JPH10200967A - Remote control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To unnecessitate a voltage converting circuit, to simultaneously perform measurement with less error and to use a battery to a limit by boosting voltage of the battery and surely setting power voltage of a control part to be higher than the voltage of the battery. SOLUTION: The voltage of the battery 1 is inputted to a boosting power supply 2, boosted and supplied to the control part 3, a load 4, a transmission/reception part 5 as the power supply. The control part 3 directly measures the voltage of the battery 1 and always judges that a remote controller itself is in an operation possible state. After the remote control part is started to be used, the voltage of the battery is measured by the controller 3 at any time and the controller itself learns to what extent the voltage of the battery drops according to a state of the load 4. When the control part 3 judges that the voltage of the battery becomes a minimum value of the voltage required by the boosting power supply 2 at a maximum load, the control part 3 transmits information to the load 4 and the transmission/reception part 5, the load 4 informs the information to a user by a display part and an informing part and the transmission/reception part 5 simultaneously transmits that a function of the remote controller is disabled to equipment main body 6 by radio wave, etc.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote control device for remotely controlling an apparatus main body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of remote control device generally reduces the voltage of a battery to produce a stable power supply, and when the battery voltage drops, it is common to measure the voltage at the maximum load. there were. As shown in FIG. 3, this type of device uses a step-down constant-voltage power supply 11 to reduce the voltage of a battery 10.
A voltage suitable for the control unit 13 and the load 14 is generated and supplied. The voltage of the battery 10 is measured by the load 1
4 was performed by the control unit 13 via the voltage conversion unit 12 when the supply of the current to the maximum was maximum.

[0003]

However, in the conventional remote control device, since the step-down type power supply is used, the power supply voltage of the control unit 13 is always lower than the battery voltage, and the battery voltage is reduced. In order to perform the measurement, the voltage conversion unit 12 needs to convert the voltage to a high voltage level that can be measured by the control unit 13, which requires a voltage conversion circuit and has a problem that an error occurs during the conversion. Was.

Further, conventionally, the voltage of the battery 10 is measured when the load is at a maximum, but if the maximum load state has not been maintained for a long period of time, the battery voltage at the maximum load cannot be measured. When the load actually reaches the maximum load, there is a problem that the voltage of the battery 10 may be too low and the remote control device itself may not function.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has a configuration in which the voltage of a battery is boosted and the power supply voltage of the control unit is always higher than the voltage of the battery. By monitoring the voltage drop due to the load condition, the voltage at the maximum load can be calculated even when the non-maximum load is measured.

According to the above invention, since the control unit can directly measure the voltage of the battery without requiring the voltage conversion unit, the voltage conversion circuit becomes unnecessary, and the voltage of the battery is converted to the voltage conversion circuit. Can be measured in a small state by the error generated in

Further, by calculating the battery voltage at the maximum load by calculation, even if there is a rarely present maximum load condition, the voltage at that time can be estimated in advance, so that the remote control device itself functions reliably. It is possible to notify the user that the battery has run out and control the device main body while the device is in the available state.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention comprises a battery, a boosted power supply for boosting the voltage of the battery, and a control unit for controlling a main body of the apparatus using the voltage boosted by the boosted power supply as a power supply. Then, the control unit directly detects the voltage of the battery, and can notify the user when the detected voltage becomes equal to or lower than a predetermined value.

In addition, the battery has a boosted power supply for boosting the voltage of the battery, and a control unit for controlling the main body of the apparatus using the voltage boosted by the boosted power supply as a power supply. Then, the control unit detects the voltage of the battery, and when the detected voltage falls below a certain level, the control method of the device main body can be changed.

[0010] Further, there is provided a control unit for calculating the battery voltage at the maximum load at the time of non-maximum load. And
When measuring the non-maximum load, the control unit can calculate and estimate the battery voltage at the maximum load.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. (Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a remote control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a characteristic diagram of a general battery voltage.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a battery for a power supply, 2 denotes a boosting power supply for boosting the voltage of the battery 1, 3 denotes a control unit having a learning program for voltage drop of the battery 1, and 4 denotes a control unit. , A transmission / reception unit 5 connected to the control unit 3, and a device body 6.
Although it can be applied to any equipment, here, the equipment main body 6 will be described as a water heater.

The load 4 includes an operation input unit for issuing a command to the device main unit 6, a display unit for displaying the state of the device main unit 6, a backlight for improving the visibility of the display unit, It includes a reporting unit for reporting various information to a user who uses this remote control device. Further, the transmitting / receiving unit 5
Is a part for transmitting information to and from the device main body 6, and various transmission means such as wireless, light, and sound waves exist.

Next, referring to FIG. 2, the horizontal axis indicates the elapsed time of use, and the vertical axis indicates the voltage of the battery 1. Assuming that the battery has been used in the standard load mode, the graph at each measurement point indicates that the battery has been used in the standard load mode and that the battery voltage when the load 4 is connected at each measurement point decreases with time. The line 7 indicates when the load 4 is minimum, the line 9 indicates when the load 4 is maximum, and the line 8 indicates when the load 4 is intermediate.

[0015] Voltage was V ₀ at time T ₀ becomes a voltage lower than V ₁ as indicated by point A at maximum load if the time T _1, has elapsed further time, the T ₂ when it becomes the voltage at the maximum load becomes V _2, the V ₁ even when the middle load.

The operation and operation will be described below with reference to FIGS. Time T when use of this remote control device was started
Voltage of the battery 1 when the ₀ is V _0, which is boosted power supply 2
The boosted power supply 2 is boosted to a voltage higher than V ₀ and supplied to the control unit 3, the load 4, and the transmission / reception unit 5 as power. The control unit 3 exchanges data and signals with the load 4 and the transmission / reception unit 5 to control the device body 6 and notify the user of the state of the device body 6.

Further, since the control unit 3 always operates at a voltage higher than the voltage of the battery 1, the voltage of the battery 1 is directly measured to eliminate the extra measurement error by the conventional voltage conversion circuit. The state of the voltage drop is monitored in a state where the error is small, and it is always determined that the remote control device itself is in an operable state.

The determination method will be described step by step.
The minimum value of the voltage of the battery 1 that the remote control device itself can normally operate, in other words, the voltage required by the boosted power source 2 for the boosted power source 2 to supply the voltage that the control unit 3 can normally operate is shown in FIG. V2 of ₂ .

After starting to use the remote control device, the control unit 3 measures the battery voltage at any time, fetches the battery voltage at various loads 4 as data, and determines the voltage drop depending on the load condition. The control unit 3 itself learns whether or not.

Then, for example, load 4 at time T ₁
But even did not only if the intermediate load, at maximum load is a voltage a little lower than the V ₁ at point A, it is determined that the even V ₂ is the maximum load is still room.

[0021] In addition, if the voltage V ₁ at the time of intermediate load, so to become a V ₂ at the time of maximum load is known in advance, whether or not the battery voltage when the intermediate load is set to V ₁ Should be confirmed, and V
Cell 1 if _one can determine that it uses to the limit, the time T ₂ is in this state.

Here, the control unit 3 learns the voltage drop according to the load condition by itself, but the control unit 3 may store a predetermined numerical value. Further, in this embodiment, the case where the load is intermediate is shown, but the calculation can be performed with a minimum load or any load. The calculation result is
Correction can be made at any time from the actual load state and the measurement result of the voltage.

The controller 3 determines that the battery voltage is V ₂ at the maximum load.
When the control unit 3 determines that the
The load 4 informs the user by a display unit or a notification unit, and the transmission / reception unit 5 transmits to the device body 6 that the remote control device cannot function by radio waves or the like.
At the same time, the operation state of the instrument body 6 is changed.

For example, when the appliance body 6 is a water heater,
If the remote control device does not operate while the hot water temperature setting is high, the hot water temperature setting is changed to automatically switch to a safe temperature, or the operation of the appliance body 6 itself is stopped.

Before the battery voltage reaches the limit, the user can be notified to call attention.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, by boosting the battery voltage, the control unit can directly measure the battery voltage, so that the voltage conversion circuit is not required and the measurement with less error can be performed. Therefore, there is an effect that the battery can be used to the limit.

Further, by calculating the battery voltage at the maximum load by calculation, even if there is a rarely present maximum load condition, the voltage at that time can be estimated in advance, so that the remote control device itself functions reliably. This has the effect of notifying the user that the battery has run out while being able to do so, and controlling the device body.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a remote control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a characteristic diagram showing a state in which the battery voltage drops in a standard load mode of the device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional remote control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Battery 2 Boost power supply 3 Control part 4 Load

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A battery comprising: a battery; a boost power supply for boosting a voltage of the battery; and a control unit for controlling a device main body by the boost power supply, wherein the control unit detects a voltage of the battery and detects the detected voltage. A remote control that informs the user when the voltage drops below a certain value. 2. A battery, a boost power supply for boosting the voltage of the battery, and a control unit for controlling a device main body by the boost power supply, wherein the control unit detects the voltage of the battery and detects the detected voltage. A remote control device that changes the control method of the device when the voltage falls below a certain value. 3. The remote control device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit calculates the battery voltage at the time of non-maximum load at the time of maximum load.