JP7297429B2 - Measuring system, measuring method and measuring device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD Embodiments of the present invention relate to measurement systems, measurement methods, and measurement devices.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the state of water flowing through a sewer pipe is monitored by a measuring device installed in the sewer pipe or the like. However, in the conventional monitoring method, it is necessary to secure and maintain a power supply for supplying power to the measuring equipment, which may lead to an increase in operating costs.

JP 2015-10403 A JP 2018-87810 A

A problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a measurement system, a measurement method, and a measurement device that can monitor the state of running water at a lower cost.

A measurement system of an embodiment has a transmitter and a measurement device. The transmitting device has a levitation section, a rotating section, a power generating section, and a transmitting section. The floating part floats the device near the surface of the water. The rotating part is rotated by the flow of water that levitates the device. The power generation section generates power using the rotation of the rotating section. The transmission unit wirelessly transmits a signal using the power generated by the power generation unit. The measuring device has a receiving section and a measuring section. The receiving unit receives the signal from the transmitting device. The measurement unit measures the flow velocity of the water or the height of the water surface based on the received signal.

The figure which shows the specific example of the system configuration|structure of the sewer culvert monitoring system in this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a specific example of the functional configuration of the radio transmitter 1 according to the embodiment; The figure which shows the specific example of a structure of the electric power generation part 11 in this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a specific example of the functional configuration of the measuring device 2 according to this embodiment; The figure which shows the specific example of the method in which the water level measurement part 251 in this embodiment measures the water level of the sewage which flows through the sewer PN based on the radio wave intensity of a beacon signal. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific example of a method for maintaining the wireless transmitter 1 in the present embodiment near the surface of the sewage flowing through the sewage pipe PN and within a predetermined range. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific example of a method for maintaining the wireless transmitter 1 in the present embodiment near the surface of the sewage flowing through the sewage pipe PN and within a predetermined range. 4 is a flow chart showing the flow of processing for measuring the water level and flow velocity of sewage flowing through the sewer culvert PN in the sewer culvert monitoring system 100 according to the present embodiment, and accumulating the measured data in the data server 3;

Hereinafter, a measuring system, a measuring method, and a measuring apparatus according to embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a specific example of the system configuration of the sewer culvert monitoring system according to this embodiment. A sewer culvert monitoring system 100 shown in FIG. 1 is an example of a sewer culvert monitoring system in this embodiment. The sewer culvert monitoring system 100 includes a wireless transmitter 1 (an example of a transmitter), a measuring device 2, a data server 3, and a monitoring device 4. FIG. A radio transmitter 1 is installed inside the sewer culvert PN and has a function of radio-transmitting a predetermined signal. The signal transmitted by the radio transmitter 1 may be any signal as long as the radio intensity can be obtained on the receiving side. Further, it is desirable that the signal transmitted by the radio transmitter 1 requires low power for one signal transmission. As an example of such a signal, the wireless transmitter 1 of this embodiment shall transmit a beacon signal.

The measuring device 2 is arranged at a position capable of receiving a beacon signal from the radio transmitter 1, and has a function of measuring physical quantities related to sewage flowing through the sewer culvert PN based on the received beacon signal. The measuring device 2 is communicably connected to the data server 3 via the network N, and transmits measurement data of the physical quantity to the data server 3 .

The data server 3 accumulates the measurement data received from the measuring device 2 and has a function as a database for providing the measurement data accumulated in itself upon request. The data server 3 is communicably connected to the monitoring device 4 via the network N, and transmits requested measurement data to the monitoring device 4 in response to a request from the monitoring device 4 .

The monitoring device 4 has a function of generating, displaying, or providing various types of information for supporting monitoring of the sewer culvert PN based on the measurement data supplied from the data server 3 .

For simplicity, FIG. 1 shows that three radio transmitters 1-1, 1-2 and 1-3 are arranged below corresponding manholes M1, M2 and M3, respectively, and each radio transmitter 1-1, 1 Three measuring devices 2-1, 2-2 and 2-3 corresponding to -2 and 1-3 are shown arranged above the corresponding manholes M1, M2 and M3. This is based on the assumption that efficient wireless communication becomes possible by using the space inside the manhole as a propagation path for wireless. is not limited to

The radio transmitter 1 and the measuring device 2 may be arranged in any way as long as the radio transmitter 1 and the measuring device 2 satisfy the following conditions.
(Condition 1) The radio transmitter 1 must be located near the surface of the sewage and within a predetermined range.
(Condition 2) The wireless transmitter 1 must be able to wirelessly communicate with any measuring device 2 .
As long as the above conditions are satisfied, the radio transmitter 1 may be placed at any position in the sewer culvert PN, and it is not necessarily required to be associated with the measuring device 2 on a one-to-one basis.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a specific example of the functional configuration of the radio transmitter 1 according to this embodiment. The radio transmitter 1 includes a power generation section 11 , a storage section 12 and a beacon signal transmission section 13 . The power generation unit 11 has a function of generating power using the rotation of the rotation unit 111, which will be described later. For example, the power generation unit 11 has an internal storage battery connected to supply power to the storage unit 12 and the beacon signal transmission unit 13, and stores the generated power in the storage battery, so that the storage unit 12 and the beacon signal transmission unit 11 can generate power. It supplies power necessary for transmitting the beacon signal to the unit 13 .

The storage unit 12 is configured using a storage device such as a magnetic hard disk device or a semiconductor storage device. The storage unit 12 stores in advance setting information regarding transmission of beacon signals. Note that the wireless transmitter 1 does not have to include the storage unit 12 when the beacon signal is generated by wired logic.

The beacon signal transmission unit 13 has a function of transmitting a beacon signal. Specifically, the beacon signal transmission unit 13 generates a beacon signal based on the setting information stored in the storage unit 12, and wirelessly outputs the generated beacon signal. The transmission of the beacon signal may be based on any standard, including standards such as BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) (Bluetooth is a registered trademark) and IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11. .

Here, the storage unit 12 and the beacon signal transmission unit 13 are stored in the storage battery of the power generation unit 11 in response to the electric power required for transmitting the beacon signal once (hereinafter referred to as “beacon transmission power”). , an operation necessary for transmitting a single beacon signal (hereinafter referred to as "beacon transmitting operation"). That is, the storage unit 12 and the beacon signal transmission unit 13 intermittently perform the beacon transmission operation each time the beacon transmission power is generated.

All or part of each function of the radio transmitter 1 may be realized using hardware such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), a PLD (Programmable Logic Device), or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). . Moreover, when the radio transmitter 1 executes a program, the program may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium. Computer-readable recording media include portable media such as flexible disks, magneto-optical disks, ROMs and CD-ROMs, and storage devices such as hard disks incorporated in computer systems. The program may be transmitted over telecommunications lines.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific example of the configuration of the power generation section 11 in this embodiment. For example, the power generation unit 11 includes a rotating unit 111, a rotating shaft 112, a first coil 113-1, a second coil 113-2, a first magnet 114-1 having N pole magnetism, and a second coil having S pole magnetism. It has two magnets 114-2. The rotating part 111 constitutes a rotating mechanism similar to a so-called water wheel, in which the blades B1 to B8 fixed to itself rotate around a rotating shaft 112 in response to the flow of sewage. The first magnet 114-1 and the second magnet 114-2 are fixed to the rotating mechanism of the rotating portion 111 so as to rotate together with the rotation of the rotating portion 111. FIG.

On the other hand, the first coil 113-1 and the second coil 113-2 are fixed to the power generating section 11 independently of the rotating section 111, thereby rotating the first magnet 114-1 and the second magnet 114-2. remains relatively stationary with respect to For example, when the rotating part 111 is configured to rotate about the rotating shaft 112 and independently of the rotating shaft 112, the first coil 113-1 and the second coil 113-2 are arranged around the rotating shaft 112. By fixing, it can be in a relatively stationary state with respect to the first magnet 114-1 and the second magnet 114-2.

The power generation unit 11 configured in this manner includes a first coil 113-1 and a second coil 113-2, and a first magnet 114-1 and a second magnet 114-2 that move relative to them. Electricity is generated by generating an induced current through an electromagnetic induction phenomenon. The power generation unit 11 stores the power thus generated in a storage battery (not shown), and supplies power to the beacon signal transmission unit 13 via the storage battery.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a specific example of the functional configuration of the measuring device 2 according to this embodiment. The measurement device 2 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a memory, an auxiliary storage device, etc., which are connected via a bus, and executes a program. The measurement device 2 functions as a device including a first communication unit 21 (an example of a reception unit), a second communication unit 22, a beacon information storage unit 23, a beacon information acquisition unit 24, and a measurement unit 25 by executing a program. All or part of each function of the measuring device 2 may be implemented using hardware such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), a PLD (Programmable Logic Device), or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). The program may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium. Computer-readable recording media include portable media such as flexible disks, magneto-optical disks, ROMs and CD-ROMs, and storage devices such as hard disks incorporated in computer systems. The program may be transmitted over telecommunications lines.

The first communication unit 21 is a wireless communication interface that connects the measuring device 2 to the wireless transmitter 1 so as to be wirelessly communicable. The first communication unit 21 outputs the beacon signal received from the radio transmitter 1 to the beacon information acquisition unit 24 . Further, the first communication unit 21 has a function of measuring the radio wave intensity of the received beacon signal, and transmits the received beacon signal together with information indicating the radio wave intensity (hereinafter referred to as “radio wave intensity information”) to the beacon information acquisition unit. 24.

The 2nd communication part 22 is a communication interface which connects the measuring device 2 with the data server 3 via the network N so that communication is possible. The second communication unit 22 may be a wireless communication interface or a wired communication interface. The second communication unit 22 transmits measurement data generated by the measurement unit 25 to the data server 3 .

The beacon information storage unit 23 is configured using a storage device such as a magnetic hard disk device or a semiconductor storage device. The beacon information storage unit 23 stores beacon signals and radio wave intensity information output by the beacon information acquisition unit 24 .

The beacon information acquisition unit 24 generates information (hereinafter referred to as “beacon information”) indicating the reception timing and radio wave intensity of the beacon signals sequentially received from the radio transmitter 1 for each received beacon signal. It has a function of recording in the beacon information storage unit 23 . For example, the beacon information acquisition unit 24 may set the timing at which the beacon signal is output from the first communication unit 21 as the reception timing of the beacon signal, the timing at which the wireless transmitter 1 transmits the beacon signal, or the timing at which the first communication The timing at which the unit 21 receives the beacon signal may be the reception timing of the beacon signal. In this case, the radio transmitter 1 may be configured to transmit a beacon signal including information indicating the transmission timing, and the first communication unit 21 notifies the beacon information acquisition unit 24 of the reception timing of the beacon signal. It may be configured as

The measurement unit 25 has a function of measuring the water level and flow velocity of the sewage flowing through the sewer PN based on the beacon information stored in the beacon information storage unit 23 and accumulating the measurement data in the data server 3. Specifically, the measurement unit 25 transmits measurement data of water flow and flow velocity to the data server 3 via the second communication unit 22 .

Specifically, the measurement unit 25 includes a water level measurement unit 251 that measures the water level and a flow velocity measurement unit 252 that measures the flow velocity. The water level measurement unit 251 measures the water level of sewage flowing through the sewer culvert PN based on the radio wave intensity of the beacon signal received from the radio transmitter 1 . The flow velocity measurement unit 252 measures the flow velocity of sewage flowing through the sewer culvert PN based on the reception frequency of the beacon signal.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a specific example of a method for measuring the water level of sewage flowing through the sewer culvert PN based on the radio wave intensity of the beacon signal by the water level measuring unit 251 in this embodiment. 5, H represents the height of the measuring device 2 from the bottom of the sewer PN, and D represents the linear distance between the radio transmitter 1 and the measuring device 2. In FIG. X represents the distance between the radio transmitter 1 and the measuring device 2 in the horizontal direction, and _Y1 represents the distance between the radio transmitter 1 and the measuring device 2 in the vertical direction. In this case, assuming that the water level to be measured is _Y2 , the relationships among H, D, X, _Y1 and _Y2 are represented by the following equations (1) and (2).

Then, from the relationship between formulas (1) and (2), the water level _Y2 can be expressed by the following formula (3).

Here, H and X are fixed values according to the installation position of the wireless transmitter 1 and the installation position of the measuring device 2, so the water level measurement unit 251 measures the wireless transmitter 1 and the measurement based on the radio wave intensity of the beacon signal. By determining the straight-line distance D to the device 2, the water level _Y2 can be calculated. Any known method may be used for estimating the straight-line distance between the sender and receiver of radio waves based on the radio wave reception strength at the receiver side.

6 and 7 are diagrams showing a specific example of a method for maintaining the wireless transmitter 1 in the present embodiment near the surface of the sewage flowing through the sewer culvert PN and within a predetermined range. That is, FIGS. 6 and 7 show a specific example of a method for realizing Condition 1 above. Among the conditions 1, one of the methods for maintaining the radio transmitter 1 near the surface of the sewage is to float the radio transmitter 1 near the water surface by buoyancy. For example, as a method of imparting buoyancy to the radio transmitter 1, in addition to a method of using a component having a small specific gravity (an example of a levitation part) of the radio transmitter 1, a part or all of the internal space of the radio transmitter 1 can be (An example of the floating portion) may be sealed from surrounding water, or a method of attaching an object such as a floating bag having buoyancy (an example of the floating portion) to the outside of the housing of the wireless transmitter 1 may be considered.

FIG. 6 shows a method of restricting the moving direction of the radio transmitter 1 to the vertical direction as one of the methods of maintaining the radio transmitter 1 within a predetermined range in condition 1. FIG. More specifically, a cylindrical movable part S (movement limiting part By connecting the rotary shaft 112 to the shaft P, it becomes possible to move the wireless transmitter 1 up and down within a predetermined range around the shaft P as the water level fluctuates.

In the example of FIG. 6, since the direction of the water flow is from the front to the back of the paper, if the movable portion S can rotate around the shaft P, the rotating portion 111 will not necessarily rotate efficiently. There is a possibility that the wireless transmitter 1 will move to a position where it does not. Therefore, the mechanism for connecting the shaft P and the movable portion S may include a means for making the axial direction of the rotating shaft 112 perpendicular to the water flow. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, as a method of orienting the axial direction of the rotating shaft 112 in a direction perpendicular to the water flow, both ends of the rotating shaft 112 configured to penetrate the power generating section 11 are connected to different axial rods P1 and P2. A method of connecting to

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the flow of processing for measuring the water level and flow velocity of sewage flowing through the sewer culvert PN in the sewer culvert monitoring system 100 according to this embodiment, and accumulating the measured data in the data server 3. First, in the radio transmitter 1, generation of beacon transmission power by the power generation unit 11 (step S101) and beacon transmission operation performed by the beacon signal transmission unit 13 using the generated beacon transmission power (step S102) are repeatedly executed. be.

In the following description, each process that is repeatedly executed in this manner is identified by the number of repetitions n (an integer equal to or greater than 1) attached to each symbol. For example, step S101-1 means the first power generation, and step S102-1 means the first beacon transmission operation. Also, hereinafter, the same method is used to identify repeated processes other than steps S101 and S102.

Subsequently, in the measuring device 2, the beacon information acquisition unit 24 generates beacon information for the beacon signal received from the wireless transmitter 1 (step S103). Specifically, the beacon information acquisition unit 24 generates beacon information by associating information indicating the reception timing of the beacon signal with the radio wave intensity information acquired together with the beacon signal. The beacon information acquisition unit 24 records the generated beacon information in the beacon information storage unit 23 .

Next, the measurement unit 25 measures the water level and flow velocity of the sewage flowing through the sewer culvert PN based on the past beacon information accumulated in the beacon information storage unit 23 for each predetermined measurement cycle (step S104). ). Specifically, the water level measuring unit 251 calculates the water level _Y2 from the above equation (3) based on the radio wave intensity of the beacon signal received most recently. Here, it is assumed that the measuring device 2 stores the values of H and X in advance.

On the other hand, the flow velocity measurement unit 252 calculates the sewage flow velocity based on the reception frequency of the beacon signal. This can be calculated based on Correlations 1-3 below.
(Correlation 1) The reception frequency of the beacon signal correlates with the amount of power generated by the power generation unit 11 per unit time.
(Correlation 2) The power generation amount per unit time of the power generation unit 11 correlates with the rotation speed of the rotation unit 111 .
(Correlation 3) The rotation speed of the rotating part 111 correlates with the flow velocity (or flow rate) of the sewage.

The measurement unit 25 transmits information indicating the sewage water level and flow velocity thus calculated to the data server 3 as measurement data (step S105). The data server 3 records the measurement data received from the measuring device 2 (step S106).

According to the sewer culvert monitoring system 100 of this embodiment configured in this way, it is not necessary to supply electric power from the outside to the radio transmitter 1 installed inside the sewer culvert PN. This eliminates the need to secure and maintain a power supply for operating the radio transmitter 1, making it possible to monitor the state of sewage (an example of running water) at a lower cost.

Further, according to the sewer culvert monitoring system 100 of the present embodiment, since the measuring device 2 measures the flow velocity of sewage based on the reception frequency of beacon signals, a device for measuring the water level is installed inside the sewer culvert PN. , there is no need to install a separate device for flow velocity measurement. Therefore, it becomes possible to measure the water level and flow velocity of the sewage flowing through the sewer culvert PN with a simpler configuration than before.

According to at least one embodiment described above, the rotating part 111 that rotates due to the flow of water that floats the device, the power generating part 11 that generates power using the rotation of the rotating part 111, and the power generated by the power generating part 11 By having a beacon signal transmission unit 13 that wirelessly transmits a beacon signal using the power supplied and a measurement unit 25 that measures the flow velocity or water level of sewage based on the beacon signal received from the beacon signal transmission unit 13, Water flow conditions can be monitored at a lower cost.

While several embodiments of the invention have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope and spirit of the invention, as well as the scope of the invention described in the claims and equivalents thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100... Sewage pipe monitoring system, 1, 1-1 to 1-3... Radio transmitter, 11... Power generation part, 111... Rotating part, 112... Rotating shaft, 113-1... First coil, 113-2... Second 2 coils, 114-1... first magnet, 114-2... second magnet, 12... storage unit, 13... beacon signal transmitter, 2, 2-1 to 2-3... measuring device, 21... first communication unit , 22... second communication unit, 23... beacon information storage unit, 24... beacon information acquisition unit, 25... measurement unit, 251... water level measurement unit, 252... flow velocity measurement unit, 3... data server, 4... monitoring device

Claims (4)

a floatation unit that floats the device near the surface of the water;
a rotating part that rotates due to the flow of water that floats the device;
a power generation unit that generates power using the rotation of the rotating unit;
a transmission unit that wirelessly transmits a signal intermittently every time the power generation unit generates power necessary for transmitting a single signal;
a transmitting device comprising
a receiving unit that receives the signal from the transmitting device;
a measurement unit that measures the flow velocity of the water based on the reception frequency of the received signal and measures the height of the surface of the water based on the reception intensity of the signal ;
a measuring device comprising
measurement system. further comprising a movement limiter that maintains a movement range of the transmitting device within a predetermined range near the water surface;
The measurement system according to claim 1. the calling device
The floating part floats the device near the surface of the water,
Rotate the rotating part by the flow of water that floats the device,
generating electric power using the rotation of the rotating part;
A signal is transmitted wirelessly intermittently every time the power required for transmitting one signal is generated,
the measuring device
receiving the signal;
measuring the flow velocity of the water based on the reception frequency of the received signal , and measuring the height of the water surface based on the reception intensity of the signal;
Measuring method. A floating part that floats the device near the surface of the water, a rotating part that rotates due to the flow of water that floats the device, a power generating part that generates power using the rotation of the rotating part, and the power generating part. a receiving unit that receives the signal from a transmitting device, comprising: a transmitting unit that wirelessly transmits a signal intermittently each time power necessary for transmitting the signal is generated;
a measurement unit that measures the flow velocity of the water based on the reception frequency of the received signal and measures the height of the surface of the water based on the reception intensity of the signal ;
A measuring device comprising a

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