JP2000241560A - Sensor unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To save entire power consumption as a sensor unit by linking a photosensor that consumes much power to a sensor that consumes less power. SOLUTION: A sensor unit consists of a photosensor 1B, a sensor 1C with less power consumption P1 than the photosensor 1B, and a timer 1D for measuring operation time (t) of the photosensor 1B. A sensor 1C1 with less power consumption P1 is constantly operated, and the photosensor 1B is operated for fixed amount of time being set to the timer 1D for the first time when the sensor 1C with the less power consumption P1 detects a change.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sensor unit, and more particularly to a sensor unit which saves power consumption as a whole by linking a reflection type optical sensor having high power consumption with a pyroelectric sensor having low power consumption. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, a human H (FIG. 2B)
It is well known that there is a sensor unit having a reflection type optical sensor 1B (FIG. 2 (B)) as a means for detecting the movement of the light.

[0003] A sensor unit constituted by such a reflection type optical sensor 1B is incorporated in, for example, a bathing abnormality notification device (Japanese Patent Application No. 10-303436).

Then, a reflection type optical sensor 1B (FIG. 2)
According to (B)), the movement of the person H during bathing is detected, and if an abnormality is detected in the person H, an abnormality is notified to the family or the like via the bathing abnormality notification device. Has become.

[0005]

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In this case, the reflection type optical sensor 1B (FIG. 2)
(B)) The light emitting element 1B2 and the light receiving element 1B3 are integrated with the base frame 1B1.

With this configuration, when a constant current is applied to the light emitting element 1B2, the light L1 is emitted. The light L1 is reflected to the human H, and the reflected light L2 is received by the light receiving element 1B3.

Then, the reflected light L2 is reflected by the light receiving element 1B3.
, The movement of the person H is detected.

That is, the reflection type optical sensor 1B detects the movement of the person H by utilizing the reflected light L2 from the person H.

However, in order to detect the movement of the human H, the reflection type optical sensor 1B must always be in an operating state, and the power consumption in that case becomes extremely large.

For example, current consumption I of the reflection type optical sensor 1B
(FIG. 5) is 4.5 m on average under certain conditions
A.

Therefore, for example, the operating time t is set to 24 (FIG. 5).
In the case of time, a large amount of power consumption P proportional to the above-mentioned 4.5 mA is consumed in order to keep the reflection type optical sensor 1B operating during the 24 hours.

An object of the present invention is to reduce the overall power consumption of a sensor unit by linking an optical sensor with high power consumption with a sensor with low power consumption.

[0014]

As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention provides an optical sensor 1B, a sensor 1C that consumes less power P1 than the optical sensor 1B, and an operation of the optical sensor 1B. The sensor 1C, which consumes a small amount of power P1, is always operated. The sensor 1C, which consumes a small amount of power P1, detects the change.
It was operated for a fixed time set in D.

Therefore, according to the present invention, for example, the optical sensor 1B is changed to the reflection type optical sensor 1B (FIG. 2B), and the sensor 1C consuming less power P1 is changed to the pyroelectric sensor 1C (FIG. 2C). If constituted, the reflection type optical sensor 1
The current consumption I of B is 4.5 mA (FIG. 4), whereas the current consumption I of the pyroelectric sensor 1C is 170 μA = 17.
It is 0 × 10 ⁻³ mA (FIG. 4), and the consumption current I is extremely small, about 1/26 of that of the reflection type optical sensor 1B in the pyroelectric sensor 1C.

For this reason, the pyroelectric sensor 1C with low power consumption P1 is always operated (FIG. 4), and when the pyroelectric sensor 1C detects a change in the infrared ray R (FIG. 1).
(B)), for the first time, the reflection type optical sensor 1 having large power consumption P2
B for a fixed time set in the timer 1D (for example, 10
If the sensor unit 1 is operated, the total power consumption P1 + P2 of the sensor unit 1 (FIG. 4) is extremely smaller than the conventional power consumption P (FIG. 5).

As a result, the optical sensor 1B that consumes a large amount of power
Is linked to the sensor 1C having low power consumption, so that the total power consumption P1 + P2 of the sensor unit 1 (FIG. 1) can be saved (FIGS. 1B and 4).

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described by way of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall view showing the configuration of the present invention, and a sensor unit 1 includes an optical sensor 1B.
And sensor 1C having lower power consumption P1 than optical sensor 1B
And a timer 1D for measuring the operation time t of the optical sensor 1B. The sensor unit 1 is installed in, for example, a bathroom, a toilet, or the like.

In such a sensor unit 1 (FIG. 1), the sensor 1C having the low power consumption P1 is always operated (FIG. 4), and when the sensor 1C detects a change, the optical sensor 1B is activated for the first time. The timer 1D is operated for a fixed time.

The optical sensor 1B of the sensor unit 1 is
For example, due to the reflection type optical sensor 1B (FIG. 2B), the sensor 1C with low power consumption P1 is, for example, a pyroelectric sensor 1C.
(FIG. 2C).

The reflection type optical sensor 1B, pyroelectric sensor 1C and timer 1D are connected to a controller 1A (FIG. 2A).
And the control unit 1A performs control described later (FIG. 3).

In such a sensor unit 1, under constant conditions (for example, at an ambient temperature of 25 ° C. and an operating voltage of 5 V), the current consumption I (FIG. 4) is 4.5 mA and the reflection type optical sensor 1B is 4.5 mA. In contrast, pyroelectric sensor 1C
Is 170 μA = 170 × 10 ⁻³ mA,
The current consumption I of the pyroelectric sensor 1C is 1/26 of the current consumption I of the reflection type optical sensor 1B, which is extremely small (FIG. 4).

Therefore, as will be described later (FIG. 3), according to the present invention, the pyroelectric sensor 1C, which is constantly operating and consumes a small amount of power P1 (FIG. 4), detects a change in the infrared ray R, By operating the reflection type optical sensor 1B, which consumes a large amount of power P2 (FIG. 4) for the first time, for example, for only 10 minutes to detect a change in the reflected light L2, the power consumption P1 + P2 of the entire sensor unit 1 becomes as shown in FIG. 4) The power consumption is extremely small as compared with the conventional power consumption P (FIG. 5).

The detection area D of the pyroelectric sensor 1C
1 (FIG. 1A) is set wider than the detection area D2 of the reflection type optical sensor 1B.

That is, the detection area D1 of the pyroelectric sensor 1C (FIG. 1A) is radial and extremely wide as shown in FIG.

Therefore, when, for example, a person H enters the wide detection area D1 (FIG. 1B), the person H having a temperature difference from the surroundings moves as described later (FIG. 2C). The change in the infrared ray R (FIG. 1B) generated at this time is detected by the pyroelectric sensor 1C.

On the other hand, the detection area D2 of the reflection type optical sensor 1B (FIG. 1B) is linear and extremely narrow.

Therefore, as described above, the pyroelectric sensor 1C
When the reflection type optical sensor 1B operates only after the change of the infrared ray R is detected by the operator, and the reflection type optical sensor 1B is not positioned directly below the reflection type optical sensor 1B (FIG. 1B), the person H
The change of the reflected light L2 from is not detected.

That is, the pyroelectric sensor 1C has a function of an operation switch for the reflection type optical sensor 1B, and its detection area D1 (FIG. 1) is used to quickly detect whether or not the human H has entered. (A)) needs to be set as wide as possible.

On the other hand, the reflection type optical sensor 1B originally has a function as a sensor for detecting, for example, an abnormality of the person H taking a bath, and by setting the detection area D2 to be narrow, It is necessary to improve the abnormality detection accuracy.

For example, suppose that the person H who was in the bathtub in the bathroom (FIG. 1B) was out of the bathtub and washes his body.

In this case, if the detection area D2 (FIG. 1B) of the reflection type optical sensor 1B is set wide, it is considered that the movement of the person H has not changed and is still in the bathtub. As a result, it may be determined that an abnormal situation has occurred, and an erroneous abnormality report may be made.

Therefore, in order to eliminate such erroneous abnormality notification and improve the abnormality detection accuracy, the detection area D2 of the reflection type optical sensor 1B needs to be set narrow.

The reflection type optical sensor 1B (see FIG. 2)
(B), the light emitting element 1B2 and the light receiving element 1B3 are installed at a predetermined angle, and incorporated in the base frame 1B1.

The light emitting element 1B2 is constituted by, for example, a light emitting diode, and the light receiving element 1B3 is constituted by, for example, a phototransistor.

The light L1 radiated by passing a constant current through the light emitting diode 1B2 (FIG. 2)
(B)) The light is reflected by the person H, and the reflected light L2 is received by the phototransistor 1B3.

Thus, the control unit 1A detects a change in the reflected light L2 as a change in the collector current of the phototransistor 1B3, thereby detecting the movement of the person H.

On the other hand, the pyroelectric sensor 1C (FIG. 2C)
Generally, as described above, a human H having a temperature difference from the surroundings
(FIG. 1 (B)) is a sensor for detecting a change in the infrared ray R generated when moving.

Then, the pyroelectric sensor 1C (see FIG. 2)
(C)) The package 1C1 has a configuration in which the pyroelectric element 1C3, the amplifier 1C4, and the comparator 1C5 are built.

With this configuration, the infrared ray R is transmitted to the lens 1
The light is condensed by C6 and further passed through the filter 1C2.
The pyroelectric element 1C3 is incident.

In this case, the pyroelectric element 1C3 is a dielectric, as is well known, and its temperature rises when infrared rays R are incident.

The pyroelectric element 1 caused by the temperature rise
Change in the polarization in C3 is because to generate a voltage is released as electric charge, the voltage is amplified by the amplifier 1C4, it outputs a predetermined pulse by comparing the amplified voltage with a reference voltage V _R of the comparator 1C5.

That is, according to the pyroelectric sensor 1C, the human H
The change in the infrared ray R caused by the movement of FIG.
The change is detected as a change in the output pulse from the comparator 1C5 via the control unit 1A.

Hereinafter, the operation of the present invention having the above configuration will be described.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in step 101 of FIG. 3, it is determined whether or not the pyroelectric sensor 1C has detected a change in the infrared ray R. If no change has been detected (NO), the same operation is repeated to detect a change. If so (YES), in step 102, the operation of the reflection type optical sensor 1B is started,
In step 103, the timer 1D is set to 10 minutes.

That is, the control section 1A (FIG. 2A) sends a control signal C1 to the pyroelectric sensor 1C which is always in operation (FIG. 4).
Is transmitted, and whether or not the detection signal S1 from the pyroelectric sensor 1C is input is constantly monitored.

Then, when the detection signal S1 is input from the pyroelectric sensor 1C, the control section 1A (FIG. 2A)
It is determined that the pyroelectric sensor 1C has detected a change in the infrared ray R caused by the movement of the person H (FIG. 1B), and the control signals C2 and C3 are transmitted to the reflective optical sensor 1B and the timer 1D, respectively. .

As a result, the reflection type optical sensor 1B starts operating, and the timer 1D is set to, for example, 10 minutes.

Therefore, for example, at time t = 0 (FIG. 4), assuming that the pyroelectric sensor 1C detects a change in the infrared ray R and the reflective optical sensor 1B starts operating, the consumed current I is 4.5.
The reflection optical sensor 1B of mA operates only for the first 10 minutes.

In this case, the current consumption I is 170 μA.
= 170 × 10 ⁻³ mA (FIG. 4) The pyroelectric sensor 1C operates constantly, regardless of the time set in the timer 1D, and detects a change in the infrared ray R (FIG. 1 (B)). I have.

Next, in step 104 of FIG.
It is determined whether or not the reflective optical sensor 1B has detected a change in the reflected light L2. If the change has been detected (YES), the process returns to step 103, where the timer 1D is set to 10 minutes, and no change is detected. In this case (NO), the next step 10
Go to 5.

That is, the control section 1A (FIG. 2A) operates the reflection type optical sensor 1B by transmitting the control signal C2, and thereafter receives the detection signal S2 from the reflection type optical sensor 1B. We always monitor whether it was done.

Then, when the detection signal S2 is input from the reflection type optical sensor 1B, the control unit 1A (FIG. 2 (A)) sets the person H (FIG. 1 (B)) to the reflection type optical sensor 1B. It is determined that a change in the reflected light L2 from the
The control signal C3 is transmitted to D, and the timer 1D is set to 10 minutes.

That is, when the reflection type optical sensor 1B detects the change of the reflected light L2, the timer 1D is reset and the operation of the reflection type optical sensor 1B is continued for another 10 minutes.

However, the reflection type optical sensor 1B generates the reflected light L2
If no change is detected (NO in step 104 in FIG. 3), it is determined in step 105 whether or not the time is up.

If the time is not up (NO in step 105 in FIG. 3), the process returns to step 104 and the same operation is repeated.
In step 106, the operation of the reflection type optical sensor 1B is stopped.

That is, when the detection signal S2 is no longer input from the reflection-type optical sensor 1B (see FIG. 2A), the controller 1A switches the reflection-type optical sensor 1B to the human H (FIG. 1).
(B)), it is determined that the change in the reflected light L2 from detection is no longer detected, and based on the measurement signal S3 from the timer 1D (FIG. 2 (A)), it is determined whether or not the time is up.
It is determined whether 0 minutes have elapsed.

Then, the control section 1A (FIG. 2A)
If 0 minutes have not elapsed (step 105 in FIG. 3).
NO), and the detection signal S2 from the reflection type optical sensor 1B.
Is monitored (step 104 in FIG. 3), and if 10 minutes have elapsed (YES in step 105 in FIG. 3), the control signal C2 is transmitted to the reflection-type optical sensor 1B to stop its operation.

For example, in FIG. 4, when the reflection type optical sensor 1B starts operating at t = 0 and the timer 1D is set to 10 minutes, the reflection type optical sensor 1B changes the reflected light L2 at 7 minutes. Upon detecting the change, the timer 1D is reset. Thereafter, for 10 minutes, the reflection type optical sensor 1B causes the reflection light L
2 is not detected, the reflection type optical sensor 1B
Stop the operation of.

Therefore, the operation time of the reflection type optical sensor 1B in this case is 17 minutes in the first operation.

In FIG. 4, the reflection type optical sensor 1B starts operating at a time point of 100 minutes from t = 0, and the timer 1
When D is set to 10 minutes, for example, the following operation is performed.

That is, 5 minutes after the timer 1D is set to 10 minutes, in other words, 105 minutes after t = 0,
It is assumed that the reflection type optical sensor 1B detects a change in the reflected light L2 and resets the timer 1. After that, when the reflection-type optical sensor 1B does not detect any change in the reflected light L2 for 10 minutes, the reflection is performed at the time when the set 10 minutes have elapsed, in other words, at the time when t = 0 to 115 minutes. Type optical sensor 1
The operation of B is stopped.

Therefore, the operation time of the reflection type optical sensor 1B in this case is 15 minutes for the second time.

However, in step 104 of FIG.
When the reflection type optical sensor 1B does not detect a change in the reflected light L2 (NO), the operation time of the reflection type optical sensor 1B is 1
It can be 0 minutes.

In FIG. 4, for example, on the basis of 24 hours, the reflection-type optical sensor 1B is intermittently operated only twice within this 24 hours, but may be completed once. .

Further, in FIG. 4, there is a case where the reflection type optical sensor 1B does not detect any change in the reflected light L2 within 24 hours. In this case, only the pyroelectric sensor 1C operates. Thus, the power consumption P1 is minimized.

In this embodiment, the power consumption P1
Pyroelectric sensor 1C (FIG. 2)
(C) Although described in the example, the present invention is not limited to this. Even when a vibration sensor that detects a change in vibration, a microphone that detects a change in sound, or the like is used instead of the pyroelectric sensor 1C. The same effect as described above is achieved.

[0068]

As described above, according to the present invention, a sensor unit is constituted by an optical sensor, a sensor consuming less power than the optical sensor, and a timer for measuring the operation time of the optical sensor. A small number of sensors are always activated, and when a sensor with low power consumption detects a change, the optical sensor is activated only for a certain period of time set in the timer for the first time. The power consumption is extremely smaller than the conventional power consumption, and there is an effect that the entire power consumption of the sensor unit can be saved by linking an optical sensor with high power consumption with a sensor with low power consumption.

[0069]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view showing a configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed configuration diagram according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing power consumptions P1 and P2 according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 sensor unit 1A control unit 1B reflective optical sensor 1C pyroelectric sensor 1D timer D1 detection area of pyroelectric sensor 1C D2 detection area of reflective optical sensor 1B P1 power consumption of pyroelectric sensor 1C P2 consumption of reflective optical sensor 1B Electric power

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Ryuichi Aida 3-3-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Signal Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masaaki Sakurai 3-3-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Date (72) Inventor Mitsuo Nishimura 3-3-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Signal Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Daisuke Ohata 3-3-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Signal (72) Inventor: Suna Makoto 3-3-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nihon Signal Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 2F034 AA19 BA09 5F089 BB01 BC01 CA21 FA10

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An optical sensor, a sensor having lower power consumption than the optical sensor, and a timer for measuring an operation time of the optical sensor, wherein the sensor having low power consumption is always operated, and the power consumption is low. A sensor unit characterized in that, when a change is detected by a sensor, the optical sensor is operated for a certain period of time set in a timer for the first time. 2. When the activated optical sensor detects a change, the timer is reset and the operation is continued for a certain period of time. When no change is detected, the timer is reset when the timer expires. Claim 1 to stop operation
The sensor unit as described. 3. The optical sensor according to claim 1, wherein the optical sensor is a reflection type optical sensor.
2. The sensor unit according to claim 1, wherein the sensors having low power consumption are each constituted by a pyroelectric sensor. 4. The detection area of the pyroelectric sensor is set wider than the detection area of the reflection type optical sensor.
The sensor unit as described.