JP2001227016A - Automatic faucet - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic faucet discharging a large amount of water as an object is large and close to the faucet, with excellent in usability convenience in use. SOLUTION: This automatic faucet is provided with the faucet 2 having a water discharge port 21 facing a sink 11, an object detecting means for determining an object detection quantity on the basis of sensor output outputted by infrared ray sensors 3, 4 and a water discharge controller for discharging water from the faucet 2 when the object detecting means detects the presence of the object, and the water discharge controller discharges a large amout of water as an object detection quantity detected in the vicinity of the faucet is large.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic faucet for discharging water from a faucet when an object detecting means detects an object near the faucet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An automatic faucet which discharges water from a faucet when a sensor detects a reflector. The automatic water faucet increases the amount of water discharged from the spout as the position of the detected reflector is farther from the spout. A stopper is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-287785.

[0003]

The conventional automatic faucet has the following problems. When washing chopsticks, if you start washing in the zone farthest from the spout, the amount of spouted water will be too large and scatter around. In addition, in the case of a large kettle or the like, the sensor detects that it is located in a zone near the water discharge port, and the water discharge amount is set to be small. For this reason, the user may be in an unpleasant state due to the scattering of the water, or may feel uncomfortable due to poor water flow.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide a user-friendly automatic faucet in which a larger amount of water is discharged from the faucet as the object is larger and closer to the faucet.

[0005]

The object detecting means detects an object near a faucet. When the object detection unit detects the object, the control unit causes the faucet to discharge a larger amount of water from the faucet as the object detection amount is larger (the object is larger and the distance is shorter).

When the object is small like chopsticks (the amount of detected object is small), the amount of water discharged is small and it does not scatter, and when the object is large like a kettle or pot (the amount of detected object is large). Since the amount of water discharged is large, water injection and cleaning can be performed efficiently, and the automatic faucet is easy to use.

The object detecting means obtains an object detection amount based on a plurality of sensor outputs output from two or more sensors. For this reason, the object detection means can easily obtain the object detection amount (the size of the object and the position of the object).

[0008] [Claim 3] Since two or more sensors are arranged laterally on the faucet, the size of the object and the
It is easy to determine how far the object is in the left-right direction from the faucet.

[Claim 4] As the sensor, an active infrared sensor is used which catches the reflected light which is reflected by the infrared light irradiated in the sink direction and reflected by an object existing near the faucet.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the object detecting means includes two or more light emitting elements for irradiating infrared rays in a sink direction, and the infrared rays radiated from these light emitting elements are reflected on an object existing near the faucet. And a light receiving element that captures the reflected light that returns. The object detection amount is obtained based on the intensity of the sensor output transmitted by the light receiving element. Therefore, the object detection amount (the size of the object and the position of the object) can be easily obtained. Also, since only one light receiving element is required, the cost for parts can be reduced.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described.
4) will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in the figure, the automatic faucet A includes a faucet 2 having a spout 21 facing the sink 11 of the sink 1, infrared sensors 3 and 4 for detecting an object near the faucet 2, and a size of the object. An object determination circuit 51 for determination and a control circuit 5 for controlling water discharge are provided. In addition, the automatic faucet A can also control the water discharge by the hand controller 6.

The sink 1 is made of stainless steel or the like, and has a control unit 50 in which an object determination circuit 51, a control circuit 5, and a control valve member 7 are incorporated.

The faucet 2 comprises a pedestal 20 protruding from the upper surface 12 of the sink on the rear wall 111 of the sink, and a nose 22 rotatably mounted on the pedestal 21. An infrared communication port 211 for communicating with the infrared communication port 61 of the hand controller 6 is formed on the pedestal 20. A water outlet 21 is opened at the lower surface of the tip of the nose 22, and the water outlet 2 is provided.
Infrared sensors 3 and 4 are arranged in the lateral direction at the front of 1.

Light emitting units 31, 41 and light receiving units 32, 42
The infrared sensors 3 and 4 provided with the infrared ray sensor 3 and 4 are provided from the center line 221 of the nose 22 passing through the center of the water discharge port 21 in order to observe an object (tableware, cooking utensils, etc.) located below the water discharge port 21 from different viewpoints. They are located at a distance and apart. The light emitting units 31 and 41 emit infrared rays in a conical shape with different modulations toward the bottom surface of the sink 11.

The light receiving section 32 receives the infrared ray radiated from the light emitting section 31 and reflects it upon an object located below the water outlet 21 and sends out an output having a level corresponding to the amount of received light. The light receiving unit 32 is insensitive to infrared rays (including reflected waves) emitted from the light emitting unit 41. The light receiving section 42 receives the infrared rays emitted from the light emitting section 41
It receives infrared rays reflected on an object located below 1 and sends out an output at a level corresponding to the amount of received light. In addition,
The light receiving section 42 is insensitive to infrared rays (including reflected waves) emitted from the light emitting section 31.

An object (small object,
FIG. 2 shows the relative relationship between the large object and the infrared sensors 3 and 4. Outputs of the light receiving units 32 and 42 are sent to the object determination circuit 51 via lead wires (both not shown) passing through a pipe provided in the nose 22.

The object determination circuit 51 operates according to the following principle.
Detects the presence of an object, and also determines the size and center of the object
The shift in the left-right direction from the line 221 is calculated. Light receiving unit 3
When the output level of any of the items 2 and 42 exceeds the threshold value,
It is determined that there is an object below 21. In addition, infrared radiation
The output level of the light receiving units 32 and 42 at the time is
1 attributes (reflectance μ, area S, shape
Shape, inclination, etc.). Directly below the spout 21 (center line
221), an object is shown in the graph of FIG.
Thus, regardless of the attribute of the object, the output of the light receiving units 32 and 42
I_R, I_LAre almost the same, and the size of the object (chopsticks → tea bowl →
Output I corresponding to frying pan → large pot)_L, I _RIncreases
(I₁→ I_Two… → I_Three).

When an object is located at a position shifted from right below the water outlet 21 in the left-right direction, for example, on the right side of the center line 221, as shown in the graph of FIG. Output I _R of light receiving section 32> Output I of light receiving section 42
_L, the size of the object (chopsticks → bowl → pans → large pan) to corresponding output I _R, I _L is increased (I _1R → I _2R ... →
I _3R , I _1L → I _2L ... → I _3L ).

[0019] In this example, object determination circuit 51 determines the object detection amount based on the value of the combined output I _R and an output I _L. Then, based on the calculated object detection amount, the control circuit 5 determines the target water discharge amount steplessly between 1 liter / min and 10 liter / min.

For example, the target water discharge amount of the threshold is 1 liter /
When the chopsticks are directly below the water outlet 21, the target water discharge amount is 2 liters / minute, and when the large pot is directly below the water outlet 21, the target water discharge amount is 10 liters / minute. This allows
The opening degree of the control valves 721 and 731 for obtaining the target water discharge amount is determined, and water (or hot water) having a water amount corresponding to the object detection amount is discharged from the water discharge port 21 into the sink 11.

The control circuit 5 includes an infrared communication port 211,
Infrared sensors 3, 4, object determination circuit 51, temperature sensor 7
1. The actuators 72 and 73 (stepping motors) and the switch panel 52 are electrically connected.
The switch panel 52 is disposed on the upper surface of the sink on the rear wall 111 of the sink (the disposition state is not shown).

The temperature sensor 71 includes control valves 721 and 731
Is provided at a junction where the water supply pipe 720 and the hot water supply pipe 730 converge, and sends a sensor output corresponding to the temperature of water, hot water, or mixed water to the control circuit 5.

The switch panel 52 includes a power switch,
Water switch, hot water switch, hot water temperature increase switch, hot water temperature decrease switch, water discharge increase switch, water discharge decrease switch, detergent switch, detergent increase switch, detergent decrease switch, heater switch, hot air switch, and infrared sensor 3, 4
There is provided a stop switch for disabling the operation due to the object detection due to the above. In the vicinity of each switch,
An indicator lamp (not shown) indicating a switch state (operating state) is provided.

The hand controller 6 is attached to the front edge of the sink so as to be slidable left and right, and is used at a position desired by the user. The hand controller 6 is provided with a microphone for issuing a voice command and a speaker for emitting a synthesized voice, in addition to a switch and an indicator lamp having the same function as the switch panel 52.

The automatic faucet A of this embodiment has the following advantages. [A] The automatic faucet A is provided with an object (a chopstick,
When a bowl (a bowl, a frying pan, a large pot) is approached, water (or hot water) having a water amount corresponding to the object detection amount is discharged from the water outlet 21 into the sink 11.

For example, when the object is as small as chopsticks (the object detection amount is small), the washing operation can be performed directly below the water discharge port 21 without being scattered by a small amount of water discharge. On the other hand, when the object is large (such as a kettle or a large pot) (the amount of detected object is large), the amount of water discharged is large, so that water injection and cleaning can be performed efficiently. Even when the object is large such as a kettle or a large pot, the amount of water discharged is small during approaching to the water outlet 21 (the distance from the water outlet 21 is long), so that the object is discharged without flying. It can be approached to the water port 21. Since the automatic faucet A operates as described above, it is easy to use and can be used comfortably.

[A] The automatic faucet A is provided with infrared sensors 3 and 4 that emit infrared rays in a cone shape with different modulations in the direction of the bottom of the sink 11 to the front of the water outlet 21 opening at the lower end of the nose 22. Are arranged laterally. This allows
The object detection amount can be stably obtained regardless of day or night or the type of the object. Therefore, the automatic faucet A is less likely to malfunction and can discharge a water amount corresponding to the amount of detected objects.

[C] In the automatic faucet A, the object judging circuit 51 determines an object detection amount based on a value obtained by adding the output I _R and the output _IL, and the control circuit 5 determines the object detection amount based on the object detection amount. In this configuration, the target water discharge amount is determined steplessly between 1 liter / min and 10 liter / min. Therefore, the target water discharge amount can be determined with a simple configuration.

The present invention includes the following embodiments in addition to the above embodiments. a. In claim 1, the object detection means may detect the object detection amount with one sensor. b. An ultrasonic sensor or a weak radio wave sensor may be used as the sensor of the first, second, and third aspects.

C. If the sensor is an active infrared sensor, besides the method of emitting infrared rays in the sink direction by applying different modulations to avoid interference with each other, interference with each other using infrared sensors operating in different infrared wavelength bands You may avoid it. Further, the detection timing (light emission and light reception) of each sensor may be shifted to avoid mutual interference.

D. The infrared sensor may have one light emitting unit and plural light receiving units. Further, a plurality of light emitting units and a single light receiving unit may be provided (corresponding to claim 5).

E. Output I _R and the difference between the output I _L, and the output I _R and may determine the object detection amount on the basis of the average value of the output I _L. Further, a configuration in which the ejection amount is set in a plurality of stages based on the object detection amount may be employed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of an automatic faucet according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 Objects (small and large) that exist directly below the spout
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a relative relationship between the image sensor and an infrared sensor.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing output characteristics of left and right infrared sensors when each object (a chopstick, a teacup, a frying pan, a large pot) is located immediately below a water outlet;

Fig. 4 Objects (small and large) existing to the right of the spout
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a relative relationship between the image sensor and an infrared sensor.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing output characteristics of left and right infrared sensors when there are objects (chopsticks, tea bowls, frying pans, large pans) on the right side of the water outlet.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an automatic faucet according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A automatic faucet 2 faucet 3, 4 infrared sensor 5 control circuit (control means) 11 sink 21 water outlet 31, 41 light emitting section 32, 42 light receiving section 51 object determination circuit (object detecting means)

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Miwashi Ikeya 1-1-1 Showa-cho, Kariya-shi, Aichi F-term in DENSO Corporation (Reference) 2D060 BA05 BC07 CA04 2G065 AA04 AB22 BA01 BA32 DA15

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A faucet having a water outlet facing a sink, an object detecting means for detecting an object near the faucet, and a control means for discharging water from the faucet when the object detecting means detects the presence of the object. An automatic faucet comprising: an automatic faucet, wherein the control means causes a larger amount of water to be discharged as an object detection amount detected near the faucet increases. 2. The automatic faucet according to claim 1, wherein said object detecting means obtains said object detection amount based on a plurality of sensor signals output by two or more sensors. 3. The two or more sensors are connected to the faucet,
3. The automatic faucet according to claim 2, wherein the automatic faucet is disposed in a lateral direction. 4. The sensor according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is an active infrared sensor that captures reflected light that is reflected by the infrared light emitted in the sink direction and returns to the object near the faucet. The automatic faucet according to claim 2 or 3. 5. The object detecting means includes: two or more light emitting elements that emit infrared light in a sink direction; and infrared light emitted from these light emitting elements is reflected by the object existing near the faucet. 2. The automatic faucet according to claim 1, further comprising a light receiving element for catching the returning reflected light, wherein the object detection amount is obtained based on an intensity of a sensor output transmitted from the light receiving element.