Anomaly detection system and water meter

Abstract

To provide an abnormality detection system having a function for detecting water leakage regarding a water supply system such as a household water supply.SOLUTION: Ultrasonic transmitter-receiver 6A and 6B are added and arranged in flow measurement units 7A and 7B of respective water meters between two water meters 1A and 1B connected by a common pipe 13 and lead-in pipes 14A and 14B. Using the ultrasonic transmitter-receivers, an ultrasonic reception waveform between adjacent ultrasonic transmitter-receivers 6A and 6B is measured, and by comparing it with a reception waveform in a case of no leakage, water leakage in an ultrasonic propagation path p can be detected.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a water supply system such as a domestic water supply system, and to the configuration of a system for detecting anomalies such as water leaks using ultrasonic waves. [Background technology]

[0002] There is a demand for a system that detects water leakage from water supply systems such as domestic waterworks. Conventionally, a system using an ultrasonic flowmeter has been known as a water leakage monitoring system for water systems (see, for example, Patent Document 1). FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the water leakage monitoring system described in Patent Document 1.

[0003] In FIG. 5, the water leakage monitoring system 101 has a first ultrasonic flowmeter 102, and a second ultrasonic flowmeter 103 and a second ultrasonic flowmeter 104 installed in a residence. The first ultrasonic flowmeter 102 passes through a water distribution pipe 105, and from branch point A onwards is connected to the second ultrasonic flowmeter 103 via a water supply pipe 106, and is also connected to the second ultrasonic flowmeter 104 via a water supply pipe 107.

[0004] The first ultrasonic flowmeter 102 has a pair of ultrasonic transmitting and receiving elements p1 and p2, and measures the flow rate Q0 of water flowing through a water pipe 105 based on the propagation time based on these transmitting and receiving operations.

[0005] In addition, the second ultrasonic flowmeter 103 and the second ultrasonic flowmeter 104 also have a pair of ultrasonic transmitting / receiving elements a1, a2, and b1, b2, respectively, and are configured to measure the flow rates Qa and Qb of the water flowing through the water supply pipes 106 and 107, respectively, based on the propagation time based on these transmitting and receiving operations.

[0006] With this configuration, the presence or absence of water leakage in the water distribution pipe 105 and the water supply pipes 106 and 107 can be detected by examining the difference between the values ​​of Q0 and Qa+Qb.

[0007] In this system, to obtain the flow rate difference, the flow rate information obtained by each ultrasonic flowmeter is transmitted using ultrasonic receiving and transmitting elements.

[0008] For example, the first ultrasonic flowmeter 102 transmits information acquired from an ultrasonic transceiver element p1, which is received by an ultrasonic transceiver element a1 of the second ultrasonic flowmeter 103. Similarly, the second ultrasonic flowmeter a103 transmits information acquired from an ultrasonic transceiver element a1, which is received by an ultrasonic transceiver element b1 of the second ultrasonic flowmeter a103. This makes it possible to transmit flow information without using wireless communication. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0009] [Patent Document 1] JP 2002-131170 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0010] However, in the conventional configuration, in order to detect the presence or absence of a water leak, in addition to the ultrasonic flowmeters (ultrasonic flowmeters 103, 104) installed in each residence, it was necessary to install an ultrasonic flowmeter (ultrasonic flowmeter 102 in the above example) in the water distribution pipe 105 before the water supply pipes 106, 107 branch off.

[0011] In addition, although ultrasonic waves can be transmitted and received between different ultrasonic flowmeters, this only has the function of transmitting information and does not extend to the function of detecting water leaks.

[0012] The present invention is devised to solve the above-mentioned problems in the conventional technology, and aims to provide an anomaly detection system that can detect the presence or absence of water leaks and the inclusion of foreign objects by adding a leak detection sensor to a water meter installed in a residence, without the need for a separate ultrasonic flowmeter. [Means for solving the problem]

[0013] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems in the conventional art, the anomaly detection system of the present invention comprises a pair of ultrasonic transmitters and receivers arranged at a distance in a pipe through which water flows, an ultrasonic signal processing unit which processes the signal obtained when ultrasonic waves transmitted from one of the ultrasonic transmitters propagate through the pipe and are received by the other ultrasonic transmitter and receiver to obtain a received waveform of the ultrasonic waves, and a waveform comparison unit which compares the received waveforms, and the waveform comparison unit can detect the presence or absence of water leakage in the pipe or an abnormality such as the inclusion of foreign matter by comparing the received waveform W1 of the ultrasonic waves obtained by the ultrasonic signal processing unit when there is no abnormality in the pipe with the received waveform W2 obtained at this time. Effect of the Invention

[0014] According to the anomaly detection system of the present invention, an ultrasonic transmitter / receiver is attached to each of two adjacent water meters connected by piping as an anomaly detection sensor to measure the ultrasonic received waveform between the water meters, and the presence or absence of a water leak can be determined by comparing the received waveform with that when there is no leak. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a water meter according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] Piping system diagram according to the first embodiment of the present invention [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of ultrasonic signal transmission and reception between adjacent water meters according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 shows a transmission waveform and a reception waveform of an ultrasonic signal in a normal state and an abnormal state in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 5] Schematic diagram of a conventional water leakage monitoring system DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] The first invention is an anomaly detection system comprising a pair of ultrasonic transmitters and receivers arranged at a distance in a pipe through which water flows, an ultrasonic signal processing unit which processes the signal obtained when ultrasonic waves transmitted from one of the ultrasonic transmitters propagate through the pipe and are received by the other ultrasonic transmitter and receiver to obtain a received waveform of the ultrasonic waves, and a waveform comparison unit which compares the received waveforms, the waveform comparison unit detecting the presence or absence of water leakage in the pipe or anomalies such as the inclusion of foreign matter by comparing a received waveform W1 of ultrasonic waves obtained by the ultrasonic signal processing unit when there is no abnormality in the pipe with a received waveform W2 obtained at this time.

[0017] The second invention is an anomaly detection system that is composed of at least two water meters connected by a pipe through which water flows, each of the two water meters comprising a measurement flow path in which a flow rate measurement unit is arranged, an ultrasonic transmitter / receiver added to the measurement flow path, an ultrasonic signal processing unit that processes a signal obtained by receiving an ultrasonic wave transmitted from the other ultrasonic transmitter / receiver by the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver to obtain a received waveform of the ultrasonic wave, and a waveform comparison unit that compares the received waveforms, the waveform comparison unit obtains a received waveform W2 of the ultrasonic wave propagating within the pipe by processing the signal, and detects the presence or absence of water leakage in the pipe or an abnormality such as the intrusion of a foreign object by comparing the received waveform W2 with a received waveform W1 of the ultrasonic wave obtained in a similar manner when there is no abnormality in the water in the pipe. This system does not require the installation of a flow meter in addition to the water meter installed in each household.

[0018] A third invention is a water meter for use in the anomaly detection system of the second invention, comprising the measurement flow path, the flow rate measurement unit, the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver, and the ultrasonic signal processing unit.

[0019] A fourth invention is an anomaly detection system comprising a plurality of water meters connected by pipes through which water flows, and a center device which communicates with the water meters, wherein the water meters comprise a measurement flow path in which a flow measuring unit is arranged, an ultrasonic transmitter / receiver attached to the measurement flow path, an ultrasonic signal processing unit which processes the signal obtained by receiving ultrasonic waves transmitted from other water meters by the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver to obtain a received waveform of the ultrasonic wave, and a communication unit which communicates with the center device or other water meters, wherein the center device comprises a comparison unit which compares the received waveforms obtained by the ultrasonic signal processing unit, and the comparison unit acquires via the communication unit the received waveform W1 of ultrasonic waves obtained by the ultrasonic signal processing unit when there is no abnormality in the piping and the received waveform W2 obtained this time, and compares the received waveforms W1 and W2 to detect the presence or absence of water leakage in the piping or an abnormality such as the presence of foreign matter.

[0020] A fifth invention is a water meter for use in the anomaly detection system of the fourth invention, comprising the measurement flow path, the flow rate measurement unit, the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver, and the communication unit.

[0021] Hereinafter, the embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, more detailed description than necessary may be omitted. For example, detailed description of already well-known matters or duplicate description of substantially the same configuration may be omitted.

[0022] It should be noted that the accompanying drawings and the following description are provided to enable those skilled in the art to fully understand the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the subject matter described in the claims.

[0023] (Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration diagram of a water meter 1 used in the anomaly detection system according to the first embodiment. In the following, in this embodiment, a water leak will be described as an example of an abnormality in piping.

[0024] The general control unit 2 controls the flow measurement processing unit 3, the ultrasonic signal processing unit 4, and the waveform comparison unit 10. The measurement flow path 5 is a passage for water provided inside the water meter 1, and the water flows in the direction indicated by the white arrow f. An ultrasonic transmitter / receiver 6 is disposed on the upstream side of the measurement flow path 5, and a flow measurement unit 7 is disposed on the downstream side. The flow measurement unit 7 is a flow meter that uses a well-known flow measurement method such as an impeller type or an ultrasonic type, and is not particularly limited. In addition, an ultrasonic reflector 8 is disposed in the measurement flow path 5 to reflect the ultrasonic waves emitted from the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver 6 in a 90° direction. In addition, the communication unit 9 transmits and receives various data by communicating with the outside. The dashed line p indicates the propagation path of the ultrasonic waves (hereinafter referred to as the ultrasonic propagation path p). The ultrasonic transmitter / receiver 6 is fixed to the outer wall surface of the measurement flow path 5 by a fixing member not shown.

[0025] In the above configuration, first, when measuring the flow rate of water, the general control unit 2 operates the flow rate measurement processing unit 3 and measures the flow rate using the flow rate measurement unit 7. For example, if the flow rate measurement unit 7 is of an impeller type, the flow rate is measured by detecting the rotation speed of the impeller.

[0026] FIG. 2 shows a piping diagram of the abnormality detection system 21 in the first embodiment.

[0027] In FIG. 2, water meters 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D are connected to a common pipe 13 from the upstream side to the downstream side via inlet pipes 14A, 14B, 14C, and 14D, respectively. do.

[0028] In this embodiment, a configuration in which four water meters (water meters 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D) are connected to common pipe 13 will be described as an example, but the number of water meters is not limited to this.

[0029] In addition, the center device 20 has a function of receiving meter reading data such as measured flow rate and issuing various instructions to the water meters by communicating with the water meters 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D. The method of communication with each water meter is not particularly limited and may be cellular communication, specific low power wireless communication, or a network via a relay station.

[0030] Fig. 3 is a diagram for explaining ultrasonic transmission and reception between adjacent water meters in embodiment 1. In Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, components having the same functions as those in Fig. 1 are indicated by the same numbers, and the letters A, B, C, and D added after the numbers indicate the correspondence with each of the water meters 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D.

[0031] Figure 3 is a diagram to explain the operation between water meters 1A and 1B in the piping system diagram shown in Figure 2 as an example to explain the water leak detection operation, and shows water meters 1A and 1B, inlet pipes 14A and 14B connecting them, and common piping 13. However, in order to make it easier to understand the explanation of the principle of water leak detection, the inlet pipes 14A and 14B and common piping 13 are shown slightly modified from those in Figure 2.

[0032] In FIG. 3, the area surrounded by a dashed line indicates anomaly detection system 16, which is composed of at least two water meters as shown in the figure, and is connected by piping (inlet pipes 14A, 14B and common piping 13).

[0033] Next, the operation of this abnormality detection system 16 will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0034] First, flow rate measurement will be explained with reference to FIG.

[0035] In FIG. 1, when flow rate measurement is performed, the general control unit 2 starts a flow rate measurement operation by the flow rate measurement processing unit 3.

[0036] The flow rate measurement unit 7 used here is an existing flow meter, as described above. For example, in the case of an impeller type flow meter, the flow rate is measured by detecting the rotation speed of the impeller. The measurement process for this purpose is performed by the flow rate measurement processing unit 3, and the flow rate Q can be measured.

[0037] Next, the water leakage detection operation of the anomaly detection system 16 will be described with reference to FIG.

[0038] The above-mentioned flow rate measurement operation is performed separately in water meter 1A and water meter 1B, but in the water leak detection operation, ultrasonic transmission and reception is performed in coordination between water meter 1A and water meter 1B, which are arranged adjacent to each other via inlet pipes 14A, 14B and common piping 13.

[0039] When measuring ultrasonic wave propagation between adjacent water meters 1A and 1B, first, the central control unit 2A of water meter 1A operates the communication unit 9A. Furthermore, the central control unit 2B of water meter 1B operates the communication unit 9B. Through these coordinated operations, the times on the clocks (not shown) of water meters 1A and 1B are synchronized.

[0040] Next, the general control unit 2A of the water meter 1A operates the ultrasonic signal processing unit 4A to At the same time as the signal is transmitted, the general control unit 2B of the water meter 1B operates the ultrasonic signal processing unit 4B to start measuring the received waveform.

[0041] The ultrasonic waves emitted from the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver 6A of the water meter 1A are reflected by the ultrasonic reflector 8A and propagate in the direction of the lead-in pipe 14A. The ultrasonic waves then travel through the lead-in pipe 14A, the common pipe 13 to which the pipes are connected, and the fluid part of the lead-in pipe 14B, heading in various directions to which the pipes are connected, but some of them are reflected by the ultrasonic reflector 8B of the water meter 1B and received by the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver 6B. The received waveform that arrives in this way is measured by the ultrasonic signal processing unit 4B of the water meter 1B.

[0042] As mentioned earlier, the clock times on water meters 1A and 1B are the same, so by starting transmission and measurement of the received waveform at the same time, it is possible to reliably capture the waveform emitted from ultrasonic transmitter / receiver 6A of water meter 1A and received by ultrasonic transmitter / receiver 6B of water meter 1B.

[0043] Now, Figure 4 shows a simulation of the transmitted waveform emitted from water meter 1A and the received waveform obtained by water meter 1B as described above when the flow rate of all water meters 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D connected to common pipe 13 in Figure 2 is zero, that is, when there is no flow in common pipe 13 and no water leakage. Figure 4(a) shows the case when there is no water leakage in ultrasonic propagation path p, and the received waveform is a regular waveform similar to the transmitted waveform. The waveform under these conditions will be called received waveform W1.

[0044] Next, Fig. 4(b) shows a simulated waveform received by water meter 1B when a leak occurs somewhere along ultrasonic propagation path p under the same conditions. The waveform under these conditions will be called received waveform W2. When a leak occurs, the fluid flowing in the pipe nearby experiences velocity fluctuations and turbulence, resulting in a waveform with fluctuations as shown in Fig. 4(b).

[0045] Therefore, when it is determined that there is no water leakage, such as immediately after the water meter 1B is installed, the ultrasonic signal processor 4B works with the ultrasonic signal processor 4A to measure and store the received waveform W1 at the timing when it receives information that the flow rate of each of the water meters 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D has become zero through communication with the water meters, and thereafter measures the received waveform (assumed to be W2) periodically. The waveform comparator 10 can detect the occurrence of a water leakage in the ultrasonic propagation path p by comparing and analyzing the received waveforms W1 and W2. That is, it can detect a water leakage in the path of the lead-in pipe 14A, the common pipe 13, and the lead-in pipe 14B in FIG. 2. The result of the water leakage detection is then transmitted to the center device 20 via the communication unit 9B.

[0046] In the above explanation, the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver is positioned upstream of the flow measuring unit. However, this is the case when the flow measuring unit is an impeller type, or the like, and its component configuration impedes the propagation of ultrasonic waves. If the flow measuring unit does not have such a risk, the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver may be positioned downstream of the flow measuring unit.

[0047] In the example shown here, ultrasonic waves were emitted from water meter 1A and the received waveform that reached water meter 1B was measured, but the same effect can be achieved by conversely emitting from water meter 1B and measuring the received waveform that reaches water meter 1A.

[0048] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the determination is made between water meter 1A and water meter 1B, but a similar water leakage detection can be performed by selecting any two of water meters 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D.

[0049] In addition, the adjustment of the clock times between the water meters is not limited to the communication between the water meters and the center device 20. There is no particular limitation to the time, and the time may be set to the time on the clock of the center device 20 via communication.

[0050] Also, as shown in FIG. 2, an abnormality detection system 21 may be configured to include a center device 20 and a plurality of water meters. When it is necessary to detect a water leak, the center device 20 may select two water meters (e.g., water meters 1A and 1C) connected to the target pipe, instruct the respective ultrasonic signal processing units 4 to measure the received waveforms W1 and W2. These waveforms may then be acquired by the center device 20, and a waveform comparison unit (not shown) provided in the center device 20 may determine whether or not there is a water leak.

[0051] As described above, according to this embodiment, an abnormality detection system can be constructed that can detect the presence or absence of water leakage in the ultrasonic propagation path between two water meters by measuring the received waveform W2 when ultrasonic waves are transmitted from one water meter and received by the other water meter between multiple water meters connected by a common pipe 13 through which water flows, and comparing the received waveform W2 with the received waveform W1 of ultrasonic waves when there is no water leakage between the two water meters.

[0052] Furthermore, if the flow measurement unit uses a device that measures based on the principle of ultrasonic waves, the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver used for flow measurement can also be used as an ultrasonic transmitter / receiver for leak detection, resulting in an efficient water meter configuration.

[0053] In addition, an anomaly detection system can be constructed by using an existing water meter as the flow measurement unit and adding an ultrasonic transmitter / receiver, a general control unit, a flow measurement processing unit, a flow measurement unit, and a waveform comparison unit for detecting anomalies.

[0054] In this example, a water leak has been used as an example, but any abnormal condition that affects the received waveform, such as the inclusion of air bubbles or foreign objects, can also be detected in the same way. [Industrial Applicability]

[0055] As described above, the anomaly detection system of the present invention can determine the presence or absence of a water leak based on changes in the ultrasonic received waveform between adjacent water meters, making it possible to apply the system to a wide range of applications, such as domestic water supply piping systems and heating / cooling water piping systems that use hot and cold water. [Explanation of symbols]

[0056] 1,1A~1D Water meter 2, 2A, 2B General control unit 3,3A,3B Flow rate measurement processing section 4, 4A, 4B Ultrasonic signal processing unit 5. Measurement flow path 6,6A~6D Ultrasonic Transceiver 7,7A~7D Flow rate measurement part 9,9A~9D Communication department 10,10A~0D Waveform comparison section 13 Common piping (piping) 14, 14A~14D Intake pipe (piping) 20 Central device 16,21 Anomaly detection system

Claims

1. An anomaly detection system including a plurality of water meters and a pipe through which water flows, The water meter comprises: a measurement flow path in which a flow rate measurement unit is disposed; an ultrasonic transmitter / receiver added to the measurement flow path; an ultrasonic reflector disposed in the measurement flow path and configured to reflect ultrasonic waves emitted from the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver; an ultrasonic signal processing unit that determines a received waveform of ultrasonic waves; A waveform comparison unit that compares the received waveforms; Equipped with In two adjacent water meters among the plurality of water meters, the ultrasonic reflectors included in each of the water meters reflect ultrasonic waves while the times of the adjacent water meters are synchronized, whereby ultrasonic waves are transmitted and received between the ultrasonic transmitters and receivers included in each of the water meters, the ultrasonic signal processing unit processes a signal obtained by receiving ultrasonic waves transmitted from the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver provided in one of the two water meters by the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver provided in the other water meter, thereby obtaining a received waveform of the ultrasonic waves; The waveform comparison unit is an anomaly detection system that detects the presence or absence of water leakage in the piping, or the inclusion of foreign objects or air bubbles, by comparing the ultrasonic reception waveform W1 obtained by the ultrasonic signal processing unit when there is no abnormality in the piping with the currently obtained reception waveform W2.

2. It consists of at least two water meters connected by a water-carrying pipe, The two water meters each have: a measurement flow path in which a flow rate measurement unit is disposed; an ultrasonic transmitter / receiver added to the measurement flow path; an ultrasonic signal processing unit that determines a received waveform of ultrasonic waves; A waveform comparison unit that compares the received waveforms; Equipped with the ultrasonic signal processing unit processes a signal obtained by receiving ultrasonic waves transmitted from the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver provided in one of the two water meters by the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver provided in the other water meter, thereby obtaining a received waveform of the ultrasonic waves; The waveform comparison unit processes the signal to obtain a received waveform W2 of the ultrasonic waves propagating within the piping, and by comparing the received waveform W2 with a received waveform W1 of the ultrasonic waves obtained in a similar manner when there is no abnormality in the water in the piping, the anomaly detection system detects the presence or absence of water leakage in the piping, or the inclusion of foreign objects or air bubbles as an abnormality.

3. 3. A water meter for use in the anomaly detection system according to claim 2, comprising: the measurement flow path, the flow rate measurement unit, the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver, and the ultrasonic signal processing unit.

4. The system comprises a plurality of water meters connected by pipes through which water flows, and a center device that communicates with the water meters, The water meter comprises: a measurement flow path in which a flow rate measurement unit is disposed; an ultrasonic transmitter / receiver added to the measurement flow path; an ultrasonic signal processing unit that processes a signal obtained by receiving ultrasonic waves transmitted from another water meter using the ultrasonic transmitter and receiver to obtain a received waveform of the ultrasonic waves; a communication unit that communicates with the center device or other water meters, the center device includes a comparison unit that compares the received waveforms obtained by the ultrasonic signal processing unit, The comparison unit acquires, via the communication unit, the received waveform W1 of the ultrasonic wave obtained by the ultrasonic signal processing unit when there was no abnormality in the piping, and the currently obtained received waveform W2, and by comparing the received waveforms W1 and W2, detects the presence or absence of a water leak in the piping, or an abnormality such as the inclusion of foreign objects or air bubbles.

5. A water meter for use in the anomaly detection system according to claim 4 , comprising: the measurement flow path, the flow rate measurement unit, the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver, and the communication unit.

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