JPH11331724A - Information display for electrical equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information display device effective for shortening the using time of an electric instrument capable of setting plural operation modes, having respectively different power consumption and displaying a prescribed function by receiving power supply from a commercial power system in each operation mode. SOLUTION: A control circuit 1 integrated the operation time of the instrument within past fixed time in each operation mode and based on the integrated result, calculates information for an environmental change caused by power consumption, more specifically the discharge of carbon dioxide causing environmental destruction. The calculated result is displayed on the screen of a display 6. In this case, a coefficient to be used for the calculation of carbon dioxide discharge from the integrated result of operation time is stored in a memory 4 and can be rewritten, as a necessary.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information display device for displaying information on a change in a situation caused by power consumption in an electric device such as a TV receiver or an air conditioner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the amount of power consumption has been steadily increasing due to the spread of various electric devices, and the amount of contaminants such as carbon dioxide emitted from power plants has also been increasing. If left unchecked, it will cause serious environmental problems. Also, there is a problem of resource depletion. Therefore, in particular, in electrical devices with large power consumption, structural improvements for improving energy efficiency are being promoted in order to reduce power consumption.

[0003]

However, there is a limit to the reduction in power consumption due to the improvement in energy efficiency of electric equipment, and to greatly reduce the amount of power consumption, it is effective to reduce the use time of electric equipment. It is. Especially in home appliances such as TV receivers and air conditioners,
In many cases, the power is left on in a state where the room is absent, and power consumption due to such wasteful use is particularly problematic.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide an information display device which is effective for shortening the use time of electric equipment.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems The electric equipment according to the present invention comprises:
A plurality of operation modes having different power consumptions can be set, and an information display device is provided as a characteristic configuration thereof. The information display device includes, for each operation mode, time accumulation means for accumulating the operation time of the device within a fixed period in the past, and for each operation mode, a situation caused by power consumption based on the accumulation result of the operation time. And information display means for displaying information derived by the arithmetic processing means in response to an information display command.

[0006] A change in a situation caused by power consumption is, for example, an environmental change, and the information includes an amount of a chemical substance that causes an environmental problem, for example, an amount of carbon dioxide emitted from a power plant. It represents.
One of the operation modes includes a standby mode in which only a necessary minimum control function is exhibited.

[0007] In the information display device of the electric equipment,
In the process of switching and using the operation mode, the usage time of the device for each operation mode is integrated, and based on the integration result,
For example, the power consumption for each operation mode is calculated, and further, for example, the carbon dioxide emission is calculated based on the power consumption. The power consumption for each operation mode can be easily calculated using a coefficient determined from the power consumption characteristics of the device. For example, in the standby mode, the power consumption can be calculated by multiplying the power consumption of the control microcomputer by the usage time in the standby mode. Also, for example, the carbon dioxide emission can be calculated by multiplying the power consumption of the device by the coefficient using a coefficient determined from the relationship between the amount of power generated at the power plant and the carbon dioxide emission. . The information derived in this way is displayed on the display means.

In a specific configuration, the memory means stores at least one coefficient necessary for deriving the information from the result of integrating the operation time, and the coefficient stored in the memory means is rewritten. And a coefficient changing means for reading out the coefficient stored in the memory and executing a predetermined procedure using the coefficient to derive the information.

[0009] Therefore, in the case where the coefficient differs depending on circumstances or conditions such as a country or a region, by rewriting the coefficient, it is possible to derive information suitable for individual circumstances or conditions.

[0010]

According to the information display apparatus for an electric device according to the present invention, information on a change in a situation such as an environmental problem caused by the use of the electric device is displayed according to the use time. Can be directly recognized, and as a result, the consciousness of trying to shorten the use time as much as possible, such as avoiding useless use of the electric equipment, can be worked. As a result, the use time can be effectively reduced.

[0011]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a television receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention. The TV receiver according to the present invention includes a control circuit (1) including a microcomputer as shown in FIG. Control circuit
(1) has a remote control receiver (2) and operation keys
(3) is connected and remote control transmitter
By the operation of (7), the remote control receiver (2)
A remote control command is input from the control circuit (1) to the control circuit (1), or the control key (3) is operated to control the control circuit.
A key input command is input to (1). In response to this, the control circuit (1) controls various operations such as turning on / off the main power supply, switching channels, adjusting volume, and the like.

A mixer (5) is connected to the control circuit (1). A video signal of a TV broadcast is input to the mixer (5). The screen display output is input, the video signal and the on-screen display output are combined, and the combined video signal is supplied to the display (6) as a display output. Furthermore, the control circuit
(1) has an EEPROM for storing coefficients to be described later.
Is connected.

In the above-mentioned TV receiver, a standby mode in which only the control circuit (1) is operated with the main power turned off, and a TV broadcast by operating the control circuit (1) and other circuits with the main power turned on. Switching between viewing modes for viewing is possible, and in each operation mode, a predetermined function is exhibited by receiving power supply from a power supply circuit (not shown) connected to a commercial power system.

The control circuit (1) integrates the operation time of the standby mode and the viewing mode individually by a built-in timer as described later, calculates the power consumption for each mode from the integration result for 30 days, and further consumes the power. The amount of carbon dioxide emission for 30 days is calculated from the calculation result of the amount of power, and the amount of power consumption and the amount of carbon dioxide emission are displayed on-screen on the display (6).

Specifically, the operation time (minutes) in the viewing mode from 0:00 to 24:00 is stored in the area 1 of the memory (4), and the operation time in the standby mode from 0:00 to 24:00.
The (fraction) is stored in area 2 of the memory (4). here,
Since 24 hours is 14400 minutes, an 8-bit memory requires a 2-byte storage address per day. Hereinafter, the storage addresses of these two bytes are referred to as “n / n +
1 "(n = 0, 2, 4,...). An area for storing data representing the current storage address (hereinafter referred to as a date storage area) is separately prepared.

The initial value of the address "n" of each of the areas 1 and 2 is set to "0", and each time the date changes, 2 is added to "n" to update the address "n / n + 1". When 30 days have passed and the address “n” has reached 60, the address “n” is initialized to “0”. This allows memory
In the area 1 and the area 2 of (4), the operation time in the viewing mode and the operation time in the standby mode for the past 30 days are always stored. Then, by totalizing these operation times, a total operation time A1 (minute) in the viewing mode and a total operation time A2 (minute) in the standby mode for the past 30 days are obtained.

The power consumption Wt for the past 30 days is the power consumption W1 in the viewing mode and the power consumption W in the standby mode.
The power consumption W1 in the viewing mode is represented by the following equation 1, and the power consumption W2 in the standby mode is represented by the following equation 2. Note that the power consumption in the viewing mode of the TV receiver is B1 and the power consumption in the standby mode is B2.

[0018]

W1 (Wh) = (A1 (min) / 60) × B1 (W)

## EQU2 ## W2 (Wh) = (A2 (min) / 60) × B2 (W)

Therefore, the power consumption Wt for the past 30 days
Is represented by the following equation (3).

Wt = W1 + W2 (Wh) = W1 + W2 / 1000 (kWh)

Further, the carbon dioxide emissions G in the past 30 days
Is represented by the following equation 4 where C is a carbon dioxide coefficient.

G = Wt × C

The carbon dioxide coefficient C is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted when a unit of electric power is generated, and varies depending on the power generation situation (ratio of thermal power generation / hydropower generation / nuclear power generation, etc.) in a country or region. Moreover, even in the same country and the same region, the value changes with the fiscal year. For example, in Japan,
As a value in 1997, C can be set to about 0.104.

The above equations 1 to 4 are stored in the ROM in the control circuit (1) shown in FIG. 1, and the carbon dioxide coefficient C is stored in the memory (4) shown in FIG. I have.

FIGS. 2 to 4 show procedures executed by the control circuit (1) for displaying the above information. FIG.
This is a procedure for accumulating the operation time for each mode in the memory. First, in step S1, it is determined whether or not the minute digit of the timer has changed, that is, whether or not 1 minute has elapsed. Then, the process proceeds to step S2 to execute another processing routine.

If it is determined as YES in step S1, the process proceeds to step S3, and it is determined whether the operation mode at that time is the viewing mode or the standby mode.
In the viewing mode, the storage area 1 is determined in step S4.
The operation time data stored at the storage address “n / n + 1” is incremented. In the standby mode, the operation time data stored at the storage address “n / n + 1” of the storage area 2 is incremented in step S5.

Next, in step S6, it is determined whether or not the date of the timer has changed, ie, whether or not one day has elapsed. If NO, the process proceeds to step S2 to execute another processing routine. If the answer is affirmative in step S6, the process proceeds to step S7, where 2 is added to the data "n" stored in the date storage area, and the addresses of area 1 and area 2 are updated. Here, when “n” has reached 60, “n” is reset to 0. After that, the process shifts to step S2 to execute another processing routine.

FIG. 3 shows a procedure for displaying information (power consumption and carbon dioxide emission) on a screen in response to a user's display call instruction. First, a display call instruction was issued in step S11. At step S12,
After reading the carbon dioxide coefficient C from the memory, in step S13, the stored data on the device operation time is read, and the display information is calculated by the above equations (1) to (4).

FIG. 4 shows a specific process of step S13. First, in step S21, the storage area 1
After the storage data is read from the addresses “0/1” to “58/59” of the storage area 2, the storage data is read from the addresses “0/1” to “58/59” of the storage area 2 in step S22.

In step S23, the stored data read from each area is integrated, and the operation time A1 in the viewing mode and the operation time A2 in the standby mode for the past 30 days are calculated. Next, the power consumption Wt for the past 30 days is calculated using the above equations 1 to 3, and further, the past 3
Calculate the carbon dioxide emission G for 0 days.

Thereafter, in step S14 of FIG. 3, the calculation results (power consumption Wt and carbon dioxide emission G) are displayed on the screen.
And the carbon dioxide coefficient C are displayed. Subsequently, step S1
The process proceeds to step 5 to determine whether or not an instruction to change the coefficient has been given. If the answer is no, the procedure ends. When the determination is YES in step S15, a new coefficient input screen is displayed to prompt the input of the new coefficient. In response to this, when a new coefficient is input in step S17, the process proceeds to step S17.
At 18, the carbon dioxide coefficient C is rewritten with the inputted new coefficient. Finally, after the completion of the coefficient change is displayed in step S19, the procedure is terminated.

According to the above procedure, the power consumption and carbon dioxide emission for the past 30 days are displayed on the screen in response to the display call command, and the environmental problems caused by power consumption, that is, the environment due to carbon dioxide Since the user must be aware of the destruction of the TV receiver, it is necessary to avoid wasteful use such as leaving the TV receiver powered on and to reduce the use time as much as possible. As a result, the use time of the TV set can be effectively reduced. In addition, if the country or region where the TV set is installed changes, the CO2 emission can be calculated by a calculation formula suitable for the country or region simply by rewriting the carbon dioxide coefficient C. Information can be displayed.

The configuration of each part of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the technical scope described in the claims. For example, a change in a situation caused by power consumption is not limited to a change in an environment due to carbon dioxide emission or the like, and may be a change in an economic situation such as a power rate. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to TV receivers, but can be applied to various electric devices such as air conditioners.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of a TV receiver embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for accumulating data on device operation time in a memory.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure for displaying information on a screen in response to display reading.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a specific procedure of reading device operating time data and calculating display information.

[Explanation of symbols]

 (1) Control circuit (2) Remote control receiver (3) Operation keys (4) Memory (5) Mixer (6) Display (7) Remote control transmitter

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An electric apparatus which can set a plurality of operation modes having different power consumptions and which performs a predetermined function by receiving power supply from a commercial power system in each operation mode. A time integrating means for integrating the operating time of the device within a fixed period in the past; and for each operating mode, based on the result of integrating the operating time,
An arithmetic processing unit for deriving information on a change in a situation caused by power consumption, and a display unit for displaying information derived by the arithmetic processing unit in response to an information display command. Information display device for electrical equipment. 2. The information display device according to claim 1, wherein one of the operation modes includes a standby mode in which only a necessary minimum control function is performed. 3. A memory means for storing at least one coefficient required for deriving the information from the result of integrating the operation time, and a coefficient changing means for rewriting a coefficient stored in the memory means. Means, the arithmetic processing means reads out the coefficients stored in the memory,
3. The information display device according to claim 1, wherein the information is derived by executing a predetermined procedure using the coefficient. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the change in the situation caused by the power consumption is an environmental change, and the information indicates an amount of a chemical substance causing an environmental problem. An information display device according to any one of the above. 5. The information display device according to claim 4, wherein the chemical substance is carbon dioxide emitted from a power plant.