The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 03, 2013
Filed:
Dec. 16, 2009
Tsuyoshi Honda, Kyoto, JP;
Takuhisa Ootani, Nara, JP;
Kouji Murase, Nara, JP;
Panasonic Corporation, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
With a gas shutoff device in the related art, a non-uniform gas layer can be produced by mixing of a gas of a different type from the gas currently in use during a shift in the amount of heat or installation or replacement, and an unexpected flow rate may be detected due to a disruption in the propagation of ultrasonic waves, thereby causing an erroneous determination of a flow rate abnormality or a sensor abnormality. With the gas shutoff device according to the invention, a valve-closing timer sectionstarts to time based on a valve-closing signal which is output by the flow rate abnormality or the sensor abnormality, and outputs a valve-opening signal to a valve driving sectionif a release input is accepted from outside within a setting time period. Thus, even when the non-uniform gas layer is produced by mixing the gas of a different type from the gas currently in use during the shift in the amount of heat or installation or replacement, an unexpected flow rate is detected due to the disruption in the propagation of ultrasonic waves, thereby causing the erroneous determination of the flow rate abnormality or the sensor abnormality, and the valve is closed, the erroneous determination is resolved and the gas is available again within a given time period.