JPH0439896Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an automatic water supply device that supplies water based on a human body detection signal, and particularly relates to an automatic water supply device that detects a human body using ultrasonic waves.

[Prior Art] Automatic water supply devices equipped with a human body sensing element and configured to supply water in response to a human body sensing signal are widely used in flush toilets, wash basins, and the like.

As this human body sensing element, a combination of an infrared transmitter and a light receiving element is often used, but a combination of an ultrasonic transmitter and a receiving element is also used.

For example, in a men's flush toilet equipped with this type of automatic water supply device, when a user who has been standing in front of the toilet leaves, this departure is detected and the flush water starts flowing. Furthermore, in the case of a washbasin or washbasin, when the hand is extended to the faucet spout, water starts flowing, and when the hand is pulled back, the water is stopped.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] Conventional ultrasonic detection type automatic water supply devices are equipped with an ultrasonic transmitter and an ultrasonic receiver to constantly transmit and receive ultrasonic waves, and do not require electricity. Consumption is high.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The automatic water supply device according to the present invention includes an ultrasonic transceiver and an ultrasonic transducer, and outputs an operating signal to the ultrasonic transducer, and uses a signal from the ultrasonic transducer to An automatic water supply device comprising: a control unit that outputs a control signal to the water supply device; the control unit intermittently outputs an operating signal to the ultrasonic transmitter at a predetermined period; It is equipped with an ultrasonic controller, a memory, and a water supply device driver circuit, and the clock outputs a first pulse of a predetermined period to the ultrasonic controller, and the pulse start time is synchronized with the first pulse, and the clock outputs a first pulse of a predetermined period to the ultrasonic controller. A second pulse with a pulse width shorter than that of the first pulse is output to the memory, and the ultrasonic controller outputs an ultrasonic transmission signal to the ultrasonic receiver/transmitter at the beginning of the first pulse, and the subsequent pulse During the remaining period, the ultrasonic reception signal of the ultrasonic transceiver is input, and the human body detection signal based on the reception signal is output to the memory, and the memory receives the second pulse at each clock terminal. At the same time, the human body detection signal of the ultrasonic controller is inputted to the data terminal, and the second
A multi-bit shift register that sequentially stores the human body detection signal input at the end of the pulse of the pulse, an AND circuit provided in parallel to input the output of each bit of the shift register, and
Input the outputs of the NOR circuit and the AND circuit at the set terminal,
A flip-flop into which the output of the NOR circuit is input at a reset terminal, and the driver circuit is operated based on the output of the flip-flop.

[Operation] According to the present invention, since the ultrasonic transceiver is operated intermittently at a predetermined period, power consumption is extremely low.

In the water supply device of the present invention, water is supplied only when a human body is detected continuously within the cycle time of two or more pulses, and the water is immediately stopped when the human body is no longer detected.

[Example] Examples will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of the memory, FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of the driver circuit, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are time charts showing the operation. The device of this embodiment is built into a men's flush toilet, and when the user stands in front of the toilet and then steps away from the front of the toilet, the solenoid valve opens and flush water is supplied from the water supply pipe to the toilet. It operates in such a way that

Reference numeral 1 denotes a clock, which outputs a first pulse of a predetermined period to the ultrasonic controller 2. The ultrasonic controller 2 intermittently outputs an actuation signal to the ultrasonic transceiver 3 based on this first pulse, and the ultrasonic transceiver 3 intermittently emits ultrasonic waves in accordance with this actuation signal. send. This ultrasonic wave is reflected by the human body 4 and received by the ultrasonic receiver/transmitter 3. The output of the ultrasonic transducer 3 is input to the ultrasonic controller 2. The ultrasonic controller 2 is
Based on the output of the ultrasonic transceiver 3, it is determined whether or not there is a human body in front of the ultrasonic transceiver 3, and the judgment result is output to the memory 5 as a detection signal.

The clock 1 also outputs a second pulse to the memory 5. As shown in FIG. 4, this second pulse has a rising time t ₁ that is synchronized with the first pulse, and a falling time t ₃ that is synchronized with the falling of the first pulse.
Slightly ahead of _t4 . This second pulse is used as a timing pulse for reading the detection signal into the memory 5.

The memory 5 outputs a control signal to the driver circuit 6 based on this human body detection signal, and the driver circuit 6
opens and closes the solenoid valve 8 provided in the water supply pipe 7. Note that a control section 9 is composed of a clock 1, an ultrasonic controller 2, a memory 5, and a driver circuit 6.

To explain in more detail, in the ultrasonic controller 2, as shown in FIG _{. 4 ,} the ultrasonic transducer 3 A transmission signal is output at , and the ultrasonic receiver/transmitter emits ultrasonic waves from t ₁ to t ₂ . During the remaining time (t ₂ to t ₄ ) of the pulse width of the first pulse, the ultrasonic transceiver 3 operates as a receiver and receives the ultrasonic waves reflected by the human body 4. conduct.

After this received signal is amplified by an amplifier (not shown) provided in the ultrasonic controller 2,
A comparator (not shown) compares the level of the signal with a reference signal, distinguishes it into an H signal indicating that a human body is detected, and an L signal indicating that a human body is not detected, and outputs it to the memory 5 as a detection signal.

Next, the configuration of the memory 5 will be explained with reference to FIG.

Reference numeral 10 designates a shift register, into which the second pulse from the ultrasonic controller 2 is input to each clock terminal, and a detection signal is input to the data terminal. In this embodiment, the shift register 10 has two
The output of each bit is
It is output to an AND circuit 11 and a NOR circuit 12. The output of AND circuit 11 is flip-flop 1
3, and the output of the NOR circuit 12 is input to the reset terminal R.
The output terminal Q of the flip-flop 13 is connected to a single shot generation circuit 14.

In this shift register 10, as shown in FIG. 4, a detection signal input to the data terminal D when the second pulse falls from H to L (time _t3 ) is stored. Then, when the level of the detection signal is H twice in a row, both output terminal levels of the shift register 10 become H, so the AND circuit 1
The output of flip-flop 1 becomes H level, and flip-flop 1
3 is in the set state and the output Q becomes H.

If the detection signal is L twice in a row, both outputs of the shift register 20 become L, the output of the NOR circuit 12 becomes H, the flip-flop 13 is reset, and the output level of the terminal Q becomes L.
The single shot generating circuit 14 outputs a single pulse output to the driver circuit 6 in response to the fall of the signal level of the Q terminal output from H to L.

Next, the configuration of the driver circuit 6 will be explained with reference to FIG. 3.

The output of the single shot generating circuit 14 is connected to the base of the PNP transistor 17 and the NPN transistor 1 via a resistor 15 and a diode 16.
8 collector. transistor 1
Power supply voltage is applied to emitter 7, and
The collector is input to a power control circuit 19 and a timer 20. The output of the timer 20 is input to the base of the transistor 18, and the emitter of the transistor 18 is grounded. The power control circuit 19 supplies power to the solenoid valve 8 to open the solenoid valve 8 when the transistor 17 is turned on, and to close the solenoid valve 8 when the transistor 17 is turned off.

The timer 20 performs self-maintenance of the circuit for a predetermined period of time, and outputs a signal H to the transistor 18 for a predetermined period of time after the transistor 17 is turned on. Signal H is input to.

In the automatic water supply device configured in this manner, when a human body output is generated in front of the ultrasonic transducer 3 as shown in FIG. 5, the ultrasonic controller 2 outputs an H pulse as a detection signal. When the ultrasonic controller 2 outputs an H pulse twice in succession, the flip-flop 13 of the memory 5 is set and the Q terminal output becomes H.

Next, when the human body 4 moves away from in front of the ultrasonic transducer 3, the detection signal level of the ultrasonic controller 2 becomes L. In this state, when the time corresponding to two pulses from clock 1 has elapsed, flip-flop 1
3 is reset, the Q terminal output becomes L level, and at the same time as this falling from H to L, the single shot generation circuit 14 outputs one shot. As a result, the driver circuit 6 outputs a valve opening signal to the solenoid valve 8, and when the solenoid valve 8 is opened for a predetermined period of time, flush water is supplied to the toilet bowl.

As described above, according to the device of this embodiment, toilet bowl cleaning is automatically started when a human body leaves the front of the toilet bowl, and odor generation etc. can be reliably prevented. Since the ultrasonic transmitter/receiver 3 operates intermittently, its power consumption is extremely low.

In this embodiment, the driver circuit 6 performs the water supply operation when the detection signal becomes H twice and then becomes L, so that the detection signal becomes H twice and then becomes L, so that the driver circuit 6 performs the water supply operation. Detection signal is 2
If it does not reach H twice in a row, the water supply will not operate.
No malfunctions.

In this embodiment, it is preferable that the solenoid valve 8 be of a type that is energized only when the flow path is switched between opening and closing the valve, since it consumes less power.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the device of the present invention applied to a water supply device for a washbasin faucet, and FIG. 7 is a time chart illustrating its operation.

In this embodiment, when the human body detection signal from the ultrasonic controller 2 becomes H level twice in a row, the output of the memory 5 becomes H level. In this embodiment, the output terminal Q of the flip-flop is directly input to the power control circuit 19, and the driver circuit 6 immediately outputs a valve opening signal to the solenoid valve 8 when the signal from the memory 5 becomes H. Start spouting water. In addition, when the human body detection signal from the ultrasonic controller 2 reaches the L level for two consecutive pulses, the memory 5
The output becomes L, and the electromagnetic valve 8 is closed by the power control circuit 19 to shut off the water.

In each of the embodiments described above, water discharge and water stop are switched when the detection signal becomes H or L twice in a row, but the switch may be made when the detection signal continues three times or more.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the first pulse has a period of 0.5 Sec or more, especially 1 Sec or more.
In addition, the time for transmitting ultrasonic waves (t ₁ to _{t 2} ) is 0.1 to
It is preferable to set it to 1 mSec, and the pulse width (t ₁ ~
t ₄ ) is preferably about 2 to 100 mSec.
The pulse width of the second pulse (t ₁ to _{t 3} ) is slightly smaller than the pulse width of the first pulse (for example, 1 mSec or less)
It is preferable to make it small.

Note that when the device of the present invention is applied to a water supply device for a men's flush toilet, for example, the periods of the first and second pulses may be switched between long and short periods depending on whether or not a human body is detected. That is, when the detection signal from the ultrasonic controller 2 indicates that no human body is present, the period is long (for example, several seconds or more, especially 10 seconds or more);
When the detection signal indicates the presence of a human body, the period is short (for example, several seconds or less, particularly 1 second or less). In this way, the power consumption of the circuit when the toilet bowl is not in use is extremely low. Furthermore, since the cycle changes to a short period when the toilet starts to be used, it is possible to quickly detect when a human body has left the toilet, and to start flushing the toilet immediately after using the toilet.

The device of the present invention may also be constructed such that the entire control section 9 is placed into the activated and non-activated states by a signal from the activation time storage circuit. This operation time memory circuit outputs a control signal so that the control section 9 is placed in an operable state only within a predetermined time range, such as from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., for example. Therefore, for example, from 8:00 pm to 8:00 am, the control unit 9 is in a non-energized state and does not consume any power.

Further, the device of the present invention may be configured such that the illuminance determining circuit causes the control unit 9 to be activated only when the brightness inside the toilet room is equal to or higher than a predetermined brightness. In this case, the control unit 9 is activated only during the day and at night when the lights are on, and does not consume any power at night when the lights are not on.
Note that a solar cell may be provided in place of the illuminance determination circuit, and the control unit 9 may be configured to be operated by power supplied from the solar cell.

[Effects] As described above, the automatic water supply device of the present invention operates the ultrasonic receiver/transmitter intermittently, and as a means of this, the power supply of the ultrasonic controller is controlled so that power is supplied only at the necessary timing. Therefore, by reducing the power consumption of this circuit to zero at unnecessary times, the power consumption during device operation is extremely low.

The device of the present invention has a simple circuit configuration, and
No malfunctions and high reliability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the device of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a circuit diagram of the memory, Fig. 3 is a circuit diagram of the driver circuit, and Figs. 4 and 5 are time charts explaining the operation. . FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing another embodiment, and FIG. 7 is a time chart of the same. 1...Clock, 2...Ultrasonic controller,
3... Ultrasonic transceiver/transmitter, 5... Memory, 6... Driver circuit, 8... Solenoid valve, 9... Control section.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] An ultrasonic receiver/transmitter, and a control unit that outputs an operating signal to the ultrasonic receiver/transmitter and outputs a control signal to a water supply device based on the signal from the ultrasonic receiver/transmitter. An automatic water supply device having a clock, an ultrasonic controller, a memory, and a water supply device driver circuit, wherein the control unit intermittently outputs an operating signal to the ultrasonic transducer at a predetermined period, and includes a clock, an ultrasonic controller, a memory, and a water supply device driver circuit. The clock outputs a first pulse of a predetermined period to the ultrasonic controller, and outputs a second pulse whose pulse start time is synchronized with the first pulse and whose width is shorter than that of the first pulse. The pulse is output to the memory, and the ultrasonic controller outputs an ultrasonic transmission signal to the ultrasonic transceiver at the beginning of the first pulse, and then transmits the ultrasonic signal from the ultrasonic transceiver to the ultrasonic transceiver during the remaining period of the pulse. A sound wave reception signal is inputted, and a human body detection signal based on the received signal is outputted to a memory, and the memory inputs the second pulse through a clock terminal and detects the human body of the ultrasonic controller. The signal is input at the data terminal, and the second
A multi-bit shift register that sequentially stores the human body detection signal input at the end of the pulse of the pulse, an AND circuit provided in parallel to input the output of each bit of the shift register, and
Input the outputs of the NOR circuit and the AND circuit at the set terminal,
An ultrasonic detection type automatic water supply device comprising: a flip-flop into which the output of a NOR circuit is input through a reset terminal, and the driver circuit is operated based on the output of the flip-flop.