KR101546805B1 - Failure predicting and detection system for heat transfer circulation system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system to predict and sense a defect of a heat transfer medium circulation system. The present invention comprises: a sensing unit provided to a relatively high place of a circulation passage where a heat transfer medium flows to measure resistance of an inside of the circulation passage; and a determination unit determining whether or not there is a leakage of the heat transfer medium with a change in resistance according to an object coming in contact with the sensing unit.

Description

[0001] FAILURE PREDICTING AND DETECTION SYSTEM FOR HEAT TRANSFER CIRCULATION SYSTEM [0002]

The present invention relates to a failure prediction and detection system for a heat transfer medium circulation system, and more particularly, to a system and method for predicting and detecting a failure of a circulation system by checking the state of a heat transfer medium in a circulation system in which heat transfer medium circulates and moves heat, To the system.

As a general method of using thermal energy, there is a method of using heat energy by circulating a heat transfer medium to transfer heat.

Such a heat transfer medium circulation system is mainly caused by leakage of a heat transfer medium, solidification of a heat transfer medium due to low temperature in winter and failure of a circulation pump, and it is difficult to detect or prevent such a problem in the early stage .

In addition, even if a failure occurs, the heat transfer medium circulation system seems to be normally operating normally, and it is difficult for the general user to quickly cope with the problem. Therefore, the maintenance of the circulation system is costly There is also a problem.

If the heat transfer medium circulation system is left in a state where a failure occurs, the performance of the heat transfer medium circulation system may be deteriorated and the service life may be shortened. If the heat transfer medium circulation system is left for a long time, the heat transfer medium circulation system becomes inoperable.

Especially, as the concern about environmental issues has increased recently, technologies for environmentally friendly thermal energy have been developed. Among them, hot water is produced using solar radiant heat as a typical example of solar thermal system, and hot water produced is used for heating / In this situation, it is required to more efficiently manage the relatively expensive solar system.

In addition, such a solar thermal system is generally installed outdoors, so there is a need to continuously manage the solar thermal system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a circulation system which can confirm the state of a circulating heat transfer medium in a circulation system, And to provide a fault forecasting and diagnosis system for a heat transfer medium circulation system capable of predicting a problem such as a failure of a circulation system or warning a user of a failure in a circulation system.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are not intended to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. There will be.

In order to solve the above problems, a failure prediction and detection system for diagnosing faults in a circulation system in which a heat transfer medium is circulated according to the present invention is provided in a relatively high position of a circulation path through which the heat transfer medium circulates, And a determination unit for determining whether or not the heat transfer medium leaks by a resistance varying depending on an object contacting the sensing unit.

The sensing unit may be installed at the upper end of the circulation channel.

The sensing unit may further include a heating medium temperature sensor for measuring a temperature of the heat transfer medium to determine a concentration of the specific component of the heat transfer medium.

The determination unit may further include a determination unit for calculating a specific component concentration of the heat transfer medium based on the resistance of the heat transfer medium sensed by the resistance measurement sensor and the temperature of the heat transfer medium sensed by the heat medium temperature sensor.

The determination unit may determine that there is a risk that the heat transfer medium will solidify if the concentration of the specific component of the heat transfer medium is lower than a predetermined concentration reference.

The sensing unit may further include an outside air temperature sensor for measuring an outside air temperature, which is a temperature outside the circulating flow path.

At this time, the determination unit determines that the specific component concentration of the heat transfer medium calculated on the basis of the resistance and the temperature of the heat transfer medium is equal to or less than a preset concentration reference, and the temperature outside the circulation flow rate measured by the external temperature sensor is preset It can be determined that there is a risk that the heat transfer medium will be solidified if the temperature is below the outside temperature standard.

The sensing unit may measure the resistance inside the circulation channel when the circulation system is not operating.

The sensing unit may further include a flow sensor for sensing whether the heat transfer medium circulates.

At this time, the determination unit may determine that the flow of the heat transfer medium, which the confirmation unit has confirmed, does not flow when the circulation system is operating, or when the heat transfer medium flows when the circulation system is not operating, It can be determined that a failure has occurred in the pump.

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a failure prediction and detection system for a heat transfer medium circulation system according to the present invention, which includes a sensing unit to check the state of a heat transfer medium circulating in the circulation system Thereby alerting the user to anticipate problems such as leakage of the heat transfer medium, solidification of the heat transfer medium and failure of the circulation pump in the circulation system, or confirming the failure in the circulation system.

In particular, by providing the resistance measuring sensor at the uppermost end of the circulating flow path, it is possible to measure the concentration of the heat transfer medium using one resistance measuring sensor and determine whether the heat transfer medium is leaked or not.

In addition, the user can quickly recognize and respond to faults in the circulation system, thereby efficiently operating and managing the circulation system, thereby improving the performance and lifetime of the circulation system.

The effects of the present invention are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description of the claims.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the overall configuration of a circulatory system failure forecasting and sensing system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a photograph showing a case where part A of Fig. 1 is actually installed.
3 is a flowchart showing an algorithm for determining a failure of a circulation system by a circulation system failure forecasting and sensing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a circulation system failure forecasting and sensing system according to an embodiment of the present invention detects leakage of a heat transfer medium. FIG.
5 is a flow diagram illustrating an algorithm for determining a failure of a solar thermal system when one embodiment of a circulatory system failure forecasting and sensing system in accordance with the present invention is applied to a solar thermal system.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description of the present invention, the well-known functions or constructions will not be described in order to simplify the gist of the present invention.

In addition, terms indicating directions such as front, rear, or upper and lower in describing the present invention indicate relative directions as those described in order to clearly understand the present invention by a person skilled in the art, It will not be said.

One embodiment of the circulation system 500 failure prediction and detection system according to the present invention is applicable to any circulation system 500 as long as it is a circulation system 500 through which the heat transfer medium T circulates.

The circulating flow path 530 and the circulation flow path 530 through which the heat transfer medium T circulates are passed through the heat collecting unit 520 and the heat collecting unit and the heat accumulating tank 520, And a circulation pump 540 for circulating the heat transfer medium T inside the circulation system 500. The present invention will be explained based on this case when the circulation system 500 failure prediction and detection system according to the present invention is applied.

Configuration of fault forecasting and detection system

First, the configuration of the fault forecasting and detection system of the circulation system 500 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG.

Here, FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the overall configuration of a circulation system failure forecasting and detection system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a photograph showing a case where part A of FIG. 1 is actually installed.

1 and 2, an embodiment of a failure prediction and detection system according to the present invention is a failure prediction and detection system for failure diagnosis of a circulation system 500 in which a heat transfer medium T circulates, A determination unit 300, an alarm unit 400, and the like.

The sensing unit 100 is provided in a circulation channel 530 through which the heat transfer medium T circulates and measures resistance and temperature of the heat transfer medium T and detects whether the heat transfer medium T is flowing.

The sensing unit 100 is composed of a plurality of sensors for sensing the leakage of the heat transfer medium T, the concentration of a specific component for preventing the solidification of the heat transfer medium T, and the flow of the heat transfer medium T, A suitable sensor may be provided.

The sensing unit 100 includes a resistance measurement sensor 110 for measuring the resistance of the heat transfer medium T, a heating medium temperature sensor 120 for measuring the temperature of the heat transfer medium T, and a heat transfer medium T And a flow sensor 140 for confirming whether or not the fluid circulates along the circulating flow path 530.

It is advantageous that the resistance measurement sensor 110 is installed on the circulating flow path 530 located at a relatively high position in the circulation system 500.

1 and 2, in the present embodiment, the resistance measurement sensor 110 is installed on the rear end circulation flow path 530 of the heat collecting plate 510 and is installed at a relatively high position in the circulation system 500 .

The resistance measurement sensor 110 is a component inserted into the circulation channel 530 to measure the resistance of the heat transmission medium T. If the resistance measurement sensor 110 is provided to measure the resistance inside the circulation channel 530, And can vary.

However, for a more detailed description, the resistance measuring sensor 110 has two electrodes, and has a structure of measuring the electrical resistance between two electrodes.

For example, the resistance measurement sensor 110 may include a pair of conductors each having a predetermined length, each of the conductors being surrounded by an insulator except for a part of both ends thereof. One end of the two conductors is inserted into the circulation flow path 530 And the other end is electrically connected to the outside of the circulating flow path 530. The other end is connected to the positive and negative poles so that a current flows between the two conductors.

When a current flows in this configuration, a current flows through the heat transfer medium T between two conductors spaced inside the circulation flow path 530, and the resistance of the heat transfer medium T can be measured at this time.

The resistance measurement sensor 110 is installed in the circulation flow path 530 located at a relatively high position so that the resistance measurement sensor 110 is exposed to the air when the heat transfer medium T in the circulation flow path 530 is leaked, It is found that the heat transfer medium T is leaked.

It is also possible to provide a concentration sensor for measuring the concentration directly to measure the concentration of a specific component that prevents solidification of the heat transfer medium T. However, in this embodiment, the resistance and temperature of the heat transfer medium T By calculating the concentration of a specific component that prevents the solidification of the heat transfer medium T, the apparatus can be configured at a relatively low cost.

The heating medium temperature sensor 120 is inserted into the circulation channel 530 and measures the temperature of the heat transfer medium T. If the temperature of the heat transfer medium T can be measured, And a method of estimating the temperature of the heat transfer medium T may be various without being limited to the shape and configuration.

The determination unit 200 determines the concentration of the specific component that prevents the solidification of the heat transfer medium T calculated based on the data of the state of the heat transfer medium T measured by the sensing unit 100, To the determination unit 300, which will be described later, on the resistance of the circulating charge 530 and the flow of the heat transfer medium T measured in the circulating charge 530.

The determination unit 200 determines the concentration of a specific component of the heat transfer medium T that prevents the solidification of the heat transfer medium T based on the resistance and the temperature of the heat transfer medium T measured by the sensing unit 100 A detailed description of the method will be given later.

With such a configuration, it is possible to grasp both the concentration of a specific component of the heat transfer medium T that prevents the solidification of the heat transfer medium T and the leakage of the heat transfer medium T with a relatively small number of sensors.

The outdoor temperature sensor 130 may further include an outdoor temperature sensor 130 for measuring outdoor temperature, which is a temperature outside the circulation channel 530.

In the present embodiment, the outside temperature sensor 130 further includes a temperature measuring sensor for measuring the outside temperature. If the outside temperature sensor 130 can provide the outside temperature information to the checking unit 200, May be varied without limitation as to its configuration and configuration, such as the configuration for directly entering temperature or the configuration utilizing data provided in weather information.

On the other hand, the flow sensor 140 is a component for grasping the flow in which the heat transfer medium T circulates along the circulation flow path 530.

The flow sensor 140 is disposed on the circulation flow path 530 and is located at the rear end of the circulation pump 540 in the circulation system 500. In this embodiment, If it can be ascertained whether it is flowable, its shape and composition may be varied without limitation.

The determination unit 300 determines the temperature of the heat transfer medium T calculated by the determination unit 200 and the temperature and the temperature of the heat transfer medium T measured by the sensing unit 100, And determines the failure of the circulation system 500 based on the data on the concentration of the circulation system 500.

The determination unit 300 determines the risk of solidification of the heat transfer medium T based on the concentration of the specific component that prevents the solidification of the heat transfer medium T calculated by the verification unit 200, It is possible to determine the failure of the circulation pump 540 based on the circulation flow of the heat transfer medium T. [

A detailed description of a criterion and process for determining the failure of the circulation system 500 by the determination unit 300 will be described later.

The alarm unit 400 alerts the user when the determination unit 300 determines that the circulation system 500 is malfunctioning or malfunctioning so that the user can promptly respond to the alarm.

The alarming unit 400 alerts the user of various methods such as a direct warning method through visual and hearing such as a display or a warning sound, or a method of generating a radio signal and transmitting warning information to a user.

Function and effect of fault forecasting and detection system

Next, the operation and effect of the circulation system 500 failure prediction and detection system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an algorithm for determining a failure of a circulation system by a circulation system failure forecasting and sensing system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a circulation system failure forecasting and sensing system FIG. 5 is a view for explaining a failure of the solar thermal system when the embodiment of the circulation system failure prediction and detection system according to the present invention is applied to the solar thermal system. Fig.

3, the failure prediction and detection system of the circulation system 500 according to the present invention is configured such that the failure of the circulation pump 540, the failure of the heat transfer medium T to leak and the failure of the heat transfer medium T to solidify Determine the risk.

The failure of the circulation pump 540 is confirmed through the flow sensor 140 of the sensing unit 100.

At this time, the checking method is changed depending on whether or not the circulation system 500 is operating.

When the circulation system 500 is not to be operated, it is determined that a failure has occurred in the circulation pump 540 when the circulation flow of the heat transfer medium T is sensed in the flow sensor 140.

On the contrary, when the circulation system 500 is to be operated, it is determined that a failure occurs in the flow sensor 140 if the circulation flow of the heat transfer medium T is not sensed in the flow sensor 140.

A failure in which the heat transfer medium T is leaked is confirmed through the resistance measurement sensor 110 of the sensing unit 100.

As described above, it is effective that the resistance measurement sensor 110 is installed on the circulating flow path 530 located at a relatively high position in the circulation system 500.

When the heat transfer medium T leaks in the circulating flow path 530, the water level of the heat transfer medium T is lowered from the inside of the circulating flow path 530 located at a relatively high position in the circulation system 500.

4, when the water level of the heat transfer medium T is lowered, the resistance measurement sensor 110 inserted in the circulation flow path 530 is exposed to the air inside the circulation flow path 530, .

Heat transfer medium (T) in this example is propylene glycol (C ₃ H ₈ O ₂₎ aqueous solution, and the propylene glycol (C ₃ H ₈ O ₂₎ electrical resistance of the aqueous solution is 91.8 ~ 128.4㏀ temperature in the range of 15.7 ~ 32.9 ℃ to be.

On the other hand, the electric resistance measured in air is 1,500 k?

However, if the resistance measuring sensor 110 is immersed in the heat transfer medium T and then exposed to air, a small amount of heat transfer medium T remains on the electrode surface of the resistance measuring sensor 110 and the resistance does not rise to 1,500 k? ≪ / RTI >

The data measured through the experiment are shown in the following [Graph 1].

[Graph 1]

Therefore, if the resistance measured by the resistance measuring sensor 110 is 500 k OMEGA or more, it is regarded that the heat transfer medium T is leaked, and the controller 300 determines that the heat transfer medium T leaks from the circulation system 500 .

The risk of failure of the heat transfer medium T to solidify is confirmed through the resistance measurement sensor 110 and the heating medium temperature sensor 120.

The determining unit 200 calculates the concentration of a specific component that prevents the solidification of the heat transfer medium T through the resistance of the heat transfer medium T and the temperature of the heat transfer medium T, (T) is high when the concentration of a specific component for preventing the solidification of the heat transfer medium (T) calculated by the heat transfer medium (200) is less than a predetermined concentration reference.

The resistance of the heat transfer medium (T) and the calculation of the concentration through the temperature can be calculated through a regression analysis of the experimental data on the electrical resistance measured according to the temperature and concentration of the specific heat transfer medium.

Specifically, in the present embodiment, the heat transfer medium (T) is dissolved in propylene glycol

Specifically, in this embodiment, the resistance of the heat transfer medium T with respect to the temperature of the heat transfer medium and the propylene glycol concentration of the heat transfer medium is measured using an aqueous solution of propylene glycol (C ₃ H ₈ O ₂ ) Data is secured.

number
Temperature
(° C)
density
(%) resistance
(K?) Experiment return One 0 20 115.1 121.6 2 70 20 25.5 25.2 3 60 34 48.4 42.7 4 10 6 51.3 50.9 5 35 20 46.6 46.6 6 10 34 162.5 152.6 7 35 20 46.6 46.6 8 35 20 46.6 46.3 9 60 6 19.2 23.0 10 35 40 94.9 104.4 11 35 0 20.8 19.6 12 35 20 46.6 46.6 13 35 20 46.6 46.6

The concentration of propylene glycol (C ₃ H ₈ O ₂ ) in the heat transfer medium (T) can be determined through the regression analysis based on this data and the temperature of the heat transfer medium (T) Equation (1) is obtained as follows.

T is the temperature of the heat transfer medium T measured through the heating medium temperature sensor 120 and R is the temperature of the resistance measurement sensor 110. [ The resistance of the heat transfer medium T measured through the heat transfer medium.

It is possible to calculate the concentration of propylene glycol (C ₃ H ₈ O ₂ ) in the heat transfer medium (T) by measuring the resistance of the heat transfer medium (T) and the temperature of the heat transfer medium If the concentration of glycol (C ₃ H ₈ O ₂ ) is 20% or less, the determination unit 300 determines that the risk of solidification of the heat transfer medium T in the circulation system 500 is high.

When the determination unit 300 determines the risk of the coagulation of the heat transfer medium T in the circulation system 500, the sensing unit 100 measures the outside temperature, which is the temperature outside the circulation flow path 530, (130).

In this case, when the concentration of the specific substance that prevents the coagulation of the heat transfer medium T calculated by the checking unit 200 and the outside air temperature measured through the outside air temperature sensor 130 are lower than the respective reference values, The controller 300 determines that there is a high risk that the heat transfer medium T will solidify.

In this embodiment, when the concentration of propylene glycol (C ₃ H ₈ O ₂ ) in the heat transfer medium (T) is 20% or less and at the same time the outside air temperature is 0 ° C or less, the judging unit 300 judges that the heat transfer medium (T) is likely to solidify.

The process of determining the failure of the heat transfer medium T to leak and the failure of the heat transfer medium T to solidify proceeds only when the circulation system 500 is in a non-operating state.

This is because when the heat transfer medium T circulates and circulates in the circulation channel 530, the flow of the fluid affects the measurement of the electrical resistance, and it is difficult to measure the accurate resistance.

Through such a construction and process, it is possible to prevent a failure that the heat transfer medium T, which may occur in the heat transfer medium T circulation system 500, from solidifying and to prevent the heat transfer medium T from leaking, ) Can be quickly recognized and coped with.

Thus, it is helpful to efficiently operate and manage the circulation system 500 of the heat transfer medium T to improve the performance and lifetime of the circulation system 500.

It is also possible that the operation of the heat transfer medium (T) circulation system 500 according to the present invention is different according to time when one embodiment of the failure prediction and detection system senses the failure of the circulation system 500.

5, only the failure of the circulation pump 540 is judged at each time zone, or the leakage of the heat transfer medium T and the risk of the solidification of the heat transfer medium T are determined based on the resistance of the heat transfer medium T do.

In the daytime when the sun rises, the temperature changes suddenly. In addition, since the temperature of the heat transfer medium T rapidly changes, the error in measuring the resistance of the heat transfer medium T becomes large, It can be difficult to measure.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the resistance of the heat transfer medium T is not measured from 08:00 to 18:00, and only the operation of the circulation system 500 and the detection of the flow of the heat transfer medium T sensed by the flow sensor 140 And determines the leakage of the heat transfer medium T and the risk of the heat transfer medium T being solidified by measuring the resistance of the heat transfer medium T at other times.

If an embodiment of the failure forecasting and sensing system of the heat transfer medium (T) circulation system 500 according to the present invention is provided in the solar thermal system, it is most sensitive to the temperature by the sun and is configured to detect the failure of the solar thermal system Such an algorithm is advantageous.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. It is obvious to them. Therefore, the above-described embodiments are to be considered as illustrative rather than restrictive, and the present invention is not limited to the above description, but may be modified within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof.

100: sensing unit 110: resistance measuring sensor
120: heating medium temperature sensor 130: outside temperature sensor
140: Flow sensor 200:
300: Judgment section 400: Alarm section
500: circulation system 510:
520: heat storage tank 530: circulation channel
540: Circulating pump T: Heat transfer medium

Claims (10)

A failure prediction and detection system for fault diagnosis of a circulation system in which a heat transfer medium circulates,
And a heating medium temperature sensor for measuring a temperature of the heat transfer medium in order to check a concentration of a specific component of the heat transfer medium ; And
A determination unit for determining whether the heat transfer medium leaks by a resistance that varies depending on an object contacting the sensing unit;
And a failure prediction and detection system. The method according to claim 1,
The sensing unit includes:
And the second flow path is installed at the uppermost end of the circulation flow path. delete The method according to claim 1,
And a determination unit for calculating a concentration of a specific component of the heat transfer medium based on a resistance of the heat transfer medium sensed by the resistance measurement sensor and a temperature of the heat transfer medium sensed by the heat medium temperature sensor. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein,
And determines that there is a risk that the heat transfer medium will solidify if the concentration of a specific component of the heat transfer medium is below a predetermined concentration criterion. The method according to claim 1,
The sensing unit includes:
And an outside temperature sensor for measuring an outside air temperature, which is a temperature outside the circulating flow path. The method according to claim 6,
Wherein,
Wherein the concentration of the specific component of the heat transfer medium calculated on the basis of the resistance and temperature of the heat transfer medium is equal to or lower than a preset concentration reference and at the same time the temperature outside the circulation flow measured by the outside temperature sensor is lower than And determines that there is a risk of the coagulation of the heat transfer medium. The method according to claim 1,
The sensing unit includes:
Wherein the resistance of the circulation channel is measured when the circulation system is inactive. The method according to claim 1,
The sensing unit includes:
Further comprising a flow sensor for sensing whether the heat transfer medium is circulating or not. 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein,
The flow of the heat transfer medium identified by the sensing unit has occurred when the heat transfer medium does not flow when the circulation system is in operation or when the heat transfer medium flows when the circulation system is inactive The fault prediction and detection system comprising:

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