Magnet-Free Flow Meter Rotor for Water Purity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional flow meters for household appliances, such as instantaneous water heaters, face issues with components detaching from permanent magnets contaminating drinking water, magnetic attraction of dirt particles, and high weight affecting dynamics, leading to inefficiencies in flow measurement.
Innovation Solution
A flow meter design featuring a rotor without permanent magnets, utilizing an electrically conductive active surface that induces eddy currents in an oscillating circuit to detect fluid flow, made from food-safe materials like copper or copper alloys, reducing the risk of contamination and weight, enhancing dynamics and response behavior.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If permanent magnets are used in the rotor, then the rotor can detect fluid flow through magnetic field interaction, but components can detach and contaminate drinking water, and magnetic attraction causes dirt particles to adhere to the rotor
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the permanent magnets from the rotor, eliminating the source of contamination and magnetic attraction problems. The rotor now consists only of non-magnetic, food-safe materials such as plastic, eliminating the risk of magnetic components detaching and contaminating drinking water, and preventing magnetic attraction of dirt particles.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the magnetic detection system with an optical detection system. Instead of using permanent magnets and Hall sensors to detect rotor rotation, the invention uses an optically active material in the rotor that interacts with an optical sensor, substituting magnetic field interaction with optical field interaction to achieve the same flow measurement function without magnetic contamination risks.
2Reliability
If permanent magnets are used in the rotor, then flow measurement is enabled, but the high weight of magnets adversely affects the dynamics of the flow meter
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the heavy permanent magnets from the rotor, dramatically reducing the rotor's weight. This weight reduction improves the dynamics and response behavior of the flow meter, allowing faster rotation and more responsive flow measurement while maintaining measurement capability through the alternative optical detection method.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention substitutes the heavy magnetic rotor system with a lightweight optically active rotor system. By replacing permanent magnets with lightweight optically active materials embedded in a plastic rotor, the system achieves the same flow detection function with significantly reduced mass, improving dynamic performance and response time.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides a lightweight, low-maintenance, and cost-effective flow meter with improved dynamics and purity of drinking water, enabling precise temperature control and reduced risk of contamination, suitable for household appliances like continuous-flow heaters and coffee machines.
Implementation Method 1
When the rotor rotates due to the fluid flowing through the fluid line, for example drinking water, the oscillating circuit induces eddy currents in the at least one electrically conductive surface, which lead to varying degrees of damping of the oscillating circuit depending on the position of the rotor.
Implementation Method 2
the oscillating circuit induces eddy currents in the at least one electrically conductive surface
Data Source
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AI summary
A flow meter for measuring the flow rate of a fluid in a fluid line is disclosed, comprising a rotor that can be arranged at least partially within the fluid line and a sensor device that can be arranged outside the fluid line for detecting the rotation of an effective surface of the rotor, wherein the sensor device has an oscillating circuit, the rotor does not have a permanent magnet, and the at least one effective surface is electrically conductive. A rotor for such a flow meter and a water-bearing household appliance are also disclosed. The invention is particularly suitable for providing a water-bearing household appliance, especially an instantaneous water heater or a beverage dispenser such as a coffee machine or a fully automatic coffee machine, and the like, which allows the provision of drinking water and/or a beverage of high purity, is low-maintenance, and cost-effective.