Panasonic Corporation

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

The High Pressure Gas Safety Institute of Japan

Kazutaka Asano

Kouichi Ueki

Takuhisa Ootani

Hajime Miyata

Mitsuo Yokohata

Yasuo Koba

Ryuji Iwamoto

Youichi Itou

Shinichi Nakane

Shinji Miyauchi

Yoshio Horiike

Takashi Uno

Mitsuo Namba

Makoto Tsuboi

Shigeru Murakami

Isao Masuda

Hisanori Yamashita

Sadamu Kawashima

Fujio Hori

Kazutaka Hamada

Shigetada Sazawa

A flow rate measuring device simplifies calculation, reduces memory required for calculation, absorbs variations due to manual operation and, depending on the state of ignition, improves the accuracy of appliance identification by extracting features of appliances. The flow rate measuring device includes: a difference value conversion unit that converts into codes difference values of the flow rate measured at constant time intervals by an ultrasonic flowmeter; an appliance feature extraction unit creates an appliance feature code string indicating a feature of each appliance by, for example, making comparison and judgment using a third last code, a second last code, a last code and a current code of the codes obtained at constant time intervals, and by performing code deletion; and an identification unit performs appliance identification by comparing the appliance feature code string with an appliance inherent feature code string indicating the feature code string inherent in each appliance.

Flow rate measuring device

A newly-purchased gas appliance is detected and reported to a gas administrator. There are provided a flow rate detection portion, a flow rate calculation portion, a code extraction portion, an initial code learning portion, a code maintaining portion, a code judging portion, an additional code learning portion, and an external communication portion. The code extraction portion extracts a code pattern E. The initial code learning portion gathers similar code patterns E as a gas appliance code pattern F. The code judging portion judges whether or not the code pattern E matches any of gas appliance code patterns F held by the code maintaining portion within a predetermined range. The code patterns E that have failed to match are subjected to additional identification of a gas appliance in the additional code learning portion. The gas cut-off device can thereby let the additional code learning portion detect whether or not a new gas appliance has emerged and the external communication portion send a report to the gas administrator.

Gas blocking device

An object is to prevent a mistaken shutoff caused by the mistaken registration of an appliance of which an amount of gas used changes. An individual flow registration maintenance unit maintains a registered flow rate deleted due to an increase/decrease in flow rate, again, performs determination on the flow rate maintained when a new flow rate is registered or a flow rate added with the maintained flow rate, and in the case where it is regarded to be the same, re-register the maintained flow rate.

Gas shutoff device

It is an objective to appropriately assure a function of limiting use of appliances that cause changes in quantities of gas used. There are provided a flow detection unit; a flow computing unit; an average flow computing unit; a flow storage unitthat records an average flow quantity value; a flow change determination unitthat determines whether there is a flow change; a flow registration unitthat registers a flow quantity corresponding to a flow change or deletes a registered flow quantity close to the flow change when the flow change determination unithas determined an incremental or decremental change; a flow memory unit; a flow change correction memory unitthat, when the flow change determination unit has determined presence of a change and when only the maximum flow quantity is registered, determines whether or not a sum of registered flow quantities deleted in the past and an average flow fall within a predetermined range; a determination period unitthat, when no flow change is determined to have been for a predetermined time period, deletes flow quantities in the flow memory unit and the registered flow quantity, thereby performing re-registration; a monitoring value memory unit; an abnormality determination unitthat compares the flow quantity value in the flow registration unit with a determination value of the monitoring value memory unit, thereby determining presence or absence of an abnormality; and an operating time correction unitthat outputs a re-registration correction signal through use of a determination period unit.

Gas cutoff apparatus

A use condition of gas equipment is monitored. An abnormality determination unitdetermines whether or not a use flow volume obtained by detecting a flow velocity obtained by measuring a signal transfer time in a medium using a flow velocity detection unitand converting the detected flow velocity into a flow volume using a flow volume calculation unit. When the shutoff unitshuts off a fluid pathwhen it is determined that there is abnormality, a return signal is output from a return unitto a shutoff unitin order to use the gas again by opening the fluid path. Simultaneously, when a return time-counting unitstarts the time-counting operation, and then, a predetermined time period has been elapsed, the flow volume calculation unitdetermines whether or not a predetermined flow volume of greater flows in order to identify whether or not all of the gas plugs of the gas equipment connected to the downstream of the gas shutoff apparatusare closed. The leakage determination unitdetermines that there is leakage when a predetermined flow volume or greater is detected, and a driving signal is output to the shutoff unitto close the fluid path

Gas block device and gas block method

An abnormality detecting apparatus constantly monitors even a slight amount of gas which has leaked by checking a gas supply pipe when it is determined that the pressure regulating function of a pressure regulator is abnormal. The abnormality detecting apparatus detects an abnormality of the regulated pressure of a pressure regulator appropriately by comparing the regulated pressure with a predetermined low value of a pressure regulating range when the gas flow rate is high and with a predetermined high value of a pressure regulating range when the gas flow rate is low.

Method and apparatus for detecting abnormality in gas supply equipment

A flow rate of a gas is measured by a flow rate measurement means, and when the flow rate exceeds a predetermined reference value, occurrence of an abnormal state such as escape of the gas is detected and a shutoff means is automatically closed by control of a microcomputer, futhermore, 'a gas consumption pattern' showing combination of an amount of gas consumption, maximum flow rate and continuous consumption time of a consumer is observed in a predetermined time period, and a reference value of the gas consumption pattern is decided on the basis of the consumption state, moreover, a decision level of abnormal state is varied and set as a new reference values corresponding to the gas consumption pattern.

Gas shutoff apparatus

Growing community of inventors

Nara, Japan

Kazutaka Asano