JP2002346298A - Iron - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To secure safety by turning off a heater power source after a prescribed time elapses when an iron is left without turning off the power source. SOLUTION: The iron is provided with a sensor part 6 for detecting whether the iron is in a left state or a usage state. The sensor part 6 is provided with case parts 8 and 11 and a conductive mobile body 10 which is incorporated in the cases 8 and 11 so as to be freely rotatable. An electrode is constituted of the case parts 8 and 11.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an iron for automatically turning off a heater when a power is supplied to the iron and not using the iron.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an iron of this type is, for example, shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. That is, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 10 (a), when a predetermined time elapses while the commercial power is being supplied to the iron 19, the power supply to the heater is shut off to ensure safety, and as shown in FIG. When the iron 19 is used, the reciprocating motion of the iron 19 is detected to continue energizing the heater,
It allows ironing.

FIG. 11 shows a block diagram of this iron, and FIG. 12 shows a circuit diagram thereof. Hereinafter, FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. When the commercial power supply 7 is turned on to the iron 19, the power supply unit 27 converts the commercial AC power supply 7 into a DC power supply of an appropriate size and supplies the DC power supply to the relay drive unit 26 and the timer unit 25. I constituting the timer unit 25
C is composed of, for example, a timer IC, a microcomputer, and the like. When the power is turned on, the IC turns on the transistor Q2, and thus also turns on the transistor Q1, and a current flows through the relay coil RLC constituting the relay unit 3. Turn on the relay contact RLP.

Accordingly, a current is supplied to the heater unit 1 from the commercial AC power supply 7 through the thermostat 2 and the relay contact RLP, and the temperature of the heater unit 1 rises. The temperature of the heater 1 is controlled to a constant temperature by the thermostat 2. The sensor unit 24 includes an LED and a phototransistor P
T. The LED emits light when a current flows through the resistor R1. The light of the LED is reflected by the ball 21 and is input to the phototransistor PT. The collector of the phototransistor PT is connected to a power supply through a resistor R2, and when light enters the phototransistor PT, the collector voltage V
1 is a low level, and if no light enters, it is a high level.

FIG. 13 shows the structure of the sensor section 24. A ball 21 is placed in a sensor case 20, and the sensor case 20 is mounted on a printed circuit board 23 on which electronic circuits are mounted. When the iron 19 is left in a horizontal state, the printed circuit board 23 is also in a horizontal state, and the ball 21 moves in the sensor case 20 having an inclined bottom surface, and the LED 21
And the phototransistor PT come on the photointerrupter 22 housed in the same case. Light from LED is ball 2
It is reflected at 1 and enters the phototransistor PT,
The phototransistor PT turns on, and the collector voltage V1 becomes low level.

When the iron 19 is in a vertical state as shown in FIG. 10 (a), the printed circuit board 23 is also in a vertical state, and the ball 21 is separated from the photointerrupter 22.
Since light does not enter the phototransistor PT, the phototransistor PT is turned off, and the collector voltage V1 becomes high level. Also, as shown in FIG.
Is used, the ball 21 reciprocates and light enters and shuts off the phototransistor PT, so that the collector voltage V1 of the phototransistor PT repeats a low level and a high level.

FIG. 14 shows this relationship. FIG. 14A shows the collector voltage V1 of each phototransistor PT when the iron is left in a horizontal state, FIG. 14B shows the iron when the iron is left in a vertical state, and FIG. When this signal voltage V1 is input to the IC and the collector voltage V1 of the phototransistor PT is fixed at a low level, the iron is left in a horizontal state and the phototransistor P
When the collector voltage of T is fixed at a high level, the iron is left in a vertical state. When the low level and the high level are repeated, the iron is in use.

When the low level or the high level continues for a predetermined time, the IC turns off the transistor Q2 and also turns off the transistor Q1, so that no current flows through the relay coil RLC forming the relay RL, and the relay contact RLP turns off. As a result, the power supplied to the heater unit 1 is cut off regardless of whether the thermostat 2 is on or off. The predetermined time varies depending on the standing posture of the iron. For example, the relay is turned off after one minute in the horizontal standing state, and the relay is turned off in the vertical standing state.
The relay is off after 0 minutes.

If the input voltage V1 to the IC changes to a high level before elapse of one minute before the predetermined time is counted, for example, in a horizontal state (voltage V1 is at a low level), the relay unit 3 recognizes that the iron has moved. , And the measurement of the predetermined time is started again from the time when the input voltage changes.

Therefore, if the use state of the iron continues, the ON state of the relay unit 3 is maintained, the power supplied to the heater unit 1 is controlled by the thermostat 2, and the ironing can be performed at a constant temperature. If left for a while, the relay unit 3 is turned off, the power supplied to the heater unit 1 is cut off, and safety can be ensured.

ZD1 is a Zener diode, and C1 is a capacitor, which forms a power source for the relay drive unit 26. The diode D1 absorbs the back electromotive voltage when the relay coil RLC is turned off.

[0012]

However, in such a configuration, it is necessary to supply a current to the LED to emit light, and there is a problem that a power supply having a large current capacity is required.

Further, as shown in FIG.
When the robot falls, the ball 21 built in the sensor unit 24 may not come on the photointerrupter 22. At this time, since the light emitted from the LED does not enter the phototransistor PT, the iron 19 is placed in a vertical state. It is determined that the power is supplied to the heater, and the power supplied to the heater is interrupted during the vertical standing time, and the base is heated for a long time.

[0014]

According to the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a conductive movable body is placed in a case also serving as an electrode, and a short-circuit or a short-circuit between the electrodes is made depending on the position of the conductive movable body. By opening and extracting the signal, current consumption is suppressed and a simple power supply configuration is enabled.

Further, the shape of the case forming the electrodes is such that the conductive movable body is three-dimensionally positioned at a predetermined position, and the electrodes are short-circuited or opened at this position, so that the iron falls down. Also at the time, the power supply to the heater can be cut off during the horizontal standing time of the iron.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention comprises a heater for heating a base of an iron, a relay for turning on and off a commercial AC power supply to the heater, and the relay. A relay drive unit for driving the unit, a sensor unit for detecting whether the iron is in a standing state or in use, and an output of the sensor unit, and when the iron is left for a predetermined time, the relay drive unit A timer unit that outputs a signal for turning off the relay unit, the sensor unit includes a case unit, and a conductive movable body that is rollably incorporated in the case unit, and the case unit Has a structure that also serves as an electrode while holding the movable body, and can provide a small and inexpensive sensor with low current consumption.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the case portion is configured such that a plurality of conductive plates forming electrodes are insulated and arranged to face each other, and a gap between the plurality of plates is provided. Is provided with a first position smaller than the diameter of the movable body and a second position where the distance between the plates is larger than the diameter of the movable body, and the movable body can reliably short-circuit or open the electrodes. .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or the second aspect of the present invention, the case portion is formed by forming one of a plurality of conductive plates forming electrodes into a flat plate shape and the other plate. A concave portion for separating the movable body from the one plate is formed on the movable member, so that the relay portion can be reliably turned off in the horizontal standing time even if the iron falls down.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second or third aspect of the present invention, the insulator of the sensor portion is made of an elastic body such as resin or rubber.
It is possible to obtain a highly reliable sensor that does not enter the inside of the sensor unit such as gas.

[0020] The invention described in claim 5 provides the above-mentioned claims 1 to
In the invention described in Item 4, the inner surface of the case portion of the sensor portion and the movable body are plated with gold, so that the ON / OFF signal of the sensor portion can be reliably obtained even with a small current.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the present invention. When the commercial AC power supply 7 is turned on to the iron, the timer unit 5 starts timing and outputs a signal for turning on the relay unit 3 to the relay driving unit 4. When the relay section 3 is turned on, if the thermostat 2 is turned on, the commercial AC power supply 7 is applied to the heater section 1 so that the heater section 1 is heated, the base temperature of the iron rises, and the heater section 1 of the iron is thermostated. The temperature is controlled at 2.

When the iron is left as it is, the output voltage of the sensor section 6 does not change, the timer section 5 continues counting time, and outputs a signal for turning off the relay section 3 to the relay drive section 4 after a predetermined time. Therefore, even if the user forgets to turn off the commercial AC power supply 7, the power supply to the heater unit 1 is cut off for a predetermined time set by the timer unit 5.

When an iron is used, a signal whose level changes in accordance with the movement of the iron is input from the sensor unit 6 to the timer unit 5. When the level of the input signal changes, the timer count is reset to zero, so that the timer count does not reach the predetermined time and the relay drive unit 4 continues to output the ON signal of the relay unit 3. As described above, when the iron is used, the heater unit 1 is controlled by the thermostat 2 and is kept at a constant temperature to perform ironing.

FIG. 2 is an external view of one embodiment of the sensor section 6.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view, and FIG. 4 is an exploded view thereof. 1
1 and 8 constitute a wall of a case that holds a ball 10 as a rollable conductive movable body in the sensor unit 6, and are located at positions where the ball 10 contacts the walls of the cases 8 and 11. At that time, a signal that the cases 8 and 11 are short-circuited, and the ball 10
Moves toward the concave portion 8 c provided in the case 8, and constitutes an electrode that outputs an open signal when the ball 10 does not contact the case 11.

The periphery of the recess 8c is inclined at a predetermined angle α so that the ball 10 can easily roll toward the case 11. Cases 8 and 11 disposed opposite to each other have a first position whose interval is smaller than the diameter of ball 10 as a movable body and a second position whose interval is larger than the diameter of ball 10. Is a position where the case 8 or 11 is short-circuited by the ball 10 is the first position, and a position where the case 8 or 11 is open is the second position.

Reference numeral 9 denotes an electrical insulator which prevents the electrodes 11 and 8 from short-circuiting except for short-circuiting due to contact of the ball 10,
For example, it is made of an elastic material such as rubber or resin, and also has a role of holding the cases 11 and 8 as electrodes. FIG. 5 shows a circuit diagram using the sensor 6, and FIG. 6 shows an output voltage waveform V0 of the sensor unit 6. In FIG. 6, one electrode 11 of the sensor unit 6 is connected to a zero potential, and the other electrode 8 is connected to a power supply V through a resistor R. The output voltage V0 of the sensor section 6 at this time is such that when the ball 10 is at the position where the electrodes 8 and 11 are short-circuited, V0 is at the L level (a in FIG. 6),
When the ball 10 moves and the electrodes 8 and 11 are opened, V0
Is the H level (b in FIG. 6), and when the ball 10 repeatedly rolls in the sensor section 6 due to the reciprocating motion of the sensor section 6 and the like, and repeatedly short-circuits and opens between the electrodes 8 and 11, V0 has H and L waveforms (C in FIG. 6). The electrode 8 has an angle α with the horizontal as shown in FIG. The inclination of this angle α is 3
The ball 10 is provided at the position where the electrodes 8 and 11 are short-circuited when the sensor unit 6 is held horizontally.

As shown in FIG. 4, reference numeral 8 denotes an electrode 8 having a concave portion 8c having a wide opening and a narrow closing portion, and reference numeral 11 denotes the other electrode covered with an electric insulator 9. This electrode part 11 is combined with the electrode part 8 and the sphere 10 is placed in the recess 8 c of the electrode part 8.
Insert the insulator 9 with the crimping allowance 8a protruding from the electrode portion 8.
And caulking it over. In addition, lead terminal portions 8b and 11b protrude from the electrode portions 8 and 11. FIG. 7 shows a state where the sensor unit 6 is mounted on the printed circuit board 16.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a printed circuit board, 6 denotes a sensor unit, 3
Is a relay unit. FIG. 8 shows a view in which the printed board 16 is mounted in the grip portion 18 of the iron 17. FIG.
(A) shows a case where the iron is placed horizontally. At this time, the sensor section 6 is horizontal, the ball 10 in the sensor section 6 short-circuits the electrodes 8 and 11, and the output voltage is at the L level.

FIG. 8 (b) shows a case where the iron 17 is placed vertically. At this time, the sensor section 6 is stationary with the concave portion 8c downward. Therefore, the ball 10 is connected to the electrode 8 on one side of the sensor unit 6.
The electrode 8 and 11 are open, and the sensor output voltage level is H.

FIG. 8C is a view from the grip portion side when the iron 17 has fallen. The ball 10 in the sensor portion 6 is at a position where the electrodes 8 and 11 are short-circuited, and the output of the sensor portion 6 is shown. The voltage is L. At this time, the timer section 5 sets the relay section 3 to be turned off in a short time when the input voltage is L, and sets the relay section 3 to be turned off in a longer time when the input voltage is H.

When the input voltage changes from L to H, or
The timer unit 5 is set so as to be reset when switching from H to L. Therefore, the relay unit 3 is turned off in a short time in the case of horizontal or overturning, the relay unit 3 is turned off after a longer time in the case of vertical standing, and the relay unit 3 is always turned on while the iron is in use. Easy ironing can be realized.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 9 shows another embodiment of the sensor section. In this case, the concave portion 14a provided in the one-sided electrode 14 has a hemispherical shape. The insulator 9 is made of an elastic material such as a resin material or a rubber material. When the electrode portion 8 is caulked, the sealing property is enhanced by the elasticity of the insulator, and moisture, gas, etc. And so on to prevent the contact resistance of the ball 10 and the electrodes 8 and 11 from being increased. Also, the sphere 10, the electrodes 8, 11
Is gold-plated so that the voltage applied to the sensor section 6 is small and the sensor section 6 operates reliably even with a small current.

[0034]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the heater for heating the base of the iron and the relay for turning on and off the commercial AC power supplied to the heater are provided. And a relay drive unit that drives the relay unit, a sensor unit that detects whether the iron is in an idle state or a use state, and an output of the sensor unit is input, and the iron is left for a predetermined time. A timer unit that outputs a signal to turn off the relay unit to the relay driving unit, the sensor unit includes a case unit, and a conductive movable body that is rollably incorporated in the case unit. Since the electrodes are formed by the case, a safe and easy-to-use iron can be realized with a simple structure.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the case portion, the plurality of conductive plates forming the electrodes are insulated and arranged to face each other, and the interval between the plurality of plates is larger than the diameter of the movable body. Since the small first position and the second position where the distance between the plates is larger than the diameter of the movable body are provided, the movable body can reliably short-circuit or open the electrodes.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the case portion is formed such that one of a plurality of conductive plates forming electrodes is formed in a flat plate shape, and the movable member is provided on the other plate. Since the recessed portion is formed so as to be separated from the relay, even if the iron falls, the relay portion can be reliably turned off in the horizontal state leaving time.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, since the insulator of the sensor portion is made of an elastic body such as resin or rubber, a safe iron which is not affected by moisture, gas, etc. can be realized.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the inner surface of the case portion of the sensor portion and the movable body are plated with gold, the sensor portion can be operated with a small current.
A safe iron can be realized with a simple configuration.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of Embodiment 1 of an iron according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a sensor unit of the iron.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a sensor part of the iron.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a sensor section of the iron.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of a sensor unit of the iron.

FIG. 6 (a) is an output voltage diagram of the sensor unit when the iron is in a horizontal state. FIG. 6 (b) is an output voltage diagram of the sensor unit when the iron is in a vertical state. Figure

FIG. 7 is a side view in which the sensor unit of the iron is mounted on a printed circuit board;

FIG. 8A is a side view of the iron left in a horizontal state. FIG. 8B is a side view of the iron left in a vertical state. FIG. 8C is a side view of the iron left over.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a sensor unit of Embodiment 2 of the iron of the present invention.

10A is a side view of a conventional iron left in a vertical state, and FIG. 10B is a side view showing a state of use of the iron.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a conventional iron.

FIG. 12 is a circuit diagram of the iron.

FIG. 13 is a sectional view of a sensor section of the iron.

14A is a diagram showing an output voltage of the sensor unit in a horizontal state of the iron; FIG. 14B is a diagram showing an output voltage of a sensor unit in a vertical state of the iron; FIG. Figure

FIG. 15 is a side view of the iron left in an overturned state.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Heater part 3 Relay part 4 Relay drive part 5 Timer part 6 Sensor part 7 Commercial AC power supply 8 Case part 10 Ball (movable body) 11 Case part

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A heater for heating a base of an iron, a relay for turning on and off a commercial AC power supplied to the heater, a relay drive for driving the relay, and an iron in an idle state. A sensor unit that detects whether there is or is in use, and a timer unit that inputs an output of the sensor unit and outputs a signal to turn off the relay unit to the relay drive unit when the iron is left for a predetermined time. An iron comprising: a sensor unit, wherein the sensor unit includes a case unit, and a conductive movable body rollably incorporated in the case unit, and the case unit forms an electrode. 2. A case section, wherein a plurality of conductive plates forming electrodes are insulated and arranged to face each other, and a first position in which a distance between the plurality of plates is smaller than a diameter of the movable body and a distance between the plates are different. 2. The iron according to claim 1, wherein the second position is larger than the diameter of the movable body. 3. The case portion according to claim 1, wherein one of the plurality of conductive plates forming the electrodes is formed in a flat plate shape, and the other plate is formed with a concave portion for separating the movable body from the one plate. Iron according to 2. 4. The iron according to claim 2, wherein the insulator of the sensor section is made of an elastic body such as resin or rubber. 5. The iron according to claim 1, wherein the inner surface of the case portion of the sensor portion and the movable body are plated with gold.