JP2006338930A - Proximity switch device and lighting control system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a proximity switch device which can select detection areas of an object responding to lighting or non lighting of a light load. <P>SOLUTION: The proximity switch device comprises a light emitting element 16 from which infrared rays are emitted, a light receiving element 18 by which the infrared rays emitted from the light emitting element 16 are reflected from an object and received, and a main controller 13 which turns a light load 2 on or off responding to the infrared rays reflected from the object and detected by the light receiving element 18. The main controller 13 has a drive control means which controls to select the detection areas of the reflected infrared rays from the light emitting element 16, and the light receiving element 18 responding to the state of lighting or non lighting of the light load 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a proximity switch device capable of turning on and off a load by approaching the switch without directly touching the switch, and a lighting control system capable of turning on / off by the proximity switch device of the lighting device.

  In recent years, human sensors have been used to turn off and turn off the lighting load by sensing people who turn off the lights at night when no one is present and people turn on the lights when they are near or approaching. . This human sensor uses a pyroelectric sensor that detects far-infrared rays emitted from a human body to detect changes in far-infrared due to the movement of the human body and controls lighting on and off. When this pyroelectric sensor is used, detection becomes difficult when the human body is stationary and there is no change in far-infrared rays.

  For this purpose, a light-emitting diode that emits infrared light and a light-receiving element that receives infrared light reflected by an object such as a human body are received. The infrared light reflected by the object is used as a light-receiving element. There is a human sensor device that detects and detects lighting load.

  Also, in recent years, lighting loads that illuminate a relatively small area, for example, lighting and extinguishing operations without touching the switch directly with a hand touching the kitchen sink or a dirty hand, or a washroom There is also used a proximity sensor device that performs an operation of discharging water when a hand is brought close to the faucet of the water supply and stopping water discharge when the hand is moved away from the faucet.

A combination of a human sensor device and a proximity sensor device, a first light receiving element for detecting the reflected infrared light reflected by the human body near the installation location of the illumination load, and the illumination load. And a second light receiving element that detects reflected infrared light reflected by the hand of the human body closest to the object. When the reflected light is detected by the first light receiving element, the illumination load is turned on darker than a predetermined brightness. For example, Patent Document 1 proposes a human illuminating device that turns on an illumination load with a predetermined brightness when the second light receiving element detects reflected infrared rays.
JP-A-6-241788

  The human illuminating device proposed in Patent Literature 1 detects, for example, infrared rays reflected by a human body with a first light receiving element when a human body approaches the bathroom, and determines a passage to the bathroom. The lighting is turned on in a state darker than the brightness of the light, and when the reflected light from the hand placed on the washstand is received by the second light receiving element, the light is turned on at a predetermined brightness, so that the movement of the human body and the washstand It is possible to control lighting of the illumination load with different illuminance from that during cleaning by.

  In this human illuminating device, the amount of infrared light emitted from the infrared light emitter Aode is constant, and the light receiving sensitivity of the reflected infrared light set for each of the first and second light receiving elements reflects infrared light. It is set by the distance for detecting the position of the human body or hand to be moved.

  For this reason, for example, when a human body other than the hand approaches the second light receiving element, the reflected infrared light is received and unintended illumination may be turned on or off. In other words, in the conventional proximity sensor device, the light emission amount of the infrared light emitting diode and the light receiving sensitivity of the light receiving element are in an initial setting state, so that an unintended illumination load reacts with a human body that has passed near the proximity sensor device. There is a problem that is turned on and off.

  In addition, if the light emission amount of the infrared light emitter Aode and the light receiving sensitivity of the light receiving element are suppressed so as not to react to the human body that has passed near the proximity sensor device, the position of the proximity sensor device cannot be determined in a dark state at night. There is a problem that the lighting operation of the lighting load becomes difficult.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a proximity switch device capable of switching an object detection range corresponding to when a load is turned on and off.

  An proximity switch device according to a first aspect of the present invention is an infrared transmission / reception means comprising a light emitting element that emits infrared rays, and a light receiving element that receives and detects reflected infrared rays from an infrared object emitted from the light emitting elements; Load control means for controlling on / off of the load in response to detection of reflected infrared light from the object by the transmission / reception means; reflected infrared of the infrared transmission / reception means according to the on / off state of the load of the load control means; And an infrared control means for switching and controlling the detection range.

  The proximity switch device according to a second aspect of the present invention is the proximity switch device according to the first aspect, wherein the infrared control means determines the amount of infrared light emitted from the light emitting element of the infrared transmission / reception means when the load is on. The light emission amount is low, and when the load is off, the detection range of reflected infrared rays is switched and controlled as a high light emission amount.

  A proximity switch device according to a third aspect of the present invention is the proximity switch device according to the first aspect, wherein the infrared control means is configured to reduce the light receiving sensitivity of reflected infrared rays by the light receiving element of the infrared transmitting / receiving means when the load is on. Sensitivity is set, and when the load is off, the detection range of reflected infrared rays is switched and controlled as high light receiving sensitivity.

  The proximity switch device according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the proximity switch device according to the first aspect, wherein the infrared control means sets an emission cycle of infrared rays emitted from a light emitting element of the infrared transmission / reception means when the load is on. The detection range of reflected infrared rays is switched and controlled with a long cycle and with a short cycle when the load is off.

  In the present invention, the definitions and technical meanings of terms are as follows.

  The light emitting element is an infrared light emitting diode that emits infrared light in response to a drive signal.

  The light receiving element is a phototransistor or a photodiode that generates a photocurrent upon incidence of infrared light.

  The load is a lighting fixture incorporating various light source lamps and a lighting control circuit for the light source lamp, and a water tap for controlling the discharge and stoppage of tap water.

  The load control means controls on / off of the operation of the load.

  The infrared control means is a microcomputer that controls the light emission amount and the light emission period of the infrared light of the infrared light emitting diode as the light emitting element, or the phototransistor as the light receiving element or the light receiving sensitivity of the photodiode.

  The infrared light emission period is the number of light emission per unit time of infrared light emitted from the infrared light emitting element.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a lighting control system comprising: a lighting device including various light source lamps and a lighting control circuit for the light source lamp; and the proximity switch device according to the first to fourth aspects. .

  The proximity switch device of the present invention includes detection of reflected infrared light in a dark state around the proximity switch device when the load is off, and detection of reflected infrared light in a bright state around the proximity switch device when the load is on. Since the efficiency can be switched, there is an effect that an unintended malfunction can be eliminated and a reliable operation from off to on can be performed.

  In addition, the lighting control system of the present invention controls the operation of the lighting device in accordance with the lighting / lighting-off state of the lighting device by installing the lighting device and the proximity switch device in combination, and turns on or turns off erroneously. It is possible to construct a lighting control system that is unlikely to malfunction.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. A proximity switch device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a three-wire illumination device using the proximity switch device of the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a two-wire illumination device using the proximity switch device of the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the control operation of the main control unit of the proximity switch device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a three-wire illumination device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a commercial power source 1, a lighting load 2 connected in parallel to the commercial power source 1, and lighting (ON) / The sensor unit 11 is a proximity switch device that performs a light-off (off) operation. The sensor unit 11 includes a power supply unit 12 that generates a circuit drive power supply having a predetermined voltage from the commercial power supply 1, a main control unit 13 that includes a microcomputer that is driven by the circuit drive power supply from the power supply unit 12, and controls from the main control unit 13. Infrared light emitting diode 15 that drives an infrared light emitting diode (hereinafter simply referred to as an infrared LED) 16 and infrared light emitted from infrared LED 16 is reflected by the hand of the human body. Control state by the infrared light receiving detector 17 and the main control unit 13 that detect a photocurrent of a phototransistor or photodiode (hereinafter simply referred to as a phototransistor) 18 that is a light receiving element that receives light and outputs it to the main control unit 13 And a display / SW operation unit 19 including a switch for operation input by the user, and the control by the main control unit 13. Load control interface unit for turning on / off controlling a load 2 (hereinafter, referred to as load control I / F unit) 14 and a.

  The main control unit 13 is driven by a predetermined power source from the power source unit 12 and drives the infrared LED 16 via the infrared LED light emitting unit 15 to emit infrared light with a predetermined light emission amount and a predetermined cycle. Then, the phototransistor 18 is driven through the infrared light receiving detector 17 to detect the reflected infrared light reflected by the hand of the human body, and the load control I / F unit 14 is driven and controlled to turn on the illumination load 2. / Controls lighting off.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the two-wire illumination device according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a commercial power source 1, a lighting load 2 connected in series to the commercial power source 1, and lighting of the lighting load 2 ( The sensor unit 21 is a proximity switch device that performs on / off (off) operations. The sensor unit 21 includes a power supply unit 22 that generates a circuit drive power supply having a predetermined voltage from the commercial power supply 1, a main control unit 23 that includes a microcomputer that is driven by the circuit drive power supply from the power supply unit 22, and controls from the main control unit 23. Infrared light emitting diodes 25 (hereinafter simply referred to as infrared LEDs) 26, which are infrared light emitting elements, and the infrared rays emitted from the infrared LEDs 26 are reflected by the hand of the human body. Control by the infrared light receiving detection unit 27 and the main control unit 23 that detect a photocurrent of a phototransistor or a photodiode (hereinafter simply referred to as a phototransistor) 28 that is a light receiving element that receives light and outputs the photocurrent to the main control unit 23. The display / switch operation unit 29 and the main control unit 13 are controlled by the display / switch operation unit 29 and a switch that is operated and input by the user. Load control interface unit for turning on / off control of a light load 2 (hereinafter, referred to as load control I / F unit) and a 24.

  The main control unit 23 is driven by a predetermined power source from the power source unit 22 to drive the infrared LED 26 via the infrared LED light emitting unit 25 to emit infrared light with a predetermined light emission amount and a predetermined cycle. Then, the phototransistor 28 is driven through the infrared light receiving detector 27 to detect the reflected infrared ray reflected by the hand of the human body, and drive control of the load control I / F unit 24 to turn on the illumination load 2. / Controls lighting off.

  Turning on / off the illumination load 2 by receiving the reflected infrared light of the main controllers 13 and 23 and the control by the infrared light receiving detector 17 will be described with reference to FIG. Since the operations of the main control units 13 and 23 are the same, the main control unit 13 will be described as an example. When the operation mode of turning on / off the illumination load 2 is set by reflected infrared rays by the operation input from the display / SW operation unit 19 by the user, the main control unit 13 receives light in step S1. The detection determination process is executed.

  When the light reception detection determination process in step S1 is executed, the main control unit 13 drives the infrared LED light emitting unit 15 to emit infrared light from the infrared LED 16 with a predetermined light emission amount and light emission cycle.

  On the other hand, in step S2, the main control unit 13 drives the infrared light receiving detection unit 17 so that the infrared light emitted from the infrared LED 16 is reflected on the phototransistor 18 by the reflected infrared light reflected by an object such as a user's hand. It is determined that the photocurrent is detected. That is, in order to turn on / off the illumination load 2, it is determined whether the user's hand is held in front of the infrared LED 16 of the sensor unit 11 and the reflected infrared light is detected by the phototransistor 18. When the reflected infrared ray is detected by the infrared light receiving detection unit 17 in step S2, the main control unit 13 determines in step S3 whether the current illumination load 2 is in the on or off state. The state determination process of the illumination load 2 is performed via the load control I / F unit 14. By the lighting load control determination process in step S3, in step S4, the lighting load 2 is determined to be either on or off. If it is determined in step S4 that the illumination load 2 is in the off state (off), the main control unit 13 passes the load control I / F unit 14 through the load control I / F unit 14 in step S5. Control to turn on. When the illumination load 2 is turned on in step S5, the main control unit 13 controls the infrared LED light emitting unit 15 to control the light emission amount and light emission period of the infrared LED 16 or the infrared light receiving detection unit 17 in step S6. Then, a detection sensitivity switching process (to be described later) for lowering the detection sensitivity is performed by performing a detection sensitivity switching process for the phototransistor 18, and the process returns to step S1.

  If it is determined in step S4 that the lighting load 2 is lit (ON), the main control unit 13 passes through the load control I / F unit 14 in step S7. Control to turn off the light. When the illumination load 2 is turned off in step S7, the main control unit 13 controls the infrared LED light emitting unit 15 to control the light emission amount and light emission period of the infrared LED 16 or the infrared light receiving detection unit 17 in step S8. Then, the detection sensitivity switching process for increasing the detection sensitivity is performed by performing the detection sensitivity switching process of the phototransistor 18, and the process returns to step S1.

  In the detection sensitivity switching (low) process in step S6, when the illumination load 2 is in the lit state, the position of the sensor unit 11 can be clearly recognized. be able to. However, the sensor unit 11 may perform a malfunction in which the phototransistor 18 detects infrared rays as external noise radiated from the lighting load 2 and turns off the lighting load 2. For this purpose, the detection sensitivity of the phototransistor 18 is set low so as to detect only the reflected infrared light from the hand held over the sensor unit 11 and not to detect external noise.

  In addition, the detection sensitivity switching (high) process in step S8 is a sensor for turning on the illumination load 2 when the illumination load 2 is in an extinguished state, especially because the surroundings at night are dark and the position of the sensor unit 11 is difficult to understand. The hand cannot be correctly placed over the unit 11. Therefore, by increasing the detection sensitivity of the reflected infrared light of the phototransistor 18, it is possible to reliably detect the reflected infrared light from the hand held near the vicinity of the sensor unit 11.

  At this time, since the illumination load 2 is turned off, no external noise is generated, and the possibility of malfunction is relatively reduced.

  As the detection sensitivity switching (low) processing in step S6 and the detection sensitivity switching (high) processing in step S8, the detection sensitivity switching of the phototransistor 18 is performed by controlling the infrared light receiving detection unit 17 from the main control unit 13. In addition to the method of switching the detection sensitivity of the phototransistor 18, there is a method of switching the light emission of the infrared LED 16 via the infrared LED light emitting unit 15. Specifically, when the illumination load 2 is turned off, the light emission amount of the infrared LED 16 is increased, and when the illumination load 2 is turned on, a method of switching the light emission amount to decrease the light emission amount of the infrared LED 16 or the illumination load There is a method of switching the light emission cycle to shorten the light emission cycle of the infrared LED 16 when the illumination load 2 is turned on when the light emission cycle is shortened.

  In any of these methods, when the illumination load 2 is turned off, the infrared light is reflected from the hand by setting a large amount of infrared light emitted from the infrared LED 16 or by setting the light emission period early. The probability is increased, and the detection efficiency by the phototransistor 18 is improved.

  The light emission period of the infrared LED 16 is set to a period asynchronous with the frequency of the commercial power supply. That is, when the lighting load 2 is turned on, the external noise of infrared light radiated from the lighting load 2 is generated at the frequency of the commercial power source that turns on the lighting load 2. Therefore, the light emission cycle of the infrared LED 16 is set higher than the commercial power supply frequency when the lighting load 2 is turned off, and lower than the commercial power supply frequency when the lighting load 2 is turned on. At this time, by detecting the period of the reflected infrared light received by the phototransistor 18 by the infrared light receiving detection unit 17, it is possible to more reliably eliminate malfunction due to external noise.

  That is, when the lighting load 2 is turned on, the position of the sensor unit 11 can be easily confirmed, so that the infrared detection range can be narrowed. For this reason, the reflected infrared rays by the human body passing near the sensor unit 11 can be avoided. Detection was possible only when the hand was actively held.

  In addition, by combining a lighting device that incorporates a light source lamp that is the lighting load 2 and a lighting control circuit for the light source lamp, and a proximity switch device that is the sensor unit 11, the proximity switch device of the proximity switch device can be controlled according to the operating state of the lighting load. An illumination control system that can control the state can be easily constructed.

  Next, a mounting configuration of the infrared LED 16 (26) and the phototransistor 18 (28) in the sensor unit 11 in the proximity switch device according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. By arranging the infrared LED 16 and the phototransistor 18 adjacent to each other, the amount of infrared light output from the infrared LED 16 is reduced, and reflected infrared light input to the phototransistor 18 is easily detected.

  However, generally, the radiation angle of the infrared light of the infrared LED 16 and the incident angle of the infrared light of the phototransistor 18 are set widely. For this reason, in particular, since the phototransistor 18 has a wide incident angle, the probability of input of external noise increases.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, a shielding cylinder 32 that forms a narrow incident angle θ2 with respect to the incident angle θ1 of the phototransistor 18 is disposed on the infrared light incident side of the phototransistor 18. Since only the reflected infrared light that is incident from the range of the incident angle θ2 formed by the shielding cylinder 32 is incident on the phototransistor 18, the prevention of malfunction due to external noise is improved.

  As described above, the proximity switch device of the present invention can reliably turn on / off the lighting load even in a dark environment and can prevent malfunction due to external noise.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the 3 wire-type illuminating device using the proximity switch apparatus of embodiment of this invention. The block diagram which shows the structure of the 2 wire type illuminating device using the proximity switch apparatus of embodiment of this invention. The flowchart explaining operation | movement of the proximity switch apparatus of embodiment of this invention. Sectional drawing which shows the attachment structure of infrared LED used for the proximity switch apparatus of embodiment of this invention, and a phototransistor.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Commercial power supply, 2 ... Illumination load, 11 ... Sensor unit (proximity switch apparatus), 12 ... Power supply part, 13 ... Main control part, 14 ... Load control I / F part, 15 ... Infrared LED light emission part, 16 ... Infrared LED, 17... Infrared light receiving detector, 18... Phototransistor, 19.

Claims (5)

Infrared transmitting and receiving means comprising: a light emitting element that emits infrared light; and a light receiving element that receives and detects reflected infrared light from an infrared object emitted from the light emitting element;
Load control means for on / off controlling the load in response to detection of reflected infrared light from an object by the infrared transmission / reception means;
Infrared control means for switching and controlling the detection range of reflected infrared light of the infrared transmission / reception means according to the on / off state of the load of the load control means;
Proximity switch device characterized by comprising.   The infrared control means switches the detection range of the reflected infrared light so that the amount of infrared light emitted from the light emitting element of the infrared transmission / reception means is low when the load is on and high when the load is off. The proximity switch device according to claim 1, wherein the proximity switch device is controlled.   The infrared control means switches and controls the detection range of the reflected infrared light so that the light reception sensitivity of the reflected infrared light by the light receiving element of the infrared transmission / reception means is a low light reception sensitivity when the load is on and a high light reception sensitivity when the load is off. The proximity switch device according to claim 1, wherein:   The infrared control means switches and controls the detection range of the reflected infrared light with a long period when the load is turned on and a short period when the load is turned off with a light emission period of the infrared rays emitted from the light emitting element of the infrared transmission / reception means. The proximity switch device according to claim 1, wherein: An illumination device incorporating various light source lamps and a lighting control circuit for the light source lamp;
A proximity switch device according to claims 1 to 4;
A lighting control system comprising:

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