Gas Appliance Flow Rate Measuring Device
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional gas meters struggle to accurately identify and differentiate between multiple gas appliances in use, leading to ambiguity in billing and potential incorrect determination of appliance usage, especially when multiple appliances have similar operating flow rates.
Innovation Solution
A flow rate measuring device with a configuration that includes a flow rate measurement unit, calculating unit, and appliance identifying units, which measure and analyze gas flow rate variations to determine appliance activation and stop, using stored profiles to identify specific appliances and calculate their individual usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If flow rate variation is detected to determine appliance stop, then the stop detection function is provided, but the determining accuracy reduces when multiple appliances have similar operating flow rates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the overall gas flow rate into individual appliance flow rates by creating virtual flow rate data for each appliance based on activation information. This segmentation allows accurate determination of each appliance's usage even when multiple appliances operate simultaneously with similar flow rates, resolving the accuracy problem while maintaining stop detection functionality.
2Adaptability or versatility
If profile matching is used to identify gas appliances, then appliance identification capability is provided, but the number of required profile tables increases with the total number of gas appliances
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by determining appliance activation information and creating virtual flow rate data before conducting profile matching. This preliminary processing reduces the complexity of profile table requirements by pre-identifying which appliances are active, allowing the system to match profiles more efficiently without requiring exhaustive profile tables for all possible appliance combinations.
3Productivity
If conventional gas meter with integrators is used for billing, then billing scheme can be implemented, but ambiguity in identifying specific appliances occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism - the appliance identification unit and virtual flow rate data generation - that bridges the gap between conventional gas meter billing and specific appliance identification. This intermediary processes flow rate data to determine which specific appliances are in use, preserving appliance identification information that would otherwise be lost in conventional billing systems while maintaining billing functionality.
Data Source
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AI summary
A flow rate measuring device has a flow rate measurement unit, an appliance registering unit, a calculating unit, a determining unit, a first appliance identifying unit, and a second appliance identifying unit. The appliance registering unit stores at least first gas flow rate variation profiles on activation of respective gas appliances coupled to a flow channel, and second gas flow rate variation profiles based on the control specific to the respective gas appliances. The first appliance identifying unit identifies which gas appliance is activated based on the first gas flow rate variation profiles on activation. When a determining unit detects a stop of any of gas appliances, the second appliance identifying unit identifies a gas appliance in continuous use by using the second gas flow rate variation profiles based on the control specific to the respective gas appliances.