Flow detection device, control method and intelligent water meter

Abstract

The invention discloses a flow detection device, a control method and an intelligent water meter, and the method comprises the steps: a friction power generation module generates power under the driving of a to-be-detected fluid, and outputs a driving electric signal to drive a control processing module; the friction sensing module outputs a sensing electric signal under the driving of the fluid to be detected; the control processing module is awakened when receiving the sensing electric signal and calculates the flow of the fluid to be detected, and the control processing module is dormant when not receiving the sensing electric signal within a first time interval. Thus, under the driving of the to-be-detected fluid, the friction sensing module can output a sensing electric signal to the control processing module, so that the control processing module is awakened to detect the flow of the to-be-detected fluid, and when the sensing electric signal is not received within the first time interval, the control processing module enters a dormant state; therefore, the power consumption of the control processing module is reduced when the to-be-detected fluid does not flow, and the power consumption in the flow detection process is further reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of metering equipment, and in particular to a flow detection device, a control method and an intelligent water meter. Background Art

[0002] The use of smart water meters for flow detection solves the problems of ordinary water meter reading, such as difficulty, time-consuming and low efficiency. However, smart water meters require power supply to work. When the power supply is unstable, the water volume measurement of smart water meters will be wrong. Therefore, friction nanogenerators can be used to achieve self-powering of smart water meters.

[0003] When using a friction nanogenerator to achieve self-powering of a smart water meter, if the water flow is slow, the duration is short, the water use interval is long, etc., the power generation of the friction nanogenerator is not enough to maintain the normal operation of the smart water meter.

[0004] Therefore, how to reduce the power consumption during flow detection has become a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently in this field. Summary of the invention

[0005] The embodiments of the present invention provide a flow detection device, a control method and a smart water meter, which are used to reduce power consumption during flow detection.

[0006] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a flow detection device, comprising: a friction power generation module, a friction sensing module and a control processing module;

[0007] The friction power generation module is connected to the control processing module, and the friction power generation module is used to: generate electricity under the drive of the fluid to be detected, and output a driving electrical signal to drive the control processing module;

[0008] The friction sensing module is connected to the control processing module, and the friction sensing module is used to: output a sensing electrical signal under the drive of the fluid to be detected;

[0009] The control processing module is used to: in response to receiving the sensing electrical signal, be awakened and calculate the flow rate of the fluid to be detected; in response to not receiving the sensing electrical signal within a first time interval, go into sleep mode.

[0010] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a flow detection control method, including:

[0011] When the friction sensing module is used to detect the flow of the fluid to be detected, the generated sensing electrical signal is obtained to wake up the smart water meter, and the flow rate of the fluid to be detected is calculated;

[0012] When no sensing electrical signal is generated within the first time interval, the smart water meter is controlled to sleep.

[0013] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a smart water meter, including: a flow detection device as described in the first aspect above.

[0014] The beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows:

[0015] A flow detection device, a control method and a smart water meter provided by an embodiment of the present invention include: a friction power generation module, a friction sensing module and a control processing module; the friction power generation module is connected to the control processing module, and the friction power generation module generates electricity under the drive of the fluid to be detected, and outputs a driving electrical signal to drive the control processing module; the friction sensing module is connected to the control processing module, and the friction sensing module outputs a sensing electrical signal under the drive of the fluid to be detected; the control processing module is awakened when receiving the sensing electrical signal and calculates the flow of the fluid to be detected, and goes to sleep when the sensing electrical signal is not received within a first time interval. In this way, under the drive of the fluid to be detected, the friction sensing module can output the sensing electrical signal to the control processing module, thereby awakening the control processing module to detect the flow of the fluid to be detected, and when the sensing electrical signal is not received within the first time interval, the control processing module will go into sleep, so that when the fluid to be detected does not flow, the power consumption of the control processing module is reduced, thereby reducing the power consumption during the flow detection process. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Figure 1 A flow chart of a flow detection control method provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0017] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the structure of a flow detection device provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 3 It is a structural schematic diagram of another flow detection device provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 4 A flow chart of another flow detection control method provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 5 The figure is a schematic diagram of the structure of a smart water meter provided in an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] The following will be combined with the accompanying drawings to describe in detail the specific implementation of a flow detection device, a control method and a smart water meter provided by the embodiments of the present invention. It should be noted that the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0022] The embodiment of the present invention provides a flow detection control method, such as Figure 1 As shown, including:

[0023] S101, when using the friction sensing module to detect the flow of the fluid to be detected, obtaining the generated sensing electrical signal to wake up the smart water meter, and calculating the flow rate of the fluid to be detected;

[0024] S102: When no sensing electrical signal is generated within the first time interval, the smart water meter is controlled to sleep.

[0025] In this way, driven by the fluid to be detected, the friction sensing module can output a sensing electrical signal, thereby waking up the smart water meter to perform flow detection of the fluid to be detected, and when no sensing electrical signal is generated within the first time interval, the smart water meter will enter sleep mode, thereby reducing the power consumption of the smart water meter when the fluid to be detected is not flowing, thereby reducing the power consumption during the flow detection process.

[0026] Among them, the first time interval can be set longer, so as to increase the proportion of the smart water meter working time, make the detection process more continuous and accurate, and thus improve the accuracy of water volume detection. Of course, the first time interval can also be set shorter, so as to increase the proportion of the smart water meter sleep time, and further reduce the power consumption during the flow detection process.

[0027] Optionally, calculating the flow rate of the fluid to be detected includes: sampling the sensor signal at every second time interval to obtain calculation data; wherein the calculation data includes multiple data frames and the sampling time corresponding to each data frame; when the number of data frames in the calculation data is equal to a first preset number, calculating the flow rate of the fluid to be detected according to the calculation data.

[0028] Among them, the setting of the second time interval is related to the flow rate of the fluid to be detected. In order to ensure the sampling accuracy, when the flow rate of the fluid to be detected is high, the water volume changes faster, and therefore more frequent sampling is required. The second time interval can be set shorter. When the flow rate of the fluid to be detected is low, the water volume changes slower. At this time, the second time interval can be set longer. The specific second time interval can be set according to actual needs and is not specifically limited here.

[0029] In this way, the calculation data includes a first preset number of data frames obtained by multiple samplings. When the calculation data is used to calculate the flow of the fluid to be detected, the number of calculations can be controlled by controlling the sampling rate, thereby controlling the accuracy of flow detection and the energy consumption of the sampling process.

[0030] Optionally, the first preset number is not less than 512. In this way, when the application scenario of the smart water meter is residential water use, based on the water pressure and flow rate of residential water use, the flow rate of the fluid to be detected can be accurately calculated using calculation data of not less than 512 data frames. On this basis, the first preset number can be set to be smaller, so that the change of the flow rate is clearer, which is convenient for controlling the smart water meter to sleep when the flow rate is zero, thereby reducing the power consumption during the flow detection process. Of course, the first preset number can also be set to be larger, thereby reducing the energy consumption caused by calculation, and can also reduce the power consumption during the flow detection process. The specific first preset number can be set according to actual needs and is not specifically limited here.

[0031] It should be understood that for industrial water, since its water pressure and flow rate are generally greater than those for residential water, in order to ensure the accuracy of flow calculation, the first preset number can be set larger. In addition to residential water and industrial water, in other application scenarios of smart water meters, an appropriate first preset number can be selected according to the actual water pressure and flow rate, and no specific limitation is made here.

[0032] Optionally, calculating the flow rate of the fluid to be detected further includes: when the interval of sampling time in the calculation data is greater than or equal to a third time interval, calculating the flow rate of the fluid to be detected according to the calculation data.

[0033] Among them, the interval of sampling time in the calculation data can be understood as: in the current calculation data, the sampling time corresponding to the data frame obtained by the first sampling can be considered as the first sampling time, and the sampling time corresponding to the data frame obtained by the current sampling can be considered as the second sampling time. The difference between the second sampling time and the first sampling time is the interval of sampling time in the calculation data.

[0034] In this way, by setting the third time interval, the interval of sampling time in the calculation data can be controlled, so that the flow calculation can be performed every certain period of time, thereby ensuring that there are sufficient data frames in the calculation data for flow calculation. At the same time, it can also avoid the loss of calculation data when the data frame cannot be collected for a long time, thereby improving the accuracy of the smart water meter.

[0035] Optionally, the third time interval is not less than 1 second. In this way, when the application scenario of the smart water meter is residential water use, based on the water pressure and flow rate of residential water use, a third time interval of not less than 1 second can be used to obtain calculation data with sufficient data frames, so that the flow of the fluid to be detected can be accurately calculated based on the obtained calculation data. On this basis, the third time interval can be set to be smaller, so that the change of the flow is clearer, which is convenient for controlling the smart water meter to sleep when the flow is zero, thereby reducing the power consumption during the flow detection process. Of course, the third time interval can also be set to be larger, so as to reduce the energy consumption caused by calculation, and can also reduce the power consumption during the flow detection process. The specific first preset number can be set according to actual needs and is not specifically limited here.

[0036] It should be understood that in a smart water meter, both the first preset number and the third time interval can be set to ensure the acquisition of calculation data, thereby improving the reliability of calculating the flow rate of the fluid to be detected; or, only the first preset number or the third time interval can be set, thereby reducing the setting complexity of the smart water meter and reducing costs.

[0037] In addition, the length of the data frame in the calculated data is related to the friction sensing module. This is because the sensing electrical signal output by the friction sensing module comes from the friction nanogenerator therein. When the structure of the friction nanogenerator is different, the waveform of the sensing electrical signal it outputs will also be different, and thus the length of the data frame obtained by sampling the sensing electrical signal will also be different. Therefore, the length of the data frame is also different when using different friction sensing modules.

[0038] Optionally, when no sensing electrical signal is generated within the first time interval, the smart water meter is controlled to sleep, specifically including: when the flow of the fluid to be detected obtained by calculating the data within the first time interval is zero, the smart water meter is controlled to sleep.

[0039] In this way, within the first time interval, the flow rate of the fluid to be detected is zero, which indicates that the flow rate of the fluid to be detected within the first time interval does not need to be detected. Therefore, the smart water meter can be controlled to sleep within the next period of time to reduce the power consumption of the mobile smart water meter during the flow detection process.

[0040] It should be understood that when the application scenario of the smart water meter is residential water use, since residential water use has the characteristics of short duration and long water use intervals, and the water use time is not fixed, by setting the first time interval, the smart water meter can be better controlled to sleep, thereby reducing the power consumption during the flow detection process, and realizing the normal operation of the smart water meter based on the friction nanogenerator in the residential water use scenario.

[0041] Optionally, the flow detection control method also includes: when the first preset time is reached and the friction sensing module is used to detect the flow of the fluid to be detected and no sensing electrical signal is generated, waking up the smart water meter to calculate the flow of the fluid to be detected; wherein the first preset time is the time for periodically detecting the flow of the fluid to be detected.

[0042] There are two situations in which the sensing electrical signal generated by the friction sensing module is not obtained when the flow of the fluid to be detected is detected. One is that the friction sensing module generates a sensing electrical signal when detecting the flow of the fluid to be detected, but it is not obtained. The other is that the friction sensing module does not generate a sensing electrical signal when detecting the flow of the fluid to be detected, and thus it cannot be obtained. For the former situation, there are many possible reasons, such as weak sensing electrical signals, abnormal transmission paths, etc., but no matter which reason, the fluid to be detected has flowed at this time, so the flow rate of the fluid to be detected needs to be calculated at this time.

[0043] In this way, by setting the first preset time and regularly detecting the flow of the fluid to be detected, the water metering deviation caused by the dormancy of the smart water meter can be reduced, and the accuracy of flow detection is improved.

[0044] Optionally, the first preset time is not less than 2 seconds and not more than 10 seconds. In this way, it is possible to avoid high energy consumption due to too short a time, and to avoid poor flow detection accuracy due to too long a time. By setting a suitable first preset time, it is possible to reduce energy consumption while maintaining high flow detection accuracy.

[0045] It should be understood that when the calculated data is used to calculate the flow rate of the fluid to be detected, the data frame and sampling time in the calculated data can be input into the water volume calculation function to obtain the water volume data, wherein the water volume calculation function can be calculated but not limited to the following method: first, the frequency of the data frame is obtained by Fourier transform, and then the obtained frequency is multiplied by the water volume conversion coefficient to obtain the water flow velocity, and finally the water volume data is obtained based on the obtained water flow velocity and time, wherein the water volume conversion coefficient is determined by the mechanical structure of the friction nanogenerator in the friction sensing module, and specifically can be the proportional relationship between the output signal period of the friction nanogenerator and the water consumption. Of course, the water volume calculation function can also be other forms well known to those skilled in the art, which are not limited here.

[0046] Optionally, the flow detection control method also includes: waking up the communication module in the smart water meter when the second preset time is reached; sending the flow of the fluid to be detected to the server; controlling the communication module to sleep; wherein the second preset time is the time for periodically sending the flow of the fluid to be detected to the server.

[0047] In this way, by setting the second preset time, the meter reading of the smart water meter is realized, and each time after the flow of the fluid to be detected is sent to the server, the communication module goes into sleep mode, thereby further reducing the power consumption of the smart water meter.

[0048] Based on the same inventive concept, an embodiment of the present invention provides a flow detection device, such as Figure 2 As shown, the flow detection device includes: a friction power generation module 100, a friction sensor module 200 and a control processing module 300;

[0049] The friction power generation module 100 is connected to the control processing module 300. The friction power generation module 100 is used to: generate electricity under the drive of the fluid to be detected, and output a driving electrical signal S1 to drive the control processing module 300;

[0050] The friction sensing module 200 is connected to the control processing module 300, and the friction sensing module 200 is used to: output a sensing electrical signal S2 under the drive of the fluid to be detected;

[0051] The control processing module 300 is used to: in response to receiving the sensing electrical signal S2, be awakened and calculate the flow rate of the fluid to be detected; in response to not receiving the sensing electrical signal S2 within the first time interval, go into sleep mode.

[0052] In this way, under the drive of the fluid to be detected, the friction sensing module can output a sensing electrical signal to the control processing module, thereby waking up the control processing module to perform flow detection of the fluid to be detected, and when no sensing electrical signal is received within the first time interval, the control processing module will enter sleep mode, thereby reducing the power consumption of the control processing module when the fluid to be detected is not flowing, thereby reducing the power consumption during the flow detection process.

[0053] The friction power generation module may specifically include: a first friction nanogenerator and an electrical signal processing unit connected, so that under the drive of the fluid to be detected, the first friction nanogenerator can output an electrical signal to the electrical signal processing unit, and the electrical signal processing unit processes the electrical signal and outputs a driving electrical signal. Generally speaking, in order to drive the control processing module, the driving electrical signal can be a direct current with a stable voltage, so the electrical signal processing unit also has a voltage stabilization and rectification function. Of course, the electrical signal processing unit can adopt a circuit structure with voltage stabilization and rectification functions that is well known to those skilled in the art, and is not limited here.

[0054] The friction sensing module may include a second friction nanogenerator. The structures of the second friction nanogenerator and the first friction nanogenerator may be the same or different. The second friction nanogenerator and the first friction nanogenerator may be structures well known to those skilled in the art and are not specifically limited here.

[0055] Optionally, the friction power generation module is also used to: store the electrical energy generated by the fluid to be detected, and in response to reaching the first preset time and the sensing signal not waking up the control processing module, wake up and drive the control processing module using the stored electrical energy.

[0056] Among them, the friction power generation module can store electrical energy by setting up an energy storage structure, and the energy storage structure can include but is not limited to rechargeable batteries, etc. The energy storage structure can be implemented using devices familiar to those skilled in the art and is not limited here.

[0057] In this way, by storing the electric energy generated by the drive of the fluid to be detected, the drive control processing module can be awakened at the first preset time when the control processing module is not awakened by the sensor signal, thereby realizing timed detection of the flow of the fluid to be detected, reducing the water metering deviation caused by the sleep state of the smart water meter, and improving the accuracy of flow detection.

[0058] Alternatively, if Figure 3 As shown, the flow detection device also includes a communication module 400, which is respectively connected to the control processing module 300 and the friction power generation module 100; the communication module 400 is used to: send the flow of the fluid to be detected to the server; the control processing module 300 is used to: wake up the communication module 400 in response to reaching a first preset time; in response to the communication module 400 sending the flow of the fluid to be detected to the server, control the communication module 400 to sleep.

[0059] The communication module may be implemented by, but is not limited to, NB-IoT (Narrow Band Internet of Things) technology.

[0060] In this way, by setting up a communication module, the flow rate of the fluid to be detected can be sent to the server, so that when the flow detection device is applied to a smart water meter, there is no need to manually read the water meter, which solves the problem of difficult, time-consuming and inefficient water meter reading. In addition, by controlling the communication module to sleep, the power consumption during the flow detection process can be further reduced.

[0061] Alternatively, if Figure 3 As shown, the control processing module 300 includes: an analog-to-digital conversion unit 301 and a control processing unit 302 connected. Among them, the analog-to-digital conversion unit 301 can convert the sensing electrical signal S2 from an analog signal to a digital signal, and output the obtained digital signal to the control processing unit 302, so that the control processing unit 302 can calculate the flow rate of the fluid to be detected according to the digital signal. The analog-to-digital conversion unit 301 can be a structure that can realize analog-to-digital conversion well known to those skilled in the art, and is not specifically limited here. The control processing unit 302 can be, but is not limited to, a chip that can realize the corresponding function, and is not specifically limited here.

[0062] In conjunction with specific embodiments, Figure 3 Taking the flow detection device shown as an example, the flow detection control method provided by the embodiment of the present invention is explained.

[0063] like Figure 4 As shown, for the control processing unit, a flow detection control method provided by an embodiment of the present invention is as follows:

[0064] S1. Determine whether a sensing electrical signal is received. If yes, execute step S3; if no, execute step S2.

[0065] Among them, the sensing electrical signal is sent by the friction sensing module.

[0066] S2. Determine whether the first preset time has been reached. If so, execute step S3; if not, execute step S8.

[0067] The control processing unit may be provided with a low power consumption timer inside, and generates a wake-up signal when the first preset time is reached, so as to determine whether the first preset time is reached.

[0068] S3. Control the processing unit to wake up.

[0069] Among them, the control processing unit can be awakened by the sensing electrical signal, or awakened by the wake-up signal generated by the low-power timer. Of course, according to the specific form of the sensing electrical signal and the wake-up signal, the control processing unit can be configured to be awakened by a high level trigger or a low level trigger, which is not specifically limited here. In addition, the control processing unit also needs to be configured to be awakened by an external input signal after sleeping.

[0070] S4. Control the processing unit to perform calculation data sampling.

[0071] The calculation data is sampled from the sensor electrical signal, and the calculation data includes a data frame and a sampling time.

[0072] S5. Determine whether the number of data frames is equal to the first preset number. If not, execute step S6. If so, execute step S7.

[0073] S6. Determine whether the sampling time interval is greater than or equal to the third time interval. If not, execute step S4. If yes, execute step S7.

[0074] S7. Calculate the flow rate of the fluid to be detected using the calculation data.

[0075] S8. Determine whether the second preset time has been reached. If so, execute step S9; if not, execute step S11.

[0076] S9, wake up the communication module, and send the flow rate of the fluid to be detected to the server.

[0077] S10, controlling the communication module to sleep.

[0078] S11, determining whether the flow rates of the fluid to be detected obtained by calculating the data within the first time interval are all zero, if not, executing step S4, if yes, executing step S12.

[0079] S12, controlling the processing unit to sleep.

[0080] Based on the same inventive concept, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a smart water meter, the implementation principle of the smart water meter is similar to the implementation principle of the aforementioned flow detection device. The specific implementation method of the smart water meter can refer to the embodiment of the aforementioned flow detection device, and the repeated parts will not be repeated.

[0081] Specifically, an embodiment of the present invention provides a smart water meter, such as Figure 5 As shown, it includes: a flow detection device 501 as introduced in the above content.

[0082] In addition, the smart water meter may also include a display structure, and the display structure may be implemented in an electronic display or a mechanical display, so that the user can observe the water consumption in real time.

[0083] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present invention fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention and their equivalents, the present invention is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A flow detection device, characterized in that: include: Friction power generation module, friction sensing module and control processing module; The friction power generation module is connected to the control processing module, and the friction power generation module is used to: generate electricity under the drive of the fluid to be detected, and output a driving electrical signal to drive the control processing module; The friction sensing module is connected to the control processing module, and the friction sensing module is used to: output a sensing electrical signal under the drive of the fluid to be detected; The control processing module is used to: in response to receiving the sensing electrical signal, be awakened and calculate the flow rate of the fluid to be detected; In response to not receiving the sensing electrical signal within the first time interval, going into sleep mode.

2. The detection device according to claim 1, characterized in that The friction power generation module is also used to: store the electric energy generated when driven by the fluid to be detected, and in response to reaching the first preset time and the sensor signal not waking up the control processing module, wake up and drive the control processing module using the stored electric energy.

3. The detection device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The flow detection device further comprises a communication module, and the communication module is respectively connected to the control processing module and the friction power generation module; The communication module is used to: send the flow rate of the fluid to be detected to a server; The control processing module is used for: waking up the communication module in response to reaching a first preset time; and controlling the communication module to sleep in response to the communication module sending the flow rate of the fluid to be detected to a server.

4. A flow detection control method, characterized in that: include: When the friction sensing module is used to detect the flow of the fluid to be detected, the generated sensing electrical signal is obtained to wake up the smart water meter, and the flow rate of the fluid to be detected is calculated; When no sensing electrical signal is generated within the first time interval, the smart water meter is controlled to sleep.

5. The control method according to claim 4, characterized in that: Calculating the flow rate of the fluid to be detected includes: Sampling the sensing signal at every second time interval to obtain calculation data; wherein the calculation data includes a plurality of data frames and a sampling time corresponding to each of the data frames; When the number of the data frames in the calculation data is equal to a first preset number, the flow rate of the fluid to be detected is calculated according to the calculation data.

6. The control method according to claim 5, characterized in that: The first preset number is not less than 512.

7. The control method according to claim 5, characterized in that: Also includes: When the interval of the sampling time in the calculation data is greater than or equal to a third time interval, the flow rate of the fluid to be detected is calculated according to the calculation data.

8. The control method according to claim 7, characterized in that: The third time interval is not less than 1 second.

9. The control method according to any one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that: When no sensing electrical signal is generated within the first time interval, controlling the smart water meter to go into sleep mode specifically includes: When the flow rates of the fluid to be detected obtained by the calculation data within the first time interval are all zero, the smart water meter is controlled to sleep.

10. The control method according to any one of claims 4 to 9, characterized in that: Also includes: When the first preset time is reached and no sensing electrical signal is generated by detecting the flow of the fluid to be detected using the friction sensing module, the smart water meter is awakened to calculate the flow of the fluid to be detected; wherein the first preset time is the time for periodically detecting the flow of the fluid to be detected.

11. The control method according to claim 10, characterized in that: The first preset time is not less than 2 seconds and not more than 10 seconds.

12. The control method according to any one of claims 4 to 11, characterized in that: Also includes: When a second preset time is reached, waking up the communication module in the smart water meter; Sending the flow rate of the fluid to be detected to a server; Controlling the communication module to sleep; Wherein, the second preset time is the time for regularly sending the flow rate of the fluid to be detected to the server.

13. A smart water meter, characterized in that: include: A flow detection device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3.

Images