Hot water system

Abstract

To provide a hot water supply system capable of properly preventing a risk of occurrence of combustion caused by abnormal ignition of a fuel gas, in failure diagnosis of a solenoid valve provided on a gas supply passage of a hot water supply device.SOLUTION: In a hot water supply system SY including: a hot water supply device WH having a gas supply passage 5 provided with a gas main cock Va and control valves V0-V5, and a burner 1 generating a combustion gas for heating hot water / water by burning the fuel gas supplied via the gas supply passage 5; and a failure diagnosis device A capable of diagnosing failure of the hot water supply device WH and having information notification means 80 and information input means 81, information for enhancing closing of the gas main cock Va is notified by using the notification means 80 in a case of executing the failure diagnosis of the control valves V0-V5 as the failure diagnosis.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a hot water supply system capable of diagnosing a fault in a hot water supply device. [Background technology]

[0002] Specific examples of hot water supply systems include those disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3, in which a failure diagnosis unit is connected to the hot water supply device, thereby enabling failure diagnosis of each part of the hot water supply device. Here, the water heater includes, for example, a burner (gas burner) that burns fuel gas, and a heat transfer tube (heat exchanger) for recovering heat from the combustion gas generated by the burner. In this case, a gas supply path for supplying fuel gas to the burner is provided with, for example, a solenoid valve as a control valve, and this solenoid valve is also subject to failure diagnosis.

[0003] However, the above-mentioned hot water supply system has room for improvement, as will be described below.

[0004] That is, when a solenoid valve installed in a gas supply path is opened and closed to perform a fault diagnosis of the solenoid valve, fuel gas is supplied to the burner, and if an ignition operation is performed in such a case, there is a risk of abnormal ignition combustion occurring in the burner or its vicinity. To solve this problem, the gas main valve should be closed beforehand, but the diagnostic technician may forget to do so, resulting in the above-mentioned risk. In the fault diagnosis of a water heater, for example, there are items that actually cause the burner to burn, and in such cases, the gas main valve must be set to an open state, contrary to the solenoid valve fault diagnosis. For this reason, it is even more likely that the technician will forget to close the main valve before starting the fault diagnosis of the solenoid valve, which may result in the above-mentioned abnormal ignition combustion. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 2726623 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-308935 [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-195007 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] The present invention was devised under the circumstances described above, and its objective is to provide a water heating system that can appropriately prevent the risk of abnormal ignition and combustion of fuel gas when diagnosing a fault in the solenoid valve in the gas supply path of the water heating device. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides the following technical solutions.

[0008] The hot water supply system provided by the present invention comprises a hot water supply device having a gas supply path in which a gas main valve and a control valve are provided, and a burner that burns fuel gas supplied through the gas supply path to generate combustion gas for heating hot water and water, and a fault diagnosis device that is capable of diagnosing a fault in the hot water supply device and has information notification means and information input means, and when a fault diagnosis of the control valve is performed as the fault diagnosis, information urging the user to close the gas main valve is notified by the notification means. The present invention is characterized by being configured as follows.

[0009] This configuration provides the following effects. That is, when a fault diagnosis is performed on a control valve (such as a solenoid valve) installed in the gas supply path, information is displayed urging the operator to close the gas main valve. This notification alerts the operator to the need to close the gas main valve and allows the operator to close the gas main valve at the appropriate time. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to avoid performing a fault diagnosis on the control valve while the gas main valve is open, and to appropriately prevent abnormal ignition of fuel gas in the water heater.

[0010] In the present invention, preferably, after information urging the gas main valve to be closed is issued, if a predetermined information input operation indicating that the gas main valve has been closed is performed using the information input means, it is permitted to proceed with the fault diagnosis of the control valve, but if this is not the case, it is not permitted to proceed with the fault diagnosis of the control valve.

[0011] With this configuration, after receiving the information urging the operator to close the gas main valve, the control valve fault diagnosis cannot proceed unless the operator performs a predetermined information input operation indicating that the gas main valve has been closed. This more reliably prevents the control valve fault diagnosis from proceeding without the gas main valve being closed.

[0012] In the present invention, it is preferable that the burner is prevented from igniting fuel gas during the period from the start to the end of the failure diagnosis of the control valve.

[0013] With this configuration, abnormal ignition and combustion of fuel gas in the burner and its vicinity can be more reliably prevented when a failure diagnosis of the control valve is performed.

[0014] In the present invention, it is preferable that the device further comprises a case that surrounds the burner and the area in which the combustion gas generated by the burner travels, and a fan that sends air into the case so that combustion air is supplied to the burner, and after the fault diagnosis of the control valve is completed, the fan is driven so that the remaining gas in the case can be purged to the outside of the case.

[0015] With this configuration, if fuel gas leaks from the gas supply path to the burner during a control valve failure diagnosis, residual gas containing the fuel gas will remain when the failure diagnosis is completed, but this residual gas can be purged by driving the fan. Therefore, after the failure diagnosis is completed, problems such as fuel gas remaining near the burner in the case and ignition of the fuel gas can be appropriately prevented.

[0016] In the present invention, it is preferable that the burner is prevented from igniting fuel gas during the period from when the fault diagnosis of the control valve is started until the purging of remaining gas by the fan is completed.

[0017] With this configuration, it is possible to more reliably prevent the fuel gas that has flowed into the case from the gas supply path from accidentally igniting.

[0018] In the present invention, preferably, a plurality of control valves are provided as the control valve, and the fault diagnosis method for the plurality of control valves is an automatic diagnosis method capable of sequentially executing fault diagnosis for the plurality of control valves by program control, or a fault diagnosis method in which fault diagnosis is performed by an operator selected from the plurality of control valves. and a non-automatic individual diagnosis method that can individually perform fault diagnosis of the control valves. Either of these methods can be selectively performed.

[0019] This configuration is convenient because, when diagnosing faults in multiple control valves, the operator can select and execute either the automatic diagnosis method or the non-automatic individual diagnosis method, whichever method is deemed most preferable, after taking into consideration various conditions.

[0020] Other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0021] [Figure 1] 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a hot water supply system according to the present invention. [Figure 2] 2 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation procedure in the hot water supply system shown in FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0022] Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0023] The hot water supply system SY shown in Fig. 1 includes a hot water supply device WH and a fault diagnosis device A. The fault diagnosis device A is a combination of a fault diagnosis relay unit 7 and a personal computer 8 (hereinafter referred to as "PC 8"). Of course, as will be described later, the fault diagnosis device referred to in the present invention is not limited to such a combination.

[0024] The water heater WH is a gas water heater, and is configured with a general water heater function and a bath (or heating) water heater function. It comprises a burner 1 (1a, 1b) as a gas burner, a heat exchanger 2 (2a, 2b), a case 4 that houses the burner 1 and the heat exchanger 2 and has a fan 30 attached to the bottom and an exhaust port 40 at the top, a control unit 31, and an exterior case 9 that surrounds the entire system.

[0025] The burners 1 (1a, 1b) are arranged in the lower part of the case 4 (corresponding to the burner case), and are capable of driving combustion by receiving fuel gas from a gas supply path 5 using a gas pipe and combustion air from a fan 30. Each burner 1a, 1b is provided with an ignition plug 18 attached thereto.

[0026] A manual gas main valve Va is provided in the gas supply path 5 at a position outside the outer case 9, and a plurality of fuel gas solenoid valves (solenoid on-off valves) V0 to V5 are provided inside the outer case 9. These solenoid valves V0 to V5 are the solenoid valves that are the subject of failure diagnosis, and are specific examples of the control valves referred to in the present invention. The burner 1 is divided into a plurality of blocks B1 to B5, and the gas supply path 5 is provided with branch flow paths 5a to 5e corresponding to the blocks B1 to B5. The solenoid valve V0 is a main solenoid valve provided upstream of the branch flow paths 5a to 5e in the gas supply direction, and the solenoid valves V1 to V5 are solenoid valves provided in the branch flow paths 5a to 5e.

[0027] The heat exchanger section 2 (2a, 2b) recovers heat from the combustion gas generated by the drive combustion of the burner 1 and generates hot water, and includes heat transfer tubes 20a, 20b with a water inlet and a hot water outlet. These heat transfer tubes 20a, 20b are arranged in the middle of the height of the case 4 (corresponding to the heat exchanger case). The burner 1a and heat exchanger section 2a are for general hot water supply. The burner 1b and heat exchanger section 2b are for hot water supply for baths (or heating).

[0028] The control unit 31 is configured using a microcomputer and the like, and controls the fuel gas solenoid valve. It controls the operation of each part of the water heater WH, including various valves such as V0 to V5 and ignition by spark plug 18, and executes various data processing. When fault diagnosis device A is connected, it enters a fault diagnosis mode that enables fault diagnosis of each part by fault diagnosis device A, and is configured to respond to control commands from fault diagnosis device A.

[0029] A control program for diagnosing a fault in water heater WH is stored in the data storage unit of PC 8, and PC 8 is capable of executing the fault diagnosis and associated control according to the operating procedure described below. PC 8 is equipped with a display unit 80 capable of displaying a desired image, an operation unit 81 having a plurality of operation keys, a speaker SP, a microphone MC, etc.

[0030] Fault diagnosis relay unit 7 enables data transmission between control unit 31 of water heating apparatus WH and personal computer 8, and includes terminal units 70a and 70b that enable communication connection using terminal unit 31a of control unit 31 and wiring La and Lb to personal computer 8, and relay circuit 71. Relay circuit 71 includes a microcomputer 71a and receiver circuit 71b that convert between the communication method on the water heating apparatus WH side and the communication method on the personal computer 8 side.

[0031] Next, an example of an operation processing procedure of the hot water supply system SY will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2, and its operation will also be described.

[0032] 1, in the preparation state for fault diagnosis in which the water heater WH is connected to the personal computer 8 via the fault diagnosis relay unit 7, when a predetermined operation is performed on the operation unit 81 of the personal computer 8, a screen display for selecting fault diagnosis of the fuel gas solenoid valves V0 to V5 is displayed on the display unit 80 (S1: YES, S2). Next, when an operation to execute fault diagnosis of the solenoid valves V0 to V5 is performed on the operation unit 81, information urging the user to close the gas main valve Va is displayed on the display unit 80, and after closing the valve, information urging the user to perform a predetermined switch operation on the operation unit 81 to indicate that the valve has been closed is also displayed on the screen (S3: YES, S4). The display unit 80 corresponds to an example of the notification means of the present invention. The operation unit 81 corresponds to an example of the information input means of the present invention.

[0033] When the above-mentioned screen display is displayed, the worker closes the gas main valve Va and operates a switch to indicate that the valve has been closed (S5: YES), eliminating the problem of forgetting to close the gas main valve Va. Furthermore, because a switch operation is performed to indicate that the gas main valve Va has been closed, reliability that the gas main valve Va has been closed can be increased, and the next process can be started immediately at the time of such switch operation, which also helps to speed up fault diagnosis.

[0034] If, despite the screen display of step S4 described above, a switch operation indicating that the gas main valve Va has been closed is not performed and the predetermined time has expired, a screen indicating that the fault diagnosis of the fuel gas solenoid valves V0 to V5 cannot be performed is displayed, and the fault diagnosis is terminated without proceeding (S5: NO, S13: YES, S14). Therefore, the fault diagnosis of the fuel gas solenoid valves V0 to V5 cannot be performed without closing the gas main valve Va. If the gas main valve Va is not closed, there is a risk that fuel gas will be supplied to the burner 1 when these solenoid valves V0 to V5 are opened and closed during the subsequent fault diagnosis of the fuel gas solenoid valves V0 to V5, and this fuel gas will ignite, resulting in abnormal ignition and combustion. However, according to this embodiment, such a risk can be appropriately eliminated.

[0035] In this embodiment, a method for diagnosing the failure of the fuel gas solenoid valves V0 to V5 is There are two types of diagnostic methods: an automatic diagnostic method and a non-automatic individual diagnostic method, either of which can be selectively performed. The former automatic diagnostic method is a method in which fault diagnosis of the fuel gas solenoid valves V0 to V5 is automatically performed in sequence by program control using a program stored in the personal computer 8. The latter non-automatic individual diagnostic method is a method in which fault diagnosis is individually performed on one of the fuel gas solenoid valves V0 to V5 selected by the operator. In step S5, if an operation to close the gas main valve Va is performed, a selection screen for the automatic diagnosis method or the non-automatic individual diagnosis method is displayed on the display unit 80 (S6).

[0036] In contrast, when an operation to select the non-automatic individual diagnosis method is performed, the ignition operation of the burner 1 (the driving operation of the ignition plug 18) is restricted, and then a fault diagnosis is performed using the operational details previously explained for the non-automatic individual diagnosis method (S7: YES, S8).On the other hand, when an operation to select the automatic diagnosis method is performed, the ignition operation of the burner 1 is restricted, as in the above, and then a fault diagnosis is performed using the operational details previously explained for the automatic diagnosis method (S7: NO, S15). In this way, if an operator can appropriately select either the automatic diagnosis method or the non-automatic individual diagnosis method, the fault diagnosis method can be selected according to the operator's desire, or close to that, thereby improving the efficiency of the fault diagnosis work. Furthermore, since the ignition operation in the burner 1 is restricted, even if fuel gas flows from the gas supply path 5 to the burner 1 side due to opening and closing operations for diagnosing the fuel gas solenoid valves V0 to V5, it is possible to prevent this fuel gas from igniting.

[0037] When the fault diagnosis of the fuel gas solenoid valves V0 to V5 as described above is completed, the fan 30 is driven for a predetermined time, and when this driving is completed, the restriction on the ignition operation (driving operation of the ignition plug 18) of the burner 1 is lifted (S9: YES, S10, S11). By driving the fan 30 as described above, the remaining gas in the case 4 of the water heater WH is purged to the outside. Therefore, even if fuel gas is contained in the remaining gas at the end of the fault diagnosis, it is possible to properly discharge this to the outside of the case 4. The drive time and rotation speed of fan 30 may be constant, but they can also be variable. For example, if an exhaust pipe is connected to water heater WH, the drive time of fan 30 can be made longer and / or the rotation speed can be made faster as the exhaust pipe becomes longer.

[0038] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the specific configuration of each part of the hot water supply system according to the present invention can be freely designed and modified in various ways within the intended scope of the present invention.

[0039] The fault diagnosis device according to the present invention is not limited to a configuration combining a fault diagnosis relay unit and a PC, as described above. For example, other data processing devices such as a tablet or smartphone may be used instead of a PC, and the entire device may be integrated into a single dedicated device. Furthermore, the fault diagnosis device may be incorporated into a water heater. The control valve referred to in the present invention is not limited to a solenoid valve, but may be, for example, a motor-driven valve. The notification means may be configured to use a speaker instead of or in addition to a display unit capable of displaying images, and to output a desired voice message from the speaker. The information input means is not limited to an operation unit equipped with an operation switch, and may be configured to use a voice input method using, for example, a microphone instead of or in addition to such an operation unit. The specific manner of expression of the "information urging the user to close the gas main valve" in the present invention is not limited. [Explanation of symbols]

[0040] A. Fault diagnosis device WH water heater SY hot water system Va gas main valve V0~V5 Fuel gas solenoid valve (control valve) 1 Burner 30 fans 4 cases 5 Gas supply route 7. Fault diagnosis relay unit (fault diagnosis device) 8. Computer (fault diagnosis device) 80 Display unit (notification means) 81 Operation unit (information input means)

Claims

1. a hot water supply device including a gas supply path provided with a gas main valve and a control valve, and a burner that burns fuel gas supplied through the gas supply path to generate combustion gas for heating hot water; a fault diagnosis device capable of diagnosing a fault in the water heater and having an information notification means and an information input means; A hot water system comprising: A hot water supply system characterized in that, when a fault diagnosis of the control valve is performed as the fault diagnosis, information urging the user to close the gas main valve is notified using the notification means.

2. The hot water supply system according to claim 1, A hot water supply system configured such that, after information urging the gas main valve to be closed is issued, if a specified information input operation indicating that the gas main valve has been closed is performed using the information input means, it is permitted to proceed with a fault diagnosis of the control valve, but if not, it is not permitted to proceed with a fault diagnosis of the control valve.

3. The hot water supply system according to claim 1 or 2, The hot water supply system is configured such that an ignition operation of the burner to ignite fuel gas is prevented during a period from the start to the end of a fault diagnosis of the control valve.

4. The hot water supply system according to claim 1 or 2, a case surrounding the burner and a traveling area of ​​combustion gas generated by the burner; a fan that blows air into the case so that combustion air is supplied to the burner; It also has The hot water supply system is configured so that, after the failure diagnosis of the control valve is completed, the fan is driven to purge remaining gas in the case to the outside of the case.

5. The hot water supply system according to claim 4, A hot water supply system configured to prevent the burner from igniting fuel gas during the period from when fault diagnosis of the control valve is started to when purging of remaining gas by the fan is completed.

6. The hot water supply system according to claim 1 or 2, The control valve includes a plurality of control valves, The fault diagnosis methods for these multiple control valves include an automatic diagnosis method that can sequentially perform fault diagnosis on the multiple control valves through program control, and a non-automatic individual diagnosis method that can individually perform fault diagnosis on control valves selected by an operator from the multiple control valves, and this hot water supply system is capable of selectively performing one of these methods.

Images