JP2000274714A - Bathroom air-conditioning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To regulate an adverse wind while taking a bath for enabling a person to take a bath comfortably and to issue a warning on an accident or the like in the bathroom by performing control so that the output of a circulation fan can be reduced or stopped when the person is in the bathroom based on the detection signal of a human sensor. SOLUTION: In a bathroom heating operation mode (a circulation fan 14 is being driven and an electric heater 1 5 is being energized), when an amount- of-wind automatic control switch is on, it is judged whether anyone is in a bathroom or not. When it is detected that someone is in the bathroom, the temperature in the bathroom is less than 20 deg.C. When the drive of the circulation fan 14 has been set to 'Strong wind', the amount of wind is changed from 'Strong' to 'Weak'. On the other hand, when the drive has been set to 'Weak wind', the operation continues. On the other hand, when the temperature is equal to or more than 20 deg.C, the drive of the circulation fan 14 is stopped regardless of whether the amount of wind is at the 'Strong' or 'Weak' position, thus preventing the effective temperature of the bathing person from becoming extremely low.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bathroom air conditioner for heating a bathroom.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various types of bathroom air conditioners for heating a bathroom, such as those disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-141702, have been proposed.

In these bathroom air conditioners, a heating device such as an electric heater is energized, and a circulating fan for circulating bathroom air is driven to circulate the air heated by the heating device into the bathroom. As a result, the bathroom is heated and comfortable bathing is realized even in a season when the outside air temperature is low such as in winter.

[0004]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional bathroom air conditioner, when a person takes a bath without stopping heating, even if the air is heated, the wind hits a wet body, so that the body temperature is not felt. Was low and uncomfortable, and also contributed to the increased likelihood of catching a cold.

In addition, when an elderly person takes a bath in the winter season, the elderly person may fall down in the bathroom due to a temperature difference between the bathroom and an adjacent washroom. In addition, there are cases where young children fall into the bathtub and die. In such a case, it is necessary to be discovered at an early stage. However, since the bathroom and the living room are usually separated, this discovery may be delayed and a serious situation may occur.

An object of the present invention is to provide a bathroom air conditioner that can regulate the air flow during bathing so that the user can comfortably take a bath, and can warn of an accident in the bathroom.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is directed to a circulating fan for circulating air in a bathroom and an air blown from the circulating fan into an apparatus body. A bathroom air conditioner that includes a heating device that heats the air and circulates the heated air blown by the circulation fan to the bathroom to heat the bathroom, and a human body sensor that detects whether or not a person is in the bathroom, When the person is in the bathroom based on the detection signal of the human body sensor, the control unit controls the output of the circulation fan to decrease or stop.

According to the present invention, when a person is in the bathroom,
This is detected by a human body sensor, and the output of the circulation fan is lowered or stopped, so that the temperature of the bather can be prevented from remarkably decreasing.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the apparatus further comprises an alarm means, wherein the human body sensor detects an operation of a person in the bathroom, and when the person does not operate for a predetermined period of time, the control means includes: It has a structure for driving the alarm means.

According to the present invention, when the user does not move for a long time in the bathroom, it is possible to assume a situation of falling down due to an accident or the like, and this can be alarmed by the alarm means. Here, when this alarm means is installed in a room other than a bathroom such as a living room, this situation can be quickly noticed.

[0011]

1 to 5 show a first embodiment of a bathroom air conditioner according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a bathroom provided with a bathroom air conditioner, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the bathroom air conditioner, FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the bathroom air conditioner, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a drive control circuit for the circulation fan, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing drive control of the circulation fan.

The bathroom air conditioner 10 is installed substantially at the center of the bathroom ceiling 2 to air-condition the entire bathroom 1.
As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the main body 11 includes a rectangular device main body 11 and a flat front panel 12 installed on the lower surface of the device main body 11.

In the apparatus main body 11, a ventilation fan 1 is provided.
3, a circulation fan 14 and three electric heaters 15 are installed. The ventilation fan 13 is connected to an exhaust duct 17 (FIG. 1) communicating with the outside through an outlet 16. The electric heater 15 is arranged in a wind circuit of the air blown by the circulation fan 14, and the air in the wind circuit is heated by the electric heater 15.

On the other hand, a suction port (not shown) for the ventilation fan 13 and a circulation fan 14 are provided on the lower surface of the front panel 12.
And a blow-out port 19 through which the air blown by the circulation fan 14 is blown out. Further, a filter 20 for removing dust of the circulating air is provided on the lee side of the suction port 18, and a louver mechanism 21 is provided on the outlet 19.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a temperature sensor 22 for detecting the temperature in the bathroom 1 and a human body sensor 23 for detecting whether or not a person is in the bathroom 1 are provided on the lower surface of the front panel 12, as shown in FIGS. Is installed. As the temperature sensor 22, for example, a thermistor is used, and as the human body sensor 23, an infrared sensor that detects infrared rays emitted to a human body is used.

In the bathroom air conditioner constructed as described above, when heating the bathroom, the electric heater 15 is energized and the circulation fan 14 is driven. Thereby, as shown by a two-dot chain line arrow in FIG. 2, the air in the bathroom 1 is circulated and heated in the apparatus main body 11, and is circulated in the bathroom 1 to heat the bathroom. In this bathroom heating mode, the circulation fan 14 has two types of air volume settings, “strong” and “weak”. When the air volume automatic control switch 25 described later is turned on, this air volume is automatically selected appropriately. are doing. The bathroom air conditioner 10 operates in a bathroom drying mode (driving the ventilation fan 13 and the circulation fan 14,
Of course), a ventilation mode (driving the ventilation fan 13), and the like.

Next, a drive control circuit of the circulation fan 14 according to the bathroom air conditioner will be described with reference to FIG. The circulation fan 14 is controlled by a microcomputer (hereinafter, referred to as a microcomputer) 24 having a built-in timer 24a, and based on signals from a temperature sensor 22, a human body sensor 23 and an automatic air volume control switch 25, a circulation fan. The drive of the circulation fan 14 is controlled through the fan drive circuit 26 as shown in FIG.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, in the bathroom heating operation mode (the circulation fan 14 is driven and the electric heater 15 is energized), when the automatic air volume control switch 25 is turned on, a person is left in the bathroom 1. Is detected (S
1, S2). When it is detected that a person is present, it is determined whether or not the temperature of the bathroom 1 is 20 ° C. or higher (S3). When the temperature of the bathroom 1 is lower than 20 ° C., the circulation fan 1
When the drive of No. 4 is operated with "air volume; strong", the air volume is changed from "strong" to "weak" (S4, S5). on the other hand,
When the operation is being performed with “air volume; low”, this operation is continued. When the temperature is equal to or higher than 20 ° C. in Step 3, the driving of the circulation fan 14 is stopped regardless of whether the air volume is “strong” or “weak” (S6).

As described above, in the bathroom air conditioner according to the present embodiment, when a person is in the bathroom 1 in the bathroom heating operation, the air volume is changed from “strong” to “weak”, or “strong” or “weak”.
Since the output of the circulation fan 14 is reduced to zero or “stopped”, the bather's perceived temperature does not drop significantly.

6 and 7 show a second embodiment of the bathroom air conditioner according to the present invention. In this embodiment, in addition to the drive control of the circulation fan 14 of the first embodiment,
When a person has not been operating for a predetermined period of time, a warning is issued.

That is, as shown in the drive control circuit of FIG.
The microcomputer 24 including the timer 24a is a human body sensor 2
The driving of the alarm device 28 is controlled via the alarm device driving circuit 27 based on the detection signal of (3). The microcomputer 24 determines the amount of infrared light detected by the human body sensor 23, and can determine whether a person is operating in the bathroom 1 based on a change in the amount of infrared light. (When the whole human body is in the sensitive area of the human body sensor 23, the amount of infrared light is large, and when a part of the body is in the sensitive area, the amount of infrared light is small. This drive control will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. That is, when the human body sensor 23 determines that there is a person in the bathroom 1, the elapsed time (for example, 15 minutes) is counted (S1, S2). Here, when the amount of infrared rays does not change for 15 minutes, it is determined that the person is in a state of falling down and not moving, and the alarm device 28 is driven (S3, S4, S4).
5). On the other hand, if the amount of infrared rays has changed during the 15 minutes in step 3, it is determined that a person is operating, and time measurement is repeated again to continue monitoring.

According to this embodiment, when a person does not operate in the bathroom 1 for a long time, it can be assumed that the person has fallen down due to an accident or the like.
To let others know quickly. Other configurations and operations are the same as those of the first embodiment.

[0023]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, when there is a person in the bathroom, this is detected by a human body sensor and the output of the circulation fan is lowered or stopped.
The trouble of turning off the drive switch of the bathroom air conditioner during bathing is eliminated.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the user does not move for a long time in the bathroom, it can be assumed that the user has fallen due to an accident or the like, and this can be immediately noticed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a bathroom in which a bathroom air conditioner is installed.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a bathroom air conditioner.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the bathroom air conditioner.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a drive control circuit of the circulation fan according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing drive control of the circulation fan according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a drive control circuit of the alarm device according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing drive control of an alarm device according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Bathroom, 10 ... Bathroom air conditioner, 11 ... Device main body, 14
... circulation fan, 15 ... electric heater, 23 ... human body sensor, 24 ... microcomputer, 28 ... warning device.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Sadayo Chiyoshi, 20 Kotobukicho, Isesaki City, Gunma Prefecture, In-house (72) Inventor Kanako Shimizu 20 Kotobukicho, Isesaki City, Gunma, Japan In-house F-term 3L071 AA02 AB03 AC02 AD01 AD05 AE05 AF05 AG00 AG06 3L072 AA05 AB01 AB06 AC02 AD16 AE06 AF11 5G055 AD04 AE48 AG18 AG31

Claims (2)

[Claims] A circulating fan that circulates air in a bathroom and a heating device that heats air blown from the circulating fan are provided in the apparatus main body, and the heating fan that is blown by the circulating fan. In a bathroom air conditioner that circulates air to a bathroom to heat a bathroom, a human body sensor that detects whether a person is in the bathroom or not, and the circulation fan when there is a person in the bathroom based on a detection signal of the human body sensor. Control means for controlling so as to reduce or stop the output of the bathroom. 2. An alarm device, wherein the human body sensor detects an operation of a person in the bathroom, and when the person does not operate for a predetermined time, the control device drives the alarm device. The bathroom air conditioner according to claim 1.