JP2641748B2 - Automatic faucet device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an automatic faucet device such as a tray for automatically supplying water after detection of a user.

(Prior Art) There is known an automatic faucet apparatus that optically detects a user and automatically supplies cleaning water when the detection is stopped.

Detection of a person by the optical means in this automatic faucet device, for example, while driving a light emitting element to irradiate light,
The reflected light is detected by a light receiving element.

In the case of using a battery or the like as a power supply for such an apparatus, the light emitting and light receiving elements are generally driven periodically (intermittently) from the viewpoint of preventing power consumption.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, when the light emission and the driving of the light receiving element are intermittently performed as described above, the light reception may not be performed due to, for example, the fluctuation of the user, and the malfunction may occur. It is easy to occur.

Therefore, in order to remove such light leakage, for example, it is conceivable to increase the detection sensitivity of the light receiving element. However, such a method is limited, and is susceptible to noise, which is not preferable.

The present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem, and the object thereof is hardly affected by noise.
Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a highly reliable automatic faucet apparatus without lowering the sensitivity.

(Means for Solving the Problems) According to the invention of claim (1), a light emitting means for periodically irradiating light, and light from the light emitting means is reflected by a part of a user's body. An automatic faucet apparatus comprising: a light receiving means for detecting reflected light; and a control means for opening a water faucet and supplying cleaning water when a user is no longer detected based on a detection signal of the light receiving means, An auxiliary light emitting means for causing the light emitting means to perform a plurality of light emissions in a cycle shorter than the cycle when the detection signal from the light receiving means disappears, and of the number of light emissions emitted by the auxiliary light emitting means, The control unit is characterized in that the control unit includes: a counting unit that counts the number of times of detection and outputs a determination signal to open the faucet when the number of detections is equal to or less than a predetermined number.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the automatic faucet apparatus according to the first aspect, the control means includes:
In addition to being configured to detect a user based on an output signal of the light receiving unit, the auxiliary light emission generating unit is configured to output a detection signal from the light receiving unit when a user is detected based on an output signal of the light receiving unit. When it's gone,
The light emitting means may emit a plurality of light in a cycle shorter than the cycle.

(Operation) According to this configuration, it is possible to detect that the user has left based on the plurality of light receiving signals, so that it is possible to easily distinguish a light receiving error from the absence of the user,
In addition, there is no need to increase the detection sensitivity, and the device is not easily affected by noise.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an automatic faucet apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a time chart.

In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a light emitting means constituted by a photodiode or the like, 2 denotes a light receiving means constituted by a phototransistor or the like, and detects light reflected by a user among the light emitted by the light emitting means 1; Is control means.

In the control means 3, the drive pulse generation means 4 periodically generates a pulse signal as shown in FIG. 2 (b) in a standby state which is a normal state, and causes the light emitting means 1 to emit light by this pulse signal. Next, when there is a detection signal from the light receiving means 2 as shown in FIG. 2 (c), for example, as shown in FIG. 2 (c), the first auxiliary pulse generating means 5 moves to FIG. 2 (d) based on the first pulse signal 5a. As shown, a plurality of (four in this embodiment) pulses are generated with a cycle shorter than the cycle of the drive pulse, and the light emitting means 1 emits light with the pulses. The first auxiliary light emitting means of the present invention Is composed.

In FIG. 2, (a) does not indicate a signal, but indicates a time zone (for example, tray use time) in which the user is near the light emitting means 1.

The first judging means 6 in the control means 3 counts the number of detections detected by the light receiving means 2 among the four light emissions by the first auxiliary pulse generating means 5, and the counted result is equal to or more than a predetermined number (in the embodiment). In this case, the detection of reflected light from the light receiving means 2 based on the driving pulse [FIG. 2 (b)] is not based on noise or the like, but it is determined that a person actually exists. The judgment signal S1 is output to the second auxiliary pulse generation means 7.

The second auxiliary pulse generating means 7 is provided with the first judging means 6
Is in a standby state by the output signal of the above-mentioned drive pulse [second
FIG. 2 (b)] and the first pulse signal [FIG. 2 (e)] which is not detected after a person is detected based on the output signal of the light receiving means 2 [FIG. 2 (c)]. As shown in (f), a plurality of (four in this embodiment) pulses are generated at the same short period as the first auxiliary pulse generating means 5, and the light emitting means 1 emits light by the pulses. It constitutes the second auxiliary light emission generating means of the invention.

The second judging means 8 counts the number of detections detected by the light receiving means 2 among the four light emissions by the second auxiliary pulse generating means 7, and the counted result is equal to or less than a predetermined number (0 in the embodiment). ), It is determined that the user has disappeared in the same manner as described above, and the faucet drive circuit 9 is operated to wash, for example, a toilet (FIG. 2 (g)).

The above configuration is, for example, as shown in FIG.
The microcomputer 13 is provided with a memory 13, a memory 11, an I / O (input / output circuit) 12, and the like, and can be controlled as shown in a flowchart of FIG.

The operation will be described below with reference to FIG. Step 1 is an initial setting, and a parameter J is a parameter for counting the number of times of driving of the first auxiliary pulse generating means 5, that is, the number of pulses in FIG. Parameter L is a parameter for counting the number of detections by the light receiving means by light emission by the first auxiliary pulse generating means 5, and M is a parameter for counting the number of detections by the second auxiliary pulse generating means 7. The parameter N is a parameter indicating whether or not the user is detected.

Next, in step 2, the light emitting means 1 is driven, and in step 3, the first timer is started. The first timer determines the period of the drive pulse shown in FIG. 2 (b), and measures the time in step 15. And step 4
In step 5, if it is determined that the user has already been detected, it is determined whether or not the user has already been detected. If it has been detected, the process proceeds to step 15; Step 6 to drive 5
12 is executed. Here, the second timer counts the cycle of the first auxiliary pulse. Then, after completing four auxiliary pulses in step 11, the number L detected by the light receiving means in step 13 is compared with a constant Lm (four in the embodiment), and is used only when the condition of L ≧ Lm is satisfied. In step 14, it is determined that
Is set to 1, and if the condition is not satisfied, the detection by the light receiving means is determined to be due to noise, and the process directly proceeds to step 15.

On the other hand, if no light is received in step 4, it is determined in step 16 whether or not the user has been detected. If not, the process proceeds to step 15 while the user is not detected. If a person has been detected, steps 17 to 23 are executed to drive the above-mentioned second auxiliary pulse generating means.

Here, the second timer measures the period for generating the auxiliary pulse as described above. Then, after completing four auxiliary pulses in step 22, the number M detected by the light receiving means in step 24 is compared with a constant Mm (0 in the embodiment), and is used only when the condition of M ≦ Mm is satisfied. In step 25, the faucet is opened, the first timer is started, and the number of times P counted up by the first timer is compared with a constant Pm, and repeated until P = Pm. When the condition of Pm is satisfied, close the faucet, perform cleaning and step
At 26, the parameters K, M, N are initialized. On the other hand, when the condition is not satisfied, it is determined that there is a user before, and the process proceeds to the step 15, and after a lapse of a predetermined time, the step is performed.
At 27, the parameters J and L are initialized, and the process returns to step 2 to repeat the same operation.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent a malfunction due to a light receiving error without increasing the detection sensitivity at all, and to provide an automatic faucet apparatus excellent in reliability. be able to. According to the present embodiment, the driving of the light emitting means by the auxiliary light emitting means is performed at a high speed within a short time, so that the consumption of the battery and the like can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an automatic faucet apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a time chart, FIG. 3 is a block diagram according to another embodiment, and FIG. It is a flowchart shown. In the drawing, 1 is a light emitting means, 2 is a light receiving means, 3 is a control means, 5 is a first auxiliary light emitting means, 6 is a first determining means,
7 is a second auxiliary light emission generating means, 8 is a second determining means, and 9 is a faucet drive circuit.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A light emitting means for periodically irradiating light; a light receiving means for detecting light reflected by a part of a user's body among the light from the light emitting means; and a detection signal of the light receiving means. An automatic faucet device comprising a control means for opening a water faucet and supplying cleaning water when the user is no longer detected based on the light-receiving means, An auxiliary light emission generating means for performing a plurality of light emission in a cycle shorter than the cycle, and counting the number of detections detected by the light receiving means out of the number of light emission emitted by the auxiliary light emission generation means, the number of detections being a predetermined number of times An automatic faucet apparatus comprising: the control means; and a judging means for outputting a judging signal to open the faucet in the following cases. 2. The control means is configured to detect a user based on an output signal of the light receiving means, and the auxiliary light emission generating means is configured to detect a user based on an output signal of the light receiving means. 2. The automatic faucet apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in the case, when the detection signal from the light receiving unit is lost, the light emitting unit emits a plurality of lights in a cycle shorter than the cycle.