JP2007054477A - Toilet device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a toilet device, having quick warming performance, and achieving excellent usability, and excellent energy saving performance. <P>SOLUTION: A toilet seat heating means 8 is driven with maximum power for prescribed time after start of heating a toilet seat 6, and then it is driven with first power that is lower than the maximum power. As seating is detected during above energization, the toilet seat heating means 8 is driven with second power that is lower than the first power. As a private part cleaning means 14 is driven while seating is detected, a cleaning water heating means 15 is driven with differential power between the maximum power and the second power. If the toilet seat heating means 8 is driven solely, the electric circuit can be driven with the maximum power, so that the toilet seat 6 is heated in short time. Even when the cleaning means 14 is driven during this heating, the toilet seat and the cleaning water heating means 15 are simultaneously driven. A comfortable toilet device of favorable usability is thus provided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for controlling a power load of a toilet apparatus.

  Conventionally, this type of warm water flush toilet seat has been controlled separately for the toilet seat heating means for heating the toilet seat and the wash water heating means for heating the wash water for washing the human body part. Based on the power, the maximum power of the toilet seat heating means and the washing water heating means is individually set (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).

FIG. 6 shows a conventional toilet apparatus described in Patent Document 1. In FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the seat portion 3 of the toilet seat 2 having the cavity portion 1 is made of a transparent polypropylene resin, a radiant heat absorption layer 4 is installed on the surface of the seat portion 3, and the lamp heater 5 is placed in the cavity portion 1. It was installed. The radiant heat from the lamp heater 5 is transmitted through the seat portion 3 made of transparent polypropylene resin, converted into heat by the radiant heat absorption layer 4 on the surface, and the temperature of the seat portion 3 is increased. The electric power and the electric power of the washing water heating means for heating the washing water for washing the human body part cannot be energized at the same time.
JP 2000-14598 A

  In the conventional configuration, the lamp heater and the like have good power conversion efficiency, so that the warming performance that warms up quickly is good and the temperature can be raised in a short time, while the resistance value of the lamp heater is that the filament is cooled (toilet When the temperature is equivalent to the room temperature), a large inrush current flows at the beginning of energization because it is as small as 1/10 or less of the rated power consumption. Of course, the resistance value of the filament reaches the rated resistance in a short time, and the inrush current is immediately suppressed, but for use in the toilet device, it is energized simultaneously with other heaters equipped in the toilet device. In this case, a larger current flows.

  In general, the indoor power wiring into the toilet room is not a large current wiring and is a single power wiring, and therefore there are often no earth leakage circuit breakers and overcurrent circuit breakers that assume a large current. In addition, there are many things that are taken from the same power wiring to the lighting equipment in the toilet room, and when the heater such as the washing water heating means for heating the washing water for washing the local body portion of the lamp heater and the toilet device is energized at the same time The circuit breaker will drop due to overcurrent, or the voltage drop will occur due to the resistance component of the indoor power wiring, the supply voltage to the toilet device and the toilet room lighting will decrease, the product performance of the toilet device will be It had the subject that it fell and the brightness | luminance of room lighting fell.

  In view of the above-described conventional problems, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a toilet device which is rich in energy saving and easy to use.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the toilet device of the present invention drives the toilet seat heating means with the highest power for a predetermined time from the start of heating the toilet seat, and then drives the toilet seat with the first power lower than the highest power, Alternatively, when the seating detection means detects the seating while driving with the first power, the toilet seat heating means is driven with the second power lower than the first power, and when the local washing means is driven during the seating detection, The washing water heating means is driven by the power difference between the maximum power and the second power.

  Thereby, when the toilet seat heating means is energized, the electric power of the washing water heating means for heating the washing water for washing the human body part is controlled at the same time, so that the maximum electric power is not exceeded, and the energy is saved and the usability can be improved.

  The toilet device according to the present invention can provide a toilet device that has quick and warm performance and is easy to use and rich in energy saving.

  The first invention includes a toilet seat, a toilet seat heating means, a seating detection means for detecting seating on the toilet seat, a local cleaning means for cleaning a local body part, and a washing water heating means for heating the cleaning water being washed, Control means, the control means driving the toilet seat heating means at the highest power for a predetermined time from the start of heating the toilet seat, and then driving the first power lower than the highest power, the highest power or the first power When the seating detection means detects seating during driving, the toilet seat heating means is driven with a second power lower than the first power, and when the local cleaning means is driven during seating detection, the washing water heating means is By driving with the power difference between the maximum power and the second power, when the toilet seat heating means is driven alone, the toilet seat can be driven with the maximum power of the electric circuit. And during the temperature rise Since the toilet seat and cleaning the heating means be driven purification means simultaneously driven, it is possible to convenience in use to provide a comfortable toilet apparatus.

  The second invention is optimal for raising the toilet seat temperature to the toilet seat set temperature in a short time by controlling the second electric power of the first invention according to the difference between the toilet seat temperature and the toilet seat set temperature. Because the control is performed, a comfortable toilet device can be provided.

  In the third aspect of the invention, the radiation heating element is used for the toilet seat heating means of the first or second aspect of the invention, so that the toilet seat can be heated in a short time, so that heat retention when not in use is unnecessary. A highly energy-saving toilet device can be provided.

  In the fourth invention, since the toilet seat heating means can be installed on the surface of the toilet seat by using the PTC heater in the toilet seat heating means of the first or second invention, it is excellent in quick warming and has high energy saving performance. A toilet device can be provided.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of a toilet apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of a main part of a toilet seat, and FIG. 3 shows a control time chart.

  As shown in the figure, the cavity 7 inside the toilet seat 6 is filled with a gas containing argon and nitrogen as main components, with a tungsten filament penetrating inside the quartz tube as a toilet seat heating means that warms immediately when energized. A lamp heater 8 is accommodated. A thermostat 9 and a thermal fuse 10 that are electrically connected in series with the lamp heater 8 are provided in the vicinity of the lamp heater 8, and act to prevent overheating in the event of an unsafe situation.

  The outer surface of the toilet seat 6 has a radiant heat absorption layer 12 on the surface of the transparent polypropylene resin seat 11, and the radiant energy from the lamp heater 8 is converted into heat by the radiant heat absorption layer 12 to quickly warm the seat 11. It is configured to do. A thermistor 13 that detects the temperature of the seating portion 11 is installed on the inner surface of the seating portion 11.

In the body (not shown) of the toilet device, a local cleaning means 14 for cleaning the user's local part, a cleaning water heating means 15 for heating the cleaning water used for cleaning, and the surface of the human body entering the toilet The pyroelectric human body detection means 16 for detecting the presence or absence of a human body from the difference between the amount of infrared rays emitted from the temperature and the amount of infrared rays emitted from an object (such as a toilet wall), and that the user is seated on the toilet seat 6 A seating detection means 17 for detecting, and a control means 18 for controlling the functional means, the detection means, the lamp heater 8 and the like are provided.

  The washing water heating means 15 is constituted by a sheathed heater of about 400 W disposed in a hot water storage tank of about 1 L inside a toilet device body (not shown).

  About the toilet apparatus comprised as mentioned above, the operation | movement and an effect | action are demonstrated below.

  First, a human body entering the toilet room is detected by the human body detection means 16, and a human body presence / absence signal is output to the control means 18. The control means 18 is composed of a microcomputer and its peripheral circuits. The control means 18 takes in a signal for detecting a person who has entered the toilet room by the human body detection means 16 and starts energizing the lamp heater 8.

  As shown in FIG. 3, immediately after the start of energization, energization is continued for a predetermined time at the maximum power A, and then energization is continued with the first power B lower than the maximum power. When the user sits on the toilet seat 6 and starts using the toilet apparatus while the first electric power B is energized, the seating detection means 17 outputs a seating detection signal to the control means 18, and the control means 18 sends to the lamp heater 8. Is switched to the second electric power C lower than the first electric power B, and the energization is continued.

  During this time, when the user drives the local cleaning means 14, the cleaning water heating means 15 is driven by the power difference between the maximum power A and the second power C. Maximum electric power A is electric power approximately equal to the rated capacity of the entire toilet device.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the lamp heater 8 in the toilet seat 6 is energized after the user enters the toilet by the control means 18 and receives a signal from the human body detection means 16. It takes only a few seconds to reach the temperature at which the user will not feel cold after sitting in the toilet room, moving to the toilet device, taking off his clothes, and sitting down (eg 35 ° C). The toilet seat 6 can be heated in time.

  Further, the filament heater value of the lamp heater 8 when the lamp heater 8 is stably energized is about several hundreds Ω. However, when the lamp heater 8 is not energized, it is as small as several tens of ohms. Will flow. Therefore, by not energizing the lamp heater 8 and the washing water heating means 15 at the same time, it becomes possible to suppress the power capacity of the entire toilet device, and it is possible to suppress the load on the power distribution circuit where the toilet device is installed, An easy-to-use toilet device can be provided.

  In addition, although the pyroelectric type which detects the presence or absence of a human body from the difference between the amount of infrared rays emitted from the surface temperature of the human body and the amount of infrared rays emitted from an object (such as a wall surface of a toilet) is adopted as the human body detection means in the present embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a measurement distance type that irradiates infrared rays and measures the distance by the reflection angle from the human body may be used. The pyroelectric method employed in this embodiment is not a method of irradiating infrared rays like the measurement distance method, and thus has a feature of low power consumption.

  In the present embodiment, the hot water storage type in which preheated hot water is stored in the hot water storage tank is adopted as the cleaning water. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and an electric heater of about 1000 W is disposed in the flow path through which several tens of cc of water flows. Then, an instantaneous method may be employed in which the water supplied from the water pipe is instantaneously heated in response to a user's instruction to start local body cleaning.

  In the present embodiment, the lamp heater, which is a radiant heating element, is used as the toilet seat heating means. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and by adopting a PTC heater, the same quick warming property as the lamp heater is used. In addition, energy saving can be improved. Moreover, it becomes possible to provide a toilet apparatus at low cost by adopting a general cord heater.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 4 is a control time chart of the toilet apparatus according to the second embodiment.

  The present embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the temperature of the seating portion 11 detected by the thermistor 13 is controlled by the thermistor 13 for the second electric power C that is supplied to the lamp heater 8 after the user is seated on the toilet seat 6. 18 and is driven while being changed according to the temperature of the toilet seat that is set in advance to a desired temperature by the user, and the washing and heating means has a difference between the control maximum power and the changing second power C. It is a point driven by electric power.

  Thereby, since optimal control for raising the toilet seat temperature to the toilet seat set temperature in a short time is performed, a comfortable toilet device can be provided.

  As described above, since the toilet apparatus according to the present invention can suppress the electric power supplied to the entire apparatus, it can be applied to other household appliances, equipment, and the like.

The block diagram of the toilet apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention Sectional drawing of the principal part of the toilet seat of the toilet apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention Control time chart of toilet apparatus in Embodiment 1 of the present invention Control time chart of toilet apparatus in Embodiment 2 of the present invention Cross-sectional view of the main part of a toilet seat of a conventional toilet device

Explanation of symbols

6 Toilet seat 8 Lamp heater (toilet seat heating means)
14 Local line means 15 Washing water heating means 17 Seating detection means 18 Control means

Claims (4)

A toilet seat, a toilet seat heating means, a seating detection means for detecting seating on the toilet seat, a local washing means for washing a local body part, a washing water heating means for heating washing water being washed, and a control means, The control means drives the toilet seat heating means with the highest power for a predetermined time from the start of heating the toilet seat, and then drives with the first power lower than the highest power and detects the seating while driving with the highest power or the first power. When the means detects seating, the toilet seat heating means is driven with a second power lower than the first power, and when the local washing means is driven during seating detection, the washing water heating means has the highest power and the second power. Toilet device that is driven by the power of the difference in power. The toilet apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second electric power is controlled according to a difference between the toilet seat temperature and the toilet seat set temperature. The toilet apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the toilet seat heating means uses a radiation-type heating element. The toilet apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the toilet seat heating means uses a PTC heater.

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