ES2872012T3 - Smart Trash Receptacle and Automatic Bag Replacement Control Method - Google Patents

Abstract

An intelligent garbage receptacle, comprising a garbage bag placement device and a garbage bag detection device; wherein the garbage bag placing device is configured to place a garbage bag in a main body of the smart garbage receptacle, wherein the garbage bag placing device comprises a vacuum assembly and a motor (2 ) to actuate the vacuum assembly, the vacuum assembly comprises an air inlet (3) and an air outlet, the air inlet (3) in communication with the interior of the main body of the garbage receptacle, the air outlet in communication with the outside of the main body of the garbage receptacle; wherein the garbage bag detection device comprises a transmitter (13) for transmitting a signal and a receiver (14) for receiving a signal, both the transmitter (13) and the receiver (14) being disposed on the internal surfaces of the garbage receptacle, in which the signal received by the receiver (14) is a direct signal transmitted from the transmitter (13); wherein the garbage bag detecting device further comprises a control mechanism, wherein each of the transmitter (13), the receiver (14) and the garbage bag placing device (15) is communicatively coupled to the control mechanism, wherein the control mechanism is configured to control an operating state of the garbage bag placing device (14) based on the signal received by the receiver (14), and wherein in the case of If there is a garbage bag (17) between the receiver (14) and the transmitter (13), the receiver (14) produces a first detection signal from which the control mechanism instructs the placement device (15) garbage bags to stop their operation; wherein i) the transmitter (13) is disposed on an inner bottom surface of the trash receptacle and the receiver (14) on an inner side surface thereof such that a central transmission axis of the transmitter (13) is oriented in an angle α of 30-50 degrees with respect to the inner bottom surface of the garbage receptacle and that a central receiving axis of the receiver (14) is oriented at an angle β of 38-58 degrees with respect to a vertical direction for the inner side surface of the garbage container; or ii) the receiver (14) is disposed on the inner bottom surface of the trash receptacle and the transmitter (13) on the inner side surface thereof such that the central receiving axis of the receiver (14) is oriented at an angle α of 30-50 degrees with respect to the inner bottom surface of the trash receptacle and that the central transmission axis of the transmitter (13) is oriented at an angle β of 38-58 degrees with respect to the vertical direction of the side surface interior of the garbage receptacle.

Description

DESCRIPTION

Smart Trash Receptacle and Automatic Bag Replacement Control Method

Technical field

The present invention relates to the field of smart garbage receptacles and, in particular, to a garbage bag placement device, a garbage bag detection device, a smart garbage receptacle and a method for controlling the garbage. automatic bag replacement.

Background

With the advancement of technology and the improvement of people's living standards, smart homes are increasingly becoming an indispensable part of our lives. Nowadays, smart trash receptacles have been a focus of people's attention thanks to their cleanliness, sanitation and convenience of use characteristics.

Although the prevailing garbage receptacles in the contemporary market are typically capable of detecting human signals and opening automatically, they cannot automatically put a new garbage bag in place on their own. After a full garbage bag is removed, manual intervention is still required to find a new garbage bag and place it in the garbage container (i.e. manually replace the garbage bag). Although some trash receptacles are equipped with trash bag storage media on the bottom or on the outside, which can avoid the hassle of fetching a trash bag, this really couldn't address the need for manual placement. out of the bag. There are also some garbage receptacles that operate in a semi-automatic mechanical manner, in which an adhesive substance is applied to an outer side of a tie bar to open a new garbage bag to some extent at the open top of the garbage receptacle. Despite some degree of semi-automation in the bag opening operation, this approach still relies on human intervention to further remove the new trash bag, as well as a series of additional actions to fully open the bag and align it on top. the inside surface of the trash receptacle. Since the opening operation of the bag performed by human intervention is inconsistent, and also since the approach itself is liable to degrade the adhesiveness of the adhesive substance, a high quality of placement of the bag could not be obtained.

Furthermore, a conventional smart trash receptacle typically includes a main body and a discharge cover. Typically, an infrared (IR) sensing device is provided in the vicinity of the discharge deck. The IR detection device can cause the discharge cover to open when detecting an approaching user and to close after the user has left. Although this can save the step of manually opening / closing the discharge lid, such a simple function falls far behind users' expectations. Therefore, research efforts in the art have focused on developing capabilities that include intelligent detection, automatic bagging, and automatic bag replacement. Among these, automatic bag replacement can dispense with time-consuming and labor-intensive manual bag replacement. However, most of the smart garbage receptacles currently available on the market only allow manual or semi-automatic replacement of the bag and do not have a device capable of effectively detecting the position of a garbage bag within the receptacle. For this reason, it is impossible to determine whether the garbage bag has been fully in place to avoid partial tear of the garbage bag during its automatic replacement or even potentially other smart garbage can safety issues. This limits further intelligence development in these smart trash receptacles.

Therefore, how to address the problem that conventional smart garbage receptacles are unable to automatically place garbage bags in a simple and reliable way, as well as how to address the problem that conventional smart garbage receptacles are unable to detect the position of a garbage bag inside and therefore tend to suffer garbage bag tear during automatic bag replacement and how to satisfy the need for information about said position within the bag receptacle of garbage for greater intelligence in smart garbage receptacles remain critical technical problems seeking to be solved by those skilled in the art. Documents WO 01/62632 A1, CN 207 226 181 U, CN 2 756 590 Y and CN 106 628 735 A disclose known smart garbage receptacles comprising a garbage bag placement device. CN 207226211 U discloses a known smart garbage receptacle comprising a garbage bag placement device and a garbage bag detection device.

Summary

In order to address the above problems at least to some extent, it is an object of the present invention to provide a smart garbage receptacle with the garbage bag combination not weakened, non-automatic bag placement problems can be overcome. or complex and the inconveniences of use observed in conventional smart trash receptacles.

A smart garbage receptacle, comprising a garbage bag placement device and a garbage bag detection device; wherein the garbage bag placement device is configured to place a garbage bag in a main body of the smart garbage receptacle, wherein the garbage bag placement device comprises a vacuum assembly and a motor for driving the vacuum assembly, the vacuum assembly comprising an air inlet and an air outlet, the air inlet in communication with the interior of the main body of the trash receptacle, the air outlet in communication with the exterior of the main body of the garbage receptacle; wherein the garbage bag detection device comprises a transmitter for transmitting a signal and a receiver for receiving a signal, both the transmitter and the receiver being arranged on internal surfaces of the garbage receptacle, wherein the signal received by the receiver is a direct signal transmitted from the transmitter; wherein the garbage bag detection device further comprises a control mechanism, wherein each of the transmitters, the receiver, and the garbage bag positioning device is communicatively coupled to the control mechanism, wherein the control mechanism is configured to control an operational state of the garbage bag placement device based on the signal received by the receiver, and wherein in the event that a garbage bag is present between the receiver and the transmitter, the receiver produces a first detection signal based on which the control mechanism indicates to the device for placing the garbage bag to stop its operation; characterized because

i) the transmitter is arranged on an inner bottom surface of the trash receptacle and the receiver on an inner side surface thereof so that a central drive shaft of the transmitter is oriented at an angle a of 30-50 degrees with respect to the inner bottom surface of the trash receptacle and in that a central receiving axis of the receiver is oriented at an angle p of 38-58 degrees with respect to a vertical direction for the inner side surface of the trash receptacle; or

ii) the receiver is arranged on the lower inner surface of the trash receptacle and the transmitter on the inner lateral surface thereof such that the receiver's central receiving axis is oriented at an angle of 30-50 degrees with respect to the inner bottom surface of the trash receptacle and in that the central drive shaft of the transmitter is oriented at an angle p of 38-58 degrees with respect to the vertical direction of the inner side surface of the trash receptacle.

Preferably, the vacuum assembly is a centrifugal impeller type vacuum assembly or an axial flow fan type vacuum assembly.

Preferably, the centrifugal impeller type vacuum assembly comprises a casing and a centrifugal impeller housed in the casing, wherein the air inlet is defined in the casing to axially oppose the centrifugal impeller, with the air outlet therein opposite. to the centrifugal impeller radially or tangential thereto, and wherein the air inlet communicates with the air discharge on the inner wall of the main body of the trash receptacle, with the air outlet in communication with the outside of the main body .

Preferably, the centrifugal impeller further comprises blades and a wheel to which all blades are attached and oriented perpendicularly.

Preferably, each of the blades is provided, in a portion thereof in positional correspondence with the air inlet, a shoulder projecting towards the air inlet. The shoulder is leaf-shaped and integral with the blade on which it is provided.

Preferably, the housing comprises an upper part and a lower part removably coupled to the upper part, and the air inlet is defined in the upper part, with gaps between the upper part and the lower part providing the air outlet.

Preferably, the upper part is formed as a whole with the main body, the main body air discharge and the air inlet are combined into one structure so that the air inlet communicates directly with the interior of the main body.

Preferably, the upper part is provided with at least two posts projecting from a lower side thereof and can be comfortably inserted into at least two respective recesses defined in the lower part.

Preferably, the centrifugal impeller is provided with a shaft hole into which an output shaft of the motor is received and secured, and the lower part is provided with a hole through which the output shaft is inserted.

Preferably, each of the blades is curved in shape.

Preferably, each of the blades has an end portion remote from the center of the wheel that is thinner than the remaining portion.

In the garbage bag placement device for a smart garbage receptacle provided in the present invention, comprising the vacuum assembly and the motor for driving the vacuum assembly comprising the air inlet in communication with the air discharge in the inner wall of the main body of the garbage container and the air outlet in communication with the exterior of the main body, the vacuum assembly can evacuate air from the main body of the garbage container through the air discharge thereof, reducing the pressure in the main body below ambient atmospheric pressure. As a result, the non-weakening garbage bag is pushed to the bottom of the receptacle. At this point, the engine can be turned off, having placed the garbage bag on the internal surfaces of the main body. In this way, non-automatic or complex bag placement problems and usage drawbacks observed in conventional smart trash receptacles can be overcome.

The smart garbage receptacle further comprises a garbage bag detection device, comprising a transmitter for transmitting a signal and a receiver for receiving a signal, both the transmitter and the receiver being arranged on the internal surfaces of the garbage receptacle, in the fact that

the signal received by the receiver is a direct signal transmitted from the transmitter.

The garbage bag detection device may further comprise a control mechanism, wherein each of the transmitter, receiver, and garbage bag positioning device is communicatively coupled to the control mechanism, wherein the control mechanism control is configured to control an operational state of the garbage bag placement device based on the signal received by the receiver, and in which:

In the event that there is a garbage bag between the receiver and the transmitter, the receiver produces a first detection signal based on which the control mechanism instructs the garbage bag placement device to stop its operation.

Preferably, the transmitter is an infrared (IR) transmitter and the receiver is an IR receiver; or the transmitter is an ultrasonic transmitter and the receiver is an ultrasonic receiver.

The signal received by the receiver is a direct signal sent from the transmitter, in which

i) the transmitter is arranged on an inner bottom surface of the trash receptacle and the receiver on an inner side surface thereof so that a central drive shaft of the transmitter is oriented at an angle a of 30-50 degrees with respect to the inner bottom surface of the trash receptacle and that a central receiving axis of the receiver is oriented at an angle p of 38-58 degrees with respect to a vertical direction for the inner side surface of the trash receptacle; or

ii) the receiver is arranged on the lower inner surface of the trash receptacle and the transmitter on the inner lateral surface thereof such that the receiver's central receiving axis is oriented at an angle of 30-50 degrees with respect to the inner bottom surface of the trash receptacle and that the central drive shaft of the transmitter is oriented at an angle p of 38-58 degrees with respect to the vertical direction of the inner side surface of the trash receptacle.

According to another alternative not according to the invention, the signal received by the receiver is a signal from the transmitter that has been reflected,

i) the transmitter and receiver are both disposed on the lower inner surface of the trash receptacle, with the central transmission axis of the transmitter and the central reception axis of the receiver both directed upwards; or

ii) the transmitter and receiver are both disposed on an inner side surface of the trash receptacle, with the central transmission axis of the transmitter and the central receiving axis of the receiver both directed towards the interior of the receptacle.

Preferably, the transmitter and receiver are attached to the internal surfaces of the trash receptacle by means of respective poka-yokes.

According to another preferred embodiment, the garbage bag detection device further comprises protective, light-shielding, dust-proof hoods that are attached to the internal surfaces of the garbage receptacle and respectively house the transmitter and receiver.

In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling automatic bag replacement for a smart trash receptacle, the smart trash receptacle comprising the trash bag detection device as defined above, the method comprising the steps from:

activate the device for placing the garbage bag;

determining whether the receiver produces a first detection signal; and

if so, deactivate the garbage bag placement device.

Preferably, the method further comprises, prior to activation of the garbage bag placement device:

opening a garbage bag removal channel from the garbage receptacle and determining whether a first detection signal occurs;

if so, generate an alert; and

otherwise, close the garbage bag extraction channel and activate the garbage bag positioning device.

Preferably, the garbage bag positioning device can be a centrifugal fan.

The garbage receptacle and the automatic bag replacement control method for a smart garbage receptacle of the present invention enables the detection of a garbage bag in the garbage receptacle and performs the control based on the position information of the garbage bag. When the garbage bag is not in place, they keep the garbage bag placement device activated; otherwise, they deactivate the garbage bag placement device.

The technical solution provided by the present invention offers the following beneficial effects:

1. By the garbage bag placement device of the present invention, non-automatic or complex bag placement problems and usage drawbacks observed in conventional smart garbage receptacles can be overcome.

2. Compared with conventional garbage receptacles, it is able to detect the state of the garbage bag within the receptacle, thus controlling the actions of related mechanisms.

3. The "direct" detection approach (in which the receiver receives a direct signal) allows detecting if there is a garbage bag in the garbage receptacle, while the "reflected" detection approach (in which the receiver receives a reflected signal) allows to accurately determine the position of a garbage bag in the garbage receptacle based on the strength of the reflected signal so that the signal allows continuous position detection, enabling the control system to make appropriate decisions when executing various program outputs.

4. The detection device is more resistant to inference from sunlight and will not fail under sunlight conditions.

5. The garbage bag placement device can be deactivated after the garbage bag has been placed in place in order to prevent the garbage bag from being sucked into the garbage bag placement device and it breaks. This is useful for protecting the garbage bag, saving resources, reducing the potential security risks of the smart garbage receptacle, and increasing its stability and reliability.

Brief description of the drawings

Fig. 1 is an exploded view of a garbage bag placement device in the smart garbage receptacle according to one embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a structural diagram of a centrifugal impeller in the garbage bag positioning device for the smart garbage receptacle according to the same embodiment.

Fig. 3 is a structural diagram of a garbage bag detection device according to the present invention.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of a portion of Fig. 3, showing an IR transmitter.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of a portion of Fig. 3, showing an IR receiver.

Fig. 6 is a structural diagram of a protective hood in the garbage bag detection device according to the invention.

Fig. 7 is a circuit diagram of the IR receiving circuit in the garbage bag detection device according to the invention.

Fig. 8 is a flow chart of a method for controlling automatic bag replacement for a smart trash receptacle in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 9 is a structural diagram of a garbage bag detection device that is not in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 10 is a circuit diagram of an IR receiving circuit in the garbage bag detection device that is not in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 11 is a flow chart of a method for controlling automatic bag replacement for a smart trash receptacle that is not in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 12 is a structural diagram of a transmitter and a receiver in the garbage bag detection device, which are both arranged on an inner side surface of the garbage receptacle that is not in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 13 is a structural diagram of a smart garbage receptacle with an inner container and an outer container that is not according to the invention.

In these figures, 1 denotes a centrifugal impeller; 2, a motor; 3, an air inlet; 4, a shovel; 5, one shoulder; 6, a wheel; 7, a top piece; 8, a lower piece; 9, a post; 10, a recess; 11, a hole; 12, a screw; 13, an IR transmitter; 14, an IR receiver; 15, a fan; 16, a protective hood; 17, garbage bag; and 18, an inner container; 19, main discharge cover; 20, an outer container; 21, cavities.

Detailed description

Exemplary embodiments will now be described in detail, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Whenever mentioned in the following description, the same numbers in different figures represent the same or similar elements, unless otherwise indicated. The implementations set forth in the following description of exemplary embodiments do not represent all implementations consistent with the claimed invention. Rather, they are merely a few examples of devices and methods consistent with certain aspects of the invention as specified in the appended claims.

The embodiments will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Furthermore, the embodiments set forth below do not limit the invention defined by the appended claims in any way. Furthermore, none of the features described in the following embodiments are necessarily considered essential for the purpose of the appended claims.

With reference to Figs. 1 to 2, the garbage bag positioning device for a smart garbage receptacle provided in the present embodiment is configured to place a garbage bag in a main body of the garbage receptacle and includes a vacuum assembly and a motor 2 for actuate the vacuum assembly. The vacuum assembly defines an air inlet 3 and an air outlet. The air inlet 3 communicates with an air discharge in an inner wall of the garbage receptacle main body, the air outlet being in communication with the exterior of the garbage receptacle main body. It is powered by motor 2 that drives the vacuum assembly to create a certain degree of vacuum in the main body so that under the action of atmospheric pressure, the garbage bag is evenly and firmly placed on the internal surfaces of the main body .

It should be noted that the vacuum assembly may be selected as a centrifugal impeller type or axial flow fan type vacuum assembly or other air pump assembly capable of evacuating air, depending on practical need and actual circumstances.

Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 1, the centrifugal impeller type vacuum assembly may include a casing and a centrifugal impeller 1 housed in the casing. The air inlet 3 is defined in the housing to axially oppose the centrifugal impeller 1, while the air outlet is defined therein to radially oppose the centrifugal impeller 1. Furthermore, the air inlet 3 communicates with the air discharge on the inner wall of the main body and the air outlet with the outside of the main body. When the centrifugal impeller 1 is driven to rotate by the motor 2, the air will be evacuated from the main body through the air discharge at the bottom of it so that the ambient atmospheric pressure will be much higher than that of the main body. and thus will push the garbage bag down. Once the lower end of the garbage bag contacts the bottom of the garbage receptacle, the placing action is completed and the engine can be shut off.

In particular, the centrifugal impeller 1 may have blades 4 each provided with, in a portion thereof in positional correspondence with the air inlet 3, a shoulder 5 projecting towards the air inlet 3. This structure allows for a greater wind shear area, air intake and suction power, faster air evacuation, less time required to create a vacuum, time savings in garbage bag placement, and improved operational efficiency.

It should be noted that the shoulders 5 may be leaf-shaped and have the same thickness as the respective blades 4. For the sake of simplicity in their manufacturing process, the men 5 may be integral with the respective blades 4. In this way, It can achieve a larger wind shear area and easy manufacturing.

With this arrangement, non-automatic or complex bag placement problems and usage drawbacks arising from the use of conventional smart trash receptacles can be addressed.

In a preferred example of this embodiment, the centrifugal impeller 1 may further include a wheel 6 to which all the individual blades 4 are attached. As shown in Fig. 2, the blades 4 may all be oriented perpendicular to the wheel 6. In this example, each of the blades 4 may be curved in shape and have an end portion remote from the center of the wheel 6 which is thinner than its remaining portion. This design allows effective airflow control and rapid ventilation.

It should be noted that, in one embodiment, the housing may be composed of an upper part 7 and a lower part 8 removably coupled to the upper part 7. The air inlet 3 can be defined in the upper part 7, with gaps between the upper part 7 and the lower part 8 providing the air outlet.

In this example, both the upper part 7 and the lower part 8 may have a square (eg rectangular) structure. Furthermore, the upper part 7 can be engaged with the lower part 8 by comfortably inserting at least two posts 9 projecting from a lower side of the upper part 7 into the respective at least two recesses 10 in the lower part 8. Specifically, in order to ensure a secure coupling, four posts 9 may be provided at the respective corners of the upper part 7.

It should be noted that, in some embodiments, the upper part 7 is formed as a whole with the main body, that is, the housing has no upper part 7. The main body air discharge and the air inlet 3 are combined into one so that the air inlet 3 communicates directly with the interior of the main body.

In this way, the carcass appears as a four-sided open structure. Furthermore, the air inlet 3 may have a circular cross section. The centrifugal impeller 1 can be operated in a centrifugal manner in which air is drawn in through the circular air inlet 3 and rapidly discharged from the four open sides of the housing. Of course, the housing can be a closed structure. Only a tangential direction of the centrifugal impeller 1 is provided with an air outlet in the casing. In this way, the noise of the centrifugal fan when it is running can be reduced. The air inlet 3 can also take a different shape.

Furthermore, the centrifugal impeller 1 may be provided with a shaft hole into which an output shaft of the motor 2 is received and fixed. Additionally, the lower part 8 may be provided with a hole 11 through which the shaft is inserted. Output shaft. The lower part 8 can be fixed first to the motor 2 with screws 12, and then the centrifugal impeller 1 can be fixed to the output shaft of the motor 2. Finally, the upper part 7 can be coupled with the lower part 8, thus forming the centrifugal fan.

The centrifugal fan thus formed can evacuate the air from the main body of the garbage receptacle through the air discharge thereof, reducing the pressure therein below ambient atmospheric pressure. As a result, the non-weakening garbage bag is pushed to the bottom of the garbage receptacle. At this point, the centrifugal fan can be turned off, the garbage bag having been placed on the internal surfaces of the main body. Therefore, the placement of the garbage bag does not require human intervention, allowing for comfort and ease of use.

In one embodiment, a smart trash receptacle is also provided incorporating the trash bag placement device as defined above. In this way, non-automatic or complex bag placement problems and usage drawbacks observed in conventional smart trash receptacles can be overcome.

It should be noted that the terms "upper" and "lower" are referred to herein with respect to the configuration of the garbage bag placement device as shown in Fig. 1.

With reference to Figs. 3-8, the smart garbage receptacle in the present embodiment of the invention further includes a garbage bag detection device.

The garbage bag detection device includes a transmitter 13 capable of transmitting a signal and a receiver 14 capable of receiving a signal. The transmitter 13 and the receiver 14 are arranged opposite each other on internal surfaces of the garbage receptacle so that the receiver 14 can receive a direct signal transmitted from the transmitter 13. In this way, when a garbage bag 17 is partially present between transmitter 13 and receiver 14, the signal from transmitter 13 will be blocked by garbage bag 17. In response, the receiver 14 will generate a first detection signal, thus allowing detection of the position of the garbage bag 17 in the garbage receptacle.

In this embodiment, transmitter 13 and receiver 14 can both be infrared (IR) devices, that is, an IR transmitter and an IR receiver, respectively. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, because they can also be ultrasound transmission and reception devices or other radar-type radio transmission and reception devices, without departing from the scope of the invention.

Since infrared rays are electromagnetic waves whose wavelengths lie between microwaves and visible light, it is highly stable and penetrating in nature. Also, the IR transmitter and IR receiver are inexpensive and help save costs. Additionally, with this transmit-receive approach, the sensing device is more resistant to sunlight inference and can avoid transmitter and receiver failures when operating under sunlight conditions. For these reasons, the transmitter 13 and the receiver 14 are preferably implemented as an IR transmitter and an IR receiver, respectively, and the following description is given in the context of an IR transmitter and an IR receiver as an example.

In such an arrangement, IR detection devices allow simple and reliable detection of the position of the garbage bag 17 in the garbage receptacle, which is a necessary piece of information for increased intelligence of the smart garbage receptacle. The use of such a position sensing device with the smart garbage receptacle is helpful to improve the quality of automatic placement of the garbage bag and increase intelligence in its performance.

In accordance with the present invention, the garbage bag detection device may further include a monitoring mechanism. IR transmitter 13 and IR receiver 14 can be communicatively coupled to the control mechanism. Under the action of the control mechanism, the IR transmitter 13 is capable of transmitting a signal and the IR receiver 14 is capable of receiving the signal from the IR transmitter 13. In this way, when a garbage bag 17 is partially present between the IR transmitter 13 and the IR receiver 14, the signal from the IR transmitter 13 will be blocked by the garbage bag 17. In response, the IR receiver 14 will generate a first detection signal and transmit the first detection signal to the control mechanism, based on which the operating states of the components involved in the automatic bag replacement can be controlled.

In this embodiment, the garbage bag positioning device used to evacuate the air from the garbage receptacle through an air discharge may be a centrifugal fan. Centrifugal fan 15 is communicatively coupled to the control mechanism. When the control mechanism received the first detection signal from the IR receiver 14, the control mechanism can perform a control to deactivate the fan 15.

The fan 15 is configured to evacuate the air from the garbage receptacle through an air discharge. As a result, the garbage bag 17 is pushed and automatically placed in the garbage container by the ambient atmospheric pressure. Each of the fan 15, the IR transmitter 13, and the IR receiver 14 can be communicably coupled to the control mechanism, and the first detection signal can be transmitted to the control mechanism, based on which, the states can be controlled. fan 15 and other components involved in automatic bag replacement.

In this way, during the replacement of the garbage bag, the smart garbage receptacle is not only able to detect the position of the garbage bag 17 in the garbage receptacle, but can deactivate the fan 15 after it has been placed the garbage bag 17 in place to prevent it from being sucked up by the fan 15 and breaking. Therefore, the garbage bag detection device is useful in protecting the garbage bag 17, saving resources, reducing the potential security risks of the smart garbage container, and increasing its stability and reliability.

[In some embodiments, one of the IR transmitter 13 and IR receiver 14 may be provided on an inner side surface of the trash receptacle and the other on an inner bottom surface thereof. That is, it is possible that the IR transmitter 13 is arranged on the inner side surface of the trash receptacle and the IR receiver 14 on the inner bottom surface thereof, or that the IR transmitter 13 is arranged on the inner bottom surface. and the IR receiver 14 on the inner side surface, and this can be determined based on actual circumstances.

Furthermore, the fan 15 can be provided at the junction of the inner side surface and the inner bottom surface of the garbage receptacle. In this way, the air that is evacuated from the air discharge will always pass through between the IR transmitter 13 and the IR receiver 14. In the garbage bag placement process that is carried out under the action of evacuation of the air by the fan 15, no part of the garbage bag 17 will be located between the IR transmitter 13 and the IR receiver 14 before the completion of the placement process and, consequently, the IR receiver 14 will not produce the first detection signal. After the completion of the garbage bag placement process, the garbage bag 17 will be present between the IR transmitter 13 and the IR receiver 14, which will trigger the generation of the first detection signal by the receiver 14 of IR and further deactivation of the fan 15 by the control mechanism based on the first received detection signal.

Furthermore, in the case of the IR transmitter 13 on the lower inner surface of the garbage receptacle and the IR receiver 14 on the inner side surface thereof, a central transmission shaft of the transmitter can be oriented. 13 IR receiver at an angle a of 30-50 degrees with respect to the inner bottom surface of the trash receptacle, with a receiving center axis of IR receiver 14 oriented at an angle p of 38-58 degrees with respect to one direction vertical for the inner side surface of the trash can. As shown in Fig. 3, the vertical direction of the inner side surface is the direction perpendicular to the bottom surface of the garbage receptacle. Since any reduction in the angle a will increase the possibility of detecting errors that may cause negative effects on the positional detection of the garbage bag 17, and since any increase in the angle a will require the IR receiver 14 to be disposed more distant, which is unfavorable for both detection and assembly. This arrangement allows cost savings, easy assembly, and greater detection accuracy.

In the case of the IR receiver 14 on the lower inner surface of the trash receptacle and the IR transmitter 13 on the inner side surface thereof, the receiving center axis of the IR receiver 14 may be oriented at an angle α of 30 -50 degrees relative to the inner bottom surface of the trash receptacle, with the center drive axis of the IR transmitter 13 oriented at an angle p of 38-58 degrees relative to the vertical direction for the inner side surface of the trash receptacle. trash. Since any reduction in the angle a will increase the possibility of detecting errors that may cause a negative effort in the positional detection of the garbage bag, and since any increase in the angle a will require the IR transmitter 13 to be disposed more distant, which is unfavorable for both detection and assembly, this arrangement allows cost savings, easy assembly and higher detection accuracy.

In a preferred example of this embodiment, angle a is 40 degrees and angle p is 48 degrees. In this way, the distance between the detectors is moderate and good detection results can be obtained, which translates into cost savings and easy assembly.

Furthermore, the IR transmitter 13 can be configured to transmit infrared rays at a maximum angle of 93 degrees, and the IR receiver 14 can be configured to receive infrared rays at a maximum angle 8 of 44 degrees, as shown in Fig. 3. In this way, both transmission and reception can be performed in a wide angle range, which favors the accuracy of the positional detection of the garbage bag.

As shown in Figs. 4-5, IR transmitter 13 and IR receiver 14 can be structurally fixed in terms of position and angle to ensure that IR transmitter 13 transmits the signal directly to IR receiver 14. Furthermore, the IR transmitter 13 and IR receiver 14 may be structured to limit the angle of transmission in order to prevent the IR signal from propagating through the gap between the garbage bag 17 and the bottom of the receptacle. garbage to reach IR receiver 14. In other words, the IR transmitter 13 and the IR receiver 14 can both be fixed at desired orientation angles on the internal surfaces of the trash receptacle by poka-yokes known in the art that ensure their positional and angular correction. The use of such poka-yokes can result in time and labor savings, as well as an improvement in efficiency.

Furthermore, each of the poka-yokes can be composed of a concave member and a convex member that can be comfortably received in the concave member. Furthermore, on the inner surfaces of the garbage receptacle, cavities 21 can be formed which can comfortably receive the IR transmitter 13 and the IR receiver 14 and are oriented to limit their aforementioned angles. One of the concave and convex members may be disposed on an outer surface of the IR receiver 14 or IR transmitter 13 and the other on an inner surface of a respective one of the cavities. The concave member can extend axially. For example, in the case of the convex member disposed on the outer surface of the IR receiver 14 or IR transmitter 13 and the concave member on the inner surface of the respective cavity, the term "axially" refers to a direction in the extending the cavity. In this way, with the poka-yokes each constructed from said concave and convex members, the IR transmitter 13 and IR receiver 14 can be set at desired orientation angles with guaranteed angular and positional correction. As a result, time and labor savings and increased efficiency can be achieved.

In some embodiments, the IR transmitter 13 and IR receiver 14 can be made waterproof and dustproof by means of transparent protective hoods 16 hermetically attached to the internal surfaces of the trash receptacle. Although the IR transmitter 13 and IR receiver 14 are housed in the protective hoods 16, positional detection of the garbage bag is still possible as the transparent nature of these protective hoods 16 allows the transmission of infrared rays through the same. The protective hoods 16 can be structured as shown in Fig. 4 and made of plastic or glass, depending on the actual circumstances.

The control mechanism may include a microcontroller unit (MCU) as well as an IR Tx / Rx circuit composed of an amplification circuit, a modulator / demodulator (modem) circuit, and the like. As shown in Fig. 7, the MCU can be configured to produce a 38KHz modulated carrier signal and provide it to the IR transmitter 13 (as the "sent ¡rBag " shown in Fig. 7). If the carrier signal of the IR transmitter 13 is not obstructed by an obstacle (garbage bag 17), it can be successfully received by the IR receiver 14 (such as the "¡rBag Rcv" shown in Fig. 7). When obstructed midway by an obstacle (garbage bag 17), the carrier signal from the IR transmitter 13 will no longer easily reach the IR receiver 14. As a result, the signal modulated carrier reaching the IR receiver 14 will be very weak or even not received at all. In this way, detection of the position of the garbage bag is made possible.

The carrier signal received at IR receiver 14 may further undergo gain amplification and demodulation before being processed and then sent to a comparator. The comparator then generates a first detection signal as an output. This imparts a very strong interference resistance to detection, so it can usually be done under severe lighting conditions and in sunlight. The IR transmitter 13 can be configured to transmit the signal at such a limited power level that it does not allow the signal to pass through the garbage bag to reach the IR receiver 14. Upon unsuccessful reception of the IR signal at the IR receiver 14, the presence of the garbage bag can be confirmed and the fan 15 can be instructed to stop operation.

In this way, the garbage bag detection device allows to detect the position of a garbage bag 17 in the garbage receptacle and to control the fan based on the detection information of the garbage bag 17 so that when it is garbage bag 17 not in place, keep fan running; otherwise, turn off the centrifugal fan to prevent the garbage bag 17 from being sucked in by the centrifugal fan and damaging the garbage bag 17.

This is useful for protecting the garbage bag 17, saving resources, reducing the potential security risks of the smart garbage receptacle, and increasing the stability and reliability of the garbage receptacle.

During the replacement of the garbage bag for the smart garbage receptacle, the garbage bag detection device is not only able to detect the position of the garbage bag 17 in the garbage receptacle, but can perform a control based on the detected information about the position of the garbage bag 17, so that the laying process is kept running and stopped, respectively, before and after the garbage bag 17 has been installed in place, while preventing the garbage bag 17 from being sucked in by the fan 15 and breaking. Therefore, the garbage bag detection device is helpful in protecting the garbage bag, saving resources, reducing the potential security risks of the smart garbage receptacle, and increasing its stability and reliability.

In a particular embodiment, a method is also provided to control the automatic replacement of the bag for the smart garbage receptacle as defined above. The method includes:

activate the fan 15;

determining whether the IR receiver produces a first detection signal;

if so, turn off fan 15.

In addition, prior to the activation of the fan 15, detection can be performed to find whether there is bagged garbage within the garbage receptacle. This can avoid degradation in positional sensing accuracy during subsequent garbage bag placement due to bagged garbage remaining in the receptacle. Fig. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a detailed process of the method, including:

opening a main discharge cover 19 of the garbage receptacle and then determining whether a first detection signal occurs;

if so, generate an alert;

otherwise, close the main discharge cover 19 and activate the fan 15;

determining whether the IR receiver produces a first detection signal;

if so, turn off fan 15.

It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, the opening and closing of the main discharge cover 19 can perform the opening and closing of a garbage bag extraction channel. Once the bagging process is finished, open the main discharge cover 19 to be able to remove the bagged garbage; When the system detects that the bagged garbage has been removed, close the main discharge cover 19 again to continue with the procedure for placing a new garbage bag. The "alert" can be sounded by a buzzer to direct the operator to remove the packaged trash to prevent it from remaining inside the smart trash receptacle.

Of course, the smart garbage receptacle can also adopt other forms of the prior art, as shown in Fig. 13, the smart garbage receptacle can have an outer container 20 with a garbage bag removal channel and a container. 18 internal to store garbage bags. Once the In the bagging process, the inner container 18 may be tilted to allow the bagged trash to be removed. Once the system detects that the bagged trash has been removed, the inner container 18 is reset to continue the procedure for placing a new trash bag.

Reference is now made to Figs. 9-11, showing a garbage bag detection device for a smart garbage receptacle that is not in accordance with the present invention. For ease of understanding, the same components in this embodiment are indicated by the same reference numerals as in the embodiment of the invention.

As shown in Figs. 9-11, the garbage bag detection device according to this embodiment includes a transmitter 13 and a receiver 14. The transmitter 13 is capable of transmitting a signal that can be reflected off a garbage bag 17 or other object so that the reflected part of this is received as a reflected signal by the receiver 14. Furthermore, both the receiver 14 and the transmitter 13 are arranged on an internal surface of the trash receptacle. As the garbage bag 17 approaches downward while being positioned, the reflected signal will become stronger as the distance between the detectors and the garbage bag 17 is shortened. As a result of the increasingly strong reflected signal received by the receiver 14, the position of the garbage bag 17 in the garbage receptacle can be accurately perceived.

The aforementioned inner surface may be an inner side surface of the trash receptacle or an inner bottom surface thereof. Transmitter 13 and receiver 14 are not limited to any particular positional design as long as they are not directed toward each other to allow the signal from transmitter 13 to reflect off the approaching garbage bag 17 or other object that is approaching. so that part of it is received by receiver 14 as a reflected signal.

In accordance with this smart garbage receptacle which is not in accordance with the present invention, the garbage bag detection device may further include a control mechanism. IR transmitter 13 and IR receiver 14 may be communicatively coupled to the control mechanism. Under the action of the control mechanism, the transmitter 13 is able to transmit a signal and the receiver 14 is able to receive the signal from the transmitter 13. In this way, when a garbage bag 17 is partially present between the transmitter 13 and receiver 14, the signal from the transmitter 13 will be blocked by the garbage bag 17. In response, the receiver 14 will generate a first detection signal and transmit the first detection signal to the control mechanism, based on which, the operating states of the components involved in automatic bag replacement can be controlled.

In this embodiment, the garbage bag placement device used to evacuate the air from the garbage container through an air discharge may be a centrifugal fan. Centrifugal fan 15 is communicatively coupled to the control mechanism. When the control mechanism received the first detection signal from the receiver 14, the control mechanism can perform the control to deactivate the fan 15.

The fan is configured to evacuate the air from the trash receptacle through an air discharge. As a result, the garbage bag is automatically pushed and placed in the garbage receptacle by the ambient atmospheric pressure. Each of the fans 15, the IR transmitter 13, and the IR receiver 14 can be communicably coupled to the control mechanism, and the first detection signal can be transmitted to the control mechanism, based on which, the controls can be controlled. operating states of the fan 15 and other components involved in automatic bag replacement.

On the way, during the replacement of the garbage bag for the smart garbage receptacle, the garbage bag detection device is not only capable of detecting the position of the garbage bag 17 in the garbage receptacle, but also can perform a control based on the detected information about the position of the garbage bag 17, so that the laying process keeps running and stops respectively before and after the garbage bag 17 has been placed in its instead, preventing the garbage bag 17 from being sucked in by the fan 15 and breaking. Therefore, the garbage bag detection device is helpful in protecting the garbage bag, saving resources, reducing the potential security risks of the smart garbage receptacle, and increasing its stability and reliability.

Similar to the embodiment of the invention, in this embodiment, the transmitter 13 is preferably implemented as an infrared (IR) transmitter and the receiver 14 accordingly as an IR receiver. In other words, an IR signal is partially transmitted, reflected, and received.

In such an arrangement, the process carried out by the IR devices, involving transmission, reflection and reception, allows a simple and reliable detection of the position of the garbage bag 17 in the garbage receptacle and an effective prevention of partial breakage. of the garbage bag 17 during the automatic bag replacement process. Furthermore, the position of the garbage bag 17 is a necessary piece of information for a higher intelligence of the smart garbage receptacle. The use of such a position sensing device with the smart garbage receptacle is useful to improve the quality of the receptacle in the automatic placement of the garbage bag 17 and increase intelligence in its performance.

In some embodiments, transmitter 13 and receiver 14 are both disposed on the inner bottom surface of the trash receptacle. In this case, the garbage bag 17 will gradually approach, from top to bottom, the inner bottom surface of the garbage receptacle while it is being placed. As a result, as the garbage bag 17 gets closer and closer, an increasing part of the signal will be reflected and the reflected signal received by the receiver 14 will become stronger and stronger, allowing an accurate perception of the signal. position of the garbage bag 17. Furthermore, both a central transmission shaft of the transmitter 13 and a central reception shaft of the receiver 14 can be directed upward. Here, the terms "up" and "down" are referred to with respect to device configuration as shown in Fig. 9. With this design, a signal path for transmission, reflection and reception can be shortened. Furthermore, transmission along the central transmission axis imparts great strength to the transmitted signal, and reception along the central reception axis allows good signal reception performance. In this way, both a shorter detection distance and a higher signal strength can be achieved, which favors the precision and speed of the device.

In some embodiments, shown in Fig. 12, the transmitter 13 and receiver 14 are both disposed on the inner side surface of the trash receptacle, with their central transmit and receive axis pointing into the receptacle.

Similarly, transmitter 13 and receiver 14 can also be structurally fixed in terms of position and angle to prevent unreflected signal from being transmitted to receiver 14. Specifically, transmitter 13 and receiver 14 can be fixed at orientation angles. desired on the inner surface of the trash receptacle by poka-yokes known in the art that ensure their positional and angular correction. The use of such pokayokes allows unique fixation in flexible relative positional and angular relationships, resulting in time and labor savings as well as improved efficiency.

In some embodiments, the transmitter 13 and receiver 14 can be made waterproof and dustproof by means of transparent protective hoods 16 hermetically attached to the inner surface of the trash receptacle. Although the transmitter 13 and receiver 14 are housed in the protective hoods 16, positional detection of the garbage bag 17 is still possible since the transparent nature of these protective hoods 16 allows the transmission of the signal therethrough. Of course, a protective hood 16 can be provided for the transmitter 13 and receiver 14 together, in order to achieve material savings and lower cost. The protective hoods 16 can be structured as shown in Fig. 4, and made of plastic or glass, depending on the actual circumstances.

The control mechanism may include a microcontroller unit (MCU) as well as an IR Tx / Rx circuit composed of an amplification circuit, a modulator / demodulator circuit (modem) and the like. As shown in Fig. 10, the MCU can be configured to produce a 38 KHz modulated carrier signal and provide it to transmitter 13 (as the "sent ¡rBag " shown in Fig. 10). If the carrier signal from the IR transmitter 13 is not reflected by an obstacle (garbage bag 17), it will not reach the receiver 14 (like the "¡rBag Rev" shown in Fig. 10). Otherwise, when the carrier signal of the iR transmitter 13 is reflected by an obstacle (garbage bag 17), it will be partially received by the receiver 14, and the position of the garbage bag 17 can be known by analyzing the force of the received signal. The carrier signal received at receiver 14 may further undergo gain amplification and demodulation before being processed and then sent to a comparator. The comparator then generates a first detection signal as an output. This imparts a very strong interference resistance to detection, so it can usually be done under severe lighting conditions and in sunlight. The transmitter 13 can be configured to transmit the signal at a power level that is so limited to allow the receiver to successfully receive the reflected signal. Based on the reflected signal received, the position of the receptacle garbage bag 17 can be determined and serve as a basis for monitoring the operational status of the fan 15.

In this particular embodiment, a smart garbage receptacle is also provided that includes the garbage bag detection device as defined above. By doing so, during the replacement of the garbage bag 17 by the smart garbage receptacle, the garbage bag detection device is not only capable of detecting the position of the garbage bag 17 in the garbage receptacle, but also it can deactivate the fan 15 after the garbage bag 17 has been placed in order to prevent it from being sucked up by the fan 15 and breaking. Therefore, the garbage bag detection device is useful in protecting the garbage bag 17, saving resources, reducing the potential security risks of the smart garbage container, and increasing its stability and reliability. Since the smart trash receptacle offers substantially the same beneficial effects as the above-described trash bag detection device, it will not be described in more detail here for the sake of simplicity.

In a particular embodiment, a method is also provided to control the automatic replacement of the bag for the smart garbage receptacle as defined above. The method includes:

activate the fan 15;

determining whether the intensity of a reflected signal received by receiver 14 reaches the preset value.

if so, turn off fan 15.

Specifically, if the intensity of a reflected signal received by the receiver 14 reaches the preset value, the receiver 14 can produce a first detection signal, the control mechanism performs the control to deactivate the fan 15.

In addition, prior to the activation of the fan 15, detection can be performed to find whether there is bagged garbage within the garbage receptacle. This can avoid degradation in positional sensing accuracy during subsequent garbage bag placement due to bagged garbage remaining in the receptacle. Fig. 11 is a flow chart illustrating a detailed process of the method, including:

opening a main discharge cover of the trash receptacle and then determining whether the intensity of the reflected signal received by the receiver 14 reaches the preset value;

if so, generate an alert;

if not, close the main discharge cover and activate fan 15;

determining whether the intensity of the reflected signal received by the receiver 14 reaches the preset value;

if so, turn off fan 15.

It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, the opening and closing of the main discharge cover 19 can perform the opening and closing of a garbage bag extraction channel as shown in Fig. 12. When the bagging process has finished, open the main discharge cover to be able to remove the bagged garbage. When the system detects that the bagged garbage has been removed, close the main discharge cover 19 again to continue with the procedure for placing a new garbage bag. The "alert" can be sounded by a buzzer to direct the operator to remove the bagged trash to prevent it from remaining inside the smart trash receptacle.

Of course, the smart garbage receptacle can also adopt other forms of the prior art, as shown in Fig. 13, the smart garbage receptacle can have an outer container 20 with a garbage bag removal channel and a container. 18 internal to store garbage bags. After the bagging process is complete, the inner container 18 can be tilted to allow the bagged trash to be removed. Once the system detects that the bagged trash has been removed, the inner container 18 is reset to continue with the procedure for placing a new trash bag.

The above description simply presents some particular embodiments of the present invention and does not limit the scope of the same in any way. Any and all variations or substitutions readily conceivable by those familiar with the art in light of the teachings disclosed herein are considered to be within the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention will be as defined in the appended claims.

Claims (9)

A smart garbage receptacle, comprising a garbage bag placement device and a garbage bag detection device; wherein the garbage bag placement device is configured to place a garbage bag in a main body of the smart garbage receptacle, wherein the garbage bag placement device comprises a vacuum assembly and a motor (2 ) to drive the vacuum assembly, the vacuum assembly comprises an air inlet (3) and an air outlet, the air inlet (3) in communication with the interior of the main body of the garbage receptacle, the air outlet in communication with the exterior of the main body of the trash receptacle; wherein the garbage bag detection device comprises a transmitter (13) for transmitting a signal and a receiver (14) for receiving a signal, both the transmitter (13) and the receiver (14) being arranged on the internal surfaces trash receptacle, where the signal received by the receiver (14) is a direct signal transmitted from the transmitter (13); wherein the garbage bag detection device further comprises a control mechanism, wherein each of the transmitter (13), receiver (14) and garbage bag placement device (15) is communicatively coupled to the control mechanism, wherein the control mechanism is configured to control an operational state of the garbage bag placement device (14) based on the signal received by the receiver (14), and wherein In the case of a garbage bag (17) between the receiver (14) and the transmitter (13), the receiver (14) produces a first detection signal from which the control mechanism instructs the device (15 ) placing garbage bags to stop their operation; in which i) the transmitter (13) is arranged on a lower inner surface of the trash receptacle and the receiver (14) on an inner lateral surface thereof such that a central transmission shaft of the transmitter (13) is oriented at an angle to 30-50 degrees with respect to the lower inner surface of the trash receptacle and that a central receiving axis of the receiver (14) is oriented at an angle p of 38-58 degrees with respect to a vertical direction for the inner lateral surface from the garbage container; or ii) the receiver (14) is arranged on the lower inner surface of the trash receptacle and the transmitter (13) on the inner lateral surface thereof such that the central receiving axis of the receiver (14) is oriented at an angle to 30-50 degrees with respect to the lower inner surface of the trash receptacle and that the central drive shaft of the transmitter (13) is oriented at an angle p of 38-58 degrees with respect to the vertical direction of the inner lateral surface trash receptacle. 2. The smart trash receptacle of claim 1, wherein the transmitter (13) is an infrared (IR) transmitter and the receiver (14) is an IR receiver; or the transmitter (13) is an ultrasonic transmitter and the receiver (14) is an ultrasonic receiver. The smart trash receptacle of claim 1, wherein the vacuum assembly is a centrifugal impeller type vacuum assembly or an axial flow fan type vacuum assembly. The smart trash receptacle of claim 3, wherein the centrifugal impeller type vacuum assembly comprises a housing and a centrifugal impeller (1) housed in the housing, wherein the air inlet is defined in the housing of such that it is axially opposed to the centrifugal impeller (1) and the air outlet in the casing so as to radially oppose the centrifugal impeller (1) or tangential thereto, and wherein the air inlet (3) communicates with an air discharge on the inner wall of the main body, with the air outlet in communication with the outside of the main body of the garbage receptacle. The smart trash receptacle of claim 4, wherein the centrifugal impeller (1) further comprises blades (4) and a wheel (6) to which all blades (4) are attached and oriented perpendicularly. The smart trash receptacle of claim 4, wherein the centrifugal impeller (1) comprises blades (4) each provided, with a portion thereof in positional correspondence with the air inlet (3), a shoulder (5) projecting towards the air inlet, and in which the shoulder (5) is blade-shaped and integral with the blade (4) in which it is provided. The smart trash receptacle of claim 4, wherein the housing comprises an upper part (7) and a lower part (8) removably coupled to the upper part (7), and wherein the inlet ( 3) of air is defined in the upper part (7), with gaps between the upper part (7) and the lower part (8) defining the air outlet. The smart trash receptacle of claim 7, characterized in that the centrifugal impeller (1) is provided with a shaft hole in which an output shaft of the motor (2) is received and fixed, and in which the part Lower (8) is provided with a hole (11) through which the output shaft of the motor (2) is inserted. A method for controlling automatic bag replacement for a smart trash receptacle, the smart trash receptacle comprising the trash bag detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, the method comprising the steps of : activating the garbage bag placement device (15); determining whether the receiver (14) produces a first detection signal; and if so, deactivate the garbage bag placement device (15).