JPH0593635A - Tap-water monitoring apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To monitor the status of water supply at home and check for abnormal usage. [Structure] A flow rate alarm means 6 is provided for determining the state of the used flow rate according to a flow rate signal from a flow rate measuring means 3 for measuring the amount of water flowing through a water pipe and issuing an alarm. The flow rate alarm means 6 outputs an alarm signal when the flow rate continuation time in a state where the flow rate change means 7 for detecting the change rate of the flow rate and the flow rate change of the change flow rate detection means 7 have passed a predetermined time. The duration determining means 8 for outputting and the notifying part 13 for issuing an alarm upon receiving an alarm signal from the duration determining means 8.
It consists of and. As a result, the water usage state of the consumer is determined from the change in the amount of water flowing through the water pipe and the time, and an abnormal water discharge state is detected and an alarm is issued, so energy saving can be promoted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a water supply monitoring device for monitoring the usage status of water supply at home.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the amount of use of tap water has been increasing with the improvement of life. On the other hand, there are many issues such as securing new water sources and maintaining water quality, and it is desirable to save tap water.

The amount of water used is controlled by a water meter provided in each home. Conventionally, a flow meter such as a water meter of this type mechanically integrates the rotation of a rotating body such as an impeller to measure a usage fee, or converts the rotation of the rotating body into an electric signal by a magnetoelectric conversion element. An electronic type has been put into practical use, which counts and integrates this electric signal and displays the amount of water used in a metered manner (for example, JP-A-56-21017).

In the above structure, the water meter is designed to display the amount of tap water used at home and read the meter.

[0005]

However, in the above structure, for example, unnecessary continuous water discharge due to forgetting to close the faucet when artificially injecting water into the bathtub or flush failure of the toilet caused by equipment abnormality, and faucet such as washing machine There are many leakage problems such as disconnection of the rubber hose connected from.

[0006] This not only damages the building and auxiliary equipment, but also has a problem of wasting water.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a water supply monitoring device for checking energy saving and abnormal use conditions.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, flow rate measuring means for measuring the amount of water flowing through a water pipe,
A flow rate alarming means for judging the state of the flow rate used and issuing an alarm according to the flow rate signal from the flow rate measuring means, wherein the flow rate alarming means detects the change quantity of the flow rate and the change flow rate detecting means. A continuation time determination means for outputting an alarm signal when the flow duration time in a state where the flow rate change of the means is stopped exceeds a predetermined time; and a notification part for issuing an alarm upon receiving the alarm signal of the continuation time determination means. Be prepared.

[0009]

With the above-described structure, the present invention determines the water use condition of the consumer from the change in the amount of water flowing through the water pipe and the time, and detects and issues an abnormal water discharge condition.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a primary side water supply pipe, 2 is a secondary side water supply pipe, 3 is a measuring means for measuring the amount of water flowing through the pipe, and is a rotating body such as an impeller rotating according to the flow rate. It is converted into an electric pulse signal by a magnetoelectric conversion element, and the instantaneous flow rate value is obtained from the number of pulses per unit time.

4 and 5 are faucets respectively connected to the home,
Reference numeral 6 is a flow rate alarm means for determining a flow rate to be used from the flow rate signal measured by the flow rate measurement means 3 and issuing an alarm, which is composed of a change flow rate detection means 7 and a duration determination means 8.

The change flow rate detecting means 7 calculates the change amount from the flow rate per unit time of the flow rate signal measured by the flow rate measuring means 3.

That is, the difference between the current flow rate value and the previous flow rate value is obtained, and the difference is used as the changed flow rate value.

The duration determination means 8 comprises a storage section 9 for storing alarm determination data and a flow rate state estimation means 10.

The flow rate state estimating means 10 is composed of a change flow rate determining section 11 and a timer section 12, and the current flow rate is determined from the alarm determination data stored in the storage section 9 and the flow rate signal measured by the flow rate measuring means 3. Determine the state. In other words, the timer is activated when the flow rate is constant and there is no change.
Start time measurement in the constant flow rate state.

Then, when the time of the alarm judgment data set value of the storage unit 9 is reached, an alarm signal is sent to the notification unit 13. The notification unit 13 continues the alarm sound until the constant flow state is released.

The operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, the horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents the flow rate value measured by the flow rate measuring means 3. In the figure, time to
The flow rate value between ts and ts increases and decreases at certain time intervals depending on the action of the user. From time ts, the constant flow rate state in which the flow rate does not change continues.

The change flow rate detecting means 7 calculates the change flow rate from the above-described flow rate increase / decrease process. The change amount determination unit 11 activates the timer unit 12 in a constant flow rate state where the flow rate does not increase or decrease, but does not reach the time of issuing an alarm.

Next, from time ts to tn, the case where the constant flow rate state in which the flow rate does not change continues for the time of the alarm determination data set in the storage unit 9 is shown. At this time, an alarm signal is sent to the notification unit 13 and an alarm sound is emitted.

As shown in Table 1, the alarm determination data in the storage unit 9 defines the alarm output determination time according to the current flow rate classification.

[0022]

[Table 1]

The alarm output determination time shown in Table 1 is an example assuming a general home. For example, when pouring water into a bathtub or the like at 10 liters per minute, it will be 300 liters after 30 minutes, and the bathtub will be full, but if this time elapses and the flow continues, an alarm is issued.

The setting of the alarm output determination time is appropriately set according to the water supply contract diameter and the amount of household consumption, and the alarm is canceled when the flow rate value changes due to the faucet operation. In addition, an alarm may be issued when multiple faucets are used, but this is reported to consumers in terms of energy saving.

The flow rate measuring means 3 and the flow rate warning means 6 may be separated from each other, and the flow rate warning means 6 may be installed indoors and connected by wire or wirelessly.

As described above, according to the water supply monitoring apparatus of the embodiment of the present invention, since the supply source of the water meter installation portion supplied to the home, that is, the total flow rate is monitored, the single flow rate measuring means 3 can be used for all faucets. You can grasp the usage status.

Further, instead of issuing an alarm only by the absolute flow rate value, the flow rate state is judged from the signal of the change flow rate detecting means 7 which detects the presence or absence of the flow rate change amount from the increase / decrease change of the flow rate and the alarm determination data of the storage section 9. Since it is configured such that it can be adjusted to a practical level by appropriately setting the set value of the alarm determination data.

[0028]

As described above, according to the water supply monitoring device of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. (1) Since the flow rate measuring means for measuring the amount of water flowing through the water pipe and the flow rate alarm means for determining the state of the flow rate used according to the flow rate signal from the flow rate measuring means and issuing an alarm are provided, it is artificial. Water troubles such as forgetting to close the faucet and damage to the building and attached equipment due to unnecessary continuous water discharge due to equipment abnormality can be solved. (2) Since it warns the waste of water due to unnecessary water discharge, it has an energy saving effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a water supply monitoring device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig. 2] Flow rate alarm chart of the device

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 flow rate measuring means 6 flow rate warning means 7 changed flow rate detection means 8 continuation time determination means 12 notification section

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A flow rate alarm, comprising flow rate measuring means for measuring the amount of water flowing through a water pipe, and flow rate alarming means for determining the state of the flow rate to be used according to a flow rate signal from the flow rate measuring means and issuing an alarm. The means includes a change flow rate detecting means for detecting a change amount of the flow rate, and a duration determination for outputting an alarm signal when the flow rate duration time in a state where the flow rate change of the change flow rate detecting means is stopped exceeds a predetermined time. A water supply monitoring device comprising: a means and a notification section for issuing an alarm upon receiving an alarm signal from the duration determination means.