A domestic gas alarm with countdown priority arbitration and active forced valve closing function

Abstract

The application discloses a household gas alarm with countdown priority arbitration and active forced valve closing function, which comprises a gas detection sensor module, an MCU, a countdown hardware module, an external instruction receiving module, an electromagnetic valve driving circuit, an audible and visual prompting module and a power module. The MCU is internally provided with a hardware level signal priority arbitration architecture, and preset priorities are as follows: a gas leakage exceeding standard signal> a countdown end signal, an external forced valve closing signal. The application discloses abandoning a local timing gas cutting mode of a cooking utensil, relying on the alarm to directly control and manage a household main gas source, and being capable of passively and emergently closing a valve in the case of leakage, automatically cutting gas in a timing mode through a hardware countdown, receiving a local button and a wireless remote instruction to actively and forcibly close the valve in the case of no leakage, and solving a multiple signal concurrent time sequence conflict problem through a hardware arbitration logic, so that threefold protection is achieved to greatly improve gas use safety. The application is convenient for mass production and popularization in the scene of remote control and management of intelligent home and gas wisdom platform.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the technical field of household gas safety alarm equipment, specifically relating to a hardware structure of an intelligent gas alarm that can realize timed gas shut-off, priority arbitration for leaks, and forced valve closure without a leak command, and is suitable for the safety protection of gas pipelines entering residential homes. Background Technology

[0002] Traditional gas alarms only activate the solenoid valve to shut off when a gas leak is detected, offering limited functionality and insufficient protection. Existing gas safety products on the market suffer from three significant drawbacks: 1. Most existing timed gas shut-off functions are integrated into the burner of gas stoves, which only block the gas source of the small flame of the stove and cannot cut off the main gas pipeline to the house. When the gas hose is old or the pipe joint is damaged and leaks gas, the main pipeline continues to supply gas, which can easily cause gas explosion and poisoning accidents. 2. Conventional gas alarms do not have an external command receiving hardware circuit. Their working mode is passive leak detection. They cannot receive local button or remote wireless valve shut-off commands, and cannot achieve one-click gas shut-off when the user leaves home or remote emergency valve shut-off control by the gas operation platform. 3. Existing alarms with timer functions rely on software logic to distinguish signal priorities, without hardware arbitration circuits. When a gas leak occurs at the same time as the countdown ends and triggers valve closure, the signals conflict in timing and cannot be prioritized for emergency valve closure due to leakage, posing a significant safety hazard. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The purpose of this invention is to address the shortcomings of existing technologies by providing a gas alarm with countdown priority arbitration and active forced valve shut-off functions. This solves the problems of traditional gas alarms, such as limited protection dimensions, incomplete timed gas shut-off, lack of active valve shut-off capability, and multiple signal timing conflicts. It achieves triple safety protection: passive gas leak protection, timed automatic gas shut-off, and active forced gas shut-off, thus improving the safety, reliability, and intelligence level of gas safety systems. A gas alarm with countdown priority arbitration and active forced valve shut-off functions includes a gas detection sensor module, an MCU main control unit, a countdown timing hardware module, an external command receiving module, a solenoid valve drive circuit, an audible and visual prompt module, and a power supply module. The power supply module provides stable power to all hardware units, and all functional modules are integrated on the alarm's main board. The gas detection sensor module is electrically connected to the MCU main control unit and is used to collect simulated gas concentration signals from the surrounding environment in real time, transmitting the collected concentration signals to the MCU main control unit in real time to achieve all-weather real-time monitoring of gas leak conditions. The countdown timing hardware module is integrated into the alarm's main board and electrically connected to the MCU main control unit. It provides an independent hardware timing reference for the device, unaffected by software operation. It supports user-defined timing duration configuration, real-time timing progress output, and can actively output a gas cut-off trigger signal after the timing ends, achieving a timed cut-off function for the inlet gas supply. The external command receiving module includes at least one of a local button input unit and a wireless receiving unit. The wireless receiving unit supports Bluetooth, WiFi, and RF communication methods, used to receive user-input timing commands, timing cancellation commands, forced valve closing commands, and control commands issued by the remote intelligent platform, and transmits these commands to the MCU main control unit in real time. The MCU main control unit is the core control unit of the device, electrically interconnected with the gas detection sensor module, countdown timing hardware module, external command receiving module, solenoid valve drive circuit, and audible and visual prompt module. The MCU main control unit has a built-in hardware-level signal priority arbitration processing architecture with a preset fixed signal priority order: gas leak exceeding limit signal > countdown end signal, external forced valve closing signal. Priority determination of multi-source signals is directly achieved through hardware logic, avoiding the problems of software judgment delay and logic conflict, and accurately executing corresponding control commands. The solenoid valve drive circuit is externally connected to the household pipeline gas emergency shut-off solenoid valve, which receives the control level signal output by the MCU main control unit and accurately drives the solenoid valve to complete the opening and closing actions, realizing the on / off control of the main gas supply to the household. The audible and visual prompt module is used to output corresponding audible and visual prompt signals according to different operating states of the equipment, specifically including countdown running status prompts, gas leak exceeding the standard alarm prompts, active forced valve closing and timed gas shut-off action prompts, realizing visual and audible reminders of the equipment's operating status. Attached Figure Description

[0004] Figure 1 : Overall hardware system module architecture block diagram, where signal flow description: Modules 1, 3, and 4 input signals unidirectionally to MCU (2); MCU (2) has two outputs: one controls sound and light (6), and the other controls the inlet solenoid valve (8) via drive (5); Figure 2 Hardware priority arbitration logic flowchart, where the priority rule is: gas leak exceeding the limit signal > countdown end signal, external forced valve closing signal. Detailed Implementation

[0005] The countdown timing hardware module is an independent hardware timing chip, operating independently of a software timer. This eliminates timing failures caused by device program lag or crashes, ensuring the stability of the timed gas shut-off function. The external command receiving module integrates both a local button input unit and a WiFi wireless receiving unit, catering to both local manual control and remote control needs from smart home platforms and gas intelligent management platforms. The hardware-level priority arbitration architecture of the MCU main control unit is built using hardware logic gate circuits, eliminating the need for CPU computation and judgment. It can instantly complete the priority identification of multiple signals, ensuring priority response to leakage hazards and preventing timing conflicts.

[0006] Beneficial effects This invention integrates a hardware unit for timed gas supply cut-off of the inlet gas pipeline, abandoning the traditional method of partial timed gas cut-off at the burner of the stove. It can directly cut off the gas supply from the main gas pipeline into the house, completely solving the risk of continuous gas supply caused by hose leakage and gas leakage due to aging pipelines, and achieving all-round protection of the gas pipeline throughout the house, with a wider protection range and higher safety. This invention features an independent external command receiving hardware channel, supporting local manual and remote platform active forced valve closure operations under normal, leak-free operating conditions. This breaks through the limitations of traditional alarms that can only passively respond to leak events, and can be adapted to various scenarios such as one-click gas shut-off when users leave home, remote inspection and management by property management, and smart home security linkage, greatly expanding the application scenarios and intelligent management capabilities of the device. This invention incorporates hardware-level signal priority arbitration logic on the motherboard. Compared to traditional software priority judgment, it offers faster response speed and stronger stability. When gas leak signals, countdown end signals, and external forced valve closure signals are triggered simultaneously, it automatically prioritizes responding to gas leak emergencies, completely eliminating the safety timing conflict risks during multi-task concurrency and significantly improving the reliability of equipment operation. This invention is based on the upgrade and integration of a conventional gas alarm motherboard. It has a high degree of structural integration and strong compatibility. It can achieve mass production without significant changes to the production process, and the production cost is controllable. It is highly practical and has great potential for widespread application. This invention optimizes and upgrades the hardware structure, enabling the equipment to integrate three layers of hardware protection capabilities: passive leakage protection, timed automatic gas shut-off, and active command gas shut-off. This constructs a comprehensive and multi-layered gas safety protection system, effectively reducing the probability of gas safety accidents.

Claims

1. A household gas alarm with countdown priority arbitration and active forced valve shut-off function, characterized in that: It includes an MCU main control unit, a gas detection sensor module, a countdown timing hardware module, an external command receiving module, a solenoid valve drive circuit, an audio-visual prompt module, and a power supply module; The gas detection sensor module is electrically connected to the MCU main control unit and is used to collect ambient gas concentration signals in real time and transmit them to the MCU main control unit. The countdown timing hardware module is integrated into the alarm motherboard and electrically connected to the MCU main control unit. It is used to independently provide a timing reference, receive timing configuration, and output a gas cut-off trigger signal after the timing ends. The external command receiving module is electrically connected to the MCU main control unit and is used to receive local or wireless timing commands, cancellation commands, and forced valve closing commands and upload them to the MCU main control unit. The MCU main control unit has a built-in hardware-level signal priority arbitration architecture. The preset signal priority is: the gas leakage exceeding the standard signal has a higher priority than the countdown end signal and the external forced valve closing signal. This is used to determine the priority of multiple input signals and output corresponding control commands. The solenoid valve drive circuit is connected to the inlet gas emergency shut-off solenoid valve and is controlled by the MCU main control unit to drive the valve to open or close. The audio-visual prompt module is electrically connected to the MCU main control unit and is used to realize audio-visual prompts for countdown status, leakage alarm, and forced valve closure. The power module provides a stable power supply for all hardware modules of the entire device.

2. The gas alarm with countdown priority arbitration and active forced valve shut-off function as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The external command receiving module includes a local key input unit and / or a wireless receiving unit. The wireless receiving unit is a Bluetooth, WiFi, or radio frequency receiving module, used to realize local manual command input and / or remote wireless forced valve closing command reception.

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