JPH0130406B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an integrating meter that stores measurement data such as usage of electricity, water, and gas.

In recent years, data such as electricity, water, and gas consumption is accumulated within a predetermined time period, such as 15 minutes or 30 minutes.
Meters have begun to be used that sequentially write and store the accumulated data in an IC (integrated circuit) memory over a predetermined meter reading period, such as one month. This meter is installed at electricity customers, and the supplier collects it with a portable data collection device and takes it home every meter reading period (for example, one month), and processes the data using a computer. You can obtain basic data for fee transactions, such as cumulative usage, usage by time zone, and maximum demand for each time period.
If such a method is adopted, if the metering time period, demand time limit, etc. differ depending on the customer, or if these change, it can be handled by changing the processing by the computer, and the customer There is no need to make any changes to the instruments themselves.

However, this type of meter that has been used in the past has the disadvantage that if a failure occurs in the circuit that controls the memory within the meter, all data stored in the memory before the failure will be destroyed. be. Furthermore, data is also destroyed when the power supply unit fails.

In particular, recently, from the perspective of saving labor in meter reading, there has been a trend to use meters with a high degree of integration and large memory capacity, and to extend meter reading periods (for example, two months). The longer the period, the more the above drawbacks become a problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and provide a highly reliable integration meter for storing and retrieving data.

The present invention calculates an integrated value by integrating data such as electric energy given from the outside for each unit time period, and then adds up the integrated values for each unit time longer than the unit time to obtain a total value. A totalizing meter that repeats an operation over a unit time period and a unit period longer than the unit time, comprising: a central processing unit that calculates the cumulative value and the total value; and a central processing unit that calculates the cumulative value under the control of the central processing unit. a volatile first memory that stores a value together with time information; and under the control of the central processing unit, at least one of the total value and the largest integrated value of the integrated values is stored together with time information. a nonvolatile second memory for storing the total value; a diagnostic circuit for detecting an abnormality in the operation of the central processing unit and prohibiting writing of the total value to the second memory; an output circuit that outputs the total value to the outside regardless of the central processing unit; and an output circuit that connects the second memory and the output circuit to an internal power supply circuit for operating them; A circuit for connecting the output circuit to an external power supply terminal to which an external power supply for operating the output circuit can be connected.

The accompanying drawing shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to the measurement of electric energy. In the drawing, Ti is an input terminal that receives a pulse (hereinafter referred to as WHM pulse) given from a power meter with a transmitter (not shown). A WHM pulse is generated every time the amount of power used reaches a predetermined amount.

1 is an input circuit that receives WHM pulses and performs waveform shaping, and 2 is a CPU (central processing unit), which has built-in ROM (read-only memory) for storing programs, arithmetic registers, RAM (uniform speed read memory), etc. , performs various calculations and controls according to programs stored in the ROM. Details will be explained later. 3 is a clock circuit that generates a clock signal necessary for the time reference and the operation of CPU 2;
4 is an IC (integrated circuit) memory that stores integrated values for each predetermined unit time period; 5 is a non-volatile memory that stores data regarding a part of the integrated value calculated by the CPU 2 or other values calculated based on the integrated value; sexual memory,
6 is a self-diagnosis circuit that always checks whether the CPU 2 is operating normally; 7 is a first output circuit that outputs the data stored in memories 4 and 5; 8 is the storage content of nonvolatile memory 5; of
A second output circuit that outputs independently from CPU2.
The outputs of the first and second output circuits 7 and 8 are provided to a data recovery device (not shown) via terminals To and Tp, respectively. Reference numeral 9 denotes a power supply circuit that receives power from a commercial power line (for example, AC 100V) via terminal Ts and generates the voltage necessary for the operation of each part of the meter. supplies voltage through diode D1, and other circuits 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7
A voltage is supplied to the circuit without passing through the diode D1.
The nonvolatile memory 5 and the second output circuit 8 can also be supplied with a power supply voltage from the data recovery device via the diode D2 and further via the terminal Tq.

CPU2 is given via input circuit 1
Count WHM pulses and integrate power.
The CPU 2 also measures time based on the clock from the clock circuit 3, and uses the integrated value within a predetermined unit time period as measurement data together with information regarding the time.
The CPU 2 to be stored in the IC memory 4 further compares the metric data of that time period with the largest metric data so far at the break of each time period, sets the larger one as the maximum demand amount within the time period, and stores the metric data. is stored in the nonvolatile memory 5 along with time information related to the time. Furthermore, the total value (of the day) of the weighing data in the IC memory 4 is calculated at the break (for example, 0:00) of a certain period of time (for example, 1 day) that is longer than the unit time period, and ) is stored in the non-volatile memory 5 together with information regarding the above information.

These data are collected during a predetermined meter reading period (e.g. 1
Data is collected via the terminal To by connecting a portable data collection device every month.

The self-diagnosis circuit 6 continuously checks whether the CPU 2 is operating normally.
When an abnormality in the CPU 2 is detected, writing from the CPU 2 to the nonvolatile memory 5 is prohibited. If the operation of the CPU 2 becomes abnormal, the memory contents of the IC memory 4 will be destroyed, or even if not destroyed, their reliability will be impaired. On the other hand, when the operation of the CPU 2 becomes abnormal, writing to the non-volatile memory 5 is prohibited, but the data written to the non-volatile memory 5 up to that point is stored as is.

If the CPU 2 is abnormal during meter reading, data cannot be collected via the output circuit 7;
The stored contents of the non-volatile memory 5 can be retrieved via the output circuit 8.

Furthermore, even if an abnormality occurs in the power supply circuit 9 and the voltage supply to each circuit is cut off, the stored contents of the nonvolatile memory 5 will not be lost, and power will be supplied from the data collection device through the terminal Tq during meter reading. Accordingly, the stored contents of the nonvolatile memory 5 can be recovered via the output circuit 8.

Note that if there is no abnormality in the CPU 2, the reliability of the measurement data can be examined by comparing the storage contents of the IC memory 4 and the storage contents of the nonvolatile memory 5 after collection.

Although the present invention has been described above in the case where it is applied to measuring the amount of electric power, the present invention can be similarly applied to a meter that integrates other quantities such as the amount of gas and water used. Furthermore, the data to be stored in the non-volatile memory 5 is not limited to that described in the above embodiment, but may be stored in various ways, such as a cumulative value for each time period if the meter is used as a measuring instrument for each time period. Variations are possible.

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

That is, the integrated value and total value are calculated by the central processing unit (CPU) based on external data,
The CPU stores the integrated value in a first memory, and stores at least one of the total value and the maximum integrated value in a second memory. However, when the diagnostic circuit detects an abnormality in the CPU, writing of the total value/maximum integrated value to the second memory is prohibited from then on. This, together with the fact that a non-volatile memory is used as the second memory, allows the total value/maximum integrated value written to the second memory up to that point to be saved as is. Moreover,
Since the total value/maximum integrated value can be output to an external data collection device using the output circuit, independent of the CPU, the total value/maximum integrated value is stored together with time information, and this makes it possible to detect CPU abnormalities. Even at any time, the total value/maximum integrated value up to the abnormal time can be properly read out in relation to the time.

Further, the second memory and the output circuit can be operated not only by the internal power supply but also by the external power supply. Therefore, even if the internal power supply fails, the total value /
The maximum integrated value can be output externally.

Furthermore, two memories, a first memory and a second memory, are used as memories. Therefore, if there is no abnormality in the CPU, data (integrated value and total value/maximum integrated value) are stored in the first and second memories, respectively. Therefore, by comparing the data in those two memories, it is possible to examine the reliability of each other's data.

Further, an integrated value obtained based on external data is stored in a volatile first memory, and a total value/maximum integrated value obtained based on the integrated value is stored in a non-volatile second memory. That's what I do. That is, instead of making all the memories expensive and non-volatile, only the second memory that stores the more useful total value/maximum integrated value is made non-volatile.
As a result, it is possible to obtain an integration calculator that can save data at a low cost when a failure occurs.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawing is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. 2... Central processing unit (CPU), 4... IC memory, 5... Non-volatile memory, 6... Self-diagnosis circuit, 7, 8... Output circuit, 9... Power supply circuit, D
1, D2...Diode.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Data such as electric energy given from the outside is integrated for each unit time period to obtain an integrated value, and the integrated values are summed for each unit time longer than the unit time to obtain a total value. , a totalizing meter configured to repeat these operations over a unit time period and a unit period longer than the unit time, comprising: a central processing unit that calculates the integrated value and the total value; and a central processing unit that calculates the integrated value and the total value; a volatile first memory that stores the integrated value together with time information; and at least one of the total value and the largest integrated value of the integrated values under the control of the central processing unit. a nonvolatile second memory that stores time information together with the time information; and detecting an abnormality in the operation of the central processing unit and prohibiting writing of at least one of the total value and the maximum integrated value to the second memory. a diagnostic circuit; an output circuit that outputs at least one of the total value and the maximum integrated value stored in the second memory to the outside regardless of the central processing unit; the second memory and the output circuit; a circuit that connects the second memory and the output circuit to an internal power supply circuit for operating them, and connects the second memory and the output circuit to an external power supply terminal to which an external power supply for operating them can be connected. Features a totalizing meter.