JP2005299196A - Urinal with automatic flushing function - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To carry out flushing at timing with no sense of incongruity to a user while supplying a suitable amount of flushing water corresponding to a use state by determining the amount of flushing water according to a user's urine flow detection time, and performing opening/closing control of a flushing water supply valve according to the user's motion. <P>SOLUTION: This urinal with an automatic flushing function is provided with a sensor part for detecting the user and the user's urine flow and outputting output signals by detecting the user's body motion and the user's urine flow, and a control part for flushing according to the output time by the output of the output signals for a fixed time or longer. The control part determines the start of flushing by the detection signal based on the user's body motion, decides the user's urine flow detection by detecting a predetermined time or longer by continuation or accumulation of the detection time of detection signals based on the urine flow, and determines flushing time according to the detection time of the user's urine flow. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a urinal device with an automatic washing function that detects a human body and a urine flow excreted from the human body and controls washing water.

  Conventionally, in order to automate the cleaning of the toilet body after the addition, a human body detection sensor such as an infrared sensor has been installed in the toilet, and when a user is detected for a certain period of time, it is detected that the user has subsequently left. In some cases, a certain amount of washing water is allowed to flow. However, in such an automatic cleaning system based on human body detection, a constant amount of cleaning water was flowed regardless of the presence or absence of urine and the amount of urine. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1.)

In addition, a method of detecting the urine flow and controlling the amount of the washing water according to the detection time has been proposed, but the user stands in front of the urinal to perform washing by detecting the urine flow excreted from the human body. The cleaning method differs from the conventional cleaning method based on human body detection, such as cleaning, even if the user leaves the urinal, but does not perform cleaning after a while. I felt uncomfortable. (For example, see Patent Document 2.)
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-145973 (page 4-9, Fig. 2) WO03 / 021052 Publication (1-7 pages, Fig. 3)

  However, in the case where a human body detection sensor is installed in the toilet bowl described above to detect a user for a certain period of time and a certain amount of washing water is allowed to flow when the human body is separated, the presence or absence of an additional urine and the amount of urine are affected. There is wasteful wash water because a certain amount of wash water was flowing, and the method of controlling the amount of wash water according to the detection time of the urine flow is the amount of wash water according to the amount of urine. Although the cleaning timing is controlled by detecting the urine flow, cleaning is performed regardless of whether the user is standing in front of the urinal or cleaning is performed regardless of whether the user is leaving the urinal. However, the cleaning timing was different from the conventional human body detection method, such as cleaning after a while, and there was a sense of discomfort.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its object is to supply an appropriate amount of cleaning water according to the state of use, and to perform cleaning at a timing that does not give the user a sense of incongruity. .

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 is provided with a sensor unit for detecting the urine flow of the user and the user, and the sensor unit detects the body movement of the user and the urine flow of the user. By outputting the output signal, the output signal is a urinal with an automatic cleaning function provided with a control unit for cleaning according to the output time by being output for a certain time, the control unit, The start of washing is determined by a detection signal based on the user's body movement, and the time when the detection signal based on the urine flow is detected continues or is accumulated to detect the urine flow detection of the user by detecting for a predetermined time or more, The cleaning time is determined according to the time when the urine flow of the user is detected.

  According to the above configuration, since the cleaning timing is performed by the detection signal based on the user's body movement, it is the same as the cleaning timing by the conventional infrared human body detection sensor, and there is no sense of incongruity. Further, since the amount of washing water is determined by the user's urine flow detection time, it is possible to save water without flowing useless washing water by flowing appropriate washing water according to the amount of urine.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the urinal with an automatic cleaning function according to claim 1, wherein the control unit determines the start of cleaning based on a detection signal that the user approaches or moves away from the urinal. It is characterized by doing.

  According to the above configuration, since the start of cleaning is determined by the approach / distance of the user, the user reliably approaches the urinal device without performing cleaning by simply detecting / not detecting the user. Alternatively, since the washing is performed by detecting the moving away operation, it is possible to wash appropriately without erroneously detecting a person passing in front of the urinal.

  Invention of Claim 3 is a urinal with an automatic washing function of Claim 1 and 2, Comprising: The said control part judges that a user is non-detected by the output signal output from the sensor part, and a user When the urine flow is detected, the user is judged to be detected.

  According to the above configuration, the user should be present in front of the urinal to detect the user's urine flow. Therefore, it is possible to perform the washing operation without malfunction by forcibly determining that the user is detected by detecting the user's urine flow.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the control unit determines that the user is not detected when a predetermined time elapses after the end of detection of the user's urine flow by an output signal output from the sensor unit. .

  According to the above configuration, after the user's urination operation, the user is undetected after a lapse of a certain time, so that even if the user is unable to determine the distance from the urinal, the user can be surely washed. It is possible. In addition, when the clothing work is prolonged, the washing operation is performed after a predetermined time has elapsed, so the clothing work can be performed without worrying about odors.

  The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that the control unit changes the washing time according to the interval of detecting the urine flow of the user.

  According to the above configuration, it is possible to save water by changing the amount of cleaning water by decreasing the amount of cleaning water if the elapsed time from the previous user is short, and by increasing the amount of cleaning water if the elapsed time is long.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the control unit measures the duration or cumulative time of a detection signal based on a user's body movement, and detects the urine flow is detected for a predetermined time or longer. If not, the time when the detection signal based on the user's body motion is detected continues or is accumulated to detect the user detection by a predetermined time or more, and the cleaning time is determined based on the user detection time. It is characterized by that.

  According to the above configuration, the urinary flow signal of the user is output when the method of urination is intermittent, as seen in many cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Cannot detect urine flow detection. In that case, it becomes possible to perform cleaning without erroneous detection by determining the amount of cleaning water according to the detection time of the user.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to supply an appropriate amount of washing water according to the urine volume of the user and perform washing at a timing that does not give the user a sense of incongruity.

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

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a urinal device with an automatic cleaning function according to the present invention.
A sensor unit 12 and a control unit 13 are housed inside or behind the urinal 11. A water supply portion 14 for supplying water for cleaning the space inside the ball portion of the urinal is provided on the upper surface of the urinal 11, and a washing water discharge outlet 15 is provided above the space inside the ball portion. . A trap portion 16 and a drain port 17 for forming a sealed water are provided in the lower part of the space in the ball portion.
When a user or urine is detected by the sensor unit 12, the wash water passes through the water supply unit 14 and is discharged from the wash water spouting port 15 to wash out the space inside the ball unit and pass through the trap unit. It is discharged from the outlet. At this time, since the cleaning water discharge port 15 is disposed so as to wash off dirt on the inner wall surface of the ball part, the cleaning water flows downward along the inner wall surface of the ball part. Moreover, urine released from the user may flow downward along the inner wall surface of the ball part after colliding with the inner wall surface of the ball part, or may be released directly toward the lower part of the ball part. In any case, the flow of urine from the release from the user to the trap part is almost parallel to the inner wall surface of the ball part.

Next, a sensor part and a control part that controls the discharge of flush water of the urinal device, which are main parts of the present invention, will be described in detail.
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing the configuration of the sensor unit 12. As shown in FIG. 2, an oscillation unit 21 that generates a transmission signal for transmitting a signal as a radio wave to the outside, a transmission unit 22 that transmits a microwave of about 10 GHz as a transmission wave, and a microwave transmitted from the transmission unit A receiving unit 23 that receives a reflected wave from the detection object 27 (a urinal user in this embodiment), and a signal extracting unit 24 that extracts a low-frequency output signal based on the transmission signal and the received signal. Prepare.

The microwave transmitted as a transmission signal from the transmission unit 22 hits the urinal user 27, and the reflected wave becomes a reception signal and is received by the reception unit 23. The signal extraction unit 24 extracts a low-frequency Doppler signal based on the transmission signal and the reception signal.
The low-frequency Doppler signal is a signal using the Doppler effect by radio waves, and is represented by the following equation (1).
ΔF = Fs−Fb = 2 × Fs × v / c (1)

In the equation (1), ΔF is a Doppler frequency, Fs is a frequency of a transmission wave (transmission frequency), Fb is a frequency of a reflected wave (reflection frequency), and v is a moving speed of the detection object. c is the speed of light (300 × 10 ⁶ m / s).
Thus, since a signal having a frequency corresponding to the moving speed of the detection target is obtained, the frequency corresponding to the user who is the target approaching / separating in front of the urinal or the urine flow urinated by the user A component Doppler signal is output. Since the operating speed of the human body, which is the user, and the operating speed of the urine flow due to urination are each in a specific frequency band, it is possible to easily operate the human body and the urine flow by using a filter that passes only the respective frequency band. Can be identified.

Further, the control unit will be described with reference to FIG. 3. If the Doppler signal 31 extracted by the signal extraction unit has a waveform in which the amplitude of the Doppler signal gradually increases, the object to be detected is detected with respect to the sensor unit. It turns out that it is approaching, and if the waveform of the Doppler signal gradually decreases, it can be seen that the detection object is far away from the sensor unit.
As described above, when determining the approach and separation of the detection target object based on the Doppler signal output from the signal extraction unit, if the Doppler signal 31 as shown in FIG. 3 is output, the noise level and the Doppler signal output are output. And a threshold value 32 for distinguishing between the first and second phases, and after the first Doppler signal exceeds the threshold value, the Doppler signal is stored in a memory built in the control unit, and the peak value (33a, 33b, 33c, 34a) of the Doppler signal is stored. , 34b, 34c), the approach / separation of the detection object to the sensor unit is determined.
In order to prevent malfunction, the increase / decrease in the peak value is preferably determined by the same change at two or more consecutive points (increase if the peak value increases, decrease if the peak value decreases).

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing the configuration of the control unit. Next, the control unit will be described.
The Doppler signal extracted by the signal extraction unit of the sensor unit 12 is amplified by the amplifier 42 and then output to the determination unit 45 as an output signal from which unnecessary noise components are removed by the filter 43. Based on the output signal from the user's movement, the determination unit determines whether the user has approached or moved away from the urinal, and opens and closes the washing water supply valve 47 according to an instruction from the controller 46.
Further, based on the output signal from the user's urine flow, the calculation unit 44 determines the amount of washing water suitable for the user's urine volume, and the valve opening / closing time is determined by an instruction from the controller 46.
The filter 43 includes a band filter for detecting the user's movement and a band filter for detecting the user's urine flow, and the band for detecting the user's movement is about 30 Hz to 70 Hz. The band for detecting the flow is preferably about 120 Hz to 180 Hz, and the filter may be a hardware filter based on circuit constants or a software filter such as a digital filter, and is not particularly limited.

Furthermore, as the output signal extraction method, a filter is used, but a frequency spectrum is obtained by an FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) operation, and a signal based on the user's movement or a signal related to the user's urine flow is obtained from the spectrum distribution. It is also possible to judge.
In the description of the sensor unit 41, the Doppler sensor generated by transmission / reception of high-frequency radio waves as a sensor has been described, but if it is possible to detect the human body that is a urinal user and the urine flow of the user, It is not limited to that.

In the urinal device with the automatic cleaning function configured as described above, the operation when the user urinates will be described below.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a control flow of the control unit according to the embodiment of the present invention. The control unit detects the approach when the user approaches the urinal (S51). By detecting the approach of the user, the determination unit determines that the user is present, and the controller opens the cleaning water supply valve (S52). The washing water here is preliminary washing before urination by the user (hereinafter referred to as pre-washing), and the urinal ball surface may be wetted, and the amount of washing water may be small, and 100 ml is sufficient. It is an amount.
After the user approaches the urinal, the control unit waits for the user to urinate (S53). Here, when the user's urine flow is detected, the controller determines that the user is normally urinating and determines the operation of leaving the urinal after the urination is finished (S54), whereby the controller supplies the washing water. Open the valve. Since the washing water amount is set to be larger if the urine flow detection time is longer in accordance with the urine flow detection time detected in S53, and the washing water amount is set to be smaller if the urine flow detection time is shorter. The cleaning water supply valve is opened not only by an appropriate amount of water to be saved but also by a user's remote operation, so that it can be used without a sense of incongruity with a conventional infrared sensor type cleaning method. As a means to control the amount of washing water at this time, the amount of washing water is controlled by controlling the opening time of the washing water supply valve even at different water pressures such as in the area or the floor of a high-rise building by using a constant flow valve. It becomes possible to do. The valve opening time is divided into 5 steps from 5 seconds to 15 seconds, and a means for determining the urine volume according to the time when the urine volume is detected can be considered, and the amount of washing water can be controlled simply by controlling the valve opening and closing time. Is also preferable. Alternatively, the valve opening time may be determined from the detection time of the urine flow based on a preset calculation formula.
Further, when the user does not leave the urinal straight or leaves the urinal together with the clothing operation, an output signal is generated so that the determination unit cannot make a determination of separation, and the operation of leaving the urinal after urination ends (S54). ) Cannot be detected, it is possible to eliminate uncleaning by opening the cleaning water supply valve after the user's detection signal disappears. The amount of washing water at this time is also determined according to the urine flow detection time detected in S53, and it is possible to flow an appropriate amount of washing water. Also, after the user's detection signal, which is the trigger for opening the cleaning water supply valve, disappears, immediately after the user's detection signal disappears, the cleaning timing is uncomfortable with the conventional infrared type cleaning method. It can be used without any problem and is preferable.

Next, the case where the user's urine flow cannot be detected (S53) after the approach of the user is detected (S51) and the pre-cleaning is performed will be described.
Since the approach of the user is detected, it is certain that the user exists in front of the urinal. Here, there are two possible reasons why the urine flow cannot be detected, one of which is when the user is urinating but the amount of urination is small and an output signal cannot be obtained, and the other is There are two possible approaches that approached the urinal but did not urinate. In this case, after the controller detects that the user has approached the urinal, the controller continues to detect the movement of the user for a predetermined time or longer, so that the controller opens the washing water supply valve. If the user's movement does not continue for a predetermined time or more, the controller determines that the user is not urinating and does not operate the cleaning water supply valve. The amount of washing water at that time is determined by the detection time of the user because the user's urine flow cannot be detected.
Here, the predetermined time is preferably set to a time when the user approaches the urinal and performs the urination action, and is at least about 15 seconds from when the user actually approaches the urinal and performs the urination action to leave. Since it has time, it is preferable to set to about 15 seconds.

Next, a case where the approach of the user cannot be detected (S51) will be described.
If the user's approach to the urinal cannot be detected, possible reasons are that the user has not been able to detect it even though it is approaching the urinal; There are two possible cases. When the latter approach cannot be detected and the urine flow is not detected, the control unit determines that the user does not exist in front of the urinal and enters the user's approach detection waiting state again. When the approach of the former user could not be detected but the urine flow was detected (S56), the control unit determined that the approach could not be detected because the user entered the urinal diagonally. Perform pre-cleaning. Thereafter, by detecting the separation (S59), the controller opens the washing water supply valve. By determining the amount of cleaning water at this time according to the user's urine flow detection time, an appropriate amount of cleaning water can be determined, and a water-saving effect is obtained.
Even when it is not possible to determine the separation of the user (S59), it is possible to eliminate the uncleaning by opening the cleaning water supply valve from the controller after the detection signal of the user disappears.
In the above embodiment, the pre-cleaning (pre-cleaning) is performed before the user urinates. However, it is possible to select whether or not to perform pre-cleaning by switching means such as a dip switch. Versatility and improved usability.

FIG. 6 shows a time chart showing the opening / closing timing of the cleaning water supply valve in the present embodiment.
In the above embodiment, after the user uses the urinal device and the controller opens the cleaning water supply valve (excluding pre-cleaning) and finishes the cleaning operation, the user's operation and urine due to urination are consumed for a predetermined time. The flow detection prohibition time is set, and even if it is output as a signal, it is not accepted by the control unit. With the above configuration, even when the second person approaches the urinal after the first person performs urination, for example, when the user continues, even if the second person approaches the urinal, even if the second person can detect the approach, Since the time has not passed since the eye washes and the toilet bowl surface is in a wet state, it is not necessary to carry out preliminary pre-washing, and wasteful washing water does not flow.
As for the prohibition time of the above user's motion detection and urine flow detection, the second user urinates before urination or at the latest, even after the first user, because the second user wants to be surely washed after urination. It is preferable that the prohibition time is canceled, and it takes about 15 seconds for a short person from approaching the urinal to urination and separation, so it is preferable to set the prohibition time to about 10 seconds. .

The block diagram which shows the structure of the urinal apparatus with an automatic washing function of this invention. The block diagram which shows the structure of the sensor part in connection with the urinal apparatus with an automatic washing function of this invention. A Doppler signal output from the signal extraction unit when the user approaches or moves away from the urinal. The block diagram which shows the structure of the control part in connection with the urinal apparatus with an automatic washing function of this invention. The flowchart figure which shows the control flow of the control part in connection with embodiment of this invention. The time chart figure which shows the opening / closing timing of the washing water supply valve in this Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Urinal 12 ... Sensor part 13 ... Control part 14 ... Water supply part 15 ... Washing water outlet 16 ... Trap part 17 ... Drain port 21 ... Oscillation part 22 ... Transmission part 23 ... Reception part 24 ... Signal extraction part 27 ... Detection Object 31 ... Doppler signal 32 ... Thresholds 33a to 33c, 34a to 34c ... Peak value 42 ... Amplifier 43 ... Filter 44 ... Calculating unit 45 ... Determining unit 46 ... Controller 47 ... Washing water supply valve

Claims (6)

A sensor unit for detecting a user's and user's urine flow is provided, and the sensor unit outputs an output signal by detecting the user's body movement and the user's urine flow, and the output signal is output for a predetermined time or more. By this, it is a urinal with an automatic cleaning function provided with a control unit for cleaning according to its output time, the control unit determines the start of cleaning by a detection signal based on the body movement of the user, The detection time of the detection signal based on the urine flow is continued or accumulated for a predetermined time or more, thereby confirming the user's urine flow detection and determining the washing time according to the time when the user's urine flow is detected A urinal device with an automatic cleaning function. 2. The urinal with an automatic cleaning function according to claim 1, wherein the control unit determines the start of cleaning based on a detection signal that a user approaches or moves away from the urinal. Urinal device with cleaning function. The urinal with an automatic cleaning function according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control unit determines that the user is not detected based on an output signal output from the sensor unit and detects the urine flow of the user. Is a urinal with an automatic cleaning function, characterized in that the user is detected as being detected. 4. The control unit according to claim 1, wherein the control unit determines that the user is not detected when a predetermined time elapses after the end of detection of the user's urine flow based on an output signal output from the sensor unit. Urinal with automatic cleaning function. The urinal with an automatic cleaning function according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the control unit changes a cleaning time according to an interval at which a user's urine flow is detected. The control unit measures a duration or a cumulative time of a detection signal based on a user's body movement, and when the time when the urine flow is detected is not detected for a predetermined time or longer, the user's body movement is detected. The time when the detection signal based on body movement is detected continuously or cumulatively is detected for a predetermined time or more to determine user detection, and the cleaning time is determined based on the user detection time. Item 6. A urinal with an automatic cleaning function.

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