JP2001276497A - Iron - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an iron such that standby time for startup is reduced without increasing power consumption. SOLUTION: The iron includes a first electric heater for heating the pointed front portion of an ironing surface; a second electric heater for heating the mid portion of the ironing surface; a third electric heater for heating the rear portion of the ironing surface; a temperature detecting part for detecting the temperature of each part of the ironing surface; a temperature setting part for setting the temperature of the ironing surface; a control part for controlling power to the first, second and third heaters according to inputs to the temperature setting portion and outputs of the temperature detecting part; a temperature reporting part for informing the user of the part being heated and the part where the set temperature is reached; and a remaining time indicating part for indicating the estimated remaining time before the part being heated reaches the set temperature. The control part preferentially powers the first heater before powering the second and third heaters.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an iron,
In particular, the present invention relates to a technique for shortening a waiting time at the time of startup.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an electric heating iron has been configured to heat the bottom surface as uniformly as possible. That is, an iron base that forms an ironing surface is provided at a lower portion of the iron body, and the ironing surface is heated by one electric heater built in the iron base. Further, the temperature control of the ironing surface has been performed by controlling the energization of the heater with a bimetal or a thermistor or the like so that the center of the ironing surface becomes substantially the set temperature.

[0003]

Ironing is not the main chore, unlike cooking, such as preparing dinner. But it must be done. Therefore, everyone wants to use a little spare time to get rid of it quickly. However, with the uniform heating iron described above, no matter how short the estimate, it takes 1
It takes about a minute to a minute and a half. Busy housewives accumulate a great deal of psychological stress due to this waiting time.

By the way, if an auxiliary heater is built in like an iron disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-277298, the waiting time can be reduced to some extent by using the auxiliary heater at startup. However, in this case, it is not economical because extra power is required to heat the auxiliary heater.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and its object is to reduce the waiting time at the start-up without increasing the power consumption, and to provide a user with a psychological effect by the waiting time. The goal is to avoid stress.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an iron according to the present invention comprises a first electric heater for heating a pointed front portion of an ironing surface, and an intermediate portion between the hanging surface. A second electric heater for heating, a third electric heater for heating a rear part of the hanging surface, a temperature detecting unit for detecting a temperature of each front, middle, and rear part of the hanging surface; A temperature setting unit that arbitrarily sets a temperature, a control unit that controls energization of the first, second, and third heaters based on an input of the temperature setting unit and an output of the temperature detection unit; A temperature notification unit that informs a user of a part being heated and a part that has reached the set temperature among the front, middle, and rear parts of the surface, and an estimated remaining time until the part that is raising the temperature reaches the set temperature. And a remaining time display unit for displaying, Control unit is configured to perform preferentially over energization of the energization of the first heater at the start of heating to the second and third heaters.

Preferably, after the front portion of the ironing surface has reached the set temperature, the control section turns on the power to the second and third heaters by turning on the power to the first heater. Priority.

[0008] Preferably, the control section includes the first section.
Control so that the total amount of electric power supplied to the second and third heaters is constant during the heating period.

More preferably, there is provided a storage unit for storing a temperature transition calculation model using parameters such as a heater output, a heating portion, an initial temperature of an ironing surface, a current temperature, an air temperature, and the like, and the control unit operates in accordance with the model. An estimated remaining time until the temperature-raising portion reaches the set temperature is sequentially calculated.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS === Basic Configuration === FIGS. 1 and 2 show an external view and a block diagram of an iron according to an embodiment of the present invention, respectively. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an iron body, which has an iron base 2 at a lower portion thereof and an iron handle 3 at an upper portion thereof. The front of the base 2 has a pointed shape, and its lower surface is an ironing surface 2a.

Inside the base 2, as shown in FIG.
Three electric heaters A1, A2, and A3 for heating a front portion (hereinafter, area A) of the hanging surface 2a are embedded. Further, electric heaters B1, B2, and B3 for heating an intermediate portion (B area) of the hanging surface 2a, and electric heaters C1, C2, and C3 for heating a rear portion (C area) of the hanging surface 2a.
Are buried respectively. A temperature sensor S for detecting the temperature of each area is provided on the base 2 as A, B, and C.
It is buried in each area.

As shown in FIG. 4, a status display lamp 3 is provided on the upper surface of the handle 3 to notify the user of the area being heated and the area having reached the set temperature for each area.
1 (e.g., an LED), a remaining time display panel 32 (e.g., a liquid crystal) for displaying an estimated remaining time until the heated area reaches the set temperature, and a changeover switch 33 for switching the start mode. Have been. Further, a temperature setting dial 11 on which the user arbitrarily sets a temperature is formed on the upper surface of the main body 1.

The above 11 and 31 to 33 are respectively connected to a microcomputer 4 embedded inside the handle 2. Hereinafter, the basic operation of the iron will be described focusing on the control by the microcomputer 4.

=== Basic Operation === A switch circuit 41 of the microcomputer 4 turns on / off each heater.
Are performed individually. This switch circuit 4
1 is controlled by the information processing unit 4 built in the microcomputer 4
2 is performed based on the output.

For processing in the unit 42, a built-in ROM 43 of the microcomputer 4 stores heater output, heating portion,
A “temperature transition calculation model (calculation formula)” using the initial temperature of the ironing surface and the current temperature / air temperature as parameters is stored.

If there is at least one heater that is energized, the unit 42 blinks the status display lamp 31 corresponding to the area, and based on the information from the temperature sensor S in that area, ROM 43
Read from Subsequently, the remaining time until the set temperature is reached is sequentially calculated along the read calculation model, and the result is displayed on the display panel 32. Dial 11
A suitable switching signal is output to the switch circuit 41 based on the set temperature input from the switch and the temperature information from the temperature sensor S, and the temperature is controlled in units of area.

=== Startup in Quick Mode === Set the start mode changeover switch 33 to "quick mode" and turn on the power switch. Then, first, power corresponding to the set temperature is supplied only to the three electric heaters A1 to A3 in the area A. The reason why the electric power is concentrated in the area A is that the heat capacity of the area A is smaller than that of the other areas, and the temperature raising efficiency is good. The heater in the area A needs to be designed to withstand this power concentration. For example, when the total power consumption is 1200 W, the three heaters A1 to A3 are all equivalent to 400W.

The temperature change in the area A is detected by the temperature sensor S in the area A. During the temperature increase, the display lamp 31a corresponding to the area A is blinked, and the time required for the area A to reach the set temperature is displayed on the display panel 32. For example, a message such as "XX seconds remaining until the blinking area can be used" is displayed.

After the display becomes "0 second", that is, after the area A reaches the set temperature, the display lamp 31 is turned on.
a is changed from blinking to lighting to notify the user. At the same time, the process moves to the stage of heating the B and C areas while keeping the power consumption constant. The heating of the B and C areas is performed by shifting stepwise from B to C. For example, the energizing heater is shifted from two B areas + one C area to one B area + two C areas. The control of the display lamps 31b and c and the display panel 32 at this time is performed in the same manner as the control of 31a and 32 described above. Note that the heating method at this stage is not limited to this. For example, the heating of the area C is started after the area B is completely heated, or when the temperature of the area A starts to decrease, the heater of the area A is energized while the power consumption is kept constant to reheat. And so on.

When all the A, B, and C areas reach the set temperature, all the display lamps 31a to 31c are turned on, and the display on the display panel 32 is turned off or "0 second" is displayed. Thereafter, the operation is substantially the same as that of a normal iron, and thus the description is omitted.

=== Others === The iron can be used as a conventional uniform heating method by setting the start mode switch 33 to the “average mode” and turning on the power switch. In this mode, all the display lamps 31a to 31c corresponding to the areas A, B, and C are blinking, indicating that all the areas are being heated. The display panel 32 displays the time until all the areas reach the set temperature.

In this embodiment, the ironing surface is divided into three areas A, B and C in this order from the front, but the invention is not limited to this. For example, when it is desired to reduce the waiting time to one fourth as compared with the conventional uniform heating method, the waiting time may be divided into four, and when the waiting time is required to be reduced to one fifth, the waiting time may be divided into five. By the way, in this embodiment, one third is used.
I have to.

The number of heaters arranged in each area and the power consumption thereof are not limited to those in this embodiment. For example, a configuration may be adopted in which 1200 W heaters are arranged one by one in each area. However, in this case, it is necessary to consider the material and structure of the base 2 and the arrangement of the heaters so that the entire corresponding area can be quickly heated by one heater.

If the heat generation is limited in units of area, it can be used as a power saving mode. This is convenient when handling only small items such as handkerchiefs.

If the electric heater is arranged fully from the front to the rear of the ironing surface, it is possible to arbitrarily select which of the front and the rear is to be preferentially heated.

Instead of visually displaying the use start time on a liquid crystal or the like, an announcement may be made by voice to announce that "use is possible in XX seconds".

[0027]

According to the present invention, since the heating power is first concentrated on the front portion of the ironing surface after the power is turned on, the user can immediately turn on the power and turn on the ironing surface. The front part can be used. That is,
If you start ironing from handkerchiefs or other accessories or shirt cuffs, you will have little waiting time.

Further, since the heating is performed stepwise from the front part to the rear part of the hooking surface while keeping the total amount of electric power supplied for heating constant, the heating efficiency per unit energy is excellent.

Further, since the user is notified of the portion of the ironing surface that is being heated and the estimated remaining time until the portion becomes usable, the user can systematically iron the surface. It can be carried out.

Further, the remaining time is sequentially calculated according to a temperature transition calculation model using parameters such as the heater output, the heated portion, the initial temperature of the ironing surface and the current temperature and the air temperature as parameters. With high precision and speed.

Further, unlike the case where the entire surface is turned on / off with the total output, the power can be turned on / off, so that the range of the temperature change is small.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of an iron according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the same.

FIG. 3 is a layout diagram of an electric heater and a temperature sensor according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the upper surface of the handle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Iron main body 2 Iron base 2a Ironing surface 3 Iron handle 31 Status display lamp 32 Remaining time display panel 33 Start mode changeover switch 4 Microcomputer 41 Switch circuit 42 Information processing unit 43 ROM A1-3 Electric heater (A area) B1-3 Electric heater (B area) C1-3 Electric heater (C area) S Temperature sensor

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A first electric heater for heating a pointed front portion of an ironing surface, a second electric heater for heating an intermediate portion of the ironing surface, and a second electric heater for heating a rear portion of the ironing surface. 3, an electric heater, a temperature detector for detecting the temperature of each of the front, middle, and rear portions of the hanging surface; a temperature setting unit for arbitrarily setting the temperature of the hanging surface; Based on the output of the temperature detector, the first
A control unit for controlling energization of the second and third heaters, and a temperature notifying unit for notifying a user of a part being heated and a part that has reached the set temperature among the front, middle, and rear parts of the hanging surface. And a remaining time display unit for displaying an estimated remaining time until the temperature-rising portion reaches the set temperature, wherein the control unit supplies power to the first heater at the time of starting heating. An iron characterized in that the ironing is performed prior to energizing the third heater. 2. The control unit according to claim 1, wherein after the front portion of the ironing surface reaches the set temperature, the control unit supplies power to the second and third heaters to the first heater. An iron characterized in that it is given priority over energization of the iron. 3. The control unit according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the total amount of electric power supplied to the first, second, and third heaters to be constant during a heating period. Iron. 4. The storage unit according to claim 1, further comprising a storage unit for storing a temperature transition calculation model having parameters of a heater output, a heating part, an initial temperature of an ironing surface, a current temperature, an air temperature, and the like as parameters. An iron characterized in that the control unit sequentially calculates an estimated remaining time until the temperature-raising portion reaches the set temperature according to the model.