JPH10206204A - Thermal flow sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] When the interval of flow measurement is increased to extend the life of the battery, pressure fluctuation occurs in the piping and the fluctuation of the flow is large. There is a problem that the difference in the measurement becomes large and the measurement accuracy decreases. SOLUTION: A sensor element disposed upstream and downstream of the fluid for detecting a change in temperature distribution according to the flow velocity of the fluid when a constant amount of heat is given by heat generated by the sensor element itself; A detection circuit for detecting a flow rate of the fluid based on an output of the sensor element.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal type flow rate sensor for measuring the flow rate and flow rate of a fluid by utilizing the fact that a change in temperature distribution due to a given amount of heat differs according to the flow rate of the fluid. It is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of a conventional thermal flow sensor disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 6-304366. In the drawing, reference numerals 41 and 42 designate fluids to be subjected to flow rate measurement. And 51 and 52 are reference resistance elements respectively arranged on the upstream side and the downstream side of the sensor. The sensor resistance element 41 and the sensor resistance element 42 are connected in series, the reference resistance element 51 and the reference resistance element 52 are also connected in series, and the sensor resistance elements 41 and 42 and the reference resistance element 5 are connected.
A bridge is constituted by 1, 52. Reference numeral 50 denotes this bridge circuit. A constant current source 65 supplies a constant current to the bridge circuit 50. Reference numeral 43 denotes a heater resistor, 61 denotes a constant current source that supplies a constant current to the heater resistor 43, and 62 denotes a switch that is opened and closed by a switching control circuit 64, and supplies a constant current to the heater resistor 43 intermittently. A switching control circuit 64 outputs a switching signal 63 for controlling the opening and closing of the switch 62. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a sensor chip in which the sensor resistance elements 41 and 42 and the heater resistance 43 are embedded. The heater resistance 43 includes a sensor resistance element 41 and a sensor resistance element arranged on the upstream side and the downstream side, respectively. 42 and at the center.

A differential amplifier 53 amplifies a difference between a potential at a connection point a between the sensor resistance elements 41 and 42 and a potential at a connection point b between the reference resistance elements 51 and 52. Then, a signal 58 is output. Reference numeral 56 denotes a cycle detection circuit that detects the vibration frequency of the fluid based on the output of the differential amplifier 53.

Next, the operation will be described. Constant current source 61
Is a switch 62 that is opened and closed by a switching signal 63
, A constant current is intermittently supplied to the heater resistor 43. At this time, the necessary minimum heat generation of the heater resistor 43 is ensured so that the output of the differential amplifier 53 is equal to or higher than the minimum level necessary for detecting the flow velocity. The duty ratio of the switching signal 63 is
The value is set to a value sufficient to secure the necessary minimum heat generation. Further, the period of the intermittent supply of the constant current is set to be equal to or less than twice the thermal time constant of the heater resistor 43. As a result, when the flow rate is zero, the resistance values of the sensor resistance elements 41 and 42 are equal, the bridge circuit 50 is balanced, and the output of the differential amplifier 53 becomes zero. When the flow rate increases, the temperature distribution due to the amount of heat given by the heat generated by the heater resistor 43 changes, and the temperature of the sensor resistor 42 increases and the temperature of the sensor resistor 41 decreases. As a result, the potential difference between the point a and the point b occurs, and the differential amplifier 5
The output of 3 increases. Then, the oscillation frequency of the fluid is detected by the cycle detection circuit 56 based on the output of the differential amplifier 53.

[0005]

Since the conventional thermal flow sensor is constructed as described above, the current consumed by the heater resistor 43 is large, and when the constant current source 61 is constituted by a battery, the capacity is reduced. You will need a big battery,
Battery capacity is determined according to the battery used. For this reason, it is necessary to lengthen the repetition cycle when intermittently supplying a constant current to the heater resistor 43 in order to extend the life of the battery.
As a result, the sampling cycle performed by the differential amplifier 53 and the cycle detection circuit 56 is also lengthened. When the sampling interval is increased as described above, the volume of the fluid measured by one sampling increases. Then, when pressure fluctuations occur in the pipe and the variation of the flow rate is large, if the flow rate in the pipe is determined by integrating the flow rate measurement results performed in the long sampling cycle, the difference from the actual flow rate increases. There was a problem that measurement accuracy was reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and a thermal type flow sensor having improved measurement accuracy by reducing a consumed current and thereby shortening a sampling cycle for measurement. The purpose is to obtain.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a thermal type flow velocity sensor for detecting a change in a temperature distribution according to a flow velocity of a fluid when a constant amount of heat is given by the heat generated by the sensor element itself. And a detection circuit for detecting the flow velocity of the fluid based on the output of the sensor element.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a thermal flow velocity sensor, wherein a reference resistance element connected to a sensor element to form a bridge circuit, and an unbalanced output of the bridge circuit caused by a change in the resistance value of the sensor element. , And a detection circuit having an AD converter for A / D converting the output of the differential amplifier.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a thermal type flow velocity sensor, wherein a first detection result regarding a change in a temperature distribution according to a flow velocity of a fluid immediately after an electric current flows through the sensor element, and a predetermined detection result applied to the sensor element. A control means is provided for obtaining a second detection result on a change in temperature distribution according to the flow velocity of the fluid when an electric current flows for a time.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a thermal flow velocity sensor, wherein an A / D converter is provided for obtaining a timing at which a current is supplied to the bridge circuit and a first detection result immediately after the current is supplied to the bridge circuit. Control means for controlling the timing of the first sampling by the A / D converter and the timing of the second sampling by the A / D converter for obtaining the second detection result immediately before cutting off the current flowing through the bridge circuit for a predetermined time. It is provided with.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below. Embodiment 1 FIG. FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram showing a configuration of a thermal flow sensor according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In the figure, reference numerals 1 and 2 denote sensor resistance elements (sensor elements), and the sensor resistance element 1 and the sensor resistance element 2 are connected in series. Reference numerals 3 and 4 are reference resistance elements (detection circuits), and the reference resistance elements 3 and 4 are also connected in series. The sensor resistance elements 1 and 2 and the reference resistance elements 3 and 4 form a bridge circuit (detection circuit) 5. Reference numeral 6 denotes a switch (control means) for connecting the bridge circuit 5 to the power supply VB, and a switching signal S1.
Controls on / off. When the switch 6 is on, the bridge circuit 5 is connected to the power supply VB. Reference numeral 7 denotes a differential amplifier (detection circuit) for amplifying and outputting the potential difference between the points a and b of the bridge circuit 5, and reference numeral 8 samples and holds the output of the differential amplifier 7, converts it to digital data, and outputs the digital data. An AD converter (detection circuit). 9
Reference numeral denotes a constant voltage circuit serving as a power supply for the differential amplifier 7 and the A / D converter 8, and reference numeral 10 denotes a switch (control means) for controlling generation of a constant voltage by the constant voltage circuit 9. The on / off of the switch 10 is controlled by a switching signal S2.
When the switch 10 is on, the constant voltage circuit 9 generates a stable and constant voltage, and the differential amplifier 7 and A
The power is supplied to the -D converter 8 to operate the differential amplifier 7 and the A / D converter 8. In the A / D converter 8, the timing for sampling the output of the differential amplifier 7 is thereby determined. 11 is a switching signal S1
And a switching control circuit (control means) for outputting a switching signal S2.

FIG. 3 shows a sensor chip in which a sensor resistor 1 and a sensor resistor 2 having the same structure as the sensor chip shown in FIG. 5 are embedded.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart showing the operation of the switch 6 controlled by the switching signal S1, the operation of the switch 10 controlled by the switching signal S2, and the operation of the A / D converter 8.

Next, the operation will be described. Switch 10
Are turned on / off by the switching control circuit 11 at the sampling period shown in FIG. Switch 6
Is turned on when a predetermined time t1 has elapsed since the switch 10 was turned on, and turned off when a time t2 has elapsed thereafter, as shown in FIG. The A / D converter 8 that operates when the switch 10 is turned on performs the sampling operation illustrated in FIG. 2C and outputs the A / D conversion result at the timing illustrated in FIG. .

With the sensor chip shown in FIG. 3 fixed in the pipe so that the sensor resistance element 1 is located on the upstream side and the sensor resistance element 2 is located on the downstream side, the flow velocity and flow rate of the fluid in the pipe are Is measured. Switching control circuit 1
Reference numeral 1 controls on / off of the switches 6 and 10 in the sequence shown in FIGS. Then, when the time t1 has elapsed since the switch 10 was turned on, the switch 6 is turned on, the bridge circuit 5 is connected to the power supply VB, and the sensor resistance element 1, the sensor resistance element 2, the reference resistance Electric current is supplied to the element 3 and the reference resistance element 4. The sensor resistance element 1 and the sensor resistance element 2 generate heat due to the energization, but the A / D converter 8 performs the first sampling operation at the same time as the energization of the sensor resistance element 1 and the sensor resistance element 2 is started. By this first sampling operation, the potential difference between the point a and the point b of the bridge circuit 5 is amplified and taken out. However, in the first sampling operation, the amount of heat generated by the sensor resistance element 1 and the sensor resistance element 2 is small, and the potential difference between the point a and the point b of the bridge circuit 5 is almost equal to the flow rate. The digital data P1 is extracted from the AD converter 8 as a virtual zero flow rate output that does not change.

The A / D converter 8 performs the next sampling operation immediately before the switch 6 is turned off. When this sampling operation is performed, the sensor resistance element 1 and the sensor resistance element 2 generate heat due to energization that has been performed for approximately time t2. The temperature distribution of the sensor chip including the sensor resistance element due to the heat changes according to the flow rate of the fluid. That is, the sensor resistance element 1 on the upstream side is exclusively deprived of heat, and the sensor resistance element 2 on the downstream side is heated by the heat generated by the sensor resistance element 1 on the upstream side. And the resistance value of the sensor resistance element 2 is different. This difference is the bridge circuit 5
Acts in a direction to break the balance of the potential difference between the points a and b, and is amplified by the differential amplifier 7 and output. The output of the differential amplifier 7 is converted into digital data P2 and output by the sampling operation performed by the AD converter 8 immediately before the switch 6 is turned off.

In the digital data output from the A / D converter 8, the offset of the digital data P2 is corrected by subtracting the digital data P1 from the digital data P2, and the sampling performed immediately before the switch 6 is turned off. It is detected as digital data corresponding to the flow velocity in the pipe during operation.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the heat source for obtaining the temperature distribution that changes according to the flow velocity in the pipe is not realized by the heat generated by the heater resistor.
Since a heat source by self-heating of the sensor resistance element 1 and the sensor resistance element 2 by energizing the sensor resistance element 1 and the sensor resistance element 2 is used and a change in a temperature distribution by the heat source is detected, the heat resistance for the heater resistance heating is detected. Even if there is no current consumption and a limited-capacity battery is used as a power supply, there is no current consumption for heating the heater resistance, so that the sampling cycle for measurement can be shortened and the measurement accuracy can be improved. There is.

Further, since the offset of the digital data P2 is corrected by subtracting the digital data P1 from the digital data P2 output from the AD converter 8, the fluid temperature, the outside air temperature, the sensor resistance element 1, the sensor resistance The thermal characteristics including the sensor chip appearing as the amount of heat generated when current is supplied to the element 2 and the like vary, and the bridge circuit 5 including the sensor resistance element 1 and the sensor resistance element 2 and the A / D converter 8 are offset. , An accurate measurement result corresponding to the flow rate in the pipe can be obtained.

[0020]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the change in the temperature distribution according to the flow velocity of the fluid when a certain amount of heat is given by the heat generated by the sensor element itself is determined. Since the detection circuit detects the flow rate of the fluid based on the output from the sensor elements disposed on the upstream side and the downstream side, it is necessary to apply a constant amount of heat by heating the heater resistor. When the power supply of a limited capacity is used, the current consumption for heating the heater resistance is reduced, and the repetition cycle of the detection by the detection circuit can be shortened. Even if it fluctuates, there is an effect that the flow velocity and the flow rate can be measured accurately.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the detection circuit includes a reference resistance element connected to the sensor element to form a bridge circuit, a differential amplifier, and an AD converter. The unbalanced output of the bridge circuit caused by the change of the value is amplified and taken out, and the output is A-D
Since a conversion configuration is provided, a change in temperature distribution according to the flow rate of fluid when a certain amount of heat is given by the heat generated by the sensor element itself is used as the output of the bridge circuit, and the differential amplifier and the A- There is an effect that digital data can be extracted with high sensitivity by the D converter and the flow velocity and flow rate can be measured with high accuracy.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the first change in the temperature distribution according to the flow velocity of the fluid when the amount of heat due to the heat generated by the sensor element itself is given immediately after the current flows to the sensor element. A detection result and a predetermined time for the sensor element,
Since a control means for obtaining a second detection result when a certain amount of heat is given by the heat generation of the sensor element itself by flowing an electric current is provided, the first
Can be treated as a virtual zero flow output in a state where the sensor element itself generates little heat, and by calculating the difference between the second detection result and the first detection result, The effects of the temperature, the outside air temperature, and the offset of the detection circuit on the measurement result of the flow velocity can be eliminated, and there is an effect that the flow velocity can be measured with high accuracy.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the timing at which the current flows through the bridge circuit and the first timing by the AD converter for obtaining the first detection result immediately after the current flows through the bridge circuit are provided. Control means for controlling a sampling timing and a second sampling timing by the A / D converter for obtaining a second detection result immediately before cutting off a current flowing through the bridge circuit for a predetermined time is provided. With this configuration, accurate flow velocity measurement based on a change in temperature distribution due to a given amount of heat given immediately before the second sampling is performed is performed by the control unit using the bridge circuit and the A- There is an effect that can be realized by controlling the respective timings of the D converter.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram showing a configuration of a thermal flow sensor according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart showing the operation of each part of the thermal flow sensor according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a sensor chip used in the thermal flow sensor according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a circuit block diagram illustrating a configuration of a conventional thermal flow sensor.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a sensor chip used in a conventional thermal flow sensor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 2 Sensor resistance element (sensor element) 3, 4 Reference resistance element (detection circuit) 5 Bridge circuit (detection circuit) 6, 10 Switch (control means) 7 Differential amplifier (detection circuit) 8 A-D converter ( Detection circuit) 11 Switching control circuit (Control means)

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yasuharu Oishi 2-12-19 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Yamatake-Ha-Newel Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Ikko Itsui 9-10 Misonodai, Fujisawa-shi, Kanagawa ( 72) Inventor Katsuto Sakai 4-4-11 Shichidaidai, Shirai-cho, Inba-gun, Chiba Prefecture (72) Inventor Hideo Kato 959-2 Kawaharadai, Kurihashi-cho, Kita-katsushika-gun, Saitama Prefecture Shuichi Okada Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. 4-1-2, Hirano-cho, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi (72) Inventor Yukio Kimura 507-2 Shinhocho-cho, Tokai-shi, Aichi Prefecture Toho Gas Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A sensor element disposed upstream and downstream of a fluid for detecting a change in temperature distribution according to a flow velocity of the fluid when a constant amount of heat is given by heat generated by the sensor element itself; A thermal flow sensor comprising: a detection circuit that detects a flow velocity of the fluid based on an output of the sensor element. 2. A detection circuit, comprising: a reference resistance element connected to a sensor element to form a bridge circuit; and a difference for amplifying and extracting an unbalanced output of the bridge circuit caused by a change in the resistance value of the sensor element. The thermal flow sensor according to claim 1, further comprising a dynamic amplifier and an AD converter for AD-converting an output of the differential amplifier. 3. A first detection result of a change in a temperature distribution according to a flow rate of a fluid when a calorific value due to heat generation of the sensor element itself is given immediately after a current flows to the sensor element, and 3. The control device according to claim 2, further comprising a control unit for obtaining a second detection result when a predetermined amount of heat is given by heat generation of the sensor element itself by flowing a current for a predetermined time. Thermal flow sensor. 4. The controller according to claim 1, further comprising: a timing for flowing a current to the bridge circuit; and a timing for a first sampling by an AD converter for obtaining a first detection result immediately after flowing the current to the bridge circuit. 4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising controlling a timing of a second sampling by the A / D converter for obtaining a second detection result immediately before cutting off a current flowing through the bridge circuit for a predetermined time. Thermal flow sensor.