Data Processing and Recording Apparatus

1. Field of the Invention:

This invention relates to data processing and recording apparatus and, in particular, to apparatus for recording information about the flow of fluids through a metering device such as a gas flow meter.

2. Description of the Prior Art:

Information concerning daily or hourly variations in load for industrial or commercial consumers is of considerable value, inter alia, for monitoring or controlling peak daily loads, checking the correct dimensioning of meter installations, checking spare meter capacity available for load increases and the determination of standard load factors to assist in the design of new installations.

Hitherto such data have been collected manually or by means of conventional data logging equipment. However, such applications have been limited to special cases because of the relatively high costs involved.

In order to extend the range of applications for which it is feasible to employ data logging methods a new, simple data recording apparatus has been devised.

According to the present invention there is provided data recording apparatus comprising transducer means to produce an electrical signal representative of the magnitude of a parameter to be recorded, digital analyzing means to determine whether or not the magnitude of the parameter falls within predetermined limits and a plurality of data storage means each corresponding to a range between predetermined limits of said parameter to record the incidence of a measurement of said parameter within the respective predetermined limits.

According to a further aspect of the invention, the data recording apparatus includes timing means to permit the measurement of said parameter at predetermined intervals.

According to a yet further aspect of the invention there is provided means associated with said data recording apparatus to prepare a permanent record of successive measurements of said parameter.

Embodiments of the invention will now be particularly described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows the architecture of a calculator circuit suitable for incorporation in data recording apparatus in accordance with the present invention,

FIG. 2 shows data recording apparatus incorporating the calculator circuit illustrated in FIG. 1, and,

FIGS. 3a and 3b show typical printouts produced by data recording apparatus in accordance with a particular aspect of the invention.

Referring now to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a calculator circuit incorporates a keyboard 1 having a plurality of keys 2 for input of data and program instructions. The keyboard is linked to a scan encoder 3 by way of a bus 4 consisting of a plurality of scan lines connected in matrix fashion to the keys. An arithmetic unit 5 in association with an input register 6 and an accumulator 7 performs various operations on the input data under the control of programs stored in a memory 8. The memory may comprise ROM (Read Only Memory) for standard operations such as addition, subtraction and exponentiation which are called up by respective function keys on the keyboard or RAM (Random Access Memory) in which the steps of an individual program may be entered. An output encoder 9 transfers the processed data from a temporary store 10 to an output device 11 which may be a seven-segment digital display or a printer. Timer circuits 12 and a clock 13 synchronize the movement of data within the calculator circuit. Power is supplied from a DC source 14 which may be a battery or a mains unit.

With data recording apparatus in accordance with the embodiment of the invention depicted in FIG. 2 a gas flow recording meter has a transducer 15 which provides an electrical signal corresponding to the mechanical meter reading. This signal may typically be a digital pulse emitted whenever a predetermined quantity of gas has passed through the meter.

In one embodiment, the digital pulse was fed via an input circuit 16 to simulate the operation of selected keys whereby a section of program within the calculator was initiated so that, by reference to the calculator clock, the interval between pulses was timed and data stored in various registers according to the flow rate passing through the meter at the time. A typical field measurement is shown in Table 1.

In a further embodiment a clock gave a timing pulse at predetermined intervals (1 day) and the pulses were used to activate successive memories to record the flow passed by the meter during successive time intervals. As the number of memories was finite, data were transformed to individual memories in a cyclic fashion so that data from the most recent measurements were preserved.

Using the programming capabilities of the calculator circuit analyses of the data can be performed and a summary of the results stored in the memories. For example one simple program recorded maximum hourly load, minimum hourly load, number of hours in which flow exceeded a predetermined rate, number of hours in which flow was below a second predetermined rate and the total flow.

Preferably the keyboard unit is detachable by means of a plug and socket connection, thereby obviating the possibility of the data processing program being inadvertently altered by an unskilled person.

A further embodiment included a thermal printer which recorded successive readings. Typical printouts are shown in FIGS. 3a and 3b which shows outputs in numeric and graphical formats respectively.