JP2001174058A - Hot water supply device and its failure diagnosis support device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a failure diagnosis back-up device which performs the function of communicating with a hot-water supplier to also perform the function of diagnosing the failure of the thermal valve of the hot-water supplier and the failure, etc., of hot water heating equipment. SOLUTION: The failure diagnosis back-up device 1 is constituted communicably with the control section 21 of the hot-water supplier through an interface device 2. The device 1 stores a sequence necessary for the diagnosis of the failure, etc., of the thermal valve of the supplier 2 and transmits an operation command to the supplier 2 based on the sequence. The device 1 also obtains the information on the operating state of the supplier 2 from communication and the inputting operation to an input means 14 and diagnoses the presence/ absence of a failure following the stored sequence based on the information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hot water supply apparatus and a failure diagnosis support apparatus therefor, and more particularly, to an operation instruction required for the hot water supply apparatus in accordance with a predetermined failure diagnosis sequence and information obtained from outside at that time. The present invention relates to a failure diagnosis support device that performs a failure diagnosis of a hot water supply device based on the above, and a hot water supply device suitable for failure diagnosis using the failure diagnosis support device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a failure diagnosis performed at the time of periodic inspection of a hot water supply device or the like has been performed manually by a worker at a construction site of the hot water supply device. This failure diagnosis is generally performed based on a maintenance manual that describes a failure diagnosis procedure and the like for each hot water supply device. If each diagnosis was performed according to the maintenance manual, there was a problem that the trouble diagnosis work would take time and labor.

For this reason, recently, various types of sensors have been arranged in each part of the hot water supply device, and a hot water supply device capable of performing self-diagnosis by the control portion of the hot water supply device on the basis of the detection results has been proposed. In such a water heater, the result of the self-diagnosis is displayed on a predetermined display unit, or stored and accumulated in an internal memory, so that a person performing a failure diagnosis can confirm the display and the stored contents. It is devised so that the failure content can be easily specified.

[0004]

However, the hot water supply device having such a self-diagnosis function also has the following problems, and improvement thereof has been desired.

[0005] That is, most of the self-diagnosis function of the hot water supply device is performed solely for the purpose of detecting an abnormal operation of the hot water supply device (for example, abnormal hot water supply, etc.). Normally, diagnosis is the main focus, and the exact location of the failure has not been identified.

In addition, in order to accurately specify the failure site, the setting of the hot water supply device (for example, opening and closing of a valve in a circulation path of hot and cold water, start / stop of a combustion operation, and the like) must be detailed in accordance with the purpose of failure diagnosis. In many cases, the setting must be made with the passage of time. Therefore, in an actual failure diagnosis, an individual setting operation or the like based on the maintenance manual is required.

[0007] Therefore, in order to solve such a problem, the applicant of the present invention stores in advance the failure diagnosis procedure of the hot water supply device in the storage means as a failure diagnosis sequence, and displays the failure diagnosis procedure on the display means based on the failure diagnosis sequence. While providing a failure diagnosis support device, a predetermined operation command is output to the water heater based on the failure diagnosis sequence, and a failure diagnosis of the water heater is performed based on information input from the outside. Has reached. And so far,
As for a part of the failure diagnosis of the hot water supply device, a technique of performing the failure diagnosis of the hot water supply device while displaying the failure diagnosis procedure in a so-called interactive manner has been provided.

An object of the present invention is to provide a novel failure diagnosis technique in such a failure diagnosis support device. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a hot water supply apparatus suitable for failure diagnosis by such a failure diagnosis support apparatus.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a failure diagnosis support apparatus for a hot water supply apparatus according to the present invention (hereinafter, referred to as a failure diagnosis support apparatus).
The failure diagnosis support device is simply configured to store the following contents as the failure diagnosis sequence.

That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a step of outputting a combustion command at a predetermined number specifying the number of burners and the amount of fuel supplied to the hot water supply device, and inputting water to the heat exchanger of the hot water supply device. The method includes the steps of calculating the actual output number from the temperature, the tap water temperature, and the flow rate of incoming or outgoing water, and calculating the efficiency of the hot water supply device by comparing the predetermined number and the output number.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the number of burners and the amount of fuel supplied by the burner are arbitrarily specified on the failure diagnosis support device side, the hot water supply device is operated in that state, and the efficiency of the appliance at that time is obtained by calculation. The contents are as follows. Here, the “number” is a unit generally used when indicating the amount of heat in the field of a hot water supply device, and specifically, a temperature of one liter of water is raised by 25 ° C. per minute. Means the amount of heat necessary for this (the same applies to the following).

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a step of outputting a predetermined number of combustion commands to the hot water supply device, and a feedback control amount of the combustion control in the hot water supply device which starts the combustion operation based on the combustion command. And a step of determining whether or not the detected feedback control amount is within a specified value range.

That is, in a device such as a hot water supply device for controlling the heating of a feed material (hot water) to a constant temperature (set temperature), the flow rate and the temperature change of the feed material are the main disturbances in the control. In the temperature control, feed forward control (hereinafter, FF control) and feedback control (hereinafter, FB control) are used together. Specifically, first, the temperature of the feedstock is raised to the target temperature at a stretch by the FF control value of the FF control, and then the detailed temperature correction is performed by the FB control amount of the FB control.

However, in the actual hot water supply operation, the target temperature may not be obtained with the initially set FF control value due to, for example, a decrease in the thermal efficiency of the hot water supply device or a decrease in the combustion efficiency of the combustion device. All deviations are FB
The control variable has been corrected. That is, if the FB control amount is larger than necessary, it can be determined that the FF control is not functioning sufficiently due to a decrease in the thermal efficiency of the hot water supply device or a decrease in the combustion efficiency of the combustion device. Therefore, the second aspect of the present invention is to determine whether or not the above-described abnormality is present by determining whether the FB control amount is within a predetermined range.

[0015] The invention according to claim 3 is a step of outputting a combustion command at a predetermined number specifying the number of burners and the amount of fuel supplied to the hot water supply device, and the predetermined number and the actual output signal. A step of calculating a deviation from the number, and a step of calculating a deviation of a feedforward control value in combustion control of the hot water supply device based on the calculated deviation,
Outputting a command for correcting the deviation of the feedforward control value to the hot water supply device.

That is, according to the third aspect of the present invention, the number of burners and the fuel supply amount are fixed in advance (ie,
The water heater is operated in a state in which the FB control is not performed), and a deviation between the predetermined number and the actual output number at that time is calculated, whereby the initially set FF control value and the actual water heater are calculated. The deviation from the required FF control value is determined in consideration of the fluctuations in the thermal efficiency and the combustion efficiency of the combustion device, and the correction of the deviation is instructed to the water heater.

Further, the invention according to claim 4 is a step for outputting a command to the hot water supply device to close all the thermal valves of the hot water heating device, and in this state, the operation of the circulation pump in the circulation path is started or The method includes a step of outputting a command to stop, and a step of detecting the presence or absence of circulation of hot and cold water in each case of starting / stopping the operation to determine a failure of the circulating pump.

That is, in this case, for example, if the circulation pump is started but the hot and cold water is not circulated, it can be determined that the circulation pump is not operating for some reason (off failure of the circulation pump). Conversely, if there is hot water circulation even though the operation of the circulation pump is stopped, it can be determined that the operation of the circulation pump has not been stopped for some reason (on failure of the circulation pump), and it is easy to determine the failure of the circulation pump. Can be done.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a step of outputting a command to close or open all the heat operated valves of the hot water heating apparatus to the hot water supply apparatus, and outputting a command to start operation of the circulation pump in this state. A step of outputting a command to sequentially open or close each of the thermal valves, and a flow rate change in the circulation path in the process of sequentially opening or closing the thermal valves to determine a water flow abnormality in the circulation path. And

That is, in this case, for example, by operating the circulation pump with the thermal valve closed, and sequentially opening the thermal valve, the flow rate of hot and cold water in the circulation system increases every time the thermal valve is opened. Should do it. Therefore, if there is no increase in the flow rate despite opening the thermal valve, failure of the thermal valve,
That is, it can be determined that the thermal valve has been opened from the beginning (valve opening failure) or has not opened (valve closing failure). When the failure diagnosis is started from the state in which the thermal valve is opened, the thermal valve is sequentially closed, and it is assumed that the flow rate of hot and cold water in the circulation path decreases every time the thermal valve is closed. Otherwise, it can be determined that the fault is a closed fault or an open fault from the beginning. In addition to the malfunction of the thermal valve, the thermal valve may be open but the dust may bite in the hot water circulation path to shut off the water flow.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a step for outputting a command for closing all the thermal valves of the hot water heater to the hot water supply apparatus, and a step for outputting a combustion command to the hot water supply apparatus in this state. And a step of detecting a change in water temperature in the circulation path thereafter to determine a failure of the thermal valve.

That is, in this case, since all the heat operated valves of the hot water heating apparatus are closed, the circulation path of the hot water as the whole hot water supply apparatus is the one except for the circulation path for hot water heating.
That is, it becomes a short circulation path. Therefore, when the combustion operation is started at this time, the temperature of the hot and cold water in the circulation path quickly rises. By monitoring the temperature rise at that time, it can be determined whether or not the thermal valve is correctly closed. .
In other words, when the temperature rise is slow, it means that one or more of the above-mentioned thermal valves are not closed (open failure of the thermal valve), and it can be determined that the thermal valve is open.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a step for outputting a command to the hot water supply apparatus to close all the heat operated valves of the hot water heating apparatus, and a step for outputting a combustion command to the hot water supply apparatus in this state. And after a predetermined time has elapsed since the hot water supply device started the combustion operation based on the combustion command,
Steps to output a command to open all the above thermal valves,
A step of detecting an operation confirmation signal from the hot water heating device at that time to determine a malfunction of the hot water heating device.

That is, the hot water heating apparatus usually has a self-diagnosis function for confirming whether or not the heating function normally operates at the time of the trial operation. It is provided with a function of confirming whether or not hot water is supplied, and transmitting the result (operation confirmation signal) to the water heater. The above-mentioned trial operation is originally performed to check the pipe connection at the time of installation of the hot water supply apparatus. According to claim 7, the self-diagnosis function of the hot water heating apparatus at the time of installation of the hot water supply apparatus, that is, at the time of periodic inspection and failure diagnosis is performed. The operation check signal is output from the hot water heating device by using this, and the operation check signal is taken into the failure diagnosis support device, so that the test operation of the hot water heating device can be easily performed.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, a step for outputting a command to the hot water supply device to open a predetermined thermal valve of the hot water heating device, and the thermal valve is actually opened from the time of output of the command. A step for measuring the valve opening time up to and a step for comparing the measured actual valve opening time with the valve opening time in the initial state of the water heater to determine the performance degradation of the predetermined thermal valve. Having.

That is, the invention of claim 8 is for diagnosing a malfunction or aging deterioration of a thermal valve using a failure diagnosis support device. In this case, the malfunction is identified by an operation command from the failure diagnosis support device. The time (valve opening time) from when the thermal valve is opened until the thermal valve opens is measured. And
By comparing this valve opening time with the valve opening time in the initial state of the hot water supply device (that is, the valve opening time measured at the time of trial operation at the time of hot water supply device installation or factory shipment), the actual valve opening time in the initial state is determined. If it takes longer than a certain time (permissible time), it is diagnosed that the thermal valve is not operating properly or has deteriorated over time.

A ninth aspect of the present invention is a hot water supply apparatus suitable for failure diagnosis by the failure diagnosis support apparatus of the present invention. In the hot water supply apparatus, a hot water supply main body and a terminal device are connected to a power line,
In a water heater configured to be capable of two-way communication by being connected by a communication line configured by a signal line and a ground line, a water heater main body is provided with voltage detecting means for detecting a voltage of the signal line. A short circuit between the power supply line and the signal line and a short circuit between the signal line and the ground line are determined based on the voltage detected by the voltage detecting means.

That is, in the hot water supply apparatus according to the ninth aspect, the hot water supply apparatus main body and the terminal equipment such as the hot water heating apparatus have a communication line comprising a power line L ₁ , a signal line L ₂ , and a ground line L ₃ as shown in FIG. in those connected by L, the voltage detecting means is provided for detecting the voltage of the signal line L ₂ to the water heater body.
That is, in the case of such a circuit configuration, the transistor Tr
If both Tr1 and Tr2 are on, the voltage value detected by the voltage detecting means is theoretically obtained from the values of the resistors R1 and R2, and the actually detected voltage value is also equal to that value. However, for example, when the power supply line and the signal line are short-circuited (see reference numeral a in the figure), the drive power supply voltage Vcc appears in the voltage detecting means, and when the signal line and the ground line are short-circuited (see reference numeral b in the figure). , The input voltage to the voltage detecting means becomes 0 volt. The present invention provides a hot water supply apparatus capable of determining the presence or absence of a short circuit in a communication line from such a change in signal line voltage. Along with this, it is possible to further specify the details of a fault that was previously only recognized as a communication error and input it to the fault diagnosis support device. Becomes possible.

A tenth aspect of the present invention is a hot water supply apparatus suitable for failure diagnosis by the failure diagnosis support apparatus according to the present invention, wherein an operating time measuring means for integrating operating times of the apparatus, a hot water supply apparatus main body and a terminal thereof In the hot water supply apparatus, comprising: a failure data storage means for storing data relating to a failure of the equipment detected by the equipment, when storing the data relating to the failure in the failure data storage means, the data obtained by the timekeeping means in association with the failure data is stored. The data of the accumulated operating time is stored.

That is, in the hot water supply apparatus, a timer (operating time measuring means) for integrating the operating time has been conventionally used.
In addition, a device having a nonvolatile memory (failure data storage means) for recording a failure history has been proposed, but a device for storing these in association with each other has not been proposed. According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, by storing these in association with each other, the above-described failure diagnosis support apparatus can recognize the failure history and the failure occurrence time or the integrated operation time of the hot water supply apparatus in association with each other. , It is possible to form a more precise failure diagnosis sequence than before.

[0031]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a failure diagnosis support apparatus for a water heater according to the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows a failure diagnosis support apparatus 1 according to the present invention.
Schematic configuration and the failure diagnosis support device 1
Shows the connection status when connected to. In the case shown in the figure, an interface device 3 for data communication between the failure diagnosis support device 1 and the hot water supply device 2 is interposed therebetween, and the devices are connected by a communication line L. .

The failure diagnosis support device 1 is a device for performing failure diagnosis of the hot water supply device 2 in an interactive manner with an operator.
Storage means 11 storing a predetermined failure diagnosis sequence;
A display unit for displaying a failure diagnosis procedure based on the failure diagnosis sequence; a predetermined operation command output to the water heater based on the failure diagnosis sequence; Failure diagnosis means 13 for performing failure diagnosis of the apparatus is provided as a main part.

More specifically, a portable computer (a so-called notebook personal computer) is preferably used as the failure diagnosis support device 1. That is,
A storage device of the computer (for example, a built-in hard disk device or a built-in MO disk device) is used as the storage unit 11, and a display device (for example, a liquid crystal display device) of the computer is used as the display unit 12. Used. Further, the failure diagnosis means 1
As 3, an arithmetic unit of the computer (specifically, a central processing unit or the like that performs a predetermined arithmetic process based on a program stored in the storage device) is used.

As a means for inputting information to the failure diagnosing means 13, a keyboard device (or a so-called pen touch input display device) 14 of the computer is used, an operation command transmitting means for the hot water supply device 2, and A data communication device (for example, a built-in communication modem) 15 is used as input means for data transmitted from the hot water supply device 2 or the like.

The failure diagnosis sequence is stored in the storage means 11 in the form of a program, and based on the program, transmission of an operation command to be described later, display on the screen of the display means 12, and furthermore, And the like is diagnosed. Further, the storage means 11 also stores predetermined data required for executing the failure diagnosis sequence.

The fault diagnosis sequence includes a plurality of types of different hot water supply device models and system configurations (for example, the type of the hot water supply device, the presence or absence of a terminal device connection, and the presence or absence of a bath drop-in circuit). A plurality of types of failure diagnosis sequences are stored in the storage unit 11 in advance so that failure diagnosis can be performed on the hot water supply device 2. The plurality of types of failure diagnosis sequences are configured so that those corresponding to a model or the like to be diagnosed can be selected in advance before a failure diagnosis of the hot water supply device 2 described later.

The hot water supply device 2 includes a hot water supply device main body 2a and various terminal devices (not shown) connected to the hot water supply device main body 2a (for example,
This is a known hot water supply device including a hot water heating device and a solar connection unit. In the present embodiment, at least the control unit 21a is provided in the hot water supply device main body 2a (see FIGS. 1 and 6). The control unit 21a is a controller that controls the operation and monitors the state of the entire hot water supply apparatus 2a, and is configured with a microcomputer as a main unit. The control unit 21a is electrically connected to sensors (not shown) provided in each unit of the hot water supply device 2,
The above-described control is performed by obtaining various information (for example, water temperature and water amount, furthermore, presence / absence of combustion, data from terminal equipment, etc.) from these sensors and the like.

The control unit 21a is also electrically connected to the control units (not shown) of the various terminal devices in connection with the control and monitoring of the operation situation. Then, information such as the operation status is obtained from these terminal devices, and the operation status of various terminal devices connected to the water heater main body 2a is monitored together with the operation status of the water heater 2.

The control unit 21a includes a data communication unit (not shown) capable of bidirectional communication with the data communication device 15 of the failure diagnosis support device 1 via the interface device 3. In addition, this data communication unit can also be used as a data communication unit when the hot water supply device 2 communicates with a remote controller (not shown).

On the other hand, the interface device 3 is a device that functions as an interface for data communication between the failure diagnosis support device 1 and the hot water supply device 2. In the present embodiment, the interface device 3 is The container part 32 is configured as a main part.

Specifically, the data communication unit 31 transmits the operation command transmitted from the failure diagnosis support device 1 to the control unit 21a, and detects the detection values of the sensors transmitted from the control unit 21a. A function of transmitting data and the like to the failure diagnosis support device 1 is provided. The measuring unit 32
Is equipped with various measuring devices such as a circuit meter, a thermometer, and a gas pressure gauge, and can convert analog data detected by these measuring devices into digital data and transmit the digital data to the failure diagnosis support device 1. Have been. In the drawing, reference numeral 33 denotes a test rod of the circuit meter, and reference numeral 34 denotes a temperature sensor (thermistor) for detecting temperature in the thermometer. Further, reference numeral 35 denotes a gas pressure measurement pipe connected to the gas pressure gauge.

Thus, the fault diagnosis support apparatus 1 configured as described above performs the following fault diagnosis in accordance with the contents of the fault diagnosis sequence stored in the storage means 11. In the following description, the operations of the failure diagnosis support device 1 and the hot water supply device 2 will be described for each content of the failure diagnosis sequence. However, prior to the failure diagnosis described below, depending on the model of the hot water supply device 2 to be diagnosed and the like. The corresponding fault diagnosis sequence is selected.

A. Measurement of Appliance Efficiency of Hot Water Supply Device First, measurement of appliance efficiency of the hot water supply device 2 using the failure diagnosis support device 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
(a) is a diagram showing a relationship between a fuel gas pressure (secondary gas pressure) of a combustion device (gas burner) using gas as a fuel and a set number (microcomputer output value) in the control unit 21a. More specifically, FIG. 2A shows the relationship between the secondary gas pressure of a combustion device composed of three gas burners and the microcomputer output value.

In such a combustion apparatus having a plurality of burners, the number of burners (the number of combustion stages) and the fuel gas pressure are determined in accordance with the number set in the control section 21a (for example, If the set number in the control unit 21a is X, the number of combustion stages at that time is two and the secondary gas pressure is Y).

Therefore, the failure diagnosis support device 1 according to the present invention
First, as a failure diagnosis sequence for measuring the appliance efficiency of the hot water supply device 2, first, a combustion command for the hot water supply device 2 with a predetermined number of burners and a fuel supply amount (secondary gas pressure) specified. Output. As a result, the controller 21 of the hot water supply apparatus 2 from the failure diagnosis support apparatus 1 via the communication line L
The combustion command is transmitted to a, and the hot water supply device 2 that has received the combustion command starts the combustion operation at the secondary gas pressure and the number of combustion stages specified by the combustion command.

Next, the failure diagnosis support device 1 outputs to the hot water supply device 2 a command for obtaining the temperature of incoming water to the heat exchanger, the temperature of hot water and the flow rate of water passing through the heat exchanger. Here, the temperature of incoming water, the temperature of outgoing water, and the flow rate of flowing water (flow rate of incoming or outgoing water) to the heat exchanger are detected by a temperature sensor and a flow rate sensor provided in the hot water supply device 2, and the detection results are obtained by the control unit 21a. Fault diagnosis support device 1 via
Sent to.

When these detected values are input to the failure diagnosis support device 1, the failure diagnosis support device 1 next calculates the actual number of outputs in the hot water supply device 2 from these values as "(outlet water temperature-incoming water temperature). × flow rate ”, and the number of outputs determined by this calculation is compared with the predetermined number of the combustion command. From these values, the efficiency of the water heater 2 (output number / predetermined number) ).

As described above, according to the above-described failure diagnosis sequence, the number of burners and the value of the secondary gas pressure can be set arbitrarily in the combustion command transmitted from the failure diagnosis support apparatus 1, so that the number of combustion stages can be reduced. The efficiency at any point other than the maximum / minimum gas pressure can be measured. Therefore, it is possible to easily detect a combustion abnormality caused by, for example, a decrease in the secondary gas pressure or a failure of the burner.

Further, according to the failure diagnosis sequence,
Since the number of burners and the secondary gas pressure value can be set arbitrarily, the secondary gas pressure can be changed and the above fault diagnosis sequence can be repeated, thereby reducing the primary gas pressure supplied to the combustion device. Can be detected.

That is, when the pressure of the primary gas supplied to the combustion device is reduced, the diagram shown in FIG. 2A is modified as shown in FIG. 2B. Specifically, when the primary gas pressure is reduced, the secondary gas pressure does not become a straight line with the right shoulder raised as shown in FIG. 2 (a), but peaks at the upper limit of the primary gas pressure (horizontal bending). Shape (see Fig. 2 (b)).

In other words, when the primary gas pressure is reduced, the characteristic shown in FIG. 2 (b) falls within the range of right shoulder lifting (the range of the secondary gas pressures Y _{1 to} Y ₂ ) in the above combustion command. Even if the secondary gas pressure is set, the instrument efficiency will be a normal value. Therefore, when performing an abnormality diagnosis of the primary gas pressure, the secondary gas pressure must be within the range indicated by the dotted line in FIG. next gas pressure Y ₂ or more range), it is necessary to set the maximum near the secondary gas pressure in other words.

Therefore, even if it is determined that the efficiency of the water heater 2 is normal in the initial measurement, if the primary gas pressure is reduced, the second diagnosis is performed near the maximum secondary gas pressure. As shown in FIG. 2 (c), the number of output signals is lower than in the normal case, and a decrease in efficiency is detected. Thus, a decrease in the primary gas pressure can be diagnosed.

B: Diagnosis of abnormality from FB control amount Next, the abnormality diagnosis from the FB control amount by the failure diagnosis support device 1 will be described.

That is, in the field of the hot water supply apparatus, the FF control and the F
B control is used in combination, first of all, a control is performed by the FF control so that the tapping temperature becomes a set temperature (predetermined number), and thereafter, the actual tapping temperature and the actual tapping temperature are controlled by the FB control using the set number as a target value. Correction of deviation of set temperature. In the present embodiment, the abnormality of the hot water supply device 2 (more specifically, the deviation of the FF control value in the FF control) is calculated using the FB control amount in the FB control. The diagnostic sequence is set as follows:

Therefore, in this embodiment, first, the failure diagnosis support device 1 outputs a combustion command with a predetermined number to the control unit 21a of the hot water supply device 2. At this point, the control unit 21a performs FF control (combustion control) based on a preset FF control value based on the incoming water temperature, incoming water flow rate, and the like, and then performs FB control so that the number of outputs becomes a predetermined number. Is performed.

Next, the failure diagnosis support device 1 requests the controller 21a to transmit data relating to the tapping temperature, and checks whether the tapping temperature is within the range of the set temperature ± α (α = allowable error). Determine whether or not. If this determination is continuously affirmed for a certain period of time, it can be determined that the combustion device has entered a stable state, so the failure diagnosis support device 1 transmits the FB control amount in the FB control to the control unit 21a. Request.

The controller 21a transmits the FB control amount for the combustion control in response to the FB control amount transmission request. The failure diagnosis support device 1 detects the transmitted FB control amount and determines whether or not the FB control amount is within a predetermined range β (β: constant). In other words, if the FB control amount detected at this time is abnormally large,
It can be determined that the FF control is not functioning sufficiently, and in this case, it can be diagnosed that there is an abnormality such as a decrease in the heat exchange rate in the heat exchanger or a decrease in the combustion efficiency of the combustion device.

If it is desired to specify the cause of the failure more specifically, the cause can be specified by adding a failure diagnosis procedure shown in FIG. 3 to the above failure diagnosis sequence.

That is, first, the FB control amount is compared with the specified value β in step S1 in FIG.
When the control amount exceeds the predetermined value β, the abnormality described above is recognized. As a next step, a display requesting the operator to visually check the state of the flame on the display unit 12 of the failure diagnosis support device 1 is displayed. (See step S2 in FIG. 3).

Specifically, first, a display requesting confirmation as to whether or not a part of the flame in one burner is smaller than the flame in the other part is displayed on the display unit 12 (see step S3 in FIG. 3). If the result is affirmative, a diagnosis result indicating that the burner port of the burner is blocked is displayed (see step S4 in FIG. 3).

If the determination in step S3 of FIG. 3 is negative, a display requesting confirmation of whether or not the flame of one burner is smaller than the flame of another burner is displayed on the display unit 12. (See step S5 in FIG. 3). If the result is affirmative, a diagnosis result indicating that the gas nozzle for supplying fuel gas to the burner is blocked is displayed (step S5 in FIG. 3).
6).

Further, if the determination in step S5 in FIG. 3 is negative, a display requesting confirmation of whether or not the sizes of the flames of all the burners do not change is displayed on the display unit 12 (step in FIG. 3). If the result is affirmative, a diagnosis result indicating that the proportional valve for adjusting the secondary gas pressure of the burner is stuck is displayed (step S8 in FIG. 3). A display indicating that there is a combustion abnormality (for example, a decrease in heat exchange rate or an incorrect gas type) is performed (step S in FIG. 3).
9).

As described above, by displaying the failure diagnosis procedure shown in FIG. 3 on the display unit 12 subsequent to the diagnosis based on the FB control amount, the operator can specify the cause of the failure without looking at the maintenance manual or the like. Can be.

C. Correction of FF control value Next, correction of the FF control value using the failure diagnosis support device 1 will be described.

Since the hot water supply device 2 recently uses the FF control and the FB control in the control unit 21a as described above, the control unit 21a stores the FF control value in the FF control. Storage device (for example, RAM or E
EPROM, etc.). Therefore, by externally correcting the FF control value stored in the storage device, it is possible to improve the tapping characteristics.

Specifically, first, the failure diagnosis support apparatus 1 outputs a combustion command with a predetermined number specifying the number of burners and the fuel supply amount to the control unit 21a. That is,
Since the combustion command here is the fixed number of burners and the amount of fuel supplied, the above-mentioned FB control does not function in this case.

When the combustion is stabilized, the controller 21a is requested for the data of the inlet water temperature, the outlet water temperature and its flow rate of the heat exchanger, and these data are received from the controller 21a. Then, based on the received data, the actual output number is calculated as described above.

Thereafter, a deviation between the predetermined number and the output number obtained by calculation is obtained. Since this deviation corresponds to the difference between the control result based on the initially set FF control value and the actually required FF control value, the next step is to calculate the FF control value from the deviation obtained by the above comparison. Calculate the deviation. When the deviation of the FF control value is obtained, finally, the failure diagnosis support apparatus 1 instructs the storage device of the control unit 21a to correct the deviation of the FF control value (addition / subtraction of the deviation). Is output.

As a result, the control unit 21a of the hot water supply device 2 rewrites (corrects) the FF control value stored in the storage device, and realizes the hot water supply operation with the FF control value suitable for the actual condition of the hot water supply device 2. it can. In this case, when a plurality of burners are provided, the above correction is repeated by changing the number of combustion stages, and the deviation of the FF control value is corrected for each combustion stage. Similarly, it is preferable to correct the deviation of the FF control value by changing the setting of the secondary gas pressure (fuel supply amount) even with the same number of stages.

As described above, according to the failure diagnosis sequence of the present embodiment, for example, it is possible to eliminate a decrease in the efficiency of the hot water supply device due to a malfunction of the combustion device and to use a gas other than the standard fuel gas. This can also correct the decrease in combustion efficiency, and can greatly improve the tapping characteristics.
In the above-described embodiment, the case where the FF control value is corrected based on the actual output number of the hot water supply device is described. However, it is also possible to obtain the deviation of the FF control value from the FB control amount and perform the correction. .

D. Diagnosis of pump failure by disposing a flow rate sensor in heating return path Next, failure diagnosis of a heat valve in which a flow rate sensor is disposed in a heating return path of the hot water supply device 2 will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a circulation path of hot water in the hot water supply apparatus 2. The hot water supply device 2 shown in FIG. 4 is a type of hot water supply device having a high-temperature and low-temperature hot water heating device, and includes a heat exchanger 4, a circulation pump 5, and an expansion tank 6.
And a plurality of thermal valves 7 and a plurality of heating terminals 8 as main parts, which are connected by piping to form a circulation path of hot and cold water.

More specifically, from the heat exchanger 4, points A and B in the figure, a heat valve 7a, and a high-temperature heating terminal 8a (7
a, 8a constitute a high-temperature hot-water heater), points C to E
A high-temperature water circulation path that circulates again to the heat exchanger 4 through the point, the expansion tank 6, the circulation pump 5, and the point F, and is branched at the point F, and the thermal valves 7b to 7d and the low-temperature heating terminals 8b to 8d.
(The low-temperature hot water heating apparatus is constituted by 7b to 7d and 8b to 8d), the circulation path of the low-temperature water circulating again to the point F via the points C to E, the expansion tank 6, and the circulation pump 5, and the point B described above. In addition to the bypass path connecting the point D, in the illustrated example, the heat exchanger 41 for bath reheating and the thermal valve 7 e
It is arranged so as to connect the point and the point E.

In the circulation path of the high-temperature water and the low-temperature water, there are provided a temperature sensor 91 for detecting the outlet temperature of the heat exchanger 4 and a temperature sensor 9 for detecting each of the high and low return temperatures.
4 and a flow sensor 93 for detecting the flow rate at the high-temperature / low-temperature return side in the hot water supply apparatus shown in FIG.
Is provided.

The flow rate sensor 93 is a temperature sensor which is not provided in a conventional hot water supply apparatus of the same type. In the present embodiment, a flow rate sensor of a so-called movable-less type (the temperature of flowing water is increased by self-heating). In this case, a sensor that obtains the flow rate from the temperature rise at that time is employed. Unlike a flow sensor equipped with a water wheel, this non-movable type flow sensor has few factors that impede water flow, and therefore has the advantage that erroneous detection of flow due to clogging of dust is small, so it can be installed in a heating circulation path. Therefore, the present embodiment employs a flow sensor of a movable-less type from this point, but it is of course possible to use a flow sensor having a water wheel. Similarly, as the flow rate sensor 93, it is also possible to use a sensor of another form, for example, a type in which one self-heating type thermistor is switched to a normal thermistor and a heating thermistor and the flow rate is detected from the heat release amount. .

The diagnosis of the failure of the circulating pump in the hot water supply apparatus 2 configured as described above is performed as follows.

That is, in this case, first, all the thermal valves 7a to 7d of the hot water heating device and the thermal valves 7e for reheating the bath are sent from the failure diagnosis support device 1 to the control unit 21a of the hot water supply device 2. A close command is output. Thereby, in the hot water supply apparatus 2, the heat exchanger 4, A
Paths of points, points B and D, a water amount sensor 93, an expansion tank 6, and a circulation pump 5 are configured.

Then, in this state, a command requesting either the start or stop of the operation of the circulating pump 5 from the failure diagnosis support device 1 and a command requesting transmission of the detection result by the flow sensor 93 are issued. Is output. That is, when the operation start of the circulation pump 5 is requested, the hot and cold water should circulate in the circulation path, and if the detection result of the flow rate sensor 93 at this time is “no water passage”, the circulation pump 5 If the detection result of the flow rate sensor 93 is “water is passed” despite the fact that the circulation pump 5 is not operating (a failure in which the circulation pump 5 does not operate) and the stop of the circulation pump 5 is requested, It can be determined that an ON failure has occurred (a failure in which the circulation pump 5 does not stop).

As described above, according to the failure diagnosis sequence of this embodiment, the flow sensor 93
, The failure diagnosis of the circulation pump 5 can be easily performed using the failure diagnosis support device 1.

E. Diagnosis of Heat Valve Failure of Hot Water Heating Device (Part 1) Next, failure diagnosis of heat valve of the hot water heating device will be described with reference to FIG.

That is, also in this case, similarly to the failure diagnosis of the circulating pump 5, first, the failure diagnosis support device 1 sends to the control unit 21a of the hot water supply device 2 all the thermal valves 7a to 7d of the hot water heating device. Then, a command to close the thermal valve 7e for bath reheating is output.

In this state, a command requesting the start of operation of the circulation pump 5 is transmitted from the failure diagnosis support device 1 and a command to sequentially open or close each of the thermal valves 7a to 7d of the hot water heating device is issued. Is output. That is, if the thermal valves 7a to 7d are sequentially opened, the thermal valves 7a to 7d
Then, the detection result of the water amount sensor 93 also increases each time the heat operated valves 7a to 7d are opened. Therefore, for example, the flow rate changes (flow rate increase) despite opening the heat operated valves 7d. Is not detected, the thermal valve 7
It can be determined that d is a failure.

In determining this failure, a failure in which the thermal valve 7d does not open (a valve closing failure) and a failure that has been opened from the beginning (a valve opening failure) are considered, and therefore, the diagnosis result is also small. Both are included. When performing a failure diagnosis from a state in which all of the thermal valves 7a to 7d are open, the thermal valves 7a to 7d are sequentially closed, contrary to the above, and at this time, the detection result of the water amount sensor 93 decreases. If not, it is determined that the thermal valve has failed.

As described above, according to the failure diagnosis sequence in the present embodiment, by sequentially opening or closing the thermal valves 7a to 7d, the failure of the thermal valves 7a to 7d can be easily determined based on a change in the flow rate in the circulation path. Can be determined. Also, in the present embodiment, the same test is performed during the test operation of the hot water supply apparatus 2, and the change in the flow rate detected by the flow rate sensor 93 at that time is stored in advance in a storage device or the like of the control unit 21a. By comparing the change with the flow rate detected by the flow rate sensor 93, it is also possible to detect aging of the thermal valves 7a to 7d and clogging of the pipes with dust.

F. Thermal Valve Failure Diagnosis of Hot Water Heating Device (Part 2) Next, another embodiment of the diagnosis of the thermal valve failure of the hot water heating device will be described.

In this embodiment, failure diagnosis of the thermal valve is performed based on the time required for opening and closing the thermal valve. That is, first, the failure diagnosis support apparatus 1 transmits to the control unit 21a a command to open any one of the thermal valves 7x of the thermal valves 7a to 7d constituting the hot water heating apparatus.

Then, the valve opening time T ₁ from the transmission of this command until the thermal valve 7 x is actually fully opened is measured, and the value is transmitted to the failure diagnosis support apparatus 1. Note that although the measurement of the valve opening time T ₁ of the Netsudoben 7x may be conducted by various methods and the opening condition of Netsudoben 7x from the flow rate by detecting a water flow rate of e.g. Netsudoben 7x it can be determined open time T ₁ to determine.

When the valve opening time T ₁ until the thermal valve 7 x is opened is input to the failure diagnosis support device 1, the failure diagnosis support device 1 performs the initial operation of the thermal valve 7 x in the initial state. Is compared with the valve-opening time T ₀ at. As the valve opening time T _{0 in the} initial state, a value measured during a test operation at the time of construction of the hot water supply device 2 is suitably adopted. That is, the valve opening time T ₀ is measured in the same manner as the actual valve opening time T ₁ during the test operation, and the value is stored in advance in the storage device of the control unit 21a. Then, in the comparison, the stored value compared opening time T ₀ when the actual opening time T ₁ and the initial state by taking the above failure diagnosis support apparatus 1 is performed.

As a result of the comparison between the two valve opening times T ₁ and T ₀ , if the actual valve opening time T ₁ is longer than the initial valve opening time T ₀ , the thermal valve 7 x deteriorates over time or malfunctions. Can be diagnosed. Needless to say, a certain allowable time is set in this comparison.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to easily diagnose the failure of the thermal valve 7x of the hot water heating apparatus based on the valve opening time. Moreover, by using those test operation as the valve opening time T ₀ in the initial state, it is possible to perform failure diagnosis of each Netsudoben 7x without being influenced by variations in each of the parts.

G. Failure Diagnosis of Hot Water Heating Apparatus Next, a case where the present invention is applied to failure diagnosis of a hot water heating apparatus using the failure diagnosis support device 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

In this case, first, the failure diagnosis support apparatus 1 sends all the thermal valves 7a to 7 of the hot water heating apparatus to the control unit 21a.
An instruction to close 7d and the thermal valve 7e for post-bath heating is output. That is, also in this case, the circulation path of the hot and cold water of the hot water supply device 2 is formed in the form of the heat exchanger 4, the points A, B, and D, the water amount sensor 93, the expansion tank 6, and the circulation pump 5.

Then, first, in this state, the hot water supply device 2
A predetermined combustion command is transmitted to the control unit 21a (see step S1 in FIG. 5). As a result, the operation of the combustion device and the circulation pump 5 is started, and the hot water heated by the heat exchanger 4 is supplied to the heat exchanger 4, the points A, B, and D, the temperature sensor 92, the expansion tank 6, and the circulation tank. Circulation is started through the path of the pump 5.

Then, in this state, the failure diagnosis support device 1
Requests the transmission of the detection results of the temperature sensor 92, and determines whether or not the combustion device is operating normally based on the detection results sent from the control unit 21a (FIG. 5).
Step S2). That is, in this case, since the hot and cold water is circulated through the short path except the circulation path for hot water heating as described above, the temperature rise of the temperature sensor 92 should be confirmed in a relatively short time from the start of the combustion operation. If the temperature rise is not confirmed by the temperature sensor 92, the failure of the hot water supply device main body 2a (specifically, the combustion device or the circulation pump 5) is diagnosed as shown in step S3 in FIG.

When the temperature rise is confirmed by the temperature sensor 92, the process proceeds to the next step S4 in FIG.
After a lapse of a predetermined time (for example, about several minutes) from the start of the combustion operation, the detection result of the temperature sensor 92 is confirmed again. That is, in this case, since the hot and cold water is heated and circulated in the short circulation path, if the combustion operation is continued, the temperature of the hot and cold water in the piping continues to rise to reach the allowable upper limit (high cut). Therefore, if the detection result of the temperature sensor 92 does not reach the allowable upper limit after a lapse of a predetermined time from the start of the combustion operation, one of the heat operated valves 7a to 7d of the hot water heating apparatus or the heat operated valve 7e for bath reheating is provided. There is a possibility that the valves are open. In this case, it is diagnosed that the thermal valves 7a to 7e have failed (refer to step S5 in FIG. 5), and the process proceeds to step S6 in FIG. 5 to individually diagnose the thermal valves 7a to 7e. Is performed.

On the other hand, if the determination in step S4 in FIG. 5 is affirmative (that is, the allowable upper limit has been reached), the process proceeds to step S7 in FIG. A signal to open 7a to 7d and request an operation check (heating check) to the hot water heating device is output.

Here, the self-diagnosis function for test operation of the hot water heating apparatus is used for confirming the operation of the hot water heating apparatus. In other words, this type of hot water heating device has a self-diagnosis function for trial operation at the time of construction, confirms whether hot water of a predetermined temperature is supplied as part of the self-diagnosis, and confirms the operation. It has a function of transmitting a signal to the control unit 21a. Therefore, a signal requesting the hot water heating device to execute the above-described self-diagnosis is used as the signal output at step S7 in FIG.

Then, the above operation is confirmed in all the heating terminals, and when an operation confirmation signal indicating that the operation is normal is received from the hot water heating device, the process proceeds to step S9 in FIG. Is displayed. On the other hand, if a negative result is obtained in step S8 in FIG. 5, the process proceeds to step S10 in FIG. 5, and the thermal valves 7a to 7
In step d6 of FIG. 5, d is diagnosed as a closed failure, and the fact is displayed. In the individual diagnosis in step S6 in FIG. 5, since the closed-failure thermal valve has been identified in the diagnosis in step S8 in FIG. 5, it is sufficient to perform only the thermal valve.

As described above, according to the failure diagnosis sequence of this embodiment, it is possible to collectively perform the failure diagnosis for the hot water heating apparatus, and it is possible to perform the failure diagnosis of the hot water heating apparatus in a short time. Moreover, since water filling work for each terminal is not required unlike the trial run at the time of construction, the time required for failure diagnosis can also be significantly reduced in this regard.

The individual diagnosis of the thermal valves 7a to 7d may be performed for all the thermal valves 7a to 7d by the thermal valve failure diagnosis of the hot water heating apparatus described above. When the valve train is specified, it can be performed by the following simple method. Therefore, for convenience of explanation, FIG. 6 is shown as an enlarged view of a part of FIG.
The failure diagnosis procedure will be described by taking the diagnosis of a as an example.

That is, first, the combustion device of the hot water supply device 2 is stopped, and the temperature of the hot and cold water in the circulation path is reduced, and the display unit 12 of the failure diagnosis support device 1 displays the temperature on the display side of the heating system for the worker. Display a screen requesting confirmation of the pipe temperature.
The operator confirms the temperature of the heating-side piping in accordance with the display. Specifically, this temperature confirmation is performed by an operator directly touching the hand or by bringing the temperature sensor 34 of the interface device 2 into contact with the pipe.

When the confirmation is completed, the failure diagnosis support device 1 transmits a command to close the thermal valve 7a and a command to start the operation of the circulating pump 5, and sends a command to the combustion device to start the combustion operation. Is transmitted, and a display requesting the operator to confirm the temperature of the piping on the heating-out side is performed again.

Then, as a result of the temperature confirmation by the operator, if a rise in the temperature of the piping on the heating outgoing side is recognized, it can be determined that the thermal valve 7a is not closed. Diagnose. On the other hand, if this determination does not confirm that the temperature of the heating-outgoing pipe has increased,
It can be determined that the thermal valve 7a is closed as instructed above, and the process proceeds to the diagnosis of the subsequent closing failure.

In the failure diagnosis of the thermal valve 7a, first, a command to open the thermal valve 7a is transmitted from the failure diagnosis support device 1. Then, in this state, a display requesting the worker to confirm the temperature of the piping on the heating-out side is displayed. In this case, since the temperature in the pipe has risen in the diagnosis of the open failure earlier, when the thermal valve 7a is opened, the temperature of the pipe on the heating-out side should rise. Therefore, if a temperature rise can be confirmed in the temperature confirmation at this time, the thermal valve 7a is diagnosed as normal, but if a temperature rise cannot be confirmed, a closed failure is diagnosed.

As described above, when the thermal valve 7 to be diagnosed is specified, the presence or absence of a temperature rise due to the opening and closing of the thermal valve 7 is checked to determine whether the thermal valve 7 has a failure. Can be easily diagnosed.

Next, a hot water supply apparatus 2 suitable for failure diagnosis by the failure diagnosis support apparatus 1 of the present invention will be described. As described above, the failure diagnosis support apparatus 1 of the present invention
While transmitting a predetermined operation command to the water heater 2 and various information necessary for failure diagnosis (for example, data transmitted from the controller 21a of the water heater 2 and display of the display 12). An input operation performed by a worker is input to perform various failure diagnoses.

Therefore, such a failure diagnosis support device 1
In order to perform a more detailed failure diagnosis by eliminating the manual work of the worker as much as possible, it is necessary to enable the control unit 21a of the hot water supply apparatus 2 to detect and manage more information.
Therefore, a modified example of the hot water supply device 2 for such a purpose will be described below.

First, as a first step, the hot water supply device main body 2a
A modification example of the communication circuit configuration of the terminal device (for example, a hot water heating device or the like) 2b connected thereto will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 7A shows a conventional communication circuit configuration of the hot water supply device main body 2a and the terminal equipment 2b. Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 7 (a), the control unit 21a of the water heater main body 2a
And the control unit 21b of the terminal device 2b are connected by a communication line L, and bidirectional data communication is enabled via the communication line L.

More specifically, the communication line L is connected to the power line L ₁
When, and a signal line L _2, and a ground (GND) line L _3. One end of the power supply line L ₁ is the water heater main body 2a
The transistor Tr2 is connected to the drive power supply Vcc provided at the other end of the terminal device 2b.
Connected to the emitter terminal. The collector terminal of the transistor Tr2 is connected to an emitter terminal of the signal line L ₂ transistors Tr1 provided in the water heater main body 2a side through the resistance R1 of the current limiting on the signal line L _2, R2 Is interposed. Further, the collector terminal of the transistor Tr1 is grounded is connected to the ground line L _3.

The transistors Tr1, Tr2
Are connected to the respective control terminals 21a and 21b.
A microcomputer (not shown) serving as a control center of the microcomputer is connected, and the transistors Tr1 and Tr2 are turned on and off by an output signal of the microcomputer to perform bidirectional communication between the control units 21a and 21b. .

[0113] Incidentally, in such a conventional communication circuits, for example if a power supply line L ₁ and the signal line L ₂ due to the deterioration of the communication line L is as short (reference numeral Z ₁ in FIG. 7 (a)), Communication between the two control units 21a and 21b is interrupted, and the control unit 21a of the water heater main body 2a determines that the terminal device 2b is abnormal. Therefore, there is a problem that even if a worker makes a failure diagnosis based on such a determination, an abnormality of the communication line L cannot be quickly identified, and the failure diagnosis takes time.

Therefore, in this first modification, the signal line L is connected to the water heater main body 2a so that such a problem can be solved and the failure diagnosis support device 1 can diagnose the abnormality of the communication line L.
A voltage detecting means 22 for detecting the _second voltage is provided.

Here, for convenience of explanation, the above-described resistors R1 and R2
Assuming that there is no short-circuit point in the communication line L and normal communication is performed between the control units 21a and 21b (both Tr1 and Tr2 are on), the voltage detection unit 22 In this case, the drive power supply voltage Vcc is
The voltage is divided by 1, R2, and a value of 1/2 of the drive power supply voltage Vcc is detected. On the other hand, as described above, the power supply line L
_{When 1} and the signal line L ₂ are short-circuited at the position of Z ₁ , the drive power supply voltage Vcc is inputted to the voltage detecting means 22 as it is. Further, on the other hand, (see reference numeral Z ₂ in FIG. 7 (b)) and the short-circuit between the signal line L ₂ and the ground line L ₃ occurs, the input voltage of the voltage detecting means 22 the and ground The potential becomes 0 volt.

This relationship is summarized in a table as shown in Table 1 below.

[0117]

[Table 1]

[0118] Thus, by providing the voltage detecting means 22 for detecting the voltage of the signal line L ₂ to the control unit 21a, to confirm the detection of abnormality due to a short circuit of the communication line L from the input voltage of the voltage detecting means 22 It becomes possible. Accordingly, at the time of failure diagnosis, the detection result of the voltage detection means 22 is taken into the failure diagnosis support device 1 via the control unit 21a, so that the failure of the communication line L can be performed without the need for manual work of an operator. Be able to diagnose. In the example of FIG. 7 (b), the voltage detecting means 22 is provided on the water heater main body 2a side, but may be provided on the terminal device 2b side.

Next, a further modified example of the voltage detecting means 22 is shown in FIG. The modified example of FIG. 7C is different from the circuit configuration of FIG.
When the input voltage of No. 2 was “0”, it was not possible to determine whether the terminal was short-circuited at Z ₂ or the terminal device was not connected.
It is configured so that the judgment can be made.

That is, in this modified example, a resistor R3 and a transistor Tr3 are added between the input side of the voltage detecting means 22 and the driving power supply Vcc, and the transistor Tr3 is added.
A microcomputer 23 constituting a control center of the control unit 21a is connected to the base terminal of the control unit 3a. More specifically, the power supply line L ₁ with the emitter terminal of the transistor Tr3 are connected in parallel, the collector terminal is connected to the input side of the voltage detecting means 22. The resistor R3 has the same resistance value as the current limiting resistors R1 and R2.

Then, first, the microcomputer 2
The input voltage of the voltage input means 22 is detected in a state where the transistor Tr3 is turned off by the output signal of No. 3 (that is, the state of the circuit is the same as that of FIG. 7B). If the input voltage at this time is Vcc / 2, the communication line L is determined to be normal, and Vcc
If the it is judged that Z ₁ shorting is the same as in Table 1 above.

On the other hand, when the input voltage is "0", the transistor Tr3 is turned on by the output signal of the microcomputer 23. Then, by detecting the input voltage of the voltage detection means 22 again in this state, if the input voltage at that time is again “0”, it can be determined that the short circuit occurs at Z ₂ . If the input voltage at this time is Vcc / 2, it can be determined that the transistor Tr2 is open, that is, the terminal device 2b is not connected.

This relationship is summarized in a table as shown in Table 2 below.

[0124]

[Table 2]

As described above, according to the circuit configuration of FIG. 7C, the communication line L is more detailed than the case of FIG.
Can be diagnosed.

Next, a third modification of the water heater 2 will be described. This third modification relates to a method of recording a failure history in the hot water supply device 2.

That is, if a failure has occurred during the operation of the hot water supply apparatus 2, the history of the failure (failure history) is stored and accumulated in a non-volatile memory or the like (failure data storage means) in the control section 21a. I have. That is, it is configured that the worker who has visited the periodic inspection or the like can confirm the past trouble occurrence situation by checking the failure history.

However, the conventional failure history is generally recorded as an error code (data coded for each failure location or state) indicating the location where the failure occurred and the status of the failure. Even if the worker checks the error code on site, it is not possible to specify the date and time of the occurrence of the failure, and whether the failure indicated by the error code has occurred recently, the frequency of occurrence of the failure, etc. I could not judge.

Therefore, in the third modification, the failure history is stored in the following manner when storing and accumulating the failure history. That is, the hot water supply device 2 is usually provided with an integration timer (operating time measuring means) for integrating the operating time of the device. This integrating timer measures the total time from the start of the hot water supply device 2, in other words, the start of energization of the hot water supply device 2. In this modified example, when the error code is recorded and stored, The accumulated time measured by the accumulation timer is stored in the non-volatile memory of the control unit 21a as the accumulated operation time of the water heater 2 in association with the error code.

As a result, when the operator checks the error code during a periodic inspection or the like, the accumulated operating time can be read at the same time, so that the operator can easily determine the date and time of occurrence of the failure indicated by the error code and the frequency of occurrence. It becomes possible to know. Accordingly, the failure diagnosis support device 1
In order to cause the failure diagnosis support apparatus 1 to acquire the information of the error code,
Therefore, it is possible to form a more detailed failure diagnosis sequence according to the frequency of failure occurrence.

Similarly, the terminal device 2b is also provided with a non-volatile memory for storing a failure history and an integration timer, so that the history of failures occurring in the terminal device 2b can be stored independently of the water heater main body 2a or It is also possible to store the information in parallel with this. In this case, it goes without saying that the failure history stored in the terminal device 2b can also be read out to the outside.

In addition to this, the above-mentioned integration timer,
Alternatively, a new timekeeping means is provided separately, and the duration of the failure state of the hot water supply device 2 (the duration of the failure state)
Can be measured and recorded, and by doing so, the operator who performs the inspection at a later date or the failure diagnosis support device 1 can easily grasp whether or not the failure is temporary. .

In recording the duration of the fault state, when a fault having the same content is detected, the duration of a past fault and the duration of a newly generated fault are compared. It is also possible to update and record the longer one.

That is, for example, when the hot water temperature of the hot water supply device 2 is abnormally high, the normal hot water supply device 2 is set to detect such high-temperature hot water supply and start a predetermined safe operation. Since a certain amount of time is required for the 21a to make this determination, the predetermined safe operation did not function when the hot water was supplied for an extremely short time, and the record could not be confirmed at a later date. .

Therefore, in such a case, the water heater main body 2
High temperature hot water detection means (not shown) for detecting high temperature hot water
A duration timer (not shown) for measuring the duration of the high-temperature hot water detected by the high-temperature hot-water detector, and a storage means for storing the duration of the high-temperature hot water measured by the duration timer. (Not shown), when an abnormal high-temperature tapping is detected by the high-temperature tapping detecting means, the duration of the high-temperature tapping at that time is compared with the duration stored in the storage means. Is newly stored in the storage means.

More specifically, the high temperature detecting means controls the temperature of the tap water detected by the temperature sensor 91 to the control section 21a.
The determination is made as to whether the temperature is high or not, the time keeping means is realized by an internal clock of the control unit 21a, and the storage means is provided with a storage device of the control unit 21a or a separate external storage device. Is realized by:

Then, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 8, first, at the time of construction of the hot water supply device (specifically, after the trial operation), the storage area of the storage means is cleared (see step S1 in FIG. 8).

Thereafter, the control section 21a operates the temperature sensor 91a.
(Step S2 in FIG. 8). And this judgment is affirmative,
That is, when it is determined that there is hot water, the counting by the duration timer is started (see step S3 in FIG. 8). On the other hand, if the determination in step S2 in FIG. 8 is negative, the process shifts to step S4 in FIG. 8 to clear the count without performing the counting by the duration timer.

When the counting in step S3 in FIG. 8 is completed (that is, when the measurement of the duration of the high-temperature hot water supply state is completed), the past high-temperature hot water stored in the storage unit in next step S5 in FIG. Time (stored value) in the recording of
The duration (count value) measured in step 3 is compared, and if the count value is large, the stored value stored in the storage means is rewritten with the count value. On the other hand, if the count value is small, the flow returns to the determination in step S2 in FIG.

As described above, according to the procedure shown in FIG. 8, for the same type of fault, that is, high-temperature hot-water tapping, a fault having a long duration is appropriately updated and recorded as a part of the fault history. If the duration is "0", it can be confirmed that there was no high-temperature hot water in the past. On the other hand, if the duration was recorded other than "0", there was a high-temperature hot water in the past. Since the fact can be confirmed, the failure diagnosis can be performed focusing on the hot water supply, and the processing time required for the failure diagnosis can be reduced. In addition, by causing the failure diagnosis support apparatus 1 to capture this duration, unnecessary execution of the failure diagnosis sequence can be excluded,
Useless failure diagnosis can be omitted.

The above-described embodiment merely shows a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to this, and various design changes can be made within the scope of the present invention.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the failure diagnosis support device 1 and the interface device 3 are configured separately, but this is because a notebook personal computer is used as the failure diagnosis support device 1. If a dedicated device is manufactured, these devices can be integrally formed.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the hot water supply device 2
Although the circuit for dropping into a bathtub is not shown in FIG. 1, the failure diagnosis support device 1 of the present invention is of course applicable to a hot water supply device having such a dropping circuit.

[0144]

As described above in detail, according to the water heater and the failure diagnosis support device according to the present invention, the appliance efficiency of the water heater, the thermal valve failure of the water heater, the failure of the hot water heating system, and the like. Diagnosis of a failure such as a communication abnormality between the hot water supply device and the terminal device can be easily performed in an interactive manner with an operator, and the trouble and labor involved in the failure diagnosis of the hot water supply device can be greatly reduced. In addition, the worker can easily perform the failure diagnosis with almost no need for specialized knowledge of various types of hot water supply devices.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a failure diagnosis support device according to the present invention and a connection state when connecting the failure diagnosis support device to a hot water supply device.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between the number of gas burners and the secondary gas pressure in a gas water heater, and FIG. 2 (a) shows the fuel gas pressure (secondary gas pressure) and the set number ( FIG. 2 (b) shows the relationship between the secondary gas pressure and the microcomputer output value when the primary gas pressure is decreasing, and FIG. 3 (c) shows the relationship between the secondary gas pressure and the microcomputer output value. The relationship between the number of output signals (actual output value) and the number of setting signals in 2 (b) is shown.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a failure diagnosis procedure when specifying the cause of the deviation of the FF control value in the water heater.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an example of a hot water circulation path of a hot water supply device to be diagnosed by the failure diagnosis support device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a failure diagnosis sequence of the failure diagnosis support device according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a partially omitted enlarged view of the hot water supply apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram showing a communication circuit between the hot water supply device main body and the terminal device. FIG. 7 (a) shows a conventional circuit configuration and FIG. 7 (b)
7 shows a circuit configuration of the modified example, and FIG. 7C shows a circuit configuration of another modified example.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure for storing a failure history in the water heater.

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 failure diagnosis support device 11 storage means 12 display means 13 failure diagnosis means 14 input means 15 data communication means 2 water heater 2a water heater main body 21 control unit 22 voltage input means 31 data communication means 3 interface device 32 measuring unit 4 heat exchange vessel 5 circulation pump 6 expansion tank 7a to 7d, 7x Netsudoben 8a~8d heating terminal 91, 92 a temperature sensor 93 flow sensor L communication line L ₁ power line L ₂ signal line L ₃ installed line

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yoji Hata 93, Edo-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe-shi, Hyogo Pref. (72) Inventor Hironobu Fujii 93, Edo-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe-shi, Hyogo (72) Inventor: Satoru Matsumura 93, Edocho, Chuo-ku, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture Inside Noritz Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Koji Kimura 93, Edocho, Chuo-ku, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture Inside Noritz Co., Ltd. 93 Noritsu, Edo-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Japan (72) Inventor Hirokazu Kuwahara 93, Edocho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan (72) Inventor Yoshihide Nakajima, Edo, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan 93 Noriko-cho, Japan (72) Inventor Tomoki Kishimoto 93 Edocho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo Pref.Noritsu Co., Ltd. (72) Kenken Kubotani 93 Edocho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Makoto Hamada Chuo-ku, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture 93 Noriko Tomachi Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Katsuhiro Fujiwara 93 Edocho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture Noritsu Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Akira Yoshida 93 Edocho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo Co., Ltd. In Noritsu (72) Inventor Tomohiro Imai 93, Edocho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture Incorporated in Noritz (72) Inventor Hisato Kataoka 93, Edocho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture In Noritz, Inc. (72) Inventor Iwao Yoneda 93 Edocho, Chuo-ku, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture Inside Noritz Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoshikazu Hamaya 93 Edocho, Chuo-ku, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture Inside Noritsu Co., Ltd. Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. 1-5-20 Kaigan, Minato-ku, Tokyo (72) Inventor Masaru Ishimoto 1-5-20 Kaigan, Minato-ku, Tokyo Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Satoshi Morita Coast, Minato-ku, Tokyo 1-5-20 Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. F term (reference) 3L034 EA07 5H223 AA11 BB02 CC01 CC 08 DD03 EE05 EE30 FF08

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A storage unit for storing a failure diagnosis sequence, a display unit for displaying a diagnosis procedure based on the failure diagnosis sequence, and outputting a predetermined operation command to a water heater based on the failure diagnosis sequence. A failure diagnosis support device comprising: a failure diagnosis unit that performs failure diagnosis of the hot water supply device based on information input from outside.
As the failure diagnosis sequence, (1) outputting a combustion command at a predetermined number specifying the number of burners of the burner and the fuel supply amount to the water heater, and (2) a heat exchanger of the water heater. Calculating the actual output number from the incoming water temperature, the outgoing water temperature, and the incoming or outgoing flow rate; and (3) calculating the efficiency of the water heater by comparing the predetermined number and the output number. A failure diagnosis support device for a water heater. 2. A storage unit for storing a failure diagnosis sequence, a display unit for displaying a diagnosis procedure based on the failure diagnosis sequence, and outputting a predetermined operation command to the water heater based on the failure diagnosis sequence. A failure diagnosis support device comprising: a failure diagnosis unit that performs failure diagnosis of the hot water supply device based on information input from outside.
As the failure diagnosis sequence, (1) outputting a combustion command with a predetermined number to the water heater, (2)
A step of detecting a feedback control amount of combustion control in the water heater that has started the combustion operation based on the combustion command; and (3) a step of determining whether the detected feedback control amount is within a specified value range. A failure diagnosis support device for a hot water supply device, comprising: 3. A storage unit for storing a failure diagnosis sequence, a display unit for displaying a diagnosis procedure based on the failure diagnosis sequence, and outputting a predetermined operation command to the water heater based on the failure diagnosis sequence. A failure diagnosis support device comprising: a failure diagnosis unit that performs failure diagnosis of the hot water supply device based on information input from outside.
As the failure diagnosis sequence, (1) outputting a combustion command at a predetermined number specifying the number of burners of a burner and a fuel supply amount to the hot water supply device, and (2) the predetermined number and an actual output Calculating a deviation from the number of signals, and (3)
A step of calculating a deviation of the feedforward control value in the combustion control of the water heater based on the calculated deviation; and (4) outputting a command for correcting the deviation of the feedforward control value to the water heater. And a failure diagnosis support device for the hot water supply device. 4. A storage means for storing a failure diagnosis sequence, a display means for displaying a diagnosis procedure based on the failure diagnosis sequence, and outputting a predetermined operation command to the water heater based on the failure diagnosis sequence. A failure diagnosis support device comprising: a failure diagnosis unit that performs failure diagnosis of the hot water supply device based on information input from outside.
As the failure diagnosis sequence, (1) a step for outputting a command to close all the thermal valves of the hot water heating device to the hot water supply device, and (2) operation of the circulation pump in the circulation path in this state. And (3) detecting the presence or absence of circulation of hot and cold water in each case of the start / stop of the operation to determine a failure of the circulating pump. Diagnosis support device for hot water supply equipment. 5. A storage means for storing a failure diagnosis sequence, a display means for displaying a diagnosis procedure based on the failure diagnosis sequence, and outputting a predetermined operation command to the water heater based on the failure diagnosis sequence. A failure diagnosis support device comprising: a failure diagnosis unit that performs failure diagnosis of the hot water supply device based on information input from outside.
As the failure diagnosis sequence, (1) outputting to the hot water supply device a command to close or open all the thermal valves of the hot water heating device, and (2) a command to start operation of the circulation pump in this state. (3) outputting a command to sequentially open or close each of the thermal valves, and (4) outputting the command.
Detecting a flow rate change in the circulation path in the process of sequentially opening or closing the thermal valve to determine a water flow abnormality in the circulation path. 6. A storage unit for storing a failure diagnosis sequence, a display unit for displaying a diagnosis procedure based on the failure diagnosis sequence, and outputting a predetermined operation command to the water heater based on the failure diagnosis sequence. A failure diagnosis support device comprising: a failure diagnosis unit that performs failure diagnosis of the hot water supply device based on information input from outside.
As the failure diagnosis sequence, (1) a step for outputting a command to close all the thermal valves of the hot water heating device to the hot water supply device, and (2) a combustion command to the hot water supply device in this state. A failure diagnosis support device for a hot water supply device, comprising: a step for outputting; and (3) a step of detecting a subsequent change in water temperature in the circulation path to determine a failure of the thermal valve. 7. A storage unit for storing a failure diagnosis sequence, a display unit for displaying a diagnosis procedure based on the failure diagnosis sequence, and outputting a predetermined operation command to the water heater based on the failure diagnosis sequence. A failure diagnosis support device comprising: a failure diagnosis unit that performs failure diagnosis of the hot water supply device based on information input from outside.
As the failure diagnosis sequence, (1) a step for outputting a command to close all the thermal valves of the hot water heating device to the hot water supply device, and (2) a combustion command to the hot water supply device in this state. Steps to be output, (3) Steps to output a command to open all the thermal valves after a predetermined time has elapsed after the hot water supply device starts the combustion operation based on the combustion command, and (4) In that case, A step of detecting an operation confirmation signal from the hot water heating device to determine an operation failure of the hot water heating device. 8. A storage unit for storing a failure diagnosis sequence, a display unit for displaying a diagnosis procedure based on the failure diagnosis sequence, and outputting a predetermined operation command to the water heater based on the failure diagnosis sequence. A failure diagnosis support device comprising: a failure diagnosis unit that performs failure diagnosis of the hot water supply device based on information input from outside.
As the failure diagnosis sequence, (1) a step for outputting a command to open a predetermined thermal valve of the hot water heating device to the hot water supply device, and (2) a thermal valve actually when the command is output. Steps to measure the valve opening time until the valve opens,
(3) A step for comparing the measured actual valve opening time with the valve opening time in the initial state of the hot water supply device to determine the performance degradation of the predetermined thermal valve is provided. A failure diagnosis support device for a hot water supply device. 9. The hot water supply device and the terminal device are connected to a power line,
In a water heater configured to be capable of two-way communication by being connected by a communication line configured by a signal line and a ground line, a voltage detection unit that detects a voltage of the signal line is provided in the water heater main body, A hot water supply apparatus comprising: determining a short circuit between the power supply line and the signal line and a short circuit between the signal line and the ground line based on the voltage detected by the voltage detecting means. 10. A hot water supply apparatus comprising: an operation time measuring means for accumulating an operation time of the apparatus; and a failure data storage means for storing data relating to a failure of a device detected by the hot water supply device and its terminal device. When storing data related to a failure in the failure data storage means, the data of the integrated operating time obtained by the time keeping means is stored in association with the data. 11. The hot water supply apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the data on the fault stored in the fault data storage means includes data on the duration of the fault state. 12. A hot water tap detecting means for detecting an abnormal hot water tap in the hot water supply apparatus main body and a duration of the hot tap water detected by the hot water tap detecting means in connection with the detection of the data relating to the failure. A high-temperature hot water tap when the abnormal high-temperature hot water detection is detected by the high-temperature hot water detection means; A water heater that compares the duration of the water with the duration stored in the storage means, and stores the longer duration in the storage means.