JP2007255761A - Remote controller of hot-water supply apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a remote controller of a hot-water supply apparatus, which is adapted to inform the operating condition and contents of abnormality by a voice, preventing a user from feeling noisy and bringing little discomfort to the user. <P>SOLUTION: This remote controller of the hot-water supply apparatus includes: an operating part 9 for directing the operation of the hot-water supply apparatus 1; a display part 10 for displaying the contents of an operation directive for the hot-water supply apparatus 1; and a voice informing part 13 for informing the operating status of the hot-water supply apparatus 1 and the contents of abnormality by a voice, wherein the remote controller further includes a time zone discriminating means 7a for discriminating a time zone, and when the time zone discriminating means 7a discriminates "night time zone", informing of the voice informing part 13 is limited or stopped. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a remote control device for a water heater provided with an operation unit for instructing the operation of the water heater and a voice notification unit for notifying the operation status or abnormality of the water heater by voice.

In the conventional water heater remote control device, when an abnormality occurs in the water heater, an error code is displayed on the display unit of the remote controller, and the contents of the abnormality, a repair method or a countermeasure method are notified by voice by the voice notification unit. There was a thing (for example, refer to patent documents 1).

JP 2000-283555 A

However, in the above-described conventional remote control device, when an abnormality occurs in the water heater, the content of the abnormality, a repair method or a countermeasure method is notified by voice when the abnormality occurs. Regardless of the presence or absence and the importance of transmission of the abnormality content, an immediate notification is given when an abnormality occurs. For this reason, there is a problem in that a user having a low degree of transmission importance or voice notification in a night time zone may feel annoying, and conversely, the user may be uncomfortable.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and restricts or stops the voice notification according to the time zone so that the user does not feel noisy or discomfort to the user. To provide an apparatus.

The remote controller for a water heater according to the present invention provides an operation unit for instructing the operation of the water heater, a display unit for displaying the operation instruction content of the water heater, and a voice notification of the operation status and abnormality contents of the water heater. A remote controller for a water heater having a voice notification unit includes a time zone determination unit that determines a time zone, and limits or stops notification by the voice notification unit according to a time zone determined by the time zone determination unit. It is characterized by that.

Since the remote control device of the water heater of the present invention limits or stops the voice notification generated from the voice notification unit depending on the time zone, for example, when an abnormality occurs in the night time zone, the voice notification is limited or stopped. Thus, the remote control device for the water heater can be provided without causing the user to feel noisy and not causing the user to feel uncomfortable.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
Hereinafter, Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a water heater according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
As shown in the figure, the water heater 1 shown in the first embodiment has a hot water storage tank 2, a water supply pipe 3 for supplying water from the water supply source into the hot water storage tank 2, and water heated in the hot water storage tank 2. A hot water supply pipe 4 for supplying to a hot water tap (not shown), remaining hot water amount sensors 5a and 5b comprising a plurality of temperature sensors attached to the outer wall surface of the hot water storage tank 2, and a heating element for heating the water in the hot water storage tank 2 6, a control unit 7, and a remote controller 8.

The remote controller 8 includes an operation unit 9 provided with an operation switch 11 for making the water heater 1 operable, a temperature setting switch 12 for setting a hot water temperature to be heated in the hot water storage tank 2, and the like. A display unit 10 that displays a set temperature, an operation state, and the like on a screen, and an audio notification unit 13 that notifies the contents of the abnormality when the operation state of the water heater 1 or an abnormality occurs in the water heater 1 by voice. .

The control unit 7 includes time zone discriminating means 7a that counts the time and discriminates between the daytime zone and the nighttime zone, and signals from the remaining hot water sensors 5a and 5b, the operation switch 11, the temperature setting switch 12, and the like. On the basis of the above, control of energization to the heating element 6 and the like, and the display contents by the display unit 10 of the remote controller 8 are controlled. Further, the control unit 7 controls the content of the voice notification by the voice notification unit 13 of the remote controller 8 based on the time zone discrimination result of the time zone discrimination means 7a.

FIG. 2 is a control flowchart of abnormality content notification in the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a list of voice notification contents of the water heater 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
First, the control part 7 confirms whether abnormality which performs audio | voice alerting | reporting to the water heater 1 has generate | occur | produced (step S1). If an abnormality has occurred in the water heater 1 that performs voice notification, then the current time zone is determined by the time zone determination means 7a (step S2). When the discrimination result of the time zone discriminating means 7a is “daytime zone”, the content of the abnormality is informed by the audio informing unit 13 (step S3). For example, when the boiling temperature of the water heater 1 is abnormal, the voice notification unit 13 of the remote controller 8 notifies the voice that “the boiling temperature is high”.

On the other hand, if the discrimination result of the time zone discriminating means 7a is “night time zone”, the voice notification at the present time by the voice notification unit 13 is stopped (step S4), and the flow returns to step S1 to repeat this flow. . Then, when the discrimination result of the time zone discriminating means 7a is switched from “night time zone” to “daytime zone”, the voice notification unit 13 notifies the content of the abnormality by voice (step S3).

As a result, even if an abnormality occurs in the water heater 1 at nighttime, the voice notification by the voice notification unit 13 is stopped, so that the user does not feel noisy. Never give.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
FIG. 4 is a control flowchart of abnormality content notification in Embodiment 2 of the present invention.
The only difference from FIG. 2 is that step S2a is added between step S2 and steps S3 and S4, and the rest is the same.

Of the abnormal contents of the water heater 1, it is confirmed whether the transmission importance is high (step S <b> 2 a). If the transmission importance is high, the audio notification unit 13 informs the abnormality content by voice even in the night time zone. (Step S3).
On the other hand, if the transmission importance is low, the voice notification by the voice notification unit 13 is stopped (step S4), the process returns to step S1, and this flow is repeated. Then, when the discrimination result of the time zone discriminating means 7a is switched from “night time zone” to “daytime zone”, the voice notification unit 13 notifies the content of the abnormality by voice (step S3).

As a result, even if an abnormality occurs in the water heater 1 at nighttime, the voice notification by the voice notification unit 13 is stopped if the content of the abnormality is low, so that the user feels noisy. It will not cause any discomfort to the user.

Embodiment 3.
FIG. 5 is a control flowchart of abnormality content notification according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
The only difference from FIG. 2 is that step S4a is added after step S4, and the rest is the same.

If the discrimination result of the time zone discriminating means 7a is “night time zone”, the voice notification by the voice notification unit 13 is stopped (step S4), and an error code indicating the abnormal content is displayed on the display unit 10 ( Step S4a), returning to step S1, this flow is repeated. Then, when the discrimination result of the time zone discriminating means 7a is switched from “night time zone” to “daytime zone”, the voice notification unit 13 notifies the content of the abnormality by voice (step S3).

As a result, even if an abnormality occurs in the water heater 1 at nighttime, the voice notification by the voice notification unit 13 is stopped, so that the user does not feel noisy. Never give. Further, since the content of the abnormality is displayed as an error code on the display unit 10 of the remote controller 8, it can be transmitted to the user through the visual sense.

  In the first to third embodiments, the case where the voice notification is stopped and the whole is stopped has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the one shown in the first to third embodiments. The stop of the voice notification may be limited to stop a part, and the voice notification is not limited to the abnormal content notification, but may be the operation content notification, etc. Is possible.

Configuration diagram of a water heater according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention Control flowchart of abnormality content notification in Embodiment 1 of the present invention List of audio notification contents in Embodiment 1 of the present invention Control flowchart of abnormality content notification in embodiment 2 of the present invention Control flowchart of abnormality content notification in Embodiment 3 of the present invention

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Hot water heater 2 ... Hot water storage tank 7 ... Control part 7a ... Time zone discriminating means 8 ... Remote control 9 ... Operation part 10 ... Display part 11 ... Operation switch 12 ... Temperature setting switch 13 ... Voice notification part

Claims (4)

A water heater having an operation unit for instructing operation of a water heater, a display unit for displaying the operation instruction content of the water heater, and a voice notification unit for notifying the operation status and abnormality contents of the water heater by voice In the remote control device, the remote control device for a hot water heater is provided with a time zone discriminating unit for discriminating a time zone, and the notification by the voice notification unit is limited or stopped by the time zone discriminated by the time zone discriminating unit. . The time zone discriminating means discriminates the daytime time zone and the night time zone, and when the time zone discriminating unit discriminates the night time zone, the notification by the voice notification unit is limited or stopped. The remote control device for a water heater according to claim 1. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein when the time zone determination unit determines that it is a night time zone, only display by the display unit is performed, and notification by the voice notification unit is limited or stopped. Remote control device for water heater. The remote control device for a hot water heater according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the restriction or stop of the notification by the voice notification unit is performed only when the degree of importance of transmitting abnormal contents is low.

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