JPH06281163A - Human body sensor for electric foot warmer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize an infellible detection of an existence of a user by utilizing a convex mirror as a reflector which forms a light path leading around a plurality of supporting legs. CONSTITUTION:Convex mirrors 12 are used as a plurality of reflectors which reflect light emitted by a light emitting part 10 and form a light path A leading around supporting legs 1. The light emitted by the light emitting part 10 is reflected by the respective reflectors while its width is being widened step by step, and finally reaches a light receiving part 11. By this, a mounting error of the supporting legs 1 can be allowed within a range of light scattering angle of the respective convex mirrors 12. Further, the light receiving part 11, receiving by means of a light condensing means (a concave lens or a convex lens) the reflected light which reaches there after whose width is widened by the reflections by the convex mirrors 12, procures a sufficient amount of light. Accordingly an existence of a user can be detected without fail.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a human body sensor used to detect the presence or absence of a user in a household electric kotatsu.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electric kotatsu, which is widely used as a simple household heating appliance, has a main body frame for holding a heater unit supported on a floor surface by a plurality of support legs and is hung so as to cover them. Used by placing the top plate on the main formwork via the takotatsu futon.

In the heater unit, a blower fan that circulates the heat generated by the heater in a heating space under the main frame surrounded by a kotatsu futon, together with a heater that serves as a heat source, and the direction of the warm air blown out by the blower fan are arranged. A looper for changing is provided, and in recent years, in order to always obtain a comfortable use state, in addition to temperature control by turning on / off the heater, air volume control of circulating warm air by adjusting the rotation of the blower fan, and Wind direction control of the circulating warm air is performed by adjusting the operation of the looper.

On the other hand, in the electric kotatsu, the heating space under the main frame is covered with a kotatsu futon,
Since it cannot be observed from the outside, the power switch may be left on with no user. Such leaving is not only unfavorable from the viewpoint of energy saving, but also causes overheating of the heating space, which may eventually cause a fire. Therefore, JP-A-59-1318
In the electric kotatsu disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 51, a sensor (human body sensor) that detects the presence or absence of the user is provided, and the detection result of this human body sensor is reflected in the temperature control of the heater, and when the user does not exist. Is trying to solve the above-mentioned difficulties by loosening the heating degree of the heater.

In the human body sensor, an optical path is formed between a plurality of support legs that support the main body form, and the amount of light received by a light receiving portion arranged at the end of the optical path is cut off by the part of the user's body. It is configured to detect the presence or absence of the user by utilizing the decrease according to the above. Various forms of forming the optical path are disclosed in the above-mentioned JP-A-59-131851.

In the first formation mode, a light emitting portion and a light receiving portion are provided on each of the plurality of support legs, and the light emitting portions of the respective support legs emit light emitted along the sides of the main frame to receive light from adjacent support legs. According to the second formation mode, the light emitting portion is provided on one of the supporting legs that form a pair on the diagonal line of the main body formwork, and the light receiving portion is provided on the other side, and each light emitting portion emits along the diagonal line. The light emission is captured by the corresponding light receiving portion. In the third formation mode, the light emitting portion and the light receiving portion are provided on one supporting leg, and the prism (reflector) is attached to each of the other supporting legs. The light emitted from the part along one side of the main body form is sequentially reflected by the reflectors of the other supporting legs to form an optical path between the supporting legs along each side, which is located at the end of this optical path. The light receiving unit is used for capturing.

In the case of adopting the first forming mode among these forming modes, in a general electric kotatsu having a rectangular main body form, each of the four supporting legs supporting four corners has a light emitting portion and a light emitting portion. There is a problem in that it requires a light-receiving part and raises the product cost. When the second formation mode is adopted, the number of light emitting units and light receiving units is reduced, but the optical paths formed on the diagonal lines of the supporting legs are biased toward the central portion of the heating space, and in many cases, the main formwork There is a high possibility that the presence or absence of a user who will be seated along the side will be erroneously detected.

On the other hand, the third formation mode requires only one light emitting portion and one light receiving portion, and since the optical path is formed along each side of the main body form, the user's It can be said that this is desirable because there is little risk of false detection of existence.

[0009]

When the third formation mode is adopted, that is, when the optical path that goes between the support legs is formed by the reflectors of the plurality of support legs, the light emission of the light emitting section is as follows.
To reach the light receiving section by following a long optical path substantially corresponding to the outer periphery of the main body frame, in order to reliably receive light at the light receiving section, in order to reliably perform light reception at the light receiving section, a support leg provided with the light receiving section, and Precise positioning between the support legs with reflectors is required. Further, in the recent electric kotatsu, the main body frame and the top plate above the main frame tend to have a large area, and the accuracy of the positioning becomes more important.

On the other hand, in the case of an electric kotatsu, the support legs are often configured to be detachably attached to the main body form in consideration of the packaging as a product and the convenience of storage when unnecessary. In the case where the third formation mode is adopted, when the support legs are generally attached by the user at the time of starting and resuming the use, the result is that accurate positioning between them is forced, resulting in inaccurate positioning accuracy after attachment. There is a possibility that the function becomes insufficient and cannot function as a human body sensor.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an optical path between the supporting legs can be reliably formed even when there is a certain positioning error between the supporting legs provided with the reflector. An object of the present invention is to provide a human body sensor for an electric kotatsu that does not hinder the detection of the presence or absence of a user.

[0012]

A human body sensor for an electric kotatsu according to the present invention is provided in an electric kotatsu in which a main body form for holding a heater unit is supported on a floor surface by a plurality of supporting legs, and a light emitting part is provided. And a plurality of reflectors that reflect the light emitted from the light emitting unit to form an optical path that goes around between the support legs, and a light receiving unit that receives reflected light at the end of the optical path. In the human body sensor for an electric kotatsu that detects the presence or absence of a user based on the above, a convex mirror is used as the reflector.

In addition, the light receiving section includes a condensing means for condensing the reflected light, and a light receiver arranged in the vicinity of the condensing position of the condensing means, and the reflector serves as the reflector. It is characterized in that the surface of the support leg is used and that the optical path is formed at a predetermined height position from the floor surface so as to be substantially parallel to the floor surface.

[0014]

In the present invention, a convex mirror is used as a reflector forming an optical path that goes around a plurality of support legs, and the light emitted from the light emitting section reaches the light receiving section while being gradually widened by reflection by each convex mirror. Therefore, the mounting error of the support leg is allowed within the range of the divergence angle of the light by the convex mirror provided for each. Further, in the light receiving section, the reflected light that spreads and reaches by the reflection at each convex mirror is condensed by the condensing means (concave mirror or convex lens) to be received by the light receiver, and a sufficient amount of received light is secured.

Furthermore, the surface itself of the support leg is used as a reflector to prevent the reflector from falling off or misaligned after being mounted on the support leg to ensure a normal function as a human body sensor, and for the mounting. Reduce man-hours. Also. The optical path between the supporting legs is formed parallel to a predetermined height position from the floor surface to prevent erroneous detection due to the influence of reflection from the floor surface, and to reliably detect the user regardless of posture.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings showing the embodiments. FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of an electric kotatsu having a human body sensor according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view from below.

The electric kotatsu has a rectangular main body form 2,
It is supported on the floor surface 3 by the support legs 1, 1 ... Removably attached to the four corners of this, and the kotatsu bedding 4 is hung on the upper part of these so as to cover the whole, and the kotatsu bedding 4 is used. The top plate 5 is placed on the main body form 2 for use. The main body formwork 2 holds a heater unit 6 substantially at the center of the lower surface thereof. The heater unit 6 includes a heater as a heat source, a blower fan for generating a circulating wind, and a looper for changing the wind direction of the circulating wind. Built in.

In the electric kotatsu as described above, the heater, the blower fan and the looper of the heater unit 6 are respectively operated by the supply of power from a commercial power source (not shown), and the blast of the blower fan is brought into contact with the heater to form warm air. And is circulated in the heating space below the main body formwork 2 surrounded by the kotatsu bedding 4 in order to quickly warm the heating space. In addition, during this time, in order to always obtain a comfortable use state, the heater control unit 7 attached to an appropriate position of the main body form 2 operates to control the temperature so as to maintain the set temperature by turning the heater on and off, and the rotation of the blower fan. The air volume control of the circulating warm air by the adjustment and the wind direction control of the circulating warm air by the operation adjustment of the looper are performed.

In the human body sensor according to the present invention, one of the four supporting legs 1, 1 ... Supporting the main body form 2 has a light emitting portion 10 and a light receiving portion 11, and the other three have convex mirrors 12, 12 and 12 are provided, respectively, so that they are substantially parallel to the floor surface 3 at a predetermined height (= H) position from the floor surface 3 as shown in FIG.
As shown by the arrow in the figure, an optical path A is formed along each side of the main body mold 2 so as to make a loop between the support legs 1, 1.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of the support leg 1 having the light emitting portion 10 and the light receiving portion 11. This support leg 1 as shown
Has a triangular projection 13 facing the inside of the heating space. A light emitting window 14 and a light receiving window 15 are formed on both side surfaces of the protrusion 13 which are orthogonal to the long side and the short side of the main body frame 2, respectively. It is fixed inside and faces the light emitting window 14 and the light receiving window 15, respectively.

The light emitting section 10 is a light emitting diode (LED).
And the like. The light receiving unit 11 may be a device such as a phototransistor that emits an electrical output in response to an electric input. Are separately connected to the connection terminals 16, 16 ... Arranged side by side on the upper end surface of the support leg 1 via the lead wires embedded inside. These connection terminals 16, 16 ... Are connected to corresponding terminals (not shown) on the side of the main body frame 2 by attaching the support legs 1 to the main body frame 2, and input of an input to the light emitting unit 10 is applied. And the output of the light receiving unit 11 is taken out from the connection terminal
It is designed to take place through 16, 16 ...

FIG. 4 is an external perspective view of the support leg 1 provided with the convex mirror 12. As shown in the figure, the convex mirror 12 is fixed to one surface of the support leg 1 facing the inside of the heating space, and has a mirror surface having a predetermined curvature in the axial cross section of the support leg 1. The convex mirror 12 may be one that is a part of a sphere and has a mirror surface that has curvature in all directions.
The purpose of use is to widen the propagation light on the optical path A in a plane parallel to the floor surface 3, as will be described later.
It is sufficient to have a mirror surface as shown in.

In the human body sensor configured as described above, the light emitted from the light emitting portion 10 is emitted along one side (long side) of the main body mold 2 through the light emitting window 14 and is provided on the opposite side of the long side. It reaches the adjacent support legs 1 and is reflected at a substantially right angle by the convex mirror 12 provided on the support legs 1, and similarly by the convex mirrors 12 and 12 provided on the other two support legs 1, 1. The light receiving window which is reflected and follows the optical path A along each side of the main body form 2 to return to the first supporting leg 1 and open to the supporting leg 1.
It is captured by the light receiving unit 11 via 15.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing an actual form of the optical path A. The optical path A is a convex mirror provided on each support leg 1.
The propagating light which is formed by the reflection at 12 and follows the optical path A widens at each reflection at each convex mirror 12. Therefore, the positioning of each support leg 1 at the time of mounting is insufficient, and the optical axis of the reflected light at the convex mirror 12 provided for each is separated from the convex mirror 12 and the short side or the long side of the main body mold 2. Even when a disagreement occurs between the convex mirrors 12 adjacent to each other, when the disagreement is within the spread angle range of the reflected light by each convex mirror 12, a gap between the support legs 1, 1, 1 is as shown in FIG. The optical path A is secured as shown by hatching, and the light receiving section 11 at the end of the optical path A reliably receives light.

On the other hand, the light reaching the light receiving section 11 becomes part of the light emitted from the light emitting section 10 by being reflected by the three convex mirrors 12, 12, 12 and the amount of light received by the light receiving section 11 is reduced. Although there is an inconvenience, this inconvenience can be solved by configuring the light receiving unit 11 as schematically shown in FIG.

The light receiving section 11 shown in FIG. 6 comprises a light receiving element 11a such as a phototransistor and a concave mirror 11b having a focus on the light receiving surface of the light receiving element 11a. The concave mirror 11b faces the light receiving window 15. And fixed. According to this configuration,
Since the entire amount of light introduced through the light receiving window 15 is focused on the light receiving surface of the light receiving element 11a by the concave mirror 11b,
The output of 11a corresponds to the amount of light received on the entire surface of the light receiving window 15, and the decrease in the amount of light due to reflection by the convex mirrors 12, 12, 12 can be supplemented to some extent. Since this configuration aims to increase the amount of light received by the light receiving element 11a serving as the output end of the light receiving section 11, a convex lens is used instead of the concave mirror 11b, and the light receiving element 11a is arranged at the focal position of the convex lens. You may do it.

The convex mirror 12 is generally constructed by retrofitting a mirror plate, which is formed separately from the support leg 1, to the one surface by a joining means such as adhesion, but at a predetermined position on the one surface. It is also possible to use a part of the surface of the support leg 1 as the convex mirror 12 by forming a convex portion on the surface and coating the convex portion with a high light reflectance. In this case, the reflectance of each convex mirror 12 decreases, but there is no possibility that the convex mirror 12 will fall off or be displaced in each support leg 1, and the destabilization of the optical path A can be prevented.

The optical path A formed as described above runs along the inside of each side of the main body formwork 2 and, as described above, is substantially flush with the floor surface 3 at a predetermined height from the floor surface 3. Since they are parallel to each other, when a part of the user's body seated along each side of the main body form 2 is inserted into the heating space, it is reliably shut off. On the other hand, when the cutoff occurs at an appropriate position on the optical path A, the light reaching the light receiving section 11 located at the end of the optical path A is greatly reduced, and the amount of light received by the light receiving section 11 becomes almost zero. The presence or absence of the user can be detected by monitoring the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 11.

The height H of the optical path A on the floor 3 is such that the optical path A is surely shut off in a general use condition of an electric kotatsu, and the reflection on the floor 3 is the amount of light received by the light receiving portion 11. It should be set within the range of 5 to 40 cm, considering that it does not affect

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an electric kotatsu control system including a human body sensor according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the light emitting unit 10 is connected to the output side of the heater control unit 7 via an amplifier circuit 20, and responds to an operation command given intermittently or continuously from the heater control unit 7 during operation. It is designed to emit light. On the other hand, the output of the light receiving unit 11 which receives the light emitted from the light emitting unit 10 after being reflected by the convex mirror 12 is given to the heater control unit 7 via the waveform processing circuit 21. The light emitting unit 10 and the light receiving unit 11 are connected to the heater control unit 7 through the connection terminals 16, 16 ...

An operation section 22 including various switches for driving operation, such as a power switch and a temperature setting switch, is connected to the input side of the heater control section 7, and the output side of the heater control section 7 is further connected to the input side. The heater unit 6 including a heater, a blower fan and a looper is connected.

The heater control unit 7 performs the basic operation of controlling the heater unit 6 so as to maintain the heating space under the main mold 2 at the target temperature set by the user in the operation unit 22, and The output of the light receiving unit 11 given via the waveform processing circuit 21, that is, the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 11 is constantly monitored, the presence or absence of the user is determined based on this amount of light received, and the result of this determination is shown in FIG. The operation shown in the flowchart shown is performed.

That is, the heater control section 7 starts its operation when the power switch of the operation section 22 is turned on. First, as described above, the operation command is issued to the light emitting section 10 to cause the light emitting section 10 to emit light. This is performed (step 1), the output of the light receiving unit 11 after this light emission is fetched, and the presence or absence of light reception is determined (step 2).

The output of the light receiving portion 11 is related to the presence or absence of the user as described above, and becomes almost zero when the user is present. Therefore, the determination in step 2 corresponds to the determination of the presence or absence of the user, and when it is determined that the light receiving unit 11 has received light, that is, the user does not exist, the heater control unit 7 determines that the second When the counter T ₂ is reset and the first counter T ₁ is counted (step 3), the count value of the counter T ₁ is checked (step 4), and when the count value is less than the predetermined value t ₁ , Returns to step 1,
When it is t ₁ or more, the process proceeds to step 5, a power down command is issued to the heater unit 6, the first counter T ₁ is reset (step 6), and the process returns to step 1.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step 2 that the amount of light received by the light receiving section 11 is zero, that is, the user is present, the heater control section 7 resets the _first counter T ₁ and sets the second counter T ₁ at the same time. Of the counter T ₂ is counted (step 7), the count value of the counter T ₂ is checked (step 8), and if the count value is less than the predetermined value t ₂ , the process returns to step 1 and t ₂ If the above is the case, the process proceeds to step 9, issues a power-up command to the heater unit 6, resets the second counter T ₂ (step 10), and returns to step 1.

The power-down command issued when it is determined that the user does not exist is a command that lowers the target temperature set in the operation unit 22 by the user, and when the state where the user does not exist continues. The control of the heater unit 6, that is, the temperature control by turning on / off the heater, the air volume control of the circulating warm air by adjusting the rotation speed of the blower fan, and the wind direction control of the warm air by the operation of the looper are gradually reduced in accordance with the power down command. The temperature of the heating space under the main body mold 2 is lowered, and energy saving and prevention of overheating of the heating space are achieved.

On the contrary, the power-up command issued when it is determined that the user is present is a command to raise the target temperature, and this command has the upper limit of the target temperature set in the operation unit 22 by the user. Done as. That is, after the transition from the state in which there is no user to the state in which there is a user, the control of the heater unit 6 is performed for the target temperature that gradually rises according to the power-up command, and The temperature of the heating space under the frame 2 quickly rises to the desired temperature.

In the power down command and the power up command as described above, the presence / absence of the user is determined by the counter T ₁
And T ₂ for a predetermined count (t ₁ or t ₂ ) to be issued. This is to prevent an unnecessary control operation that a power-down command is issued due to absence for a short time, and a power-up command is issued according to subsequent feedback,
In particular, the waiting time t ₁ until the power down command is issued when the user is absent is preferably a sufficiently long time of about 5 minutes.

By the operation of the heater control section 7 as described above,
While in use, the heating space under the main body formwork 2 can be maintained in a comfortable environment, while when the user is absent, that is, when not in use, energy can be prevented from being wasted and overheating can be prevented. Like Note that this is the convex mirror 1
In addition to the fact that the optical path A is reliably formed by reflection at 2, 12, and 12, a sufficient amount of light is ensured by the light receiving section 11 provided with the concave mirror 11b, and a predetermined height position from the floor surface 3 is provided. This can be achieved by surely detecting the presence or absence of the user by using the human body sensor according to the present invention in which the influence of the reflection from the floor surface 3 is eliminated by forming the optical path A on the.

The detection result of the human body sensor according to the present invention is the heater unit 6 according to the flowchart shown in FIG.
The present invention is not limited to the use for controlling the heater, but for example, it may be more simply used for on / off control of the heater for heating, and also for generating an alarm for notifying that the power switch is forgotten when the user is absent. It can also be used.

[0041]

As described in detail above, in the human body sensor for an electric kotatsu according to the present invention, an optical path around each supporting leg is formed by the reflection of the convex mirror provided between the plurality of supporting legs, and the light emitted from the light emitting portion is emitted. Since it reaches the light receiving portion while widening the width by reflection on each convex mirror, the mounting error of the support leg can be allowed within the range of the spread angle of light by each convex mirror, and the optical path is formed reliably, and this optical path is formed. There is no hindrance to the detection of the presence or absence of the user based on the light reception result of the light receiving unit which changes due to the interruption of the.

Further, since the light receiving section is constructed so that the reflected light which spreads and reaches by the reflection of each convex mirror is condensed by the condensing means to be received by the light receiver, a sufficient light receiving amount should be secured. Moreover, since the convex mirror that is a reflector is formed by using the surface of the support leg, there is no dropout or displacement of the reflector, and a normal function as a human body sensor can be secured,
Furthermore, since the optical path between the supporting legs is formed substantially parallel to the predetermined height position from the floor surface, the present invention is excellent in that the presence or absence of the user can be reliably detected without being affected by the reflection from the floor surface. Produce the effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of an electric kotatsu having a human body sensor according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view from below of an electric kotatsu having a human body sensor according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of a support leg including a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit.

FIG. 4 is an external perspective view of a support leg including a convex mirror.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a mode of forming an optical path between support legs in the human body sensor according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a desirable configuration of a light receiving section.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a control system of an electric kotatsu having a human body sensor according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of heater control based on the detection result of the human body sensor according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Support leg 2 Main body form 3 Floor surface 6 Heater unit 7 Heater control unit 10 Light emitting unit 11 Light receiving unit 12 Convex mirror

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An electric kotatsu in which a main body form for holding a heater unit is supported on a floor surface by a plurality of support legs, and the electric kotatsu is provided with a light emitting portion and between the support legs by reflecting light emitted from the light emitting portion. An electric kotatsu human body sensor that includes a plurality of reflectors that form an optical path that goes around and a light receiving unit that receives reflected light at the end of the optical path, and that detects the presence or absence of a user based on the light receiving result of the light receiving unit. 2. A human body sensor for an electric kotatsu, characterized in that a convex mirror is used as the reflector. 2. The human body sensor for an electric kotatsu according to claim 1, wherein the light receiving unit includes a light condensing unit that condenses the reflected light, and a light receiver arranged near the light condensing position of the light condensing unit. . 3. The human body sensor for an electric kotatsu according to claim 1, wherein the surface of the support leg is used as the reflector. 4. The optical path is formed at a predetermined height position from the floor surface so as to be substantially parallel to the floor surface.
A human body sensor for an electric kotatsu according to claim 2 or 3.