JP2008031825A - Toilet bowl washing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a toilet bowl washing device which can suppress electric power consumption even if a target object is detected by a Doppler sensor. <P>SOLUTION: The urinal washing device A comprises a bowl, a microwave Doppler sensor 7 detecting the target object around the bowl, and a control part 8 controlling a water supply valve according to a sensor output Sig3 of the microwave Doppler sensor 7. The control part 8 comprising a human body position detecting part 33 detecting the existence of a human body (M) based on a standing wave signal Sig8 included in the sensor output Sig3, and a human body detection processing part 31 detecting the movement of the human body (M) based on the Doppler signal Sig6 included in the sensor output Sig3 so that the control part 8 may actuate the human body detection processing part 31 according to the output of the human body position detecting part 33. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a toilet bowl cleaning apparatus, and more particularly to a toilet bowl cleaning apparatus that detects an object such as a human body based on a Doppler signal output from a Doppler sensor, supplies water into the toilet bowl, and cleans the toilet bowl. .

  Conventionally, a toilet cleaning device that detects a human body or urine flow using a Doppler sensor such as a microwave Doppler sensor and cleans the inside of the toilet is known (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  The microwave Doppler sensor detects movement of an object by transmitting microwaves and receiving microwaves reflected by the object.

  That is, the microwave Doppler sensor obtains a Doppler signal from a difference signal between the frequency of the microwave transmitted from the sensor and the frequency of the signal received by the sensor when the microwave transmitted from the sensor is reflected by an object such as a human body. Generate.

  The Doppler signal is a signal representing the movement of the object (for example, the approach of the object or the separation of the object), and the control unit of the toilet bowl cleaning device detects the movement of the object from the Doppler signal, and Clean inside.

  This type of toilet cleaning device is effective in that the sensor can be arranged in the toilet compared to a toilet cleaning device that detects human bodies by infrared rays.

That is, since the microwave Doppler sensor can be hidden inside the urinal using the characteristic that microwaves can pass through the pottery, the aesthetics of the urinal cleaning device can be improved.
Japanese Utility Model Publication 2-69760

  By the way, in order to detect the movement of the object, it is necessary to perform processing for extracting the frequency component and the magnitude of the Doppler signal.

  Since the time at which an object such as a human body approaches or separates is not constant, the Doppler sensor must be operated at all times. That is, in order to appropriately detect the movement of the object, in the conventional toilet bowl cleaning apparatus, the Doppler sensor is always in an operating state.

  Therefore, the power for operating the Doppler sensor and the power for processing the Doppler signal have always been consumed.

  Toilet bowl cleaning devices are generally battery-driven, and in this way, a battery having a large capacity must be used by constantly performing the operation of the Doppler sensor and processing of the Doppler signal.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a toilet bowl cleaning device capable of suppressing power consumption even when an object is detected by a Doppler sensor.

  The invention described in claim 1 is a toilet, a water supply valve for supplying cleaning water to the toilet, a Doppler sensor for detecting an object around the toilet, and the water supply valve according to a sensor output of the Doppler sensor. A toilet cleaning device comprising: a control unit that controls the first detection unit that detects the presence of the object based on a standing wave signal included in the sensor output; and the sensor output Second detection means for detecting the movement of the object based on the included Doppler signal, and controls the water supply valve by operating the second detection means in accordance with the output of the first detection means. It is characterized by that.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the control unit includes a sensor control unit that intermittently operates the Doppler sensor at a predetermined period, and the first detection unit includes: The presence of the object is intermittently detected at a timing at which the Doppler sensor is operated by the sensor control means.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 2, wherein the control unit includes supply frequency detecting means for detecting the supply frequency of the cleaning water, and the sensor control means is configured to supply the supply frequency. The predetermined period is changed according to the supply frequency of the cleaning water detected by the detecting means.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second or third aspect of the present invention, a second reference that is larger than a first reference value serving as a reference for detecting the presence of the object by the first detection means. A storage unit for storing a value, and the control unit closes the water supply valve when the first detection unit detects that a standing wave signal included in the sensor output is equal to or greater than the second reference value. The cleaning mode is set.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to claim 4, wherein the control unit resets the predetermined cycle when the cleaning mode is set.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to fifth aspects of the present invention, the control unit determines whether the detection result by the first detection means and the detection result by the second detection means. Based on this, the approach of the object is detected and the separation of the object is detected.

  The invention according to claim 7 is the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the second detecting means detects a human body by detecting a movement of the human body as the object. It has a human body detection processing unit and a urine flow detection processing unit that detects a urine flow as the object and detects the urine flow.

  The invention according to claim 8 is the invention according to claim 7, wherein the control unit removes noise included in the sensor output between the sensor output and the urine flow detection processing unit. An adaptive filter is provided, and the adaptive filter is operated when the urine flow detection processing unit is operated.

  The invention according to claim 9 is the invention according to claim 7 or claim 8, wherein the control unit operates the urine flow detection processing unit when the human body detection processing unit detects a human body. It is characterized by that.

  The invention according to claim 10 is the invention according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the control unit detects the urine flow in the urine flow detection processing unit. The human body detection processing unit is stopped.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the object is first detected based on the standing wave signal and then based on the Doppler signal, so that the power consumption of the toilet cleaning device is reduced. Can do. Since the detection load of the standing wave is smaller than the detection of the Doppler signal, the power consumption of the toilet cleaning device is reduced by first detecting the object based on the standing wave signal. That is, the standing wave signal is used until the object enters the predetermined range. And when an object is detected based on the standing wave signal, that is, after the object enters within a predetermined range, the object is detected based on the next Doppler signal. Therefore, the detection accuracy of the object can be maintained.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the Doppler sensor is intermittently operated at a predetermined cycle and the presence of the object is detected at the timing of the intermittent operation, the operation time of the Doppler sensor can be shortened. Therefore, the power consumption of the Doppler sensor can be reduced, and as a result, the power consumption of the toilet bowl cleaning device can be reduced.

  Further, according to the invention of claim 3, since the intermittent operation cycle of the Doppler sensor can be increased or decreased according to the supply frequency of the wash water to the toilet, in the case where the supply frequency of the wash water is low By increasing the intermittent period, the power consumption of the toilet bowl cleaning device can be reduced.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when a standing wave signal greater than or equal to the second reference value that is larger than the first reference value serving as a reference for detecting the presence of the object by the first detection means is detected, Since the cleaning mode for closing the valve is set, there is no need to separately provide mode setting means for setting the cleaning mode.

  According to the invention described in claim 5, since the intermittent operation cycle of the Doppler sensor is reset when the cleaning mode is set, it is possible to detect the presence of the object with sensitivity according to the cleaning mode. For example, when the intermittent operation cycle of the Doppler sensor is set to 1 second in the normal mode, the power consumption of the toilet bowl cleaning device can be reduced by setting the intermittent operation cycle of the Doppler sensor to 3 seconds in the cleaning mode.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the approach and separation of the object are detected based on the detection result of the standing wave signal by the first detection means and the detection result of the Doppler signal by the second detection means. Since it did in this way, the state of a target object can be determined further appropriately. In particular, after detecting an object within a predetermined range by the first detection means, it is possible to detect whether the object approaches or moves away by operating the second detection means together with the first detection means, and as a result, The timing for stopping the operation of the second detection means can be determined more appropriately.

  According to the invention of claim 7, the second detection means detects a human body motion as the object and detects the human body, and detects the urine flow as the object. Therefore, in addition to human body detection, urine flow detection can be performed. Therefore, for example, when the user of the toilet flushing apparatus is not actually urinating, it is possible to detect that the urine flow detection processing unit does not urinate, so unnecessary washing when urination is not performed is performed. Can be prevented.

  According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, since the adaptive filter for removing noise included in the sensor output is provided between the sensor output and the urine flow detection processing unit, the operation of the adaptive filter is usually performed. It can be stopped to reduce the power consumption of the toilet bowl cleaning device, and when the urine flow detection processing unit is operated, the adaptive filter can be operated to appropriately remove periodic noise and the like.

  According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the control unit operates the urine flow detection processing unit when the human body detection processing unit detects the human body. In other words, since the urine flow is generated only when the human body is detected, the power consumption of the toilet flushing device can be further reduced by performing the urine flow detection process only when the human body is detected. Can do. Further, the calculation processing time in the second detecting means can be shortened.

  According to the invention described in claim 10, the control unit stops the human body detection processing unit when the urine flow detection processing unit detects the urine flow. That is, since the human body naturally exists when the urine flow is detected, it is not necessary to detect the human body when detecting the urine flow. Therefore, the human body detection process is not performed when the urine flow is detected. By not performing it, the power consumption of the toilet bowl cleaning device can be further reduced.

  The toilet bowl cleaning apparatus according to the present invention includes a toilet bowl, a Doppler sensor that detects an object around the toilet bowl, and a control unit that controls a water supply valve according to the sensor output of the Doppler sensor.

  Examples of the Doppler sensor include an ultrasonic Doppler sensor using an ultrasonic wave as well as a microwave Doppler sensor using a microwave. In the present embodiment, a microwave Doppler sensor will be described as an example.

  The microwave Doppler sensor includes transmission means for transmitting a microwave as a transmission signal, reception means for receiving the reflected wave as a reception signal, and mixing means for mixing (mixing) the transmission signal and the reception signal. .

  The mixing means combines the transmission signal and the reception signal to produce a sensor output. This sensor output includes a standing wave signal and a Doppler signal, which will be described later. The standing wave signal represents the distance from the object (position of the object), and the Doppler signal represents the movement of the object.

  In addition, the control unit of the toilet bowl cleaning device includes first detection means for detecting the presence of an object based on a standing wave signal included in the sensor output of the Doppler sensor, and a Doppler signal included in the sensor output of the Doppler sensor. And a second detection means for detecting the movement of the object based on the second detection means. The second detection means is operated according to the output of the first detection means.

  Thus, since the toilet bowl washing | cleaning apparatus is comprised, the power consumption of a toilet bowl washing | cleaning apparatus can be reduced. In other words, the detection of the standing wave has a smaller processing load than the detection of the Doppler signal, and therefore the detection of the object is performed based on the standing wave signal until the object enters the predetermined range. The power consumption of the toilet bowl cleaning device is reduced. In addition, when an object is detected based on the standing wave signal, that is, after the object enters within a predetermined range, the object is detected based on the next Doppler signal. The detection accuracy can be maintained.

  Moreover, the toilet bowl cleaning device has a storage unit that stores the first reference value, and the control unit uses the first detection unit to determine that the standing wave signal included in the sensor output is equal to or higher than the first reference value. When detected, the second detecting means is operated, and then water is supplied into the toilet.

  Accordingly, the detection of the object is first performed based on the standing wave signal, and it is determined that the object has been detected when the standing wave signal equal to or greater than the first reference value is detected, and then the object is detected based on the Doppler signal. Since the detection is performed, the object can be detected by the Doppler signal after the distance between the object and the toilet cleaning device becomes the distance defined by the first reference value. Until then, the object is detected by the Doppler signal. Detection is not performed, and the power consumption of the toilet bowl cleaning device can be reduced. Moreover, it becomes possible to suppress power consumption appropriately by configuring the first reference value to be changeable.

  The storage unit stores a second reference value larger than the first reference value in addition to the first reference value, and the control unit receives the standing wave signal included in the sensor output as the second reference value. When the first detection means detects that the value is greater than or equal to the value, the operation of the second detection means is stopped and the cleaning mode in which the water supply valve is closed is set.

  With this configuration, when a standing wave signal equal to or greater than the second reference value is detected, the cleaning mode for closing the water supply valve is set, and therefore mode setting means for setting the cleaning mode is required. There is no.

  Hereinafter, some embodiments of the toilet bowl cleaning apparatus according to the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
First, a first embodiment of a toilet bowl cleaning apparatus according to the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the urinal cleaning device will be described as an example. 1A is an external perspective view of the urinal cleaning apparatus A, FIG. 1B is an overall configuration diagram of the urinal cleaning apparatus A, and FIG. 2 is a microwave Doppler sensor 7 and a control unit 8 of the urinal cleaning apparatus A. FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the urinal washing apparatus A in the first embodiment is provided in the middle of the urinal 1, the ball portion 2, and the water supply channel 3. A water supply valve 4 for supplying cleaning water into the ball unit 2, a drainage channel 5 disposed at the bottom of the ball unit 2 for draining sewage in the ball unit 2 of the urinal 1, and a trap communicating with the drainage channel 5 The human body detection and the urine flow detection are performed based on the sensor output from the pipeline 6, the microwave Doppler sensor 7 for detecting the object around the urinal 1, and the microwave Doppler sensor 7. The control unit 8 controls the water supply valve 4 in accordance with the result of the above and supplies the cleaning water into the ball unit 2. The water supply valve 4 is composed of an electromagnetic valve or the like.

  First, the microwave Doppler sensor 7 will be described with reference to the drawings.

  The microwave Doppler sensor 7 is disposed on the upper back side of the urinal 1 and, as shown in FIG. 1, radiates and transmits microwaves obliquely downward and forward including the ball portion 2, and reflects the microwaves. In addition to receiving a wave, the human body has approached the urinal 1 (close to the human body), the human body has moved away from the urinal (human body separation), and urine has flowed into the ball portion 2 of the urinal 1 (Urinary flow) is detected, and is configured as shown in FIG.

  That is, the microwave Doppler sensor 7 includes an oscillation circuit 10 that generates a transmission signal Sig1 that is an electric signal of 10.525 GHz in order to transmit radio waves from the upper back side of the urinal 1 toward the ball part 2 on the front side. The transmission means 11 that transmits the transmission signal Sig1 output from the oscillation circuit 10 as a microwave of 10.525 GHz, and the microwave transmitted from the transmission means 11 is reflected by the detection object M and receives the reflected wave. Receiving means 12 for outputting the received signal Sig2 converted into an electric signal, and mixing means 13 for mixing and outputting the transmission signal Sig1 and the received signal Sig2.

  Next, the control unit 8 of the urinal washing apparatus A will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

  The control unit 8 controls the water supply valve 4 using the sensor output Sig3 and supplies the wash water into the ball portion of the urinal 1, as shown in FIG. 2, a low-pass filter unit 21, an amplifier unit 22, Human body band filter unit 23, urine flow band filter unit 24, standing wave detection unit 25, object detection unit 26, water supply valve control unit 27, storage unit 28, sensor control unit 29, supply frequency detection unit 30 and the like. Yes. In the first embodiment, the human body band filter unit 23, the urine flow band filter unit 24, the object detection unit 26, the sensor control unit 29, the supply frequency detection unit 30, and the like are configured by a microcomputer.

  The object detection unit 26 includes a human body detection processing unit 31, a urine flow detection processing unit 32, a human body position detection unit 33, and the like. The human body position detection unit 33 corresponds to an example of a first detection unit, and the human body detection processing unit 31 and the urine flow detection processing unit 32 correspond to an example of a second detection unit.

  The low-pass filter unit 21 includes a low-pass filter that can remove frequency band (that is, microwave frequency band) components of the transmission signal Sig1 and the reception signal Sig2, and the transmission signal Sig1 and the reception signal from the microwave sensor output Sig3. The frequency band component of Sig2 is removed.

  The amplifier unit 22 amplifies and outputs the signal Sig4 from which the high frequency band has been removed by the low-pass filter unit 21.

  The human body band filter unit 23 is a filter that removes a frequency band (frequency band exceeding 50 Hz) unnecessary for human body detection from the frequency components of the signal Sig5 amplified by the amplifier unit 22, and the human body band filter unit 23 The human body detection Doppler signal Sig6 is extracted.

  Here, the human body band filter unit 23 performs A / D conversion on the signal Sig5 amplified by the amplifier unit 22 to obtain a digital signal, and then performs digital filter processing by a microcomputer to obtain the human body detection Doppler signal Sig6. Extract.

  The human body detection Doppler signal Sig6 thus extracted is input to the human body detection processing unit 31. When the human body detection Doppler signal Sig6 is equal to or higher than a predetermined level, the human body detection processing unit 31 detects a human body, that is, detects that a human body exists in the vicinity of the urinal 1.

  For example, human body approach detection is performed when the voltage level of the human body detection Doppler signal Sig6 increases to a predetermined level or higher, and when the voltage level of the human body detection Doppler signal Sig6 decreases to a predetermined level or lower, the human body is detected. Perform separation detection.

  Further, the human body approaching and the human body separation may not be performed based on the voltage level of the human body detection Doppler signal Sig6, but may be performed based on a change in the frequency of the human body detection Doppler signal Sig6.

  For example, if the level of the standing wave signal output from the standing wave detection unit 25 is equal to or higher than a predetermined level, the human body position detection unit 33 determines the presence of a human body (the presence of a human body), and then the human body detection processing unit 31 determines whether the human body is moving away or is approaching according to the change in the frequency of the human body detection Doppler signal Sig6 output from the human body band filter unit 23.

  That is, when the human body approaches the urinal 1, the approach speed is slowed down and the frequency of the human body detection Doppler signal Sig 6 is decreased. On the other hand, when the human body is separated from the urinal 1, the separation speed is increased and the frequency of the human body detection Doppler signal Sig6 is increased. The human body detection processing unit 31 detects that the frequency of the human body detection Doppler signal Sig6 is decreasing, determines the approach of the human body, and detects that the frequency of the human body detection Doppler signal Sig6 is increased to detect the human body separation. Is determined.

  By the way, the human body approach detection and the human body separation detection can be performed with higher accuracy by using the human body motion detection by the human body detection processing unit 31 and the human body position detection by the human body position detection unit 33 as follows.

  That is, the human body position detection unit 33 can determine the position of the human body based on the level of the standing wave signal output from the standing wave detection unit 25. On the other hand, the human body detection processing unit 31 can determine the movement of the person based on the frequency of the Doppler signal output from the human body band filter unit 23. Therefore, when a human body moves during a certain period, it is possible to determine whether the human body is moving away or approaching by determining the levels of the standing wave signals at two locations during that period. That is, human body separation can be detected when the level of the standing wave signal at the two locations decreases, and human approach can be detected when the level of the standing wave signal at the two locations increases.

  The urine flow band filter unit 24 is a band pass filter that removes a frequency band (frequency band other than 100 Hz to 180 Hz) unnecessary for urine flow detection from the frequency component of the signal Sig5 amplified by the amplifier unit 22, The urinary flow band filter unit 24 extracts the urinary flow detection Doppler signal Sig7.

  Here, the urinary flow band filter unit 24 performs A / D conversion on the signal Sig5 amplified by the amplifier unit 22 to obtain a digital signal, and then performs digital filter processing by a microcomputer to thereby detect a urinary flow detection Doppler signal. Sig7 is extracted.

  The urinary flow detection Doppler signal Sig7 thus extracted is input to the urine flow detection processing unit 32. The urine flow detection processing unit 32 detects the urine flow of the urinal 1 when the urine flow detection Doppler signal Sig7 is equal to or higher than a predetermined level.

  Here, motion detection of an object (urine flow or human body) based on a Doppler signal included in the sensor output Sig3 of the microwave Doppler sensor 7 will be described. The movement of the object is detected from the relationship of the following equation (1).

Basic formula: ΔF = FS−Fb = 2 × FS × ν / c (1)
ΔF: Doppler frequency (frequency of Doppler signal included in sensor output Sig3)
FS: Transmission frequency (frequency of transmission signal Sig1)
Fb: reflection frequency (frequency of received signal Sig2)
ν: moving speed of detection object c: speed of light (300 × 10 ⁶ m / s)
That is, the microwave of the frequency FS transmitted from the transmission unit 11 is reflected by the detection target moving at the speed ν. Since this reflected wave has undergone a Doppler frequency shift due to relative motion, its frequency is Fb and is received by the receiving means 12. The Doppler frequency ΔF is extracted from the sensor output Sig3 by removing the high frequency component from the signal obtained by mixing the transmission signal Sig1 and the reception signal Sig2 by the low-pass filter unit 21.

  Then, the human body band filter unit 23 extracts a frequency band (50 Hz or less) for human body detection, the human body detection processing unit 31 detects the human body, and the urinary flow band filter unit 24 uses the frequency band for urine flow detection. (100 Hz to 180 Hz) is extracted, and the urine flow is detected by the urine flow detection processing unit 32.

  After the human body detection processing unit 31 detects the human body, when the urine flow detection processing unit 32 determines that the urine flow is detected, the water supply valve control unit 27 controls the water supply valve 4 according to a predetermined condition to Wash water is supplied into the ball part 2.

  By the way, if urine flow is always detected by the urine flow detection processing unit 32, power consumption in the control unit 8 becomes large. This is because time is required for processing such as digital filter processing.

  Therefore, in the urinal washing apparatus A according to the first embodiment, the urine flow is detected after the human body approaches the urinal 1. That is, after the human body detection processing unit 31 detects the approach of the human body, the urine flow band filter unit 24 and the urine flow detection processing unit 32 are operated. Until then, the urinary flow band filter unit 24 and the urine flow detection unit 31 are operated. The operation of the detection processing unit 32 is stopped. As a result, the power consumed by the control unit 8 can be reduced.

  Similarly, if detection of a human body is always performed by the human body detection processing unit 31, power consumption in the control unit 8 increases. This is because time is required for processing such as digital filter processing.

  Therefore, in the urinal washing apparatus A in the first embodiment, the human body band filter unit 23 and the human body detection processing unit 31 are operated after the human body position detection unit 33 detects the approach of the human body. Thus, the power consumed by the control unit 8 can be reduced by stopping the operation of the human body band filter unit 23 and the human body detection processing unit 31 until the human body position detection unit 33 detects the approach of the human body. it can.

  Hereinafter, the standing wave detection unit 25 and the human body position detection unit 33 will be specifically described. FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of detection of a standing wave output from the microwave Doppler sensor 7.

  The standing wave detection unit 25 detects a standing wave signal from the signal Sig5 amplified by the amplifier unit 22, and includes a low-pass filter circuit (AC component removal circuit), a phase shift circuit, a full wave rectification circuit, and an addition circuit. Etc.

  The signal Sig5 output from the amplifier unit 22 includes a DC component that is a standing wave signal and an AC component that is a Doppler signal, and the Doppler signal component is removed by the low-pass filter circuit of the standing wave detection unit 25. To extract a standing wave signal. That is, the AC component is removed from the signal Sig5 output from the amplifier unit 22.

  The level of this standing wave signal changes as shown in FIG. That is, as shown in FIG. 3A, the voltage level of the standing wave signal increases along a periodic trajectory according to the distance from the microwave Doppler sensor 7 to the object M. 3A to 3E, the horizontal axis represents the distance from the microwave Doppler sensor 7 to the object M, and the distance increases as it goes to the right.

  As described above, the standing wave signal periodically has an abdominal portion having a large amplitude and a node portion having a small amplitude in a half cycle, and thus there is a problem in the accuracy of the distance from the object M to the standing wave signal. Come.

  Therefore, in order to increase the accuracy of the distance to the object M with respect to the standing wave signal, the signal having several different phase differences from the standing wave signal output from the low-pass filter circuit of the standing wave detection unit 25. Is generated.

  As shown in FIG. 3E, the distance detection between the microwave Doppler sensor 7 and the object M is performed by synthesizing the standing wave signals having different phases in this way to generate the standing wave synthesized signal. Accuracy can be improved. That is, it is possible to generate a signal whose level increases as the distance between the urinal washing apparatus A equipped with the microwave Doppler sensor 7 and the human body is shorter.

  That is, the shift circuit generates a signal obtained by shifting the phase of the standing wave signal output from the low-pass filter circuit of the standing wave detection unit 25 (see FIG. 3B). The standing wave signal whose phase is shifted in this way is full-wave rectified by a full-wave rectifier circuit (see FIG. 3D). In addition, the standing wave signal output from the low-pass filter circuit of the standing wave detection unit 25 is full-wave rectified by a full-wave rectification circuit (see FIG. 3C).

  The two standing wave signals (see FIGS. 3C and 3D) subjected to full-wave rectification in this way are added by an adder circuit and output from the standing wave detection unit 25 as a standing wave synthesized signal ( (Refer FIG.3 (e)).

  As the number of standing wave signals with different phases to be synthesized increases, the calculated standing wave synthesized signal becomes a smooth curve, and the output value with respect to the distance becomes 1: 1, thereby detecting a more accurate distance. However, in the first embodiment, in order to facilitate the explanation, the distance between the urinal washing apparatus A and the human body is determined from the standing wave synthesized signal generated from the standing wave signals having two phases different from each other. I try to detect it.

  Since the standing wave composite signal generated by the standing wave detection unit 25 in this manner is a signal having a voltage level corresponding to the distance between the microwave Doppler sensor 7 and the object M, the standing wave composite signal The distance between the microwave Doppler sensor 7 and the object M can be easily detected from the voltage level. Here, the first reference value in FIG. 3E is a reference value for detecting the approach of the human body, and the second reference value is a reference value for determining the shift to the cleaning mode described later.

  In particular, since only the voltage level of the standing wave composite signal needs to be detected, the process for detecting the human body can be shortened. Therefore, compared with performing human body detection based on the Doppler signal, processing for performing human body detection is reduced.

  That is, in human body detection based on the Doppler signal, it is necessary to detect that the AC signal is 50 Hz or less, and thus the detection process inevitably takes time. For example, in order to detect a 50 Hz Doppler signal, a time exceeding at least 20 ms is required.

  However, in human body detection based on a standing wave signal, it is only necessary to detect the voltage level of the standing wave composite signal, so that human body detection can be performed in a short time (eg, 1 ms). Then, human body detection is performed at a predetermined interval (for example, 1 sec), and when the human body detection is not performed, by stopping the operation of the microwave Doppler sensor, the operation of the standing wave detection unit 25 and the human body position detection unit 33, The power consumption of the urinal washing apparatus A can be reduced.

  Therefore, the sensor control unit 29 operates the microwave Doppler sensor 7 intermittently at a predetermined cycle (for example, 1 ms cycle), and the human body position detection unit 33 performs timing when the microwave Doppler sensor 7 operates intermittently. To work.

  Further, the control unit 8 is provided with a supply frequency detection unit 30 (corresponding to an example of a supply frequency detection unit) that detects the supply frequency of the cleaning water by the water supply valve control unit 27. And the sensor control part 29 (equivalent to an example of a sensor control means) changes the period which makes the microwave Doppler sensor 7 operate intermittently according to the supply frequency of the washing water detected by the supply frequency detection part 30. .

  Here, the supply frequency of the wash water represents a degree indicating how much wash water is supplied to the urinal 1 within a predetermined time (for example, one day). For example, 10 times a day is standard. When set to a value (stored in the storage unit 28), if the cleaning water supply frequency is five times a day, the operation period of the microwave Doppler sensor 7 is made longer than a reference period (for example, one second period). (For example, a cycle of 2 seconds). On the other hand, when the cleaning water supply frequency is 20 times a day, the operation cycle of the microwave Doppler sensor 7 is made shorter than the standard cycle (for example, a cycle of 0.5 seconds). Even if the frequency of use is further increased, it is not made smaller than the minimum period (for example, 0.3 second period) stored in the storage unit 28. This is because if the intermittent period is shortened too much, the effect of reducing the power consumption is reduced. On the other hand, even if the detection period is shortened too much, the detection sensitivity is not greatly affected.

  Note that the sensor control unit 29 may cause the microwave Doppler sensor 7 to intermittently operate at different periods for each time zone. For example, in the time zone in which the possibility of use is low, the intermittent operation cycle of the microwave Doppler sensor 7 is set longer than the standard cycle (for example, 1 second cycle), and the time in which the urinal 1 is likely to be used. The overall power consumption can be reduced by setting the intermittent operation period of the microwave Doppler sensor 7 as a standard period.

  Here, the storage unit 28 disposed in the control unit 8 stores a first reference value for human body approach detection, and the control unit 8 indicates that the standing wave signal included in the sensor output Sig3 is the first reference value. When the human body position detection unit 33 detects that the value is equal to or greater than the value, the human body band filter unit 23 and the human body detection processing unit 31 are operated. Thereafter, when the human body detection processing unit 31 determines that the human body detection Doppler signal Sig6 included in the sensor output Sig3 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the control unit 8 detects the urine flow band filter unit 24 and the urine flow detection processing unit 32. To work.

  Moreover, in the urinal washing apparatus A in the first embodiment, a cleaning mode is provided in order to clean the urinal 1.

  In this cleaning mode, the cleaning water is supplied into the urinal 1 while cleaning the urinal 1, and the urinal is being cleaned while the cleaning person is splashed with water or the cleaning water is scattered to contaminate the surrounding area. The washing water is prevented from flowing into 1. As a result, the cleaner can concentrate on the cleaning work, and can suppress the vicinity of the urinal 1 from being polluted by the splashing of the washing water.

  The transition to the conventional cleaning mode is, for example, in a urinal cleaning device that performs human body detection with an infrared sensor, as described in JP 2000-213049 A, to cover the infrared sensor and prevent detection operation. The detachable sensor cover is disposed on the front surface of the infrared sensor to prevent the cleaning water from being supplied to the urinal 1 during cleaning.

  However, in the conventional urinal washing apparatus, the cleaner has to prepare a sensor cover, which is troublesome. Moreover, in order to clean the urinal washing apparatus by a shift system by a plurality of humans, a plurality of sensor covers are necessary.

  Therefore, in the urinal washing apparatus A according to the first embodiment, when the standing wave signal included in the output from the microwave Doppler sensor 7 is equal to or higher than the second reference value larger than the first reference value, cleaning is performed. The mode is changed. The second reference value is stored in the storage unit 28 in the same manner as the first reference value.

  This second reference value is determined when the distance between the user's hand of the urinal cleaning apparatus A and the microwave Doppler sensor 7 is within a predetermined distance (hereinafter referred to as “cleaning mode transition distance”). This is the voltage level of the standing wave signal output from the microwave Doppler sensor 7.

  This cleaning mode transition distance is a distance shorter than the distance between the human body and the microwave Doppler sensor 7 when the urinal cleaning apparatus A is in a normal use state, and is small as shown in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b). If the user of the urinal cleaning apparatus A does not insert a hand into the toilet bowl 1 and above the ball portion 2, the cleaning mode transition distance is not reached.

  When the mode is shifted to the cleaning mode, the automatic cleaning mode in the urinal cleaning device A is stopped, so that the cleaner can concentrate on cleaning the urinal cleaning device A (see FIG. 4C).

  About the urinal washing apparatus A comprised as mentioned above, the operation | movement is concretely demonstrated using a flowchart. FIG. 5 is a main process flowchart of the urinal washing apparatus A, FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the first reference value setting process, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the cleaning mode process.

  As shown in FIG. 5, in the main process of the urinal washing apparatus A, first, the control unit 8 executes a process for setting the first reference value in the storage unit 28 (step S10). The first reference value setting process is a process including steps S30 to S34 in FIG.

  When the process of step S10 ends, the control unit 8 determines whether or not the standing wave signal is greater than or equal to the first reference value stored in the storage unit 28 (step S11).

  In this process, the control unit 8 first operates the sensor control unit 29 to intermittently operate the microwave Doppler sensor 7 at a predetermined interval. In this intermittent operation, the operation of the microwave Doppler sensor 7 for Tb (for example, 1 ms) is performed at intervals of Ta (for example, 1 second). When Ta is increased, the time during which the microwave Doppler sensor 7 operates is reduced, so that the power consumption of the urinal washing apparatus A is also reduced. Moreover, even if Tb is reduced, the power consumption of the urinal washing apparatus A is also reduced. On the other hand, when Ta is reduced, the power consumption of the urinal washing apparatus A is increased, but the detection accuracy of the approach to the human body is increased.

  After starting the intermittent operation of the microwave Doppler sensor 7 at a predetermined interval, the control unit 8 operates the standing wave detection unit 25 and detects the human body position in order to extract the standing wave signal from the sensor output Sig3. The unit 33 is operated.

  The human body position detection unit 33 determines whether or not the standing wave signal Sig8 output from the standing wave detection unit 25 is equal to or higher than the first reference signal stored in the storage unit 28. Is greater than or equal to the first reference value.

  If it is determined in step S11 that the standing wave signal is greater than or equal to the first reference value stored in the storage unit 28 (step S11: Yes), the process proceeds to step S12. On the other hand, when it is determined that the standing wave signal is not equal to or higher than the first reference value stored in the storage unit 28 (step S11: No), the control unit 8 repeatedly performs the process of step S11.

  In step S12, the control unit 8 determines whether or not the standing wave signal is equal to or greater than the second reference value. In this process, the standing wave signal is extracted from the sensor output Sig3 output from the microwave Doppler sensor 7 that has been intermittently operated by the standing wave detection unit 25, and the standing wave signal output from the standing wave detection unit 25. By determining whether or not Sig8 is equal to or greater than the second reference signal stored in the storage unit 28, it is determined whether or not the standing wave signal Sig8 is equal to or greater than the second reference value.

  In this process, when it is determined that the standing wave signal Sig8 is greater than or equal to the second reference value (step S12: Yes), the control unit 8 shifts to the cleaning mode (step S13). This cleaning mode process is a process consisting of steps S40 to S44 in FIG.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the standing wave signal Sig8 is not greater than or equal to the second reference value (step S12: No), the control unit 8 determines whether or not a human body has been detected based on the Doppler signal (step S14). ). That is, it is determined whether or not the Doppler signal Sig6 for human body detection is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

  In this manner, human body detection (human body approach detection) based on the Doppler signal in step S14 is performed when urine or washing water (hereinafter referred to as “sealing”) accumulated in the ball section 2 when the drainage channel 5 or the trap conduit 6 is clogged. This is because a standing wave signal is generated by water. In other words, the detection of the standing wave signal may erroneously detect the sealed water as a human body. Therefore, in the urinal washing apparatus A according to the first embodiment, human body detection is also performed based on the Doppler signal to improve the human body detection accuracy.

  In step S <b> 14, the control unit 8 first causes the sensor control unit 29 to shift the intermittent operation of the microwave Doppler sensor 7 to the continuous operation. That is, the microwave Doppler sensor 7 is always operated.

  After continuously operating the microwave Doppler sensor 7, the control unit 8 operates the human body band filter unit 23 and operates the human body detection processing unit 31 in order to extract a human body detection Doppler signal from the sensor output Sig 3. Let

  The human body detection processing unit 31 determines whether or not the human body detection Doppler signal Sig6 digitally filtered by the human body band filter unit 23 is equal to or greater than the human body detection reference value stored in the storage unit 28. Then, it is determined whether or not the Doppler signal for human body detection is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

  In step S14, when it is determined that the human body detection Doppler signal Sig6 is equal to or greater than the predetermined value (step S14: Yes), the control unit 8 controls the water supply valve 4 by the water supply valve control unit 27, and the urinal The washing water is allowed to flow into the ball portion 2 of 1 for a predetermined time. Thereby, before a user uses the urinal 1, the inside of the urinal 1 is wash | cleaned in advance (preliminary washing | cleaning) (step S15). On the other hand, when it is determined that the human body detection Doppler signal Sig6 is not equal to or greater than the predetermined value (step S14: No), the control unit 8 shifts the process to step S11.

  Thereafter, the control unit 8 determines whether the urine flow can be detected based on the Doppler signal Sig7 for detecting the urine flow (step S16).

  In this process, the control unit 8 operates the urine flow band filter unit 24 and the urine flow detection processing unit 32. The urine flow detection processing unit 32 determines whether or not the urine flow detection Doppler signal Sig7 digitally processed by the urine flow band filter unit 24 is equal to or greater than the urine flow detection reference value stored in the storage unit 28. By determining, it is determined whether or not the urine flow has been detected.

  If it is determined in step S16 that the urine flow can be detected based on the Doppler signal Sig7 for urine flow detection (step S16: Yes), the control unit 8 causes the urine flow band filter unit 24 and the urine flow detection processing unit 32 to perform detection. The control unit 8 determines whether or not the standing wave is greater than or equal to the second reference value stored in the storage unit 28 (step S17). On the other hand, if it is determined that urine flow cannot be detected based on the Doppler signal Sig7 for urine flow detection (step S16: No), the control unit 8 shifts the process to step S16. Here, “the urine flow was detected based on the Doppler signal Sig7 for detecting the urine flow” means that the urine flow was detected and then the urine flow was not detected.

  If it is determined in step S17 that the standing wave signal is greater than or equal to the second reference value stored in the storage unit 28 (step S17: Yes), the process proceeds to step S13. On the other hand, when it is determined that the standing wave signal is not equal to or greater than the second reference value (step S17: No), the control unit 8 proceeds to the process of step S18.

  Next, in step S <b> 18, the control unit 8 determines whether or not the human body separation is detected by the human body detection Doppler signal.

  In this process, when it is determined that the human body separation is detected by the Doppler signal for human body detection (step S18: Yes), the control unit 8 determines whether or not the urine flow detection time in step S16 is equal to or longer than a predetermined time. Determination is made (step S19). In the control unit 8, the processing operations of the human body band filter unit 23, the urine flow band filter unit 24, the standing wave detection unit 25, and the object detection unit 26 are stopped. Further, the sensor control unit 29 stops the operation of the microwave Doppler sensor 7. On the other hand, when it is determined that human body separation cannot be detected by the human body detection Doppler signal (step S18: No), the control unit 8 shifts the process to step S16.

  If it is determined in step S19 that the detection time of the urine flow is equal to or longer than the predetermined time (step S19: Yes), the control unit 8 controls the water supply valve 4 by the water supply valve control unit 27, and the urinal 1 Washing water is allowed to flow into the ball part 2 for a predetermined time to perform the main cleaning of the urinal 1 (step S20). On the other hand, if it is determined in step S19 that the detection time of the urine flow is not equal to or longer than the predetermined time (step S19: No), the process proceeds to step S11.

  When the process of step S <b> 20 ends, the control unit 8 causes the sensor control unit 29 to continuously operate the microwave Doppler sensor 7. That is, the microwave Doppler sensor 7 is always operated.

  After continuously operating the microwave Doppler sensor 7, the control unit 8 operates the human body band filter unit 23 and operates the human body detection processing unit 31 in order to extract a human body detection Doppler signal from the sensor output Sig 3. Let

  And the control part 8 determines whether there exists any human body detection by a Doppler signal (step S21). That is, it is determined whether or not the Doppler signal Sig6 for human body detection is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

  This human body detection process is performed for T1 seconds (step S21: No, step S22). When it is determined that a human body is detected during this T1 (step S21: Yes), the control unit 8 performs the process in step S16. Move on to processing.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that no human body is detected during T1 (step S21: No), the control unit 8 shifts the process to the process of step S11 after T1 has elapsed.

  As described above, in the urinal washing apparatus A, the human body position detection unit 33 serving as the first detection unit that detects the presence of the object based on the standing wave signal included in the sensor output of the microwave Doppler sensor 7 performs the first operation. The second detection means is operated when a standing wave signal equal to or higher than the reference value is detected. That is, the human body detection processing unit that detects the movement of the object based on the Doppler signal included in the sensor output of the microwave Doppler sensor is operated.

  Therefore, the power consumption of the urinal washing apparatus A can be reduced. That is, the detection of the standing wave signal has a smaller processing load compared to the detection of the Doppler signal. Therefore, by first detecting the object based on the standing wave signal, the power consumption of the urinal washing apparatus A can be reduced. It is reduced.

  Moreover, when the object is detected based on the standing wave signal, the object detection is performed based on the Doppler signal next, so that the object detection accuracy in the conventional toilet cleaning device can be maintained. That is, it is possible to prevent erroneous detection of the human body even when a state such as sealing water occurs.

  In addition, when the sealing water exists in the ball part 2, if the cleaning water flows into the ball part 2 of the urinal 1, the cleaning water may overflow from the ball part 2. Therefore, when the control unit 8 detects that the human body is not detected by the human body detection Doppler signal and the standing wave signal is higher than the first reference value by a predetermined voltage level or higher, The automatic cleaning mode may be stopped by determining that sealed water exists in the section 2.

  Next, the operation of the first reference value setting process will be specifically described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  In this first reference value setting process, the controller 8 first operates the microwave Doppler sensor 7 continuously (continuously), and then extracts a human body detection Doppler signal from the sensor output Sig3. The human body band filter unit 23 is operated, and the human body detection processing unit 31 is operated (step S30).

  When the process of step S30 ends, the control unit 8 determines whether or not a Doppler signal equal to or less than a predetermined value is detected by the human body detection processing unit 31 (step S31). This predetermined value is a value smaller than the reference value for human body detection in step S14 and the like, and is used for determining whether or not an object is moving around the urinal 1.

  In step S31, when the human body detection processing unit 31 detects a Doppler signal equal to or lower than the predetermined value (step S31: Yes), the control unit 8 shifts the processing to step S32. On the other hand, when the human body detection processing unit 31 does not detect a Doppler signal equal to or lower than the predetermined value (that is, detects a Doppler signal exceeding the predetermined value) (step S31: No), the process proceeds to step S31.

  In step S32, the control unit 8 stops processing operations of the human body band filter unit 23 and the human body detection processing unit 31 in order to reduce power consumption. Further, the control unit 8 operates the standing wave detection unit 25 and the human body position detection unit 33 in order to extract the standing wave signal from the sensor output Sig3.

  Thereafter, the human body position detection unit 33 in the control unit 8 determines whether or not the standing wave signal Sig8 output from the standing wave detection unit 25 is greater than or equal to a default value. The default value is stored in the storage unit 28.

  In this process, when it is determined that the standing wave signal Sig8 is equal to or greater than the default value (step S32: Yes), the control unit 8 sets a value larger by α than the detected voltage level of the standing wave signal to the first reference value. Is set (stored) in the storage unit 28 (step S33). On the other hand, when it is determined that the standing wave signal Sig8 is not equal to or greater than the default value (step S32: No), the control unit 8 sets the default value in the storage unit 28 as the first reference value (step S34). When the processes in steps S33 and S34 are finished, the first reference value setting process is finished.

  Thus, in the control part 8 of the urinal washing apparatus A in the first embodiment, it is determined by the Doppler signal that there is no object around the urinal 1 (particularly, the movement of the human body is not detected). Thereafter, the level of the standing wave signal is detected, and the first reference value is set.

  Therefore, the first reference signal can be set according to the environment in which the urinal washing apparatus A is set. That is, when the urinal washing apparatus A is set in a narrow toilet space, there is a high possibility that an object that reflects microwaves exists near the urinal 1. Therefore, if the first reference signal is fixedly set, the standing wave signal may be higher than the first reference signal even when the human body is not approaching. As a result, the processing of step S11 in FIG. 5 is always Yes, and the human body band filter unit 23 and the human body detection processing unit 31 must always perform the processing operation, which may eliminate the meaning of performing the processing of step S11. There is.

  Therefore, in the urinal washing apparatus A in the first embodiment, the environment around the urinal 1 is determined by detecting a standing wave signal in the absence of a human body in advance, and the first reference value is appropriately set. By setting to, the approach detection of the human body with the standing wave signal is effectively performed.

  When the standing wave signal becomes larger than the maximum set value of the first reference value in the absence of a human body in advance, the control unit 8 sets the first reference value as the maximum set value in the storage unit 28.

  The reason why the first reference value is not set to the maximum set value or more is to prevent the human body detection process in S14 of FIG. 5 from being delayed and the preliminary cleaning process in step S15 from being delayed.

  Next, the operation of the cleaning mode process will be specifically described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  In this cleaning mode process, the control unit 8 first stops the operation of the microwave Doppler sensor 7 to effectively close the water supply valve 4. That is, the automatic water supply valve 4 is automatically controlled, and the automatic cleaning mode for supplying the cleaning water to the urinal 1 is stopped (step S40).

  Thereafter, the control unit 8 starts counting the timer t (step S41) and waits until the timer t counts the predetermined value T3 (step S42).

  In step S42, when the timer t counts the predetermined value T3 (step S42: Yes), the control unit 8 determines whether or not the standing wave signal Sig8 is equal to or greater than the third reference value stored in the storage unit 28. Determination is made (step S43). The third reference value is a value that is larger than the first reference value and smaller than the second reference value, and is a level at which there is little possibility that the standing wave signal falls while the cleaner is cleaning the urinal 1.

  When it is determined that the standing wave signal Sig8 is not equal to or greater than the third reference value (step S43: No), the control unit 8 shifts to the automatic cleaning mode and releases the water supply valve 4 from being closed (step S44). ), The cleaning mode process is terminated. On the other hand, when it is determined that the standing wave signal Sig8 is greater than or equal to the third reference value (step S43: Yes), the control unit 8 proceeds to the process of step S40.

  As described above, when the control unit 8 of the urinal washing apparatus A in the first embodiment shifts to the cleaning mode, the supply of the rinsing water to the urinal 1 is stopped until the predetermined time (count value t = T3) is reached. I am doing so. Moreover, when the cleaner is still cleaning at the predetermined time, the supply of the washing water to the urinal 1 is again stopped for the predetermined time. Thus, the cleaner can concentrate on cleaning the urinal 1.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a toilet bowl cleaning apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. Here, as in the first embodiment, a urinal cleaning device will be described as an example. FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram of the microwave Doppler sensor 7 and the control unit 8 ′ of the urinal washing apparatus A ′.

  The control unit 8 ′ of the urinal cleaning device A ′ according to the second embodiment is configured to output the output (here, an amplifier unit) of the microwave Doppler sensor 7 in the control unit 8 of the urinal cleaning device A according to the first embodiment. 22) and the urinary flow band filter unit 24 are provided with an adaptive filter 34. Here, only parts different from the urinal washing apparatus A according to the first embodiment will be described. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected about what has the function similar to the urinal washing apparatus A which concerns on 1st Embodiment, and description shall be abbreviate | omitted.

  The control unit 8 ′ of the urinal washing apparatus A ′ inputs the signal Sig5 amplified by the amplifier unit 22 to the adaptive filter 34, and after this signal Sig5 is A / D converted into a digital signal in the adaptive filter 34 The signal Sig9 is generated by removing periodic noise. The signal Sig9 is input to the urinary flow band filter unit 24 to remove a frequency band unnecessary for urine flow detection (frequency band other than 100 Hz to 180 Hz), and then input to the urine flow detection processing unit 32 as a signal Sig7. . The urine flow detection processing unit 32 detects the urine flow of the urinal 1 when the urine flow detection Doppler signal Sig7 is equal to or higher than a predetermined level. The control unit 8 ′ operates the adaptive filter 34 when operating the urine flow detection processing unit 32. Thus, the urinal washing apparatus A ′ is configured to appropriately remove periodic noise and the like. Power consumption can be reduced.

  Here, the adaptive filter 34 has a function of removing periodic noise as described above, and is provided for the following reason.

  It is known that fluorescent lamps frequently used as lighting fixtures installed at the place where the urinal washing apparatus A 'is installed generate noise. In particular, when a fluorescent lamp exists in the directivity pattern of the microwave Doppler sensor 7, noise generated by the fluorescent lamp is easily received by the microwave Doppler sensor 7. When the noise generated by the fluorescent lamp is received by the microwave Doppler sensor 7, the signal Sig3 output from the microwave Doppler sensor 7 is mixed with the noise generated by the fluorescent lamp. The adaptive filter 34 serves to remove the noise from the signal Sig3 mixed with the noise.

  The characteristic of noise from fluorescent lamps is that a certain degree of periodicity is seen, and there are irregularities and large undulations in some places rather than a perfect sine wave. This is described in detail in JP-A-2004-293216. That is, when the frequency of the commercial power source supplied to the fluorescent lamp is, for example, 60 Hz, the frequency spectrum of the noise of the fluorescent lamp has a maximum amplitude peak of 120 Hz, and a peak is also seen at 240 Hz, which is twice that of 20 kHz. A peak is also seen at double 40 Hz and triple 60 Hz. As described above, the noise of the fluorescent lamp has 120 Hz as a basic component, but its n-order harmonic component, a frequency not directly related to the power supply frequency, and its n-order harmonic component are combined in a complicated manner. It has a waveform. When the frequency of the commercial power supply is 50 Hz, the frequency spectrum of the fluorescent lamp noise has a maximum amplitude peak of 100 Hz, and a peak is also seen at 200 Hz, which is twice that peak. Since urine flow detection is performed by detecting a Doppler signal of 100 to 180 Hz, it is necessary to reduce noise from the fluorescent lamp as much as possible.

  Therefore, in the urinal washing apparatus A ′ according to the second embodiment, an adaptive filter 34 is provided between the amplifier unit 22 and the urine flow band filter unit 24 to remove periodic noise such as fluorescent lamp noise. Like to do. That is, the adaptive filter 34 predicts the periodic component from the signal Sig5 and subtracts the predicted periodic component from the signal Sig5, thereby effectively removing the noise of the fluorescent lamp that is the periodic component. The signal Sig5 to be detected for urine flow contains many frequency components of 180 Hz or less, but is a random frequency component signal on the time axis. This is because the microwave Doppler sensor 7 detects various water flows formed by the urine flow moving or pulsating including the water flowing on the wall surface. In this way, only a random frequency component, that is, a urine flow detection component can be obtained. That is, the adaptive filter 34 removes the periodic component and does not remove the random frequency component necessary for urine flow detection.

  Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the adaptive filter 34 in the urinal washing apparatus A ′ of the second embodiment will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the adaptive filter 34 includes an A / D converter 35, a delay circuit 40, a digital filter 41, a signal addition circuit 42, and a filter coefficient update circuit 43.

The signal Sig 5 input to the adaptive filter 34 is converted into digital data x [n] by the A / D converter 35 and input to the delay circuit 40. Z ⁻¹ represents Z conversion, and in the second embodiment, the delay element 40 a that performs Z conversion constitutes the delay circuit 40 with ten stages. Since the delay element 40a sends the input signal value to the next stage every sampling time, the digital data x [n] output from the delay circuit 40 of the second embodiment is equal to the input signal before 10 sampling.

  The digital filter 41 receives a signal sent from the delay circuit 40 and outputs a noise prediction waveform y [n]. In the second embodiment, a 64-stage FIR type digital filter is used as the digital filter 41. The filter coefficients h0 to h63 of the FIR type digital filter are respectively multiplied by the corresponding stages of the delay elements 40a, and the sum of the results is calculated to obtain the output signal y [n]. The filter coefficients h0 to h63 are adjusted in advance by a filter coefficient update circuit 43 described later so as to extract only periodic component signals such as fluorescent lamp noise included in the input signal x [n], and the output signal y [n ] Is an optimum signal for noise removal.

  The signal adding circuit 42 adds an inverted signal of the output signal y [n] of the digital filter 41, that is, -y [n], which is an antiphase signal, to the input signal x [n]. As described above, since y [n] is a periodic component signal included in the input signal, that is, a periodic component signal such as fluorescent lamp noise, an antiphase signal of periodic noise is converted to the input signal x [n as a result. ] Is added.

  The addition result ε [n] is a signal obtained by removing periodic noise such as fluorescent lamp noise from the input signal x [n]. Since the periodic noise prediction signal y [n] of the digital filter 41 does not completely match the noise component of x [n], the addition result ε [n] is not necessarily zero.

  Next, the filter coefficient update circuit 43 has a function of adjusting the filter coefficients h0 to h63 of the digital filter 41 so as to minimize the aforementioned addition result ε [n], which is a noise prediction error. In the second embodiment, the LMS (Least Mean Square) method that can simplify the calculation process is used as the coefficient updating method of the adaptive filter 34. According to this LMS method, the addition result ε [n] is multiplied by twice the step size μ49, and each stage of each corresponding delay element is further multiplied to add each filter coefficient h [n] at the current time. In addition, each filter coefficient h [n + 1] at the next time is obtained.

  According to this method, although the absolute value of the residual ε [n] is large at the calculation start time, the absolute value of ε [n] converges to 0 as time elapses. Here, the step size μ49 is a parameter for determining the convergence speed and the error amount after convergence, and generally a value of 0 <μ <1 is set.

  As described above, the urinal washing apparatus A ′ according to the second embodiment can remove noise from the fluorescent lamp by providing the adaptive filter 34. Malfunctions can be eliminated.

  As a means for removing the noise component, for example, a notch filter is also effective instead of the adaptive filter 34. That is, only a specific frequency is selected and attenuated. If the noise frequency is known, the noise can be efficiently removed by selecting the noise characteristics so as to selectively attenuate the frequency. If the frequency range of urine flow detection is sufficiently wider than the frequency selection range of the notch filter, even if the noise frequency portion is attenuated, urine flow detection is not greatly affected. Note that the second harmonic noise of the commercial power supply is 120 Hz in the western Japan region and 100 Hz in the eastern Japan region, and it is necessary to change the frequency to be removed depending on the region. Furthermore, when noise components having a plurality of frequencies are found in the target urine flow frequency range, a single notch filter cannot be used, and therefore a plurality of notch filters are used. In the second embodiment, the adaptive filter 34 is provided in order to effectively remove noise according to the noise situation even if the frequency is not known or a plurality of noises.

  In the above description, the adaptive filter 34 is provided between the amplifier unit 22 and the urine flow band filter unit 24. However, an adaptive filter is provided between the amplifier unit 22 and the human body band filter unit 23. Also good. In this way, the detection accuracy of the human body can be improved similarly to the detection accuracy of the urine flow. In this case, the signal from the amplifier unit 22 is input to the adaptive filter 34, and the output signal of this adaptive filter is input to the human body band filter unit 23 and the urinary flow band filter unit 24, respectively. Can be shared with flow detection.

  Further, although the coefficient update of the adaptive filter 34 is sequentially performed, the coefficient may not be updated after a predetermined period has elapsed after the operation of the adaptive filter 34 is started. By doing in this way, the power consumption accompanying a coefficient update process can be reduced.

(Third embodiment)
Next, a third embodiment of the toilet bowl cleaning apparatus according to the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. Here, as in the first embodiment and the second embodiment, a urinal cleaning device will be described as an example. 10 is a main process flowchart of the urinal washing apparatus A ″ according to the third embodiment, and FIG. 11 is a flowchart of the cleaning mode process in FIG.

  The urinal washing apparatus A ″ according to the third embodiment is partially different from the urinal washing apparatuses A and A ′ of the above-described embodiment in the processes of urine flow detection and human body separation detection, and cleaning mode processing is also performed. Although partly different, the other parts are the same, and here, a different part from the urinal washing apparatus A ′ of the above-described embodiment will be described as an example.

  First, the main process of the urinal washing apparatus A ″ will be described with reference to FIG. 10. In the flowchart of FIG. 10, the processes of steps S53 and S56 to S61 are the same as the processes of steps S13 and S16 to 18 of the flowchart of FIG. 5 is different from the process of FIG. 5, and the processes of steps S10 to S12, S14, and S15 in the flowchart of FIG. 5 are the same as the processes of steps S50 to S52, S54, and S55 of FIG. Since the process from step S19 to S22 and the process from step S62 to S65 in FIG. 10 are the same process, the description of the same process is omitted.

  When the preliminary washing in step S55 is completed, the control unit 8 ′ starts the urine flow detection process by operating the urine flow band filter unit 24, the urine flow detection processing unit 32, and the adaptive filter 34 (step S56). . Thereafter, the urine flow detection processing unit 32 determines whether or not the urinary flow detection Doppler signal Sig7 digitally processed by the urine flow band filter unit 24 is equal to or higher than the urine flow detection reference value stored in the storage unit 28. It is determined whether or not the urine flow has been detected (step S57).

  In this process, if it is determined that the urine flow can be detected based on the Doppler signal Sig7 for urine flow detection (step S57: Yes), the control unit 8 ′ causes the human body band filter unit 23 and the human body detection processing unit 31 to When the process is being executed, the operation is stopped and the process returns to step S57.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the urine flow cannot be detected based on the Doppler signal Sig7 for detecting the urine flow (step S57: No), the control unit 8 ′, like the step S12 shown in FIG. Is greater than or equal to the second reference value stored in the storage unit 28 (step S59).

  If it is determined in step S59 that the standing wave signal is greater than or equal to the second reference value stored in the storage unit 28 (step S59: Yes), the process proceeds to step S53. On the other hand, if it is determined that the standing wave signal is not equal to or greater than the second reference value (step S59: No), the control unit 8 ′ operates the human body band filter unit 23 and the human body detection processing unit 31 to perform human body detection processing. Is started (step S60), and the process proceeds to step S61.

  In step S61, the control unit 8 'determines whether or not the human body separation can be detected by the human body detection Doppler signal.

  In this process, if it is determined that human body separation cannot be detected by the human body detection Doppler signal (step S61: No), the control unit 8 'shifts the process to step S57. On the other hand, when it is determined that the human body separation is detected by the human body detection Doppler signal (step S61: Yes), the control unit 8 'shifts the process to step S62. At this time, in the control unit 8 ′, the processing operations of the human body band filter unit 23, the urine flow band filter unit 24, the standing wave detection unit 25, the adaptive filter 34, and the object detection unit 26 are stopped. Further, the sensor control unit 29 stops the operation of the microwave Doppler sensor 7.

  As described above, in the urinal washing apparatus A ″, the human body position detection unit 33 which is the first detection means for detecting the presence of the object with respect to the standing wave signal included in the sensor output of the microwave Doppler sensor 7 performs the first operation. The second detection means is operated when a standing wave signal exceeding the reference value is detected, that is, the movement of the object is detected based on the Doppler signal included in the sensor output of the microwave Doppler sensor. The human body detection processing unit is operated.

  In addition, human body detection (human body approach detection) is performed by the human body band filter unit 23 and the human body detection processing unit 31, and after preliminary cleaning, the urine flow band filter unit 24, the urine flow detection processing unit 32, and the adaptive filter 34 are combined. The urine flow detection process is executed.

  Further, when the urine flow detection processing is being executed by the urine flow band filter unit 24 and the urine flow detection processing unit 32, the operations of the human body band filter unit 23 and the human body detection processing unit 31 are stopped to stop the human body detection processing. I am doing so.

  Therefore, the power consumption of the urinal washing apparatus A can be reduced. That is, the detection of the standing wave signal has a smaller processing load compared to the detection of the Doppler signal, so the detection of the object is first performed based on the standing wave signal, and the urine flow detection is performed after detecting the human body. In addition, the human body detection is not performed when the urine flow is being detected, thereby reducing the power consumption of the urinal washing apparatus A ″.

  Next, the operation of the cleaning mode process will be specifically described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  The controller 8 ′ increases the intermittent period Ta (here, 3 seconds (sec)) from the state where the microwave Doppler sensor 7 operates at the intermittent period Ta (here, 1 second (sec) period). The sensor control unit 29 is controlled so as to cycle (step S70).

  Thereafter, the control unit 8 ′ starts counting the timer t (step S71), and determines whether or not the standing wave signal Sig8 is equal to or greater than the second reference value stored in the storage unit 28 (step S72). ). This second reference value is the reference value used in step S59 of FIG.

  When it is determined in step S72 that the standing wave signal Sig8 is equal to or greater than the second reference value (step S72: Yes), the control unit 8 ′ controls the water supply valve 4 by the water supply valve control unit 27, and the small Wash water is allowed to flow into the bowl portion 2 of the toilet 1 for a predetermined time. Thereby, the inside of the urinal 1 is cleaned (step S73).

  Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the timer has counted the predetermined value T3 (step S74). When the predetermined value T3 is not counted (step S74: No), the process returns to step S72, and the predetermined value T3 is counted. When (step S74: Yes), the process proceeds to step S75.

  In step S75, the control unit 8 'determines whether or not the standing wave signal Sig8 is greater than or equal to the third reference value. In this process, when it is determined that the standing wave signal Sig8 is not greater than or equal to the third reference value (step S75: No), the control unit 8 ′ indicates that the microwave Doppler sensor 7 has an intermittent period Ta (here, 3 seconds). The sensor control unit 29 is controlled so that the intermittent cycle Ta is shortened (here, 1 second (sec) cycle) from the state of operating in (sec) cycle (step S76). Exit. On the other hand, when it is determined that the standing wave signal Sig8 is greater than or equal to the third reference value (step S75: Yes), the control unit 8 'proceeds to the process of step S70.

  As described above, the control unit 8 ′ of the urinal washing apparatus A ″ according to the third embodiment detects the human body position that the standing wave signal included in the output signal of the microwave Doppler sensor 7 is equal to or higher than the second reference value. If the part 33 detects, it will set to the cleaning mode which closes the water supply valve 4 in principle.When it transfers to this cleaning mode, supply of the washing water to the urinal 1 will be stopped until it becomes predetermined time (count value t = T3). In addition, if the cleaner is still cleaning at the predetermined time, the supply of the washing water to the urinal 1 is stopped again for the predetermined time. Can concentrate on cleaning the urinal 1.

  Moreover, when the distance between the user's hand of the urinal washing apparatus A and the microwave Doppler sensor 7 becomes the cleaning mode transition distance during a predetermined time (count value t = T3), the urinal 1 Since the cleaning is performed, the cleaner can easily flow water through the urinal 1 and can improve the efficiency of the cleaning operation.

  Furthermore, since the control unit 8 ′ resets the microwave Doppler sensor 7 so as to increase the intermittent period Ta when the cleaning mode is set, the power consumption of the urinal cleaning device A ″ can be reduced. .

  Although some of the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the drawings, these are merely examples, and the present invention is variously modified and improved based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art. It is possible to carry out.

  For example, a urine flow presence detection unit (corresponding to an example of a first detection unit) that detects the presence of a urine flow based on a standing wave signal included in the output of the microwave Doppler sensor 7 is provided separately, and this urine flow presence detection is performed. After detecting the presence of the urine flow by the unit, the urine flow detection processing unit 32 (corresponding to an example of the second detection means) can be operated.

  Moreover, in 3rd Embodiment, the urinal washing | cleaning apparatus which performs a urine flow detection process and human body separation detection (process of step S56-S61 in FIG. 10), and cleaning mode process (refer FIG.11 S70-S76). However, each may be applied alone. That is, only the urine flow detection process and human body separation detection may be applied, or only the cleaning mode process may be applied.

It is the figure which showed the whole structure of the urinal washing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram of a control part concerning a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is detection explanatory drawing of the standing wave output from a microwave Doppler sensor. It is explanatory drawing which shows the operation example which transfers to cleaning mode in the urinal washing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a main process flowchart of the urinal washing device concerning a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart of the 1st reference value setting process in FIG. It is a flowchart of the cleaning mode process in FIG. It is a block diagram of a control part concerning a 2nd embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram of the adaptive filter in FIG. It is a main process flowchart of the urinal washing apparatus which concerns on 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart of the cleaning mode process in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

A, A ', A "Urinal cleaning device 1 Urinal 2 Ball part 3 Water supply path 4 Water supply valve 5 Drainage path 6 Trap line
7 Microwave Doppler Sensor 8, 8 'Control Unit 21 Low Pass Filter Unit 22 Amplifier Unit 23 Human Body Band Filter Unit 24 Urinary Flow Band Filter Unit 25 Standing Wave Detection Unit 26 Object Detection Unit 27 Water Supply Valve Control Unit 28 Storage Unit 29 Sensor Control unit 30 Supply frequency detection unit 31 Human body detection processing unit 32 Urine flow detection processing unit 33 Human body position detection unit

Claims (10)

A toilet, a water supply valve that supplies cleaning water to the toilet, a Doppler sensor that detects an object around the toilet, and a controller that controls the water supply valve according to the sensor output of the Doppler sensor. In the toilet bowl cleaning device,
The controller is
First detection means for detecting the presence of the object based on a standing wave signal included in the sensor output;
Second detection means for detecting movement of the object based on a Doppler signal included in the sensor output,
The toilet cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the second detection unit is operated to control the water supply valve in accordance with an output of the first detection unit. The controller is
Comprising a sensor control means for intermittently operating the Doppler sensor at a predetermined period;
The first detection means includes
The toilet cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the presence of the object is intermittently detected at a timing at which the Doppler sensor is operated by the sensor control means. The controller is
A supply frequency detecting means for detecting the supply frequency of the washing water;
The sensor control means includes
The toilet cleaning device according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined period is changed according to a supply frequency of the wash water detected by the supply frequency detection unit. A storage unit that stores a second reference value that is larger than a first reference value serving as a reference for detecting the presence of the object by the first detection unit;
The controller is
The cleaning mode for closing the water supply valve is set when the first detection means detects that the standing wave signal included in the sensor output is equal to or greater than the second reference value. The toilet bowl washing | cleaning apparatus of Claim 3. The controller is
The toilet cleaning device according to claim 4, wherein the predetermined cycle is reset when the cleaning mode is set. The controller is
The detection of the approach of the object and the detection of the separation of the object are performed based on the detection result by the first detection means and the detection result by the second detection means. A toilet cleaning device according to claim 1. The second detection means includes
It has a human body detection processing unit that detects the human body by detecting the movement of the human body as the object, and a urine flow detection processing unit that detects the movement of the urine flow and detects the urine flow as the target object. The toilet bowl washing device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein The controller is
An adaptive filter for removing noise included in the sensor output is provided between the sensor output and the urine flow detection processing unit,
The toilet cleaning device according to claim 7, wherein the adaptive filter is operated when the urine flow detection processing unit is operated. The controller is
The toilet cleaning apparatus according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the urine flow detection processing unit is operated when a human body is detected by the human body detection processing unit. The controller is
The toilet cleaning device according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein when the urine flow is detected by the urine flow detection processing unit, the operation of the human body detection processing unit is stopped.

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