JPH0726989Y2 - Liquid level sensing device - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial field of application The present invention relates to a liquid amount sensing device in which a sensor is provided by using a liquid amount display tube of a jar pot, and safety and handling are improved by electronic control of a microcomputer or the like. It is a thing.

2. Description of the Related Art A schematic structure of a conventional product jar pot will be described with reference to FIG. 3. An upper communication pipe 4, a lower communication pipe 5, and a liquid amount display between the upper and lower side walls of a container 2 provided inside the jar pot body 1 Each tube 6 is fixed in communication with the container 2, and a gauge window 7 is provided on the outer wall of the jar pot body 1 corresponding to the liquid amount display tube 6 so that the water level inside the container 2 can be confirmed.

Problems to be solved by the invention Since the jar pot with the above structure is only checked by human eyes, even if the internal hot water becomes low and water needs to be supplied, no notification will be given, and in the worst case, it will be in an empty state. become.
In addition, if too much water is added, the space 2a above the container 2 will decrease when the container 2 is in a boiling state due to the heating of the heater 3, so there is the problem that hot water will spill outside the jar pot body 1. .

To solve this problem, a product that reports the water supply status has already been commercialized. However, if a sensor for overfilling the water is installed, the installation becomes complicated and the lead sen is easily visible from the outside. Since there are problems such as increased costs for processing, there was a problem that it could not be easily commercialized.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made in order to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks. A liquid amount display tube is provided on the outer wall of a container, and various sensors and the same are held between the container and the liquid amount display tube. A printed circuit board to be fixed is provided, and an electronic control unit for performing various controls based on signals from various sensors is further provided inside the jar pot body.

Operation With the above-described configuration, when water is put into the container, the water level can be visually checked by the liquid volume display tube, and it is possible to give a notification according to the water level and control the energization.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

1 is a jar pot main body, 2 is a container provided in the jar pot main body 1, 3 is a heater provided at the lower end of the container 2, 4 is an upper communication pipe fixed to the upper end of the outer wall of the container 2, and 5 is penetrated at the lower end of the outer wall of the container 2. A fixed lower communication pipe, 6 is a liquid quantity display tube made of a transparent material in which the upper communication tube 4 and the lower communication tube 5 are connected in communication, and 7 is a transparent material provided on the outer wall of the container 2 corresponding to the liquid quantity display tube 6. Gauge window consisting of, 8
Is a sensor unit provided between the container 2 and the liquid volume display tube 6, and its structure is as follows. 9 is the sensor unit 8
On the outer surface of the printed circuit board that forms the substrate, a water level pattern 9a is provided to clarify the refraction pattern depending on the presence or absence of water. Reference numeral 10 is an optical sensor connected to the printed circuit board 9 to detect the presence or absence of water by light emission / reception. Reference numeral 11 is a sensor cover which is fixed to the printed circuit board 9 so as to cover the optical sensor 10. The liquid level is displayed on the center of the outer surface. A liquid amount display tube holding portion 11a for housing the tube 6 and sensor windows 11b for keeping the amount of light passing through the optical sensor 10 constant are provided on both side surfaces thereof. The optical sensor 10 and the sensor cover 11 are fixed to the upper and lower ends of the printed circuit board 9 by fixing screws 12, respectively, and form a full water sensor 13 and a water supply sensor 14. Reference numeral 15 denotes a lead wire connected to the lower end of the printed circuit board 9, and 16 denotes an electronic control unit to which the other end of the lead wire 15 is connected and which receives various electric signals from the full water sensor 13 and the water supply sensor 14 to perform various controls.

With the above configuration, the operation of the structure of the present invention will be described next with reference to the drawings. When water is put in the container 2, the liquid quantity display tube 6
Is in the state of communicating vertically with the container 2, and thus rises at the same level as the water level inside the container 2. At this time, if the water is filled beyond the position of the full water sensor 13 (full water) and there is water in the liquid volume display tube 6, the light transmittance between both sensor windows 11b is different from that when there is no water. Controller unit
As soon as it is sent to 16, the alarm is sent, and control such as turning off the power to the heater is performed. On the other hand, if the hot water in the container 2 is used too much and the water level falls below the water supply sensor 14, the same water supply sensor as above
When 14 senses and operates the electronic control unit 16 to give a notification, it controls the heater 3 to be de-energized.

This structure has the following effects due to the use of the printed circuit board 9 for the substrate forming the sensor.

The signal lead wires from the full water sensor 13 and the water supply sensor 14 are not necessary because the pattern on the back surface of the printed board 9 can be utilized. Therefore, the mounting is simplified and the lead wire is not visible from the outside.

Since the full water sensor 13 and the water supply sensor 14 are fixed by one part of the printed circuit board 9, there is no increase in the number of parts,
Even if the number of sensors increases in the future, there is no need to increase the number of parts that hold them.

Since the inside of the jar pot body 1 can be seen through the gauge window 7, some kind of cover part is required between the container 2 and the liquid quantity display tube 6, so a cover part was specially provided in this part in the conventional product. Does not increase the number of parts because it also has that function.

The water level pattern 9a generally uses a printed nameplate, but in this case, since the component mounting surface of the printed board 9 is generally silk-printed, the water level pattern 9a can be printed at the same time, so the number of parts can be reduced. It can be reduced.

As described above, according to the present invention, since the liquid amount display tube is provided on the outer wall of the container and the various sensors and the printed circuit board for holding them are provided between the container and the liquid amount display tube, the lead wire for the sensor and There is no need for fixed parts, there is no need to separately provide a cover between the liquid volume display tube and the container, a nameplate for displaying the water level pattern, etc., and there is an effect that it can have excellent functions with a simple configuration. Since an electronic control unit was installed in
It is possible to provide a convenient and safe product by controlling output of various sensors, for example, by notifying the full amount or empty amount and turning off the heater.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a jar pot to which an embodiment of the liquid amount sensing device of the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of essential parts of the same, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a conventional jar pot. 1 ... Jarpot body, 2 ... Container, 3 ... Heater, 6 ...
… Liquid level display tube, 9 …… Printed circuit board, 9a …… Water level pattern,
10 …… Light sensor, 11 …… Sensor cover, 13 …… Full water sensor, 14 …… Water supply sensor, 16 …… Electronic control unit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A liquid quantity display tube (6) is provided on the outer wall of the container (2) so as to communicate with the container (2) in the jar pot body (1), and the container (2) and the liquid quantity display tube (6). Various sensors and a printed circuit board (9) for holding and fixing them are provided between them, and an electronic control unit (16) for performing various controls based on the signals of the various sensors is provided in the jar pot body (1). As the sensor, a full water sensor (13) is provided above the printed circuit board (9) and a water supply sensor (14) is provided below.
A liquid amount sensing device characterized by being provided.