A transducer channel control system for a four-channel ultrasonic water meter

Abstract

The present application relates to the field of ultrasonic metering detection, and in particular to a kind of acoustic channel control system of transducer.It mainly contains multiple groups of transducer components, each group of transducer components contains two oppositely arranged and used for alternating transmission ultrasonic signal transducers, and two transducers cooperate to form a metering acoustic channel, characterized in that, the kind of transducer acoustic channel control system further contains metering module electrically connected with transducer component and main control module electrically connected with metering module and used for controlling the working state of metering module;The number of transducer components is four groups;Each metering module contains two acoustic channel control units, and each acoustic channel control unit is fixedly connected with one metering acoustic channel for control. The acoustic channel control system can greatly reduce the adverse effects of jump wave, and timely adjust the working weight proportion of abnormal acoustic channel, automatically process fault acoustic channel, ensure the metering accuracy of ultrasonic water meter, and enhance the working reliability.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of ultrasonic metrology and testing, and more specifically to a transducer channel control system. Background Technology

[0002] An ultrasonic transducer is a device that converts electrical energy into ultrasonic energy. It is typically made of piezoelectric ceramic material; when a voltage is applied, the piezoelectric ceramic compresses and expands, generating ultrasonic vibrations. In industrial applications, ultrasonic transducers are frequently used for pipeline fluid monitoring, such as in ultrasonic water meters. In ultrasonic water meters, one or more sets of opposing ultrasonic transducers are usually installed upstream and downstream of the metering pipe section to transmit and receive ultrasonic signals. Because ultrasonic signals travel at different speeds in the two opposing directions (co-current and counter-current) in water, the flow velocity and flow rate can be calculated by calculating the flight time of the ultrasonic signal in both directions and combining this with pipe cross-sectional data.

[0003] The number of ultrasonic transducers is affected by the pipe diameter. Large-diameter pipes typically require multiple sets of transducers to form a multi-channel mode, working in coordination. For example, Chinese patent document CN 210862800 U discloses a multiplexed multi-channel ultrasonic flow meter, whose transducer mechanism includes multiple sets of measuring components, each measuring component including two ultrasonic transducers arranged opposite each other. This patent document discloses a multi-channel ultrasonic flow meter that uses multiple sets of opposite ultrasonic transducers to achieve multi-channel fluid flow detection, effectively reducing the flow meter's systematic error and making the measurement data more accurate.

[0004] Because the water flow in large-diameter pipes is more complex than in small-diameter pipes, the presence of air bubbles or other media in the water can interfere with the propagation of ultrasonic signals. This can result in weak signal reception by ultrasonic transducers in some channels, causing wave skipping and affecting measurement accuracy. Furthermore, when ultrasonic transducers in some channels malfunction, the control chip connected to them often cannot react in time and continues to process erroneous ultrasonic signals, severely impacting measurement accuracy. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The purpose of this invention is to provide a transducer channel control system for a four-channel ultrasonic water meter. This system can simultaneously control multiple transducer channels and adjust signal gain. In conjunction with a specific control unit and control method, and a unique compensation approach, it can greatly reduce the adverse effects of wave skipping, adjust the working weight ratio of abnormal channels in a timely manner, automatically handle faulty channels, ensure the metering accuracy of the ultrasonic water meter, and enhance its operational reliability.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention adopts the following solution: A transducer channel control system for a four-channel ultrasonic water meter includes multiple sets of transducer assemblies. Each set of transducer assemblies includes two oppositely arranged transducers for alternately transmitting ultrasonic signals. The two transducers cooperate to form a metering channel. The system further includes a metering module electrically connected to the transducer assemblies and a main control module electrically connected to the metering modules for controlling the operating state of the metering modules. The number of transducer assemblies is four. Each metering module includes two channel control units, and each channel control unit controls one metering channel.

[0007] Therefore, each transducer assembly contains two transducers, each capable of transmitting and receiving ultrasonic signals. The two transducers in the same assembly are installed opposite each other upstream and downstream of the ultrasonic water meter's metering pipe section, alternately transmitting and receiving ultrasonic signals. In this case, the ultrasonic signal paths of the two transducers form a single metering channel. This control system provides channel control for the four-channel ultrasonic water meter; the four channels are parallel to each other and spaced apart to avoid signal interference.

[0008] The metering module can employ metering circuits developed based on TDC chips or D-flow series chips, used to receive and drive the connected transducers to transmit and receive ultrasonic signals. Each metering module contains two channel control units, each capable of independently controlling a fixed set of transducer components, i.e., controlling one metering channel individually and correspondingly. Therefore, each metering module can control both metering channels by selecting different channel control units.

[0009] The main control module is a microprocessor, such as a microcontroller, with computing and command sending capabilities. It is connected to the two metering modules and can collect and calculate the time-of-flight difference of ultrasonic signals in each metering channel, thereby calculating water flow rate and velocity data. In addition, it can control the individual working state of the two metering modules, thereby controlling the working state of the four metering channels. Through different commands issued by it, it can flexibly select the metering channels to participate in the metering, shut down specific metering channels, adjust the calculation weight of the data collected by different metering channels, and control different metering channels to work in different time periods to avoid ultrasonic signal interference caused by simultaneous operation.

[0010] The measurement data from any one metering channel can be considered as the actual measurement data of the entire ultrasonic water meter. The measurement data obtained by cross-referencing and comparing the data from four metering channels is more reliable than that from a single channel. During normal operation, two metering channels controlled by the same metering module are considered as a group. The microprocessor of the main control module selects the metering module to operate, and this metering module controls two channel control units to drive the corresponding two metering channels to perform metering work. During this process, the metering module can individually select to turn any metering channel on or off. When a metering channel experiences abnormal measurement data due to a transducer failure, the metering module corresponding to that channel will shut down the aforementioned metering channel through the channel control unit and send the shutdown information to the main control module. The main control module stops analyzing the data of that metering channel. At this time, the measurement data from the two metering channels controlled by another metering module is used as the actual measurement data of the entire ultrasonic water meter, and the working authority of the metering module corresponding to the metering channel with abnormal measurement data is reduced. At this time, the measurement data collected by the other normal metering channel controlled by the same metering module will be used as reference calibration data, serving as the reference data for the other two normal metering channels. If the ultrasonic signals of different measurement channels deviate due to wave skipping, the main control module will compare the data of the four channels, select the measurement data of the measurement channel with higher consistency as the benchmark, calculate the compensation coefficient, compensate the measurement channel with wave skipping, and restore the data consistency between the four measurement channels.

[0011] The aforementioned transducer channel control system, through selective control of the transducer components by the metering module and management by the main control module, enables the scientific selection of metering channels during operation. When a significant anomaly is detected in the data of a specific metering channel, the data acquisition status of that channel can be shut down, increasing the reference weight of metering data from other normal channels to ensure the overall accuracy of the metering data. In the event of wave skipping, the overall function can be restored by compensating the skipping metering channel. This significantly enhances the system's resistance to the adverse effects of wave skipping and promptly eliminates the adverse impact of abnormal channels on the overall system data, increasing the metering reliability of the four-channel ultrasonic water meter and resulting in superior performance.

[0012] As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the metering module further includes a signal gain unit, which is used to detect the signal strength of the metering channel and automatically perform gain compensation on the metering channel where the low-intensity signal is located.

[0013] When foreign objects, air bubbles, or eddies are present in the pipeline, they may adversely affect the ultrasonic signal intensity in some metering channels. In this case, the signal gain unit in the metering module can automatically detect the signal intensity of the aforementioned metering channels. If the intensity is significantly low, the signal gain unit can automatically compensate for the gain of the subsequent ultrasonic signal intensity in that metering channel, thereby increasing its signal strength. The signal gain unit can be implemented using a TDC chip in conjunction with a signal detection circuit, or it can be implemented using a D-flow series chip with AGC (Automatic Gain Control) function.

[0014] As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the metering module further includes a reference correction table storing historical flow data, and the signal gain unit performs gain compensation on the metering channel by calling and querying the historical flow data in the reference correction table.

[0015] When half or more of the four metering channels experience varying degrees of insufficient signal strength, the signal gain unit will perform gain compensation using a lookup table method. Specifically, the metering module stores a reference correction table that records historical flow data. Since flow data has traceability reference value, the signal gain unit can perform gain compensation for the problematic metering channels based on data with similar characteristics from the historical flow data.

[0016] As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the metering module further includes a timed wake-up unit for optimizing circuit power consumption.

[0017] Therefore, ultrasonic water meters typically operate on battery power, meaning the metering module and main control module are not continuously operational. A wake-up unit, which can be a programmable timer, is incorporated into the metering module. This timer automatically activates the metering module at regular intervals, and the metering module then sends its activation status back to the main control module, effectively deactivating the main control module. This wake-up unit allows the metering and main control modules to switch scientifically between sleep and operational states, saving power and extending the ultrasonic water meter's battery life.

[0018] As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the main control module includes a time-division reset unit and an I / O interface for signal transmission with the metering module. The time-division reset unit is used to perform interval chip selection on two metering modules electrically connected to the main control module.

[0019] The main control module is equipped with I / O interfaces, through which the metering modules interact with the main control module. The main control module includes a time-division reset unit connected to the reset pin of the metering modules, allowing for the reset of the metering modules' states. This reset operation divides the operating time of the two metering modules, ensuring that the metering channels controlled by each module do not operate simultaneously, thus preventing signal superposition and interference. The main control module can perform chip select operations on the two metering modules at set time intervals, such as milliseconds (ms). This time is much longer than the time it takes for a metering channel to complete one operation, ensuring that interference does not occur.

[0020] As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the metering module and the main control module communicate via SPI to ensure the speed of signal transmission.

[0021] SPI is a synchronous serial communication interface specification, primarily used for short-range communication in embedded systems. It employs full-duplex communication and operates in a master-slave mode. In this system, the metering module is the master, and the control module is the slave. This communication method is not limited by the maximum clock speed and offers advantages such as extremely high speed and low power consumption.

[0022] As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the transducer channel control system further includes a manual control module electrically connected to the main control module, the manual control module being used to input manual gain commands.

[0023] The manual control module is used to input manual gain commands. When the ultrasonic signal strength decreases due to known external factors, the signal strength of a specific channel can be increased through manual compensation. For example, when using the D-flow series chip, which includes digital communication interfaces, users can use these interfaces to load programs into the chip to achieve the desired functions.

[0024] As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the metering module is specifically a D-flow series chip, which includes an AGC automatic gain control unit.

[0025] The D-flow series of chips is a series of chips used for temperature and ultrasonic time-of-flight measurement. Compared with the current TDC chips in the industry, it has the functions of automatic gain control (AGC) and manual gain control. The automatic gain control can handle various anomalies caused by weak sensor signals in 80% of cases. The chip is programmable and has built-in SRAM, which can store data tables and other necessary programs and variables, and has excellent performance.

[0026] In summary, the present invention has the following beneficial effects: 1. This transducer channel control system selectively controls the transducer components through the metering module. Combined with the management of the main control module, it can scientifically select the metering channels during operation. When a significant abnormality is detected in the data of a specific metering channel, the data acquisition status of that metering channel can be shut down, and the reference weight of the metering data of other normal metering channels can be increased, thereby ensuring the overall accuracy of the metering data.

[0027] 2. When encountering wave skipping, the overall function can be restored by compensating for the wave skipping metering channel. This greatly enhances the system's resistance to the adverse effects of wave skipping and promptly eliminates the adverse effects of abnormal channels on the overall system data, increasing the metering reliability of the four-channel ultrasonic water meter and resulting in superior performance.

[0028] 3. The metering module contains a reference correction table, which records and saves historical flow data. Since the flow data has traceability reference value, the signal gain unit can compensate for the gain of the problematic metering channel based on data with similar characteristics in the historical flow data.

[0029] Configure a wake-up unit in the metering module.

[0030] 4. With the help of the wake-up unit, the metering module and the main control module can be scientifically switched between sleep mode and working mode, which can save power consumption to a certain extent and extend the battery life of the ultrasonic water meter. Attached Figure Description

[0031] Figure 1 This is a system block diagram of the transducer channel control system.

[0032] In the diagram: Transducer assembly 1, metering module 2, channel control unit 21, signal gain unit 22, reference correction table 23, timed wake-up unit 24, main control module 3, time-division reset unit 31, I / O interface 32, manual control module 4. Detailed Implementation

[0033] Preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Any person may implement the present disclosure in various forms and should not be limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

[0034] like Figure 1As shown, each transducer assembly 1 contains two transducers, each capable of transmitting and receiving ultrasonic signals. The two transducers in the same transducer assembly 1 are installed opposite each other at upstream and downstream positions on the ultrasonic water meter metering pipe section, alternately transmitting and receiving ultrasonic signals. In this case, the ultrasonic signal paths of the two transducers form a metering channel. This control system performs channel control on the ultrasonic water meter with four channels. The four channels are parallel to each other and spaced apart to avoid signal interference. Each metering module 2 contains two channel control units 21. Each channel control unit 21 can independently control a fixed set of transducer assemblies 1, that is, individually and correspondingly control one metering channel. As shown in the figure, transducers A1 and A2 form one metering channel; transducers B1 and B2 form one metering channel; transducers C1 and C2 form one metering channel; and transducers D1 and D2 form one metering channel. The first two metering channels are controlled by a metering module 2. The specific sequence of ultrasonic signal transmission and reception is as follows: transducer A1 transmits an ultrasonic signal, transducer A2 receives the ultrasonic signal, and then this metering channel is temporarily shut down under the control of the corresponding channel control unit 21. Next, transducer B1 transmits an ultrasonic signal, transducer B2 receives the ultrasonic signal, and then this metering channel is temporarily shut down under the control of the corresponding channel control unit 21. Then, transducer A2 transmits an ultrasonic signal, transducer A1 receives the ultrasonic signal, transducer B2 transmits an ultrasonic signal, and transducer B1 receives the ultrasonic signal. At this time, metering module 2 is temporarily disconnected under the control of the main control module 3, and the other metering module 2 controls two metering channels that perform the same transmission and reception actions as described above.

[0035] The metering module 2 can employ a metering circuit developed using D-flow series chips, which is used to receive and drive the transducer connected to it to transmit and receive ultrasonic signals. Therefore, each metering module 2 can control two metering channels by selecting different channel control units 21. In this embodiment, the metering module 2 is specifically a D-flow series chip, which includes an AGC (Automatic Gain Control) unit.

[0036] The main control module 3 is a microprocessor with computing and command sending capabilities. In this embodiment, the main control module 3 is a single-chip microcomputer connected to two D-flow chips. It can collect and calculate the time-of-flight difference of ultrasonic signals in each metering channel, and then calculate the water flow rate and velocity data. In addition, it can control the individual working states of the two metering modules 2, thereby controlling the working states of the four metering channels. Through different commands issued by it, it can flexibly select the metering channels participating in the metering, shut down specific metering channels, adjust the calculation weight of the data collected by different metering channels, and control different metering channels to work in different time periods to avoid ultrasonic signal interference caused by simultaneous operation. The metering data of any one metering channel can be regarded as the actual metering data of the entire ultrasonic water meter. The metering data obtained by cross-referencing and comparing the data of the four metering channels is more reliable than that of a single channel. The main control module 3 is equipped with an I / O interface 32. The metering module 2 interacts with the main control module 3 through the I / O interface 32. The main control module 3 includes a time-division reset unit 31, which is connected to the reset pin of the metering module 2. This unit can reset the state of the metering module 2. This reset operation is used to divide the working time of the two metering modules 2, ensuring that the metering channels controlled by the two metering modules 2 do not work at the same time, thus preventing signal superposition interference. The main control module 3 can perform chip select operations on the two metering modules 2 according to a set time interval, such as 125ms. This time is much longer than the time it takes for a metering channel to complete one operation, ensuring that interference does not occur. The metering module 2 and the main control module 3 communicate via SPI.

[0037] During normal operation, two metering channels controlled by the same metering module 2 are considered a group. The microprocessor of the main control module 3 selects the metering module 2 that needs to operate. This metering module 2 controls two channel control units 21 to drive the corresponding two metering channels to perform metering work. During this process, the metering module 2 can individually select to turn on or off any metering channel. When a metering channel experiences abnormal metering data due to a transducer 1 malfunction, the metering module 2 corresponding to that channel will shut down the aforementioned metering channel through the channel control unit 21 and send the shutdown information to the main control module 3. The main control module 3 will stop analyzing the data of that metering channel. At this time, the metering data of the two metering channels controlled by the other metering module 2 will be used as the actual metering data of the entire ultrasonic water meter, and the working authority of the metering module 2 corresponding to the metering channel with abnormal metering data will be reduced. Meanwhile, the metering data collected by the other normal metering channel controlled by that metering module 2 will be used as reference calibration data, serving as reference data for the other two normal metering channels. If the ultrasonic signals of different measurement channels deviate due to wave skipping, the main control module 3 will compare the data of the four channels, select the measurement data of the measurement channel with higher consistency as the benchmark, calculate the compensation coefficient, compensate the measurement channel with wave skipping, and restore the data consistency between the four measurement channels.

[0038] When foreign objects, air bubbles, or eddies are present in the pipeline, they may adversely affect the ultrasonic signal strength in some metering channels. In this case, the signal gain unit 22 in the metering module 2 can automatically detect the signal strength of the aforementioned metering channels. If the strength is significantly low, the signal gain unit 22 can automatically perform gain compensation on the subsequent ultrasonic signal strength of that metering channel to improve its signal strength. The signal gain unit 22 can be implemented using a D-flow series chip with AGC automatic gain control, which is available in existing technology. When half or more of the four metering channels experience varying degrees of insufficient signal strength, the signal gain unit 22 will perform gain compensation using a lookup table method. Specifically, the metering module 2 stores a reference correction table 23, which records and saves historical flow data. Since flow data has traceability reference value, the signal gain unit 22 can perform gain compensation on the problematic metering channels based on data with similar characteristics in the historical flow data.

[0039] The manual control module 4 is used to input manual gain commands. When the ultrasonic signal strength decreases due to known external factors, the signal strength of a specific channel can be increased through manual compensation. For example, when using the D-flow series chip, which includes digital communication interfaces, users can use these interfaces to load programs into the chip to achieve the desired functions.

[0040] Several embodiments of this disclosure have been described above. These descriptions are exemplary and not exhaustive, and are not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein is chosen to best explain the principles, practical applications, or technological improvements to the embodiments in the market, or to enable others skilled in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A transducer channel control system for a four-channel ultrasonic water meter, comprising four sets of transducer assemblies (1), each set of transducer assemblies (1) comprising two oppositely arranged transducers for alternately transmitting ultrasonic signals, the two transducers cooperating to form a metering channel, characterized in that, The transducer channel control system further includes a metering module (2) electrically connected to the transducer assembly (1) and a main control module (3) electrically connected to the metering module (2) and used to control the working state of the metering module (2); the number of transducer assemblies (1) is four; each metering module (2) includes two channel control units (21), and each channel control unit (21) is fixed to control one metering channel; the main control module (3) includes a time-division reset unit (31) and a signal exchange unit for communicating with the metering module (2). The transmission I / O interface (32); the time-division reset unit (31) is connected to the reset pin of the metering module (2) to perform a reset operation on the state of the metering module (2); the reset operation is used to divide the working time of the two metering modules (2) so that the metering channels controlled by the two metering modules (2) will not work at the same time; the main control module (3) performs a chip selection operation on the two metering modules (2) according to a set time interval, the time interval being greater than the time for one metering channel to complete one operation.

2. The transducer channel control system for a four-channel ultrasonic water meter according to claim 1, characterized in that, The metering module (2) also includes a signal gain unit (22), which is used to detect the signal strength of the metering channel and automatically perform gain compensation for the metering channel where the low-intensity signal is located.

3. The transducer channel control system for a four-channel ultrasonic water meter according to claim 2, characterized in that, The metering module (2) also includes a reference correction table (23) storing historical flow data. The signal gain unit (22) performs gain compensation on the metering channel by calling and querying the historical flow data in the reference correction table (23).

4. The transducer channel control system for a four-channel ultrasonic water meter according to claim 1, characterized in that, The metering module (2) also includes a timed wake-up unit (24) for optimizing circuit power consumption.

5. The transducer channel control system for a four-channel ultrasonic water meter according to claim 1, characterized in that, The metering module (2) communicates with the main control module (3) via SPI to ensure the speed of signal transmission.

6. The transducer channel control system for a four-channel ultrasonic water meter according to claim 1, characterized in that, The transducer channel control system also includes a manual control module (4) electrically connected to the main control module (3), which is used to input manual gain commands.

7. A transducer channel control system for a four-channel ultrasonic water meter according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that, The metering module (2) is specifically a D-flow series chip, which includes an AGC automatic gain control unit.

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