JPH0317986A - Controller for electric heating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To secure action without detecting floating capacity of man or receiving effects of outer disturbance conditions such as earth capacity, moisture, etc., by detecting if man exists or not by time change of electrostatic capacity, that is time change of human body distribution, for at least three pairs of electrodes. CONSTITUTION:A plurality of pair electrodes 2, 3 of which electrostatic capacity changes by human body weight are provided in a main body 1. For these pair electrodes 2, 3, their electrostatic capacities change by the human body weight separately from each other, and a plurality of time changes of the electrostatic capacity difference are detected between two pairs of the electrodes 2, 3, so a heater is heated and controlled based on obtained detection signals. A controller can thus be produced in a simple constitution and at a low cost, and a man detecting means which will not detect the floating capacity of human body which is likely to receive the effects of outer disturbance conditions such as earth capacity and moisture can be realized, thereby its action can be secured.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to an electric heating device, such as an electric carpet, that is installed on the floor and used for people to warm themselves. The present invention relates to a control device for an electric heating appliance that detects whether there is a person present or not and controls the heating of the heater.

Conventional technology A control device for this type of electric heating appliance was developed in 1983-183.
413 (hereinafter referred to as A), Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 1986-12953
8 (hereinafter referred to as B), JP-A-60-124383
(hereinafter referred to as C), which senses the stray capacitance of the human body,
A device that senses the weight of the human body was proposed, as in Utility Model Application No. 63-87428 (hereinafter referred to as D).

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, these devices that sense the stray capacitance of the human body have problems such as small capacitance changes and being affected by ground capacitance. In addition, the control system that senses the weight of a human body cannot identify the weight of a person when an appliance necessary for daily life, such as a kotatsu, is placed on top of the main body, which does not suit the actual usage of electric carpets. It had the disadvantage of becoming That is, in (1) A, a large number of electrodes of the sensing part are arranged closely in a comb-like shape so that it can respond sensitively to human stray capacitance, and a cushion is used as a means to increase the amount of change in sensing capacitance. It is necessary to devise measures such as providing flat plate electrodes in parallel over the entire surface of the sensing section through the material, and the structure is complicated and cannot be made inexpensive.

In (2) B, it is necessary to provide means for reducing the ground capacitance, such as aluminum foil, in order to reduce the influence of the ground capacitance of the sensing portion, and as with (1) above, it cannot be constructed at low cost.

(3) In C, the configuration of the sensing section is basically the above (
This is similar to 2), and in order to reduce the influence of ground capacitance and moisture, the circuit system is constructed in duplicate with the first signal line and the second signal line, and each signal line is equipped with the embodiment C. As shown in Figure 2, a resonant circuit is constructed by adding some induction to compensate for the fact that the sensing capacitance itself is small. Therefore, there are inherent factors that increase costs related to productivity, such as circuit adjustment and checking work to satisfy resonance conditions. (4) D basically has a structure that directly senses the weight of the human body to control the heating of the heater, and in this type of device, there is a difference between the static load of a kotatsu etc. and the load of the human body. It has the disadvantage that it cannot be identified.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device that has a simple structure, is inexpensive, and operates reliably. That is, (1) To realize a human detection means that does not detect the floating capacitance of the human body, which has a small amount of change and is susceptible to disturbance conditions such as ground capacitance and humidity, and to ensure reliable operation.

(2) The system should be able to identify people and objects and be compatible with the actual usage of electric carpets.

(3) It must be possible to respond reliably even if a person is placed in various positions such as the center or edge of the electric car.

(4) And make these inexpensive.

Means to Solve the Problem In a control device for an electric heating appliance that collects heat by laying the main unit equipped with a heater on the floor, we installed multiple counter electrodes whose capacitance changes depending on the weight of the human body on the main unit. The capacitance of the counter electrode groups changes independently depending on the weight of the human body, and multiple changes in capacitance over time between two pairs of the counter electrode groups are detected, and these multiple detection signals are generated. The heating control of the heater is performed using the heater.

In addition, at least three sets of counter electrodes whose capacitance changes depending on the weight of the human body are arranged on the main body, and the capacitance of these counter electrode groups changes independently depending on the weight of the human body. , the change in capacitance over time between adjacent counter electrode groups is detected respectively, and the logical sum of these detection signals is used to control the heating of the heater.

In addition, one electrode section is a substantially parallel line formed by meandering a single conductive flexible wire, and the other electrode section is a substantially parallel line made of a substantially flat film-like conductor. The structure is as follows. Effect: Due to the above structure, the capacitance between the counter electrodes to which the human body is applied increases. On the other hand, there is no change in the electrostatic counter electrode to which no load can be applied, and a difference in capacitance occurs between the two. The value of this difference changes from moment to moment depending on whether there is a person on the main body or not, and even if there is a person, whether they are in the center or at the edge of the main body. By detecting the amount of change, it is possible to identify whether there is a person on the main body or not, and perform heating control such as turning the heater on/off or switching the main body temperature high or low. The identification method assumes that there is no person present when the amount of change is small, and that there is a person present when the amount of change is large.

By the way, the reason why a plurality or at least three or more sets of counter electrodes are provided so that the capacitance changes independently depending on the load on the human body is that the rate of change due to the presence or absence of a person can be greatly reduced. This is because if one set of counter electrodes were placed throughout the main body, the line length would increase, the capacitance would increase when no one was present, and the rate of change between the presence and absence of people would be significantly reduced. I end up.

The reason why the heating of the heater is controlled using these detection signals or their logical sums is to enable detection of the presence or absence of people even if they are in various positions such as the center or edge of the main body.

Embodiment In Fig. 1, 1 is the main body of the electric carpet, and this main body is equipped with a heater wire and a signal wire for temperature control (not shown in the figure).
A heater wire is attached to heat the main unit by energizing it.
The temperature control signal wire maintains the body at a predetermined temperature, allowing a person to sit on top of the body and stay warm. Reference numerals 2 and 3 are person detection means for detecting whether or not a person is present on the main body, and 2 is a linear electrode with a substantially arc-shaped cross section, and 3 is a planar electrode with a substantially flat plate shape. 2 and 3 constitute a set of counter electrodes. This embodiment has three sets of counter electrodes. The signal from the human detection means is input to the detection circuit 5, and the control circuit 6
The heater circuit is controlled by the function of Reference numeral 7 indicates an oscillation circuit that supplies high frequency power to the detection circuit 5.

In FIG. 2, 4 is an elastic dielectric material interposed between the linear electrode 2 and the planar electrode 3, 1a is the outer material of the main body, and 1b is the lining material. The linear electrodes 2 and the planar electrodes 3 each face perpendicularly to the plane of the main body, and are sandwiched together with the dielectric 4 between the outer material 1a and the lining material 1b.

To explain in more detail, the main body 1 is made of polyester non-woven fabric, length (a) = 1500 (am), width (b) = 45
0 (am), thickness (c)・8n+m. The linear electrode 2 is a conductive flexible wire with a diameter (+) = 2.6 (mm), an interval (d) = 30 (mm), and a length (12 +
) = 1250 (mm), and this part serves as one electrode part of a pair of counter electrode parts. Three rows of substantially parallel lines are arranged at a pitch (t') = 128 (au++) to constitute one electrode part of three sets of counter electrode parts A, B, and C. That is, one of the plurality of counter electrode portions is integrally constructed by wiring a single electric wire, and is electrically at the same potential.

The wiring patterns are A and B. C and B are almost the same shape and size.
・It is symmetrical about the center.

The planar electrode 3 has a thickness of 0. 1 (Ilm) with aluminum foil,
Width (W + ) = 60 (+ui), length ( (2
2) = 1300 (am), and the three sets of counter electrodes A, B, and C are of the same size, and the electrodes are approximately 6
They are electrically independently arranged at a distance of 8 (am). The dielectric 4 has a thickness (t) = 2 (
The electrode is made of foamed chloroprene rubber (Ilm), and is approximately the same size as the planar electrode, and is attached with adhesive.

In the above structure, the frequency of the oscillation circuit 7 is set to 30 K.
Hz, the capacitance of each of the counter electrodes is approximately 300 (PF), and if a person is placed on top of this, approximately 3
A capacitance change of 0 (PF) is obtained.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of the detection circuit in FIG. 1. Cs
, C2, and C3 indicate the capacitance of the counter electrode composed of the linear electrode 2 and the planar electrode 3. In this example, since the size and shape of each counter electrode are approximately the same, C1, C2 'rC3
becomes. The CI, C2, and C3 are connected to the high frequency power source of the oscillation circuit 7 using the linear electrode 2 as a common terminal. The high-frequency current flows through the resistors R1 and Rzs R3 connected in series with C1, C2, and C3, respectively, and changes in their values are reflected through the amplifiers ICt and IC through diodes DI, D2, and D3.
'2 is input. Charge/discharge capacitors C4, C5, C8 and resistor R are connected to the output side of diodes DI, D2, and D3.
4, RS and R8 are connected. Diode D2 is connected oppositely to the others to amplify the difference in capacitance between adjacent counter electrodes, +V cc, -V
CC is the power supply for ICI and IC2, and V AB, V I
Ic indicates its output.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of the operation of V AB and V 11c using the human detection means having the structure shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. When no one is present, the output voltage of both VAB and Vac is approximately 0. If there are people and you are at A, ■. is +81,B
If you are at C, it will be -82, and if you are at C, it will be approximately O.

Similarly, VBe changes approximately from O to -H3 to +H.
In other words, if there are people, VAIS. For either vBc, the output voltage changes between positive and negative.

As mentioned above, the pitch (P) of the arrangement of the counter electrode group is 128 (
m + a), the distance between the lines of the linear electrodes is approximately 98 (mm), and this distance is about the size of a child's foot, so no matter where a normal human being stands on the main body with one foot, there is a person. It can be sensed. Figure 5 shows the change in output voltage VA8 when an adult person is randomly placed on the main body. As can be seen from this characteristic, changes in VAB can be detected in units of seconds, and the value is a large value of ±20 to 30 (+aV). The electric carpet is placed on top of the main body and warms up slowly, and if a change over time of ±20 to 30 (mV) is obtained in seconds, the heating of the heater can be adequately controlled. In this way, the control circuit 6 is configured to control the heating of the heater by capturing the temporal change, that is, the fluctuation phenomenon, of the output voltage VAB% VBc.

To identify whether there is a person in the control circuit 6, predetermined values for the reference time width and amount of change in output voltage are input into the microcomputer that constitutes the circuit, and both VAI1 and VBc are set for a predetermined time. When it becomes less than a predetermined value, that is, when the fluctuation phenomenon no longer occurs, it is assumed that no one is present, and other than that, it is sufficient to assume that there is a person.Since the configuration is simple, a detailed explanation will be omitted.

As described above, the presence or absence of a person is interpreted as a change over time in the capacitance between at least three pairs of counter electrodes, that is, a change in the load distribution on the human body over time, so the stray capacitance of the person is not detected. First, it is possible to ensure operation that is not affected by disturbance conditions such as ground capacity and temperature. There is no need to provide any special means to remove these influences.

In addition, since the heating control of the heater captures the fluctuation phenomenon over time, it is possible to distinguish between static loads such as people and kotatsu, making it possible to create a system that matches the actual usage of electric carpets.

Furthermore, we detect changes in capacitance over time between the counter electrode groups,
Since the presence or absence of a person is determined by the logical sum of these detection signals, the system can reliably respond even if a person is placed in various positions such as the center or edge of the main body. The members that make up these counter electrode groups are a flexible conductive wire and a film-like conductor.
It has a simple configuration and can be implemented at low cost.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a device with a simple structure, low cost, and reliable operation. 1... Main body, 3... Planar electrode.

2... linear electrode,

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a control device for an electric heating appliance that collects heat by placing a main body equipped with a heater on the floor, counter electrodes (2) and (3) whose capacitance changes depending on the weight of the human body are connected to the main body ( 1), the capacitance of these counter electrodes (2) and (3) groups changes independently depending on the weight of the human body; A control device for an electric heating appliance, characterized in that a plurality of changes over time in capacitance between two sets of the heaters are detected, and the plurality of detection signals are used to control heating of a heater. 2. Counter electrode whose capacitance changes depending on the weight of the human body (2), (
At least three sets of counter electrodes (2) and (3) are provided in the main body (1), and the capacitance of these counter electrodes (2) and (3) varies independently depending on the weight of the human body. 2),
(3) A control device for an electric heating appliance, characterized in that it detects changes over time in capacitance between adjacent groups and performs heating control of the heater based on the logical sum of these detection signals. 3. One of the electrode parts (2) and (3) is a substantially parallel line formed by meandering a single conductive flexible wire, and the other electrode part is a substantially flat line. 3. The control device for an electric heating appliance according to claim 2, wherein the control device is a film-like conductor.