Monitoring apparatus for graphically displaying and indicating a history of integrated flow amount of gas flow meter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11099046-B2
Application number	US-201916574161-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 18, 2019
Priority date	Dec 28, 2018
Publication date	Aug 24, 2021
Grant date	Aug 24, 2021

Abstract

To provide an apparatus for monitoring a fluid flow rate, which is capable of performing monitoring without a data deficit, and displays information on a trend of a past history. A monitoring apparatus accepts, from the flow meter, integrated flow amount data for every day-and-time section, and a current flow rate, and graphically displays, on the basis of the integrated flow amount data for every day-and-time section, an integrated flow amount corresponding to each day-and-time section, on the basis of the integrated flow amount data for every day-and-time section including the current day-and-time and for every another plurality of continuous day-and-time sections.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A monitoring apparatus for monitoring a fluid flow rate measured by
one or more flow meters each including:
a flow rate measurement unit configured to operate by electric power to be supplied from an external power supply, and measure a fluid in a pipe;
a real-time clock configured to be connected to a power supply circuit that provides electric power when the electric power is not supplied from the external power supply, hold current day-and-time data regardless of whether the electric power is supplied from the external power supply, and update the current day-and-time data in response to current day-and-time;
a calculation unit configured to calculate, on the basis of the flow rate measured by the flow rate measurement unit and the current day-and-time data obtained from the real-time clock, integrated flow amount data for every day-and-time section set in advance; and
a storage unit configured to store therein the integrated flow amount data for every calculated day-and-time section in association with the day-and-time section, and
the monitoring apparatus connected to the one or more flow meters, the monitoring apparatus comprising
a communication control unit configured to accept the integrated flow amount data for every day-and-time section stored in the storage unit, and the flow rate measured by the flow rate measurement unit, each from the one or more flow meters;
a screen generation unit configured to generate, on the basis of the integrated flow amount data for every day-and-time section stored in the storage unit, an integrated flow amount graph screen including a day-and-time section including the current day-and-time and a plurality of day-and-time sections continuous to the day-and-time section, and graphically displaying an integrated flow amount corresponding to each day-and-time section in a past day-and-time section in the plurality of the day-and-time sections, on the basis of the integrated flow amount data for every day-and-time section set in advance; and
a display unit configured to display the integrated flow amount graph screen.

2. The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a template part corresponding to the integrated flow amount graph screen is prepared in advance.

3. The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising monitoring screen setting data configured to designate at least one flow meter from the one or more flow meters serving as a display target, wherein
when monitoring of each of the at least one flow meter designated on the basis of the monitoring screen setting data is started, the integrated flow amount data for every day-and-time section stored in the storage unit of each of the at least one flow meter is read.

4. The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
during the display by the display unit, current integrated flow amount data based on the flow rate measured by the flow rate measurement unit is graphically displayed, and
when the acceptance from at least one flow meter of the one or more flow meters is suspended and is thereafter restarted, the integrated flow amount data stored in the storage unit of each of the at least one flow meter is read.

5. The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the screen generation unit generates the integrated flow amount graph screen in a display range in which a user selects one from a group including day, month, and year.

6. The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1 , said monitoring apparatus further connected to another flow meter, wherein the integrated flow amount data stored in the storage unit of each of the another flow meter and the one or more flow meters is simultaneously graphically displayed on the display unit.

7. The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1 , said monitoring apparatus further connected to another flow meter, wherein the integrated flow amounts from the another flow meter and the one or more flow meters are displayed by comparison.

8. The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a current instantaneous flow rate measured by at least one flow meter of the one or more flow meters is accepted, and a numerical display of the instantaneous flow rate and the graph display of the integrated flow amount are simultaneously displayed on the display unit.

9. The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the graph display is possible with two display axes of different units, in the display unit.

10. The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the storage unit is configured to further store integrated leak amount data for every day-and-time section in association with the day-and-time section, and
the screen generation unit generates a leak amount screen in which, on the basis of the integrated leak amount data for every day-and-time section stored in the second storage unit, an integrated leak amount corresponding to each day-and-time section is displayed.

Assignees

• Keyence Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yamazaki Kentaro

Classifications

• G01M3/243

  for pipes · CPC title

• G01F1/662 Primary

  Constructional details · CPC title

• G01M3/2807

  for pipes (G01M3/2892, G01M3/30 take precedence) · CPC title

• G01F15/0755

  involving digital counting · CPC title

• G01F15/068

  with electrical means (G01F15/063 takes precedence) · CPC title