DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0041] The preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0042] Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals and nomenclature are used for designation of like or equivalent parts or portion for simplicity of illustration and explanation, a detailed description of which will be omitted.

[0043] FIG. 2 is a mechanical configuration view for showing a cyclone turbine flowmeter according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2A is a sectional view for illustrating a flowmeter according to the present invention, FIG. 2B is a perspective view for showing the inside of the flowmeter, and FIG. 2C is a bottom plan view for showing the bottom of the flowmeter according to the present invention.

[0044] FIG. 3 is a mechanical configuration view for illustrating main elements of the cyclone turbine flowmeter according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3A is a side plan view for showing a rotor of the flowmeter, FIG. 3B is a plan view of the rotor, FIG. 3C is a side plan view for showing a fixed turbine, and FIG. 3D is a plan view for illustrating the fixed turbine.

[0045] FIG. 4 is an assembled state view for showing a cyclone turbine connected to the rotor of the flowmeter according to the present invention.

[0046] The flowmeter according to the present invention falls under a turbine type of a volume flowmeter as classified by measurement methods.

[0047] The flowmeter according to the present invention has a special structure which allows an adapted material of the flowmeter to be easily changed in response to the kind of liquids used, thereby serving to precisely measure flow rate.

[0048] The flowmeter according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, comprises a housing 1, an upper and lower caps 2 and 3, a rotor 4, a cycly turbine 5, a vibration preventing bearing 6, magnets 7 and a turbine bearing 8.

[0049] The upper and lower caps 2 and 3, as shown in FIG. 2A and 2C, is formed at a predetermined positions, with holes 25 and 35 for inserting bolts thereinto. It is desirable that four bolts are fitted to the corresponding four holes, respectively.

[0050] The four holes 25 and 35 play a role of connecting the upper and lower caps 2 and 3 to a housing to prevent the inner side of the flowmeter from receiving exterior pressure and impact, and are inserted with the four bolts to assemble the housing and caps.

[0051] At this time, the diameters of the holes 25 and 35 formed at the upper and lower caps 2 and 3 can be conveniently determined by a manufacturer, and is generally determined in such a manner that the upper and lower caps 2 and 3 are tightly assembled to the housing of the flowmeter to minimize the exterior impacts.

[0052] The bolts for fixing the housing 1 of the flowmeter and the caps 2 and 3 are inserted into the holes 25 and 35 formed at the caps 2 and 3, and are secured at a predetermined depth of the corresponding grooves 15 and 16 for fixing screw bolts. Accordingly, the flowmeter performs precisely its operation and functions because the housing 1 and the upper and lower caps 2 and 3 serve to shield the inner side of the flowmeter from outside thereof.

[0053] Meanwhile, it is desirable that a predetermined zone 30 of the upper cap 2 is formed with a transparent or semitransparent materials to monitor a state of rotor revolution therethrough. It is preferred that the zone 30 formed with the semitransparent or transparent materials is disposed in the near zone of an extension line of the rotor axle to enable to see the rotation state of the rotor.

[0054] Furthermore, the upper cap 2, as shown in FIG. 2A, is formed with the groove 33 for inserting a hall sensor and electric wire to detect a magnetic field which is varied in response to the revolution of the rotor. It is desirable that the hall sensor 500 is provided on the position P to precisely detect a magnetic field generated by magnets fixed at the rotor. The hall sensor 500 is connected to a signal input unit through an electric wire. In this case, it is easy to detect a magnetic field because the hall sensor 500 is positioned over the magnet of the rotor.

[0055] Also, the upper cap 2 is formed at the center inside thereof with a rotation axis-inserted groove 26 having a predetermined depth so that the rotation axle of the rotor is inserted therein.

[0056] The housing 1 according to the present invention plays a role of the body of the flowmeter and allows the flowmeter to be smoothly operated. The housing 1 is formed with the grooves 15 and 16 for inserting the corresponding bolts at positions corresponding to holes 25 and 35 formed on the upper and lower caps 2 and 3.

[0057] In addition, the housing 1 is formed with a groove 36 having a predetermined diameter for allowing an O-ring to be inserted therein lest flowing liquids be leaked by pressure generated when liquids are stored in the inner side of the flowmeter.

[0058] The cyclone turbine 5 according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2B, 3C, 3D and 4, is provided with a body 52 fixed to about the center position of the lower cap 3, and is formed on the blades 53 with a plurality of flow paths inclined at a predetermined degree so that liquids flowing through a liquid inlet 17 flow therethrough.

[0059] Accordingly, the flowmeter according to the present invention enables to reduce a friction resistance resulting from a flow action of the liquids when liquids flowing through the inlet 17 pass through the plurality of flow paths 51, and at the same time, to easily rotate the rotor because it receives a rotary power generated due to the inclination of the flow paths even if flow rate becomes lowered.

[0060] The cyclone turbine 5 is formed at the center of the blade body 53 with a groove 5 for allowing a rotary axle to be inserted therein. According to the present invention, the cyclone turbine 5 is designed to exert evenly a torque on the whole of the rotor 4 and accordingly, live and static loads are lower than those of the conventional flowmeter. Also, the flowmeter of the present invention can cover a wide range of flow rates because the cyclone turbine and rotor can be easily changed to those having different sizes in response to the range of the flow rate, and be used even in the temperature range of −40 to 135 in case of using reliable parts which can resist the temperature change.

[0061] Furthermore, the size of the flow path (flow channel) 51 formed on the blade 53 of the cyclone turbine 5 can be changed in response to a flow rate to be supplied to the work process.

[0062] The rotor 4, as shown in FIG. 2B, 3A and 3B, is provided on the periphery of the blades 43 thereof with the grooves 41 as the so-called flow paths (flow channels). The grooves 41 is inclined at a predetermined degree relative to the rotor axle. Accordingly, the plurality of the inclined grooves 41 cause to exert a torque on the rotor 4 when fluids supplied from the cyclone turbine 5 flow therethrough, thereby allowing to reduce a friction resistance resulting from the liquid flow and improve the rotary power of the rotor 4.

[0063] Furthermore, it is desirable that the size in the diameter of the groove 45 for inserting a rotation axle 44 be designed to become longer than that of the rotation axle 44 so that the rotation axle 44 can slightly slip within the groove 45, thereby preventing the rotation axle 44 from being worn away.

[0064] The body 42 of the rotor 4 is provided at a predetermined interval with a predetermined mumber of magnets, for example, two magnets 46. The magnetic field generated by the magnets 46 is detected by the hall sensor 500 to determine the flow rate in the flowmeter based on the number of rotation of the rotor 4 per unit time.

[0065] According to the configuration thus constructed, when the rotor 4 provided with the magnets 46 rotates, the intensity of the magnetic field is varied in response to the number of rotation of the rotor 4 per unit time, and also the varying intensity of the magnetic field is detected by the hall sensor 500 and the flow rate is accordingly determined by a microprocessor receiving the detected data.

[0066] Meanwhile, according to another embodiment for a flow measurement, as shown in FIG. 5, the body 42 of the rotor 4 may be formed at a predetermined interval with a plurality of grooves 47. In this case, the thickness of the body 42 may be reduced by the thickness of the magnet 46.

[0067] As shown in FIG. 5A, the body 42 formed with the plurality of the grooves 47 are disposed parallel with the blades 43 formed with the plurality of the inclined grooves 41. Thus, when a photo device is disposed in the front of the body 42 and transmits a light toward the body 42, the light passes through the grooves 47 only and accordingly appears as a pulse when the rotor 4 rotates. In addition, in case a photo device which is designed to transmit and again receive a light through a one line is disposed in the near position of the grooves 47, when the photo device emits lights toward the body 42, the lights are again reflected from the grooves and the others not formed with the grooves, respectively. Because the intensity of the reflected lights are different, the number of rotation of the rotor 4 can be determined based on the different respective intensity of the lights.

[0068] That is, a microprocessor enables to detect the rotation state of the rotor based on the changes in the intensity of the detected magnetic field and the received light and to determine a flow rate accordingly. Meanwhile, the number of the grooves 47 formed at the body 42 of the rotor 4 may be varied by a manufacturer, but it is preferred that the grooves be formed as many as possible in its number. The reason is that, even if flow rate in the cyclone turbine 5 is lowered and the number of rotation of the rotor 4 becomes decreased accordingly, the many number of the grooves make possible to detect precisely the changes in the intensity of the lights and the magnetic field to thereby determine the flow rate.

[0069] As shown in FIG. 4, the rotor 4 and the cyclone turbine 5 is coupled by the rotation axle 44 being inserted to the groove 55. The other end of the rotation axle 44 is inserted into the inserting groove 26 formed in the upper cap 2.

[0070] At this location, because the blade 43 of the rotor 4 is disposed facing the blade 53 of the cyclone turbine 5 and liquids passed through the flow channels 51 pass through the inclined grooves 41 of the rotor 4, the rotor 4 can easily rotate by a torque generated by the inclined flow channels even if the quantity of flow is very small.

[0071] The size of the flow channels 41 of the blade 43 may be changed in response to the quantity of flow to be supplied to the work process.

[0072] The flowmeter according to the present invention is designed to enable all parts to be operated by non-contacted type and non-friction type except the turbine bearing. In other words, all parts are designed to slip each other. That is, as shown in FIG. 2B, in order to preventing vibration even in a high flow rate, the parts contacted to the rotation axle 44 of the rotor 4 are mounted with the turbine bearing 8 made of crystal and the vibration preventing bearing 6, respectively. Accordingly, the flowmeter of the present invention can maintain a semi-permanent life as a result of using something special such as vibration preventing bearing 6 and turbine bearing 8.

[0073] As is described above, the flowmeter according to the present invention has main elements such as the rotor 4 and cyclone turbine 5 having the inclined flow passages (flow channels) causing torque. Accordingly, noises such as thermal impact, pressure impact and arrupt changes in flow rate can be absorbed by the cyclone turbine 5 thus designed, and liquids are guided by the flow channels 51 of the cyclone turbine 5, so that the rotor 4 easily can rotate to thereby measure precisely flow rate without a loss in energy.

[0074] As shown in FIG. 6, the control system of the flowmeter according to the present invention comprises a microprocessor 100, a signal input unit 200, a signal output unit 300, an electric power source 400 and a sensor 500.

[0075] The signal input unit 200 receives a signal which the hall sensor 500 detected a change in the intensity of magnetic field per unit time generated by magnets 46 fixed at the body 42 of the rotor 4 when the rotor rotates by liquids passing through the flow channels 51 of the cyclone turbine 5, and the signal input unit 200 converts the detected signal to a suitable signal so that it can be operated by the microprocessor 100. For example, the signal input unit 200 plays a role of an analog to digital converter which converts an analog signal detected by the hall sensor 500 to a digital signal to enable the microprocessor to operate the signal. The analog signal is varied in response to a change in the intensity of magnetic field generated by rotation of the rotor.

[0076] Meanwhile, as is described in the above, in case the body periphery of the rotor 4 is formed with a plurality of the grooves 47, the light transmitted from the photo device passes through the grooves 47, but is intercepted at the other parts, that is, in the zone which is not formed with the grooves 47, so that only data concerning the intensity of radiation passed-through the grooves is input to the microprocessor 100 to determine the state of the rotation of the rotor 4. It is also possible that the light transmitted from the photo device does not pass through the grooves 47 but can be reflected so that the rotation state of the rotor 4 is determined based on the intensity of the reflected light.

[0077] The microprocessor 100 receives a signal from the hall sensor or the photo sensor and serves to operate the quantity of flow, where the data processed by the microprocessor 100 is used as an important basis in controlling the whole actuation of the flowmeter.

[0078] The microprocessor 100 has a memory apparatus in which data concerning the quantity of flow (flow rate) per unit time has already been stored, where the determined data can be varied in response to a work process.

[0079] In addition, a control program is stored in the microprocessor 100 to determine whether the optimum quantity of flow is supplied in response to a work process, by which a non-optimum quantity of flow can be changed to an optimum quantity of flow.

[0080] Meanwhile, the predetermined time (unit time) is counted by a timer mounted in the microprocessor 100.

[0081] The signal output unit 300 converts the flow-rate data, which was operated and rocessed in the microprocessor 100 based on the detected signal input from the hall sensor 500 or photo device, to a suitable signal by control of the microprocessor 100 for indicating, integrating, determining and alarming.

[0082] The signal output unit 300 plays a role of a digital to analog converter which converts a digital signal, which is output from the microprocessor 100, to an analog signal to indicate, integrate and alarm data processed by the microprocessor 100.

[0083] The electric power source 300 serves to supply electric power to the microprocessor 100 and hall sensor 500 to actuate the system.

[0084] The display unit 600 displays the flow rate which is determined by the microprocessor 100 based on the intensity of radiation which is received by the photo device, or the intensity of magnetic field which is detected by the hall sensor 500, which may be constructed by using the prior art including a Light Emitting Diode.

[0085] In addition, the display unit 600 can be constructed so as to display the quantity of flow (flow rate) continuously, or at a predetermined time intervals. Such configuration enables a worker to see the state of flow rate at any time and cope with the situation. At this case, the display unit 600 can display the flow rate as a numeral or a letter through a plurality of light emitting diodes according to a control actuation of the microprocessor 100.

[0086] The integrating unit 700 integrates the quantity of flow per a predetermined time which is determined by the microprocessor 100. That is, in case the quantity of flow is increased due to outside interference or internal interference of the flowmeter, only a predetermined quantity of liquid flow allows to be supplied, and the other quantity of flow rate is integrated to be seen by a worker. This function can be performed continuously, or at a predetermined time intervals.

[0087] At this time, the integrated flow rate can be used as a data for controlling the quantity of flow which flows in from the outside.

[0088] That is, in case the quantity of inflow is increased, only the predetermined quantity of flowis supplied, the other quantity of flow is used as a data for determining an optimum quantity of flow and reducing the excess quantity of flow, thereby allowing the optimum quantity of flow to be always supplied to the system. Such control actuation is formed by the microprocessor 100.

[0089] The alarming unit 800 performs an alarming function to a worker through the microprocessor 100 when the quantity of flow goes beyond the optimum quantity of flow and when a work process is finished.

[0090] Such alarming function can also be performed by using both of the vision type device and audio type device. For example, the vision type device may be a light emitting diode by which a red colored lamp is constructed to emit lights periodically, and the audio type device may be a buzzer which alarms periodically.

[0091] The determining unit 900 determines the optimum quantity of flow to be supplied in response to a work process so that the microprocessor 100 enables to store data resulting from the determination.

[0092] Now, the operation of the control system thus constructed will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6.

[0093] When liquids flows in through the inlet 17 and reaches a predetermined quantity of flow, the liquids starts to pass through the flow channels 51 of the cyclone turbine 5, where the flow channels 51 are formed inclined at a predetermined angle so that the liquids receive a rotary power according to a degree of inclination.

[0094] The liquids passed through the cyclone turbine 5 exerts a torque (rotary power) on the flow channels 45 of the rotor 4, when the liquids accelerated while passing through the cyclone turbine 5 enable the rotor 4 to rotate by the pressure generated when the liquids contact to the grooves 45.

[0095] When the rotor 4 rotates, the change in the intensity of magnetic field generated by the magnets 46 is detected by the hall sensor 500. Accordingly, the detected signal is converted to a digital signal through the signal input unit 200 and input to the microprocessor 100, and the microprocessor 100 determines the changes in the intensity of the magnetic field per unit time counted by a timer according to the program stored, thereby determining the quantity of flow being supplied based on the determination.

[0096] The present flow rate determined by the microprocessor 100, which is indicated as a digital signal, is output to the signal output unit 300 and converted to an analog signal, thereby enabling a user to see the flow rate through the display unit 600.

[0097] Meanwhile, the microprocessor 100 performs the control actuation in response to whether the flow rate determined by the microprocessor 100 is an optimum quantity of flow to be supplied.

[0098] That is, when the quantity of flow determined by the microprocessor 100 goes beyond the optimum quantity of flow, the display unit 600 displays the corresponding data, the determining unit 900 newly determines the quantity of flow to be supplied for converting the exceeded quantity of flow to an optimum quantity of flow to store the newly determined data in the microprocessor 100.

[0099] Accordingly, the liquids flows in the flow channels of the cyclone turbine 5 through the inlet 17 in accordance with the newly determined data, the rotor 4 accordingly rotates, the microprocessor 100 again determines the quantity of flow being newly supplied to determine whether the newly determined data meets the change in the intensity of magnetic field according to the rotation of the rotor 4, and the display unit 600 displays the determined data. That is, such newly supplied flow rate (quantity of flow) is used as a basis of the determination of an optimum flow rate

[0100] Meanwhile, the alarming unit 800 alarms by control of the microprocessor 100 when the quantity of flow to be supplied goes beyonds the optimum flow rate and when a work process is finished, thereby enabling a user to control effectively the flowmeter.

[0101] As shown in FIG. 7, when the flowmeter according to the present invention is applied to the practical system, the storage tank used in the prior art is not needed to be used to the system, the microprocessor, instead, performs control for supplying an optimum flow rate to be supplied in response to a work process.

[0102] As is apparent from the foregoing, there is an advantage in the cyclone turbine flowmeter of the present invention in that thermal impact, pressure impact and noises resulting from an abrupt change in flow rate are absorbed by the cyclone turbine, and flow rate can be precisely measured without a loss in flow rate energy while maintaining pressure balance by a way that liquids are guided into the flow channels to thereby rotate the rotor.

[0103] In addition, vibration isolation bearing and turbine bearing is designed to allow the flowmeter of the present invention to maintain a semi-permanent life span and wear resistance.

[0104] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variances can be made in the structure of the cyclone turbine flowmeter of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variances of this invention provides they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.