JP2747193B2 - Heating device failure management device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a failure management device for managing the content of a malfunction of a heating device when the malfunction occurs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A heating device such as a water heater, a heater, and a gas stove has a so-called self-diagnosis function. A controller detects and monitors the presence or absence of an abnormality and the details of the abnormality. Is generally displayed on a display device.

[0003] For example, in a combustion device such as a water heater or a gas heater, a misfire detection sensor for detecting misfire of a combustion section is provided, and when a misfire is detected by the controller through the sensor, the device is activated. The operation is stopped, and a display indicating that a misfire has occurred is made on an appropriate display.

[0004] When performing inspection, maintenance and repair (hereinafter referred to as "repair", etc.) of this type of heating apparatus, the contractor needs to provide a history of abnormalities occurring in the heating apparatus in order to take appropriate measures. It is preferable to grasp For this reason,
In this type of heating device, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-412
As disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6 (1994), every time an abnormality occurs, the contents of the abnormality are sequentially stored and held in a nonvolatile storage means, and the history of the stored and stored abnormality contents is read out by a predetermined operation and sequentially displayed. There is known an apparatus for displaying the information on a container. By doing so, the merchant
The history of the details of the abnormality that has occurred in the device can be grasped by the display, which is useful for performing appropriate repairs and the like.

[0005] On the other hand, according to the knowledge of the present inventors, when repairing this type of heating device, etc., not only the history of abnormal contents as described above but also the history of past repair contents of the heating device. It is effective to grasp the appropriate measures smoothly.

[0006] That is, when repairing a heating device in which a certain abnormality has occurred, a vendor investigates the cause of the occurrence of the abnormality and performs repairs so as to eliminate the cause. At this time, it may be possible to determine the cause of the occurrence of the abnormality by grasping the history of the details of the abnormality that has occurred in the heating device as described above, but in general, there are various causes for the occurrence of a certain abnormality. In many cases, it is difficult to determine the cause of the occurrence of the abnormality only by grasping the content of the abnormality. For example, when an abnormality such as poor ignition of a gas burner (abnormality in which the gas burner does not ignite at the time of ignition operation) occurs in a combustion device such as a water heater or a gas heater, the cause may be an electromagnetic valve for supplying gas to the gas burner or the like. There are many possible causes such as gas proportional valve abnormality, combustion fan abnormality, misfire detection sensor abnormality, electronic unit abnormality, etc. It is generally difficult just to do.

In such a case, for example, if the history of the repair contents such as replacement of the solenoid valve or the gas proportional valve in the past is known with respect to the above-mentioned combustion device, the cause of the new abnormality may be the solenoid valve or the gas. Since it is considered that the possibility of an abnormality in the proportional valve is small, it is possible to exclude the cause of an abnormality in the solenoid valve or the gas proportional valve as a new cause of anomaly. Cause investigation can be performed.

However, in the conventional heating apparatus, as described above, a history of the contents of abnormalities can be stored and held as described above, and the details of the abnormalities can be appropriately grasped. This has not been performed, and therefore, the heating device must be repaired, etc., relying only on the contents of the abnormality that has occurred in the heating device, and the work has been troublesome.

In this case, the repair contents may be recorded on a piece of paper, for example. However, if the repair contents are simply described on the paper, the history of the repair contents may be lost due to loss or stain of the recording paper. There was an inconvenience that there were many situations in which

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above background, the present invention can reliably record the history of the contents of abnormalities occurring in a heating device and the history of repairs of the heating device. It is an object of the present invention to provide a failure management device for a heating device, which can be effectively used for inspection, maintenance, repair, etc. of the heating device.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a fault management system for a heating apparatus, which includes an abnormality monitoring means for grasping and monitoring the presence or absence of an abnormality during operation of the heating apparatus and the content of the abnormality. An abnormality content writing unit that stores, in a time-series manner, a non-volatile abnormality content storage unit provided in the heating device, the abnormality content grasped by the abnormality monitoring unit when an abnormality occurs in the heating device. When the heating device is repaired, the repair content is stored in the non-volatile repair content storage device provided in the heating device in a time-series manner by a predetermined operation. Abnormality content reading means for reading the details of the abnormalities by a predetermined operation, abnormality content displaying means for displaying the read abnormal contents in chronological order, and the repair content storing means A repair content reading means for reading the repair content stored and held by a predetermined operation; and a repair content display means for displaying the read repair content in chronological order. In the case where any one of the repair details read out by the means has the same abnormal content that is temporally before and after each other, the subsequent abnormal content is displayed in a format different from the display format of the preceding abnormal content. It is characterized by being displayed.

[0012] The abnormality content storage means and the repair content storage means are constituted by a common storage means for storing and holding both the abnormality content and the repair content in chronological order. The repair content reading means is constituted by common reading means for reading out the abnormality content and repair content stored and held in the common storage means by a predetermined operation, and the abnormality content display means and the repair content display means comprise It is characterized by comprising a common display means for displaying both the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair read by the common reading means in a time-series manner.

An external output means for outputting, to the outside of the heating device, the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair read from the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair by the means for reading the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair, respectively; An independent failure management external device that receives the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair output from the external output means, and the abnormality content display means and the repair content display means are provided in the failure management external device. And

[0014]

[0015]

According to the present invention, when an abnormality has occurred in the heating device, the abnormality content grasped by the abnormality monitoring means is stored in the abnormality content storage means in time series by the abnormality content writing means, When the heating device is repaired, the repair content is stored in the repair content storage means in time series by the repair content writing means by a predetermined operation. In this case, since these storage means are non-volatile, the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair are reliably stored and held without being affected by a power failure or disturbance. The abnormal contents and the repair contents stored and retained in these storage units are read out by the abnormal contents read unit and the repair contents read unit by predetermined operations, respectively. The contents are displayed in chronological order by the contents display means and the repair contents display means, and the display makes it possible to grasp the history of the details of the abnormality that has occurred in the heating device and the history of the repair contents of the heating device. Further, the abnormality content display means, if any one of the repair contents read out by the repair content read means has the same abnormality content that is temporally earlier or later, the abnormality content in the second order Is displayed in a format different from the normal display format, so that after performing a certain repair, it is possible to easily grasp that the same abnormal content as that which occurred before the repair has occurred, It is possible to easily recognize that the repair content was insufficient, and thereby it is possible to take more appropriate measures.

The abnormality content storage means and the repair content storage means are constituted by a common storage means for storing and holding both the abnormality content and the repair content in a time-series manner. When the contents and the repair contents are read out by the common reading means, and the read out abnormal contents and the repair contents are displayed together on the common display means, the device configuration of the present invention can be simplified. Becomes

Also, an external output means for outputting the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair read from the respective storage means by the respective reading means to the outside of the heating device, and the contents of the abnormality and the repair outputted from the external output means An independent external device for failure management that receives the contents is provided, and when the display unit is provided in the external device for failure management, it is not necessary to provide a display unit for the contents of the abnormality and the repair contents in the heating device. It is possible to reduce the cost by simplifying the configuration relating to the failure management, and to use an independent external device for failure management provided with the display means with various heating devices for checking the content of the abnormality and the content of the repair. Can be shared.

[0018]

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8 by taking a water heater as a heating device as an example. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a water heater to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram illustrating a failure management device of the water heater, and FIG. 3 is a plan view illustrating an external device for failure management of the failure management device. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for describing data stored in a memory provided in the water heater and the external device for failure management, and FIGS. 5 to 8 are flowcharts for explaining the operation of the failure management device.

In FIG. 1, a water heater according to the present embodiment includes a water pipe 3 of a heat exchanger 2 using a gas burner 1 as a heating source.
A water supply temperature sensor 4 for detecting a temperature of water supplied to the heat exchanger 2, a water supply temperature sensor 5 for detecting a temperature of water supplied from the heat exchanger 2, and a water flow for detecting the presence or absence of water flow in the water pipe 3. A switch 6 and a flow sensor 7 in the water pipe 3 are provided, and a frame rod 8 for detecting ignition / misfire of the gas burner 1 is provided near the gas burner 1. The water supply temperature sensor 4, the tap water temperature sensor 5, the water flow switch 6, the flow rate sensor 7, and the frame rod 8 are sensors for controlling the operation of the water heater and monitoring abnormalities occurring in the water heater.

The water heater according to the present embodiment includes a gas pipe 9 for the gas burner 1, a solenoid valve 10 for opening and closing the gas pipe 9, and a gas proportional valve for adjusting the amount of gas supplied to the gas burner 1. A valve 11 is provided, and a water heater main body 12 containing the gas burner 1 and the heat exchanger 2 is provided with a combustion fan 1 for supplying combustion air to the gas burner 1.
3 and a sparker 14 for igniting the gas burner 1 are mounted. The solenoid valve 10, the gas proportional valve 11, the combustion fan 13, and the sparker 14 are actuators for driving and operating the water heater.

Further, the water heater in the present embodiment includes a control unit 15 for driving and controlling an actuator such as the electromagnetic valve 10 based on a signal from a sensor such as the water temperature sensor 4 during operation. I have. The control unit 15 is constituted by an electronic circuit including a microcomputer and the like. The control unit 15 is connected to the above-described sensors and actuators and has a temperature setting switch 16 for setting the tap water temperature. An operation unit 18 having an operation switch 17 for starting and stopping the water heater and the like is connected, and further, a display 19 for displaying a set temperature of the tap water is connected. In FIG. 1, for convenience of explanation, the control unit 15 is described as being provided outside the water heater main body 12. However, in actuality, the control unit 15 is
It is attached to the water heater main body 12 and the like.

The hot water supply operation of such a water heater is basically the same as that disclosed by the present applicant in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-213644, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.
During hot water supply, the gas proportional valve 11 and the gas proportional valve 11 are controlled by feedback control and feedforward control so that the tap water temperature detected via the tap water temperature sensor 5 becomes the set temperature set by the temperature setting switch 16 of the operation unit 18. The combustion of the gas burner 1 is controlled via the combustion fan 13 and the like.

On the other hand, the water heater of the present embodiment has a structure as described below as a structure for failure management of the water heater.

That is, referring to FIG. 2, the control unit 15 includes a microcomputer, a control circuit section 20 including a drive circuit for each of the above-described actuators, a history of the contents of abnormalities occurring in the water heater and the water heater. An EEPROM 21 which is a non-volatile storage means for storing and retaining a history of repair contents of the
A communication circuit section 22 (external output means) for outputting data stored and held in the PROM 21 to the outside of the water heater and receiving data from the outside is provided, and the communication circuit section 22 includes the water heater of the present embodiment. An external device 23 for failure management carried by a company performing repairs and the like can be detachably connected via a connection connector 24.

The control circuit section 20 is connected to sensors such as the feedwater temperature sensor 4 and actuators such as the solenoid valve 10.
And an operation control means (not shown) for controlling the operation of the water heater via each actuator such as the gas burner 1 via the frame rod 8 when the water heater is operated.
Abnormality monitoring means 25 for grasping / monitoring the presence / absence of an abnormality such as misfire or poor ignition and the details of the abnormality;
A writing unit 26 that writes (stores and holds) data in the M21, and a reading unit 27 that reads data from the EEPROM 21 and outputs the data to the communication circuit unit 22
And Then, when any abnormality occurs, the control circuit unit 20 detects and grasps the presence / absence of the abnormality and the contents of the abnormality by the abnormality monitoring means 25, and writes the data indicating the grasped abnormality in the above-mentioned manner. The means 26 writes the data in the EEPROM 21 in time series.

In this case, the EEPROM 21 is provided as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of storage areas E _{1 to} E _N are provided. These areas E _{1 to} E _N include data indicating the content of the abnormality grasped by the abnormality monitoring means 25 and the external device for failure management. over time order both of these with the data indicating the repair contents inputted as described below from the device 23, and is stored and held in the order from the area E ₁ by the writing means 26.

In FIG. 2, the communication circuit unit 22
The data stored in the EPROM 21 or newly stored is transmitted to and received from the failure management external device 23. The data is transmitted to and received from the failure management external device 23 connected via the connection connector 24. The data is transmitted and received between them.

The external device for failure management 23 is provided between a communication circuit unit 28 for transmitting and receiving data of the EEPROM 21 of the water heater to and from the communication circuit unit 22 and a water heater via the communication circuit unit 28. A control circuit 29 for processing data transmitted and received by the water heater, and an EEPROM 21 received from the water heater.
A display 30 (display means) for displaying the data and the like under the control of the control circuit unit 29, and an EEP for the control circuit unit 29.
A read switch 31 for instructing the reception of data in the ROM 21, a display feed switch 32 for instructing the control circuit 29 to sequentially display the received data in the EEPROM 21 on the display 30, and a repair of the water heater after repair. A repair code input switch 33 for inputting a repair code indicating the contents and a write switch 34 for transmitting the input repair code to the water heater and instructing the control circuit unit 29 to write the repair code in the EEPROM 21 are provided. I have. The control circuit unit 29 includes the control circuit unit 20 of the water heater.
As in the case of the above, a microcomputer is included.

In this case, as shown in FIG.
And the switches 31 to 34 are disposed on the surface of the housing 35 of the external device 23, and the display 30 displays the content of the abnormality and the content of the repair of the water heater by, for example, a code using alphanumeric characters. It is constituted by a triple digital display. Then, the repair code input switch 33 is changed from “0” to
It consists of numeric key switches up to "9".

Referring to FIG. 2, the control circuit unit 29 is provided with a RAM 36. In this RAM 36, data on the contents of abnormalities and repairs received from the EEPROM 21 of the water heater are stored in the same manner as in the EEPROM 21. , And are stored in time series (see FIG. 4).

The external device 23 operates using a built-in battery or the like as a power source.

Next, an operation related to the failure management in the above-described device will be described.

First, referring to FIGS. 2 and 5, when an abnormality such as misfire or poor ignition of the gas burner 1 occurs during operation of the water heater, the occurrence of the abnormality is determined by the control circuit section 20 of the water heater. The abnormality monitoring means 25 detects and grasps the contents of the abnormality.
And stored in the EEPROM 21.

More specifically, referring to FIG. 4, for example, when the content of the abnormality that has occurred is "misfire", the code "E10" is stored and held in the EEPROM 21, and the content of the abnormality "ignition failure" is stored. , The code "E20"
The information is stored in the EPROM 21. At this time, the abnormality contents occurs, it will be stored and held in the order from the storage area E ₁ of EEPROM21 these time order along with repair contents inputted as described below. Note that, as will be described later, the repair content input from the external device 23 is expressed by an EEPR using an alphabetic code “R” and a two-digit number code.
The OM 21 stores and holds, for example, the frame rod 8
Is repaired and stored in a code "R23", and the repair content of replacing the solenoid valve 10 is stored and held in a code "R50".

As shown in FIG. 5, when such an abnormality occurs, the control circuit unit 20 operates, for example, by the electromagnetic valve (FIG. 1).
The operation of the water heater is stopped by closing the valve 10 to shut off the gas supply to the gas burner 1. When such an abnormality occurs, the control circuit 20 of the water heater displays a code indicating the content of the abnormality on the display 19 of the water heater.

Next, inspection, maintenance, and the like of the water heater of this embodiment will be described.
The contractor who requested the repair, at the time of work such as repair,
The user carries the external device 23 and connects the external device 23 to the communication circuit unit 22 of the water heater via the connector 24.
Then, after the connection of the external device 23, for example, in a stopped state of the water heater, the history of the content of the abnormality that has occurred in the water heater and the history of the repair content are confirmed as follows.

That is, referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 7, in order to confirm the history of the abnormality of the water heater, the trader first turns on the readout switch 31 (STEP 1).
At YES). At this time, the control circuit unit 29 of the external device 23 transmits a read request to the control circuit unit 20 of the water heater via the communication circuit units 28 and 22 (STEP 2).

On the other hand, referring to FIGS. 2 and 6, when receiving a read request from external device 23 (YES in STEP 3), control circuit unit 20 of the water heater is stored and held in EEPROM 21 by read means 27. abnormal contents and all reads historical data in order from one of the storage area E ₁ of the repair contents are (STEP4), it is transmitted to the external device 23 via the communication circuit unit 22, 28 the read data (STEP5).

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 7, when control circuit unit 29 of external device 23 receives the history data of the content of the abnormality and the content of the repair from the water heater side (YES in STEP 6), the received data is received. The data is written into the RAM 36 (STEP 7). In this case, the data in the EEPROM 21 is stored in the RAM
36 (see FIG. 4).

[0041] Next, with reference to FIGS. 2 and 8, the control circuit 29 of the external device 23, among the data stored and held in the RAM 36, the storage area E ₁ of the data, i.e.,
The oldest data among the data stored and held in the EEPROM 21 is illuminated and displayed on the display 30 (S
TEP8, 9). Specifically, for example, the code indicating the abnormal content of data that has been stored and held in the storage area E ₁ is misfiring EEPROM21 as shown in FIG. 4 "E10"
If so, the code is lit on the display 30.

When the trader turns on the display feed switch 32 of the external device 23 during the display (STE).
YES in P10), the control circuit unit 2 of the external device 23
9 displays the next data of the data currently displayed on the display 30 on the display 30 and performs this display feed processing every time the display feed switch 32 is turned on (STEP 1).
1,9). Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG.
In the storage areas E _{1 to} E ₅ of the PROM 21, a code “E 10” indicating an abnormal content of misfire, a code “E 20” indicating an abnormal content of poor ignition, a code “R 23” indicating repair content of adjustment of the frame rod, and a poor ignition If the code "E20" indicating the abnormality content and the code "R50" indicating the repair content of replacing the solenoid valve are stored and held in order, these codes are displayed on the display 30 in order. Thus, the trader can sequentially check the history of the content of the abnormality and the content of the repair on the display 30.

On the other hand, in the display operation, the control circuit unit 29 of the external device 23 grasps whether or not the display contents of the display 30 are abnormal contents (S in FIG. 8).
TEP12), when the displayed content is an abnormal content (S12)
YES in STEP12) It is detected from the data in the RAM 36 whether or not there is the same abnormal content before the displayed abnormal content (STEP13). Then, when the same abnormal content is present before the displayed abnormal content (STEP 1).
3 is YES), it is further determined whether there is data (data including the alphabetic code “R”) indicating the repair content between the displayed abnormal content and the same previous abnormal content.
A search is performed using the data of M36 (STEP 14), and if there is data indicating the repair content between the displayed abnormal content and the same previous abnormal content (YES in STEP 14).
Then, a code indicating the content of the abnormality being displayed on the display 30 is blinked (STEP 15). Specifically, an EEPROM
Assuming that the stored data 21 is data as shown in FIG. 4, when a code "E20" indicating the fourth abnormality content is displayed on the display 30, the code flashes. This allows the trader to recognize that the repair performed between the time of occurrence of the abnormal content being displayed and the time of the occurrence of the same previous abnormal content was insufficient.

When the above condition is not satisfied (NO in any of STEPS 12 to 14), blinking display is not performed and normal lighting display is performed.

As described above, the supplier who has confirmed the history data of the content of the abnormality and the content of the repair and repaired the water heater has described the repair content to the EEPROM of the water heater as follows.
It is stored in the OM 21.

That is, referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 7, the contractor who has repaired the water heater first turns on write switch 34 of external device 23 (YES in STEP 16 in FIG. 7 or STEP 17 in FIG. 8). ) Further, a code indicating the repair content is input by the repair code input switch 33. Specifically, for example, when a repair such as replacement of a solenoid valve is performed, a code “R50” indicating the content of the repair is provided.
Of these, the numeric part is input by a ten-key switch constituting the repair code input switch 33.

At this time, the control circuit 29 of the external device 23
Receives a code indicating repair details (STEP
(YES at 18), a code indicating the repair content is displayed on the display 30 (STEP 19), and this is confirmed by the trader.

Next, the trader switches the write switch 3 again.
4 is turned ON (YES in STEP20),
The control circuit unit 29 of the external device 23 transmits the input repair contents and the write request signal to the control circuit unit 20 of the water heater via the communication circuit units 28 and 22 (STEP 2).
1).

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 6, when control circuit unit 20 of the water heater receives a write request signal from external device 23 (YES in STEP 22), the repair content transmitted together with the write request signal Is received via the communication circuit unit 22 (STEP 23), and a code indicating the received repair content is written into the E by the writing unit 26.
Writing to the EPROM 21 (STEP 24). In this case, for example, when data already abnormal content or repair contents until the storage area E ₁ to E ₄ of EEPROM21 is to stored and held, the data of the newly repaired content received is written in the storage area E _5. This allows EEPR
In the OM 21, the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair are stored and stored in chronological order in chronological order.

As described above, in the failure management apparatus of this embodiment, the history of the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair are stored and retained in the EEPROM 21 of the water heater, and these histories are confirmed using the external device 23. So you can
These histories can be effectively used for investigating the cause of the occurrence of an abnormality and performing an appropriate repair or the like.

Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG.
At the time when the history of the abnormal contents and the repair contents is stored and stored in the storage areas E _{1 to} E _{4 of the} EPROM 21, if the contractor repairs the water heater, the external device 23 is used as described above, so that the storage area is with repair of adjusting the flame rod corresponding to E ₃ can be confirmed by the indicator 30 that have been made in the past, the repair, the abnormal content of latest misfire corresponding to the storage area E ₄ , it can be seen that taking place between the abnormal content of past misfires corresponding to the previous storage area E _2.

Accordingly, the trader can recognize that the content of the repair performed in the previous adjustment of the frame rod was insufficient for the content of the abnormality of the defective ignition, and therefore, Can be presumed to be a cause other than the frame rod.

In this case, referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, in the water heater of the present embodiment, at the start of hot water supply, first, the combustion fan 13 is driven, and then the sparker 14
Is driven, the solenoid valve 10 is opened, and the gas proportional valve 11 is further driven. Thus, in a normal state, the gas burner 1 is ignited and the hot water supply operation is started. If the gas burner 1 is not ignited for some reason at the time of the ignition, this will cause the flame rod 8
Is detected by the abnormality monitoring means 25 of the control circuit unit 20 via the control unit 20. At this time, the control circuit unit 20 stores the contents of the abnormality such as ignition failure in the EEPROM 21.

Therefore, the causes of the ignition failure include abnormalities of the flame rod 8, malfunction of the combustion fan 13, malfunction of the solenoid valve 10 and its drive circuit (not shown), and the gas proportional valve 11 and its drive circuit (not shown). No), malfunction of the gas supply to the gas burner 1, malfunction of various electronic circuits of the control unit 15, and the like.

If the frame rod has been adjusted in the past as described above,
Since the abnormality of the frame rod 8 can be generally excluded, the cause of the ignition failure can be narrowed down from various causes, whereby the cause of the abnormality can be relatively easily investigated.

As described above, in the failure management apparatus according to the present embodiment, the history of the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair can be confirmed using the external device 23 at the time of repairing the water heater or the like. And the appropriate measures can be taken.

In this embodiment, the history of the content of the abnormality and the content of the repair are confirmed using the external device 23. However, the history of the content of the abnormality and the content of the repair are confirmed in the main body of the water heater. May be provided with a display, a switch, and the like. In this case, in the present embodiment, the configuration and the like of the main body of the water heater are simplified by providing a display, a switch, and the like for confirming the history of the content of the abnormality and the content of the repair in the external device 23 carried by the trader. As a result, the cost can be reduced, and the external device 23 can be made versatile to reduce the cost.

Further, in this embodiment, the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair are stored in the common EEPROM 21 and these contents are displayed on the common display 30. May be stored in the storage means, or both may be displayed on separate displays. In this case, as in the present embodiment, the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair are stored in the common EEPROM 21 and the contents are displayed on the common display 30 to simplify the configuration of the failure management device. And the cost can be reduced.

Further, in this embodiment, the data of the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair are exchanged between the water heater and the external device 23 for failure management via the connection connector 24. May be transmitted and received wirelessly.

Further, in the present embodiment, a description has been given by taking a water heater as an example of a heating device.
Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to various types of heating devices such as stoves.

[0061]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the history of the content of the abnormality that has occurred in the heating device and the history of the content of the repair are stored in the nonvolatile abnormality content storage means and the repair content storage means, respectively. By reading the history of the abnormal content and the history of the repair content stored and retained in these storage means by a predetermined operation and displaying them on the abnormal content display means and the repair content display means, respectively, The history of the details of the abnormalities and the history of the details of the repairs can be reliably stored and retained.In addition to the history of the details of the abnormalities that occurred in the heating devices, the Also, the history of past repair contents can be grasped, and the cause of the occurrence of the abnormality can be easily found, thereby facilitating inspection, maintenance, and repair. Further, when there is the same abnormal content that is temporally before or after any one repair content read from the storage means, the subsequent abnormal content is displayed in the display format of the preceding abnormal content. Since it is displayed in a format different from that described above, it is possible to easily recognize that the repair content performed after the abnormal content in the preceding priority order was insufficient, and to take appropriate measures such as repair. be able to.

Further, both the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair are stored and stored in a common storage means in a time-series manner and displayed on a common display means, thereby simplifying the apparatus configuration. And the cost can be reduced.

Further, the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair read out from the storage means are output to the external device for failure management outside the heating device by the external output means and displayed on the display means provided in the external equipment. , The inspection, maintenance, repair, etc. of the heating device can confirm the history of the abnormal content and the history of the repair content using the external device for failure management carried by the vendor, and display means of the heating device. By simplifying the configuration such as this, the cost of the heating device can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced by making the external device versatile.

[0064]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a water heater to which an example of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a failure management device in the water heater of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a fault management external device of the fault management device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for describing storage contents of a storage unit provided in the failure management device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the failure management device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the failure management device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the failure management device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the failure management device of FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

21: EEPROM (storage means), 22: communication circuit section (external output means), 23: external device for failure management, 25:
Abnormality monitoring means, 26 writing means, 27 reading means, 30 display (display means).

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A failure management device for a heating device comprising abnormality monitoring means for grasping and monitoring the occurrence of an abnormality and the content of the abnormality during operation of the heating device, wherein the abnormality monitoring is performed when an abnormality occurs in the heating device. An abnormal content writing means for storing the abnormal content grasped by the means in a non-volatile abnormal content storage means provided in the heating device in a time-series manner, and a repair operation of the heating device by repairing the heating device by a predetermined operation. A repair content writing means for storing and holding the non-volatile repair content storage means provided in the heating device in chronological order, an abnormality content reading means for reading out the abnormality content stored and held in the abnormality content storage means by a predetermined operation, An error detail display means for displaying the read error details in chronological order; and a repair operation for reading the repair details stored in the repair content storage means by a predetermined operation. Includes the contents reading means, and a repair contents display means for time-sequentially displaying a repair contents read, the abnormality contents display means, the repair contents read hand
Time for any single repair read by the step
When there is the same abnormal content before and after
Then, the abnormal content of the subsequent order is
A failure management device for a heating device, wherein the failure is displayed in a format different from the display format . 2. The abnormality content storage means and the repair content storage means are constituted by a common storage means for storing and holding both the abnormality content and the repair content in a time-series manner. The repair content reading means is constituted by common reading means for reading out the abnormality content and repair content stored and held in the common storage means by a predetermined operation, and the abnormality content display means and the repair content display means comprise 2. The fault management of the heating device according to claim 1, wherein the common reading unit is configured by a common display unit that displays the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair read by the common reading unit in a time-series manner. apparatus. 3. An external output means for outputting, to the outside of the heating device, the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair read out from the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair by the means for reading the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair, respectively. An independent failure management external device that receives the contents of the abnormality and the contents of the repair output from the external output means, and the abnormality content display means and the repair content display means are provided in the failure management external device. The fault management device for a heating device according to claim 1, wherein