fluctuation has occurred for a predetermined time α, for example, 0.5 seconds. Since the flow rate data such as the pulse number Pa and the time Z at which the fluctuation occurred is stored after the lapse of the predetermined time α, the storage amount within the same period can be reduced. By extending the period until the means 8 is saturated, the flow rate can be measured over a long period of time, and the measurement result can be stored.

The time α for waiting without sending to the storage means 8
Is not limited to 0.5 seconds and can be set arbitrarily.

[0016]

According to the flow rate data storage device of the present invention,
A change occurs in the interval of the flow rate signal, and even if it is determined that the flow rate has changed, it is not immediately sent to the storage means to be stored,
Since the flow rate data within a predetermined time after it is determined that the fluctuation has occurred is not sent to the storage means, the data during the change can be omitted, and unnecessary data generated during the fluctuation can be prevented from being stored. , The flow rate can be measured over a long period of time, and the measurement result can be stored and stored.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a storage process of a flow rate data storage device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a flow rate data storage device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a flow meter.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing a flow rate and a flow rate signal.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Flow rate data storage device 4 Flow meter 5 Timing means 6 Processing means 7 Setting means 8 Storage means 9 Tube 10 Rotating unit 12 Detecting unit 14 Impeller 16 Rotating shaft 18 Rotating plate 20 Magnet

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Masahiko Ito 3-6-4-102 Mansion Oaks, Kita-ku, Tokyo (72) Inventor Tomoyuki Yokosuka 5-29-1, Kasumigaseki Kita, Kawagoe-shi, Saitama (56) References JP-A-7-55532 (JP, A) JP-A-4-60420 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01F 1/00-15/18 G01D 9 / 00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method of measuring a time interval of a flow signal output from a flow meter every time a unit amount of fluid passes, and after the time interval has fluctuated, the first time when the time interval no longer fluctuates. In the flow rate data storage device which stores the flow rate data when there is a change between the time intervals and the time intervals, the time interval of the flow rate signal is changed within a predetermined time after the change in the time interval. A flow data storage device characterized in that even if a change occurs during the period, the change is not considered to have occurred and flow rate data within the predetermined time is not stored.