Gas Leak Sensing Methods

Abstract

The invention provides a gas leakage sensing method, comprising controlling the height of a gas injection port in a liquid from the liquid surface to guide the leaking gas into the liquid through the gas injection port to generate bubbles, detecting the flow of the bubbles generated in the liquid to improve the sensing accuracy of the leaking gas.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a gas detection technology, and further provides a gas leakage sensing method. Background Art

[0002] Generally, process gases are present in industrial equipment such as heat exchange, boilers, heat treatment, gas or waste gas treatment. The process gases usually have a specific pressure and are guided or stored using structural elements such as pipes or chambers.

[0003] Industrial equipment with process gas is prone to process gas leakage after a period of use, which affects the serviceability of these industrial equipment. If the leaked process gas is toxic, it will pose a considerable threat to the environment, the health and even the safety of personnel. Therefore, once the process gas in these industrial equipment leaks, it must be detected immediately to protect the serviceability of the equipment, environmental hygiene and public safety.

[0004] It is known that currently, industrial equipment with process gas mostly installs gas pressure sensors, gas flow meters and other measuring elements in gas flow pipes or gas storage tanks to detect whether the process gas is leaking or the flow rate, volume, etc. of the leak. However, since the volume of gas is usually compressible, it is difficult to obtain accurate flow data when detecting small flow gas leaks in the existing technology, so it is urgent to improve it. Summary of the invention

[0005] In view of this, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a gas leakage sensing technology, particularly to guide the leaked gas to dissolve in a liquid to generate bubbles, and further monitor the actual situation of bubble generation to achieve more sensitive and precise gas leakage detection.

[0006] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, a preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a gas leakage sensing method, including executing the following steps S1 to S2, S1: controlling the height of a gas injection port in the liquid from the liquid surface to guide the leaked gas into the liquid through the gas injection port to generate bubbles; and S2: detecting the flow rate of the bubbles generated in the liquid.

[0007] In a further implementation, the height of the gas injection port from the liquid surface is controlled so that the release pressure of the leaked gas is greater than the liquid pressure.

[0008] In a further implementation, the flow rate of bubbles generated in the liquid is detected between the gas injection port and the liquid surface.

[0009] In a further implementation, the flow rate of the bubbles generated in the liquid is detected by ultrasound.

[0010] In a further implementation, the flow rate of the bubbles generated in the liquid is optically detected.

[0011] According to the above technical means, the advantages of the present invention are: introducing the leaked gas into the liquid to generate bubbles, which can completely convert the leaked gas into multiple bubbles of the same volume that float and rise in the liquid, and through the monitoring of the bubbles, the flow data of the leaked gas can be calculated sensitively and accurately.

[0012] The technical means of the above-described method and device and the specific implementation details of their effectiveness are described with reference to the following embodiments and drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] Figure 1 1 is a flow chart of the steps of the gas leakage sensing method of the present invention.

[0014] Figure 2 It is a configuration cross-sectional diagram of the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0015] Figure 3 It is a configuration cross-sectional diagram of the second embodiment of the present invention.

[0016] Figure 4 It is a configuration cross-sectional diagram of the third embodiment of the present invention.

[0017] Explanation of the reference numerals: 10 - gas conduit; 11 - gas inlet; 12 - gas injection port; 20 - liquid storage tank; 21, 21a - monitoring unit; 22, 22a - connecting hole; 23 - manifold; 30 - bubble sensing element; 31 - ultrasonic sensor; 32 - visual device; 40 - leaking gas; 41 - bubble; 50 - liquid; 51 - liquid level; 60 - water pumping motor; 61 - water intake port; 62 - water intake port; h1, h2 - height; D - pipe diameter; W - width; S1 to S2 - description of the steps of the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0018] See also Figure 1 , illustrating the gas leakage sensing method provided by the present invention, comprising sequentially performing the following steps S1 to S2:

[0019] Step S1: introducing gas into liquid.

[0020] See also Figure 2, indicating that a gas conduit 10 is implanted in a liquid storage tank 20, and the gas conduit 10 is used to guide the leaked gas 40 of an industrial equipment, and the industrial equipment may be a heat exchange equipment, boiler, heat treatment equipment, gas equipment or waste gas treatment equipment with process gas. According to common knowledge, in order to prevent the leakage of process gas, such industrial equipment usually installs a gas conduit 10 for guiding the leaked gas 40 at the location where the gas is easily leaked, such as the pipe interface and the cover interface of the gas storage cabin, so as to prevent the process gas from leaking into the atmosphere. Therefore, the gas conduit 10 has a gas inlet 11 for receiving the leaked gas 40 and a gas injection port 12 for discharging the leaked gas 40.

[0021] The liquid storage tank 20 may be framed by a transparent or opaque tank wall, so that the liquid storage tank 20 is connected to the atmosphere and filled with liquid 50, and a liquid surface 51 of the liquid 50 may be formed in the liquid storage tank 20, and the liquid 50 may be water or other oil or solvent that does not affect the generation and floating of the bubbles 41. In different implementation occasions, the liquid surface 51 of the liquid 50 may also be formed in other liquid tanks or liquid guide tubes connected to the liquid storage tank 20. The gas injection port 12 of the gas conduit 10 must be implanted in the liquid 50 of the liquid storage tank 20, so as to guide the leaked gas 40 to generate bubbles 41 in the liquid 50 of the liquid storage tank 20.

[0022] In a specific implementation, the liquid pressure formed by the liquid 50 that the gas injection port 12 is subjected to when the height h1 from the liquid surface 51 must be smaller than the release pressure of the leaking gas 40, so that the leaking gas 40 can enter the liquid 50 through the gas injection port 12 to generate bubbles 41; in other words, the height h1 of the gas injection port 12 from the liquid surface 51 will affect whether the leaking gas 40 can enter the liquid 50 through the gas injection port 12 to generate bubbles 41.

[0023] Step S2: Detect the bubble flow rate.

[0024] Please refer again Figure 2 , indicating that a monitoring portion 21 is formed on the wall of the liquid storage tank 20. In fact, the monitoring portion 21 is used to assemble or configure a bubble sensing element 30, and the height h2 of the monitoring portion 21 from the liquid surface 51 must be less than the height h1 of the gas injection port 12 from the liquid surface 51 (i.e., h2

[0025] ​The bubble sensing element 30 can be selected as an ultrasonic sensor 31 or a vision device 32 equipped with a charge-coupled device (CCD). These bubble sensing elements 30 can be easily configured on the monitoring part 21 of the tank wall of the liquid storage tank 20 by means of assembly such as locking, pasting or buckling. When the bubble sensing element 30 is an ultrasonic sensor 31, the monitoring part 21 can be transparent or opaque; the ultrasonic sensor 31 can penetrate the transparent or opaque monitoring part 21 (formed by the tank wall of the liquid storage tank 20) by the ultrasonic waves it generates to sense the bubbles 41 in the liquid 50 of the liquid storage tank 20. Additionally, when the bubble sensing element 30 is a vision device 32, the monitoring part 21 must be transparent to enable the vision device 32 to identify the bubbles 41 in the liquid 50 of the liquid storage tank 20 through the transparent monitoring part 21 (formed by the tank wall of the liquid storage tank 20).

[0026] Please refer to Figure 3 , which discloses the second embodiment of the present invention, showing that a communication hole 22 can be formed by opening on the tank wall of the liquid storage tank 20. The communication hole 22 must be lower than the liquid level 51 to facilitate the connection of the gas injection port 12 of the gas conduit 10 to the communication hole 22 and then implant it into the liquid 50, enabling the gas conduit 10 to play the role of guiding the leakage gas 40 to generate bubbles 41 in the liquid 50 of the liquid storage tank 20; in addition, the remaining implementation details are the same as those of the above embodiment.

[0027] Please refer to Figure 4 , which discloses the third embodiment of the present invention, showing that a manifold 23 is also bifurcated and connected or formed on the tank wall of the liquid storage tank 20. The manifold 23 is used to divert the liquid 50 in the liquid storage tank 20 to enter, so that the manifold 23 can be lower than the liquid level 51; in addition, the diameter D of the manifold 23 can be smaller than the width W of the liquid storage tank (i.e., D < W), and both ends of the manifold 23 can be implemented in a form connected to the liquid storage tank 20 to facilitate the flow of the liquid 50 in the manifold 23; the communication hole 22a in the second embodiment above can be formed on the tank wall of the manifold 23 in this embodiment, and the communication hole 22a must also be lower than the liquid level 51 to facilitate the connection of the gas injection port 12 of the gas conduit 10 to the communication hole 22a and then implant it into the liquid 50; furthermore, the monitoring part 21a in the first and second embodiments above is located on the pipe wall of the manifold 23 in this embodiment; in addition, the remaining implementation details are the same as those of the above embodiment.

[0028] Please refer to again Figure 4, explaining that in the above-mentioned third embodiment, a water pumping motor 60 is placed in the liquid 50 of the liquid storage tank 20, and the water pumping motor 60 has a water intake port 61 and a water suction port 62; the water intake port 61 captures the liquid 50 in the liquid 50, and is relatively connected to or adjacent to the corresponding connecting hole 22 or 22a through the water suction port 62, so as to drive the liquid 50 into the manifold 23, so as to avoid the liquid 50 in the manifold 23 from generating vacuum or insufficient liquid volume, which affects the generation of bubbles 41.

[0029] In summary, the present invention, by virtue of the ultrasonic penetrating sensing capability and the charge coupled device (CCD) optical recognition capability, can produce a sensitive and accurate detection effect in detecting whether bubbles 41 are generated in the liquid 50, as well as the size, quantity and floating frequency of the bubbles 41. Moreover, the bubble sensing element 30 can also easily transmit the signal of the bubble 41 detection to the corresponding signal control unit, thereby accurately obtaining the flow data of the leaked gas 40. It can be seen that the present invention is a technology that is fully feasible in the industry.

[0030] The above description is only illustrative rather than restrictive of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will understand that many modifications, changes or equivalents may be made without departing from the spirit and scope defined by the claims, but all will fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A gas leakage sensing method, characterized in that: This involves performing the following steps: S1: providing a liquid storage tank connected to the atmosphere and filled with liquid, guiding the leaked gas into the liquid in the liquid storage tank through a gas injection port, and controlling the height of the gas injection port from the liquid surface in the liquid so that the release pressure of the leaked gas is greater than the liquid pressure, so as to guide the leaked gas into the liquid through the gas injection port to generate bubbles; and S2: Detecting the flow rate of bubbles generated in the liquid between the gas injection port and the liquid surface; A manifold is formed on the side wall of the liquid storage tank to provide connection to the air injection port, and the liquid is driven toward the air injection port and introduced into the manifold via a water pumping motor. The diameter of the manifold is smaller than the width of the liquid storage tank.

2. The gas leakage sensing method according to claim 1, wherein: The flow rate of bubbles generated in the liquid is detected by ultrasound.

3. The gas leakage sensing method according to claim 1, wherein: The flow rate of bubbles generated in the liquid is optically detected.

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