JP2012076060A - Dehumidifying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To change an operation of a dehumidifying apparatus by detecting the amount of water dehumidified in a predetermined time from the number of water droplets within a predetermined time.SOLUTION: The dehumidifying apparatus includes: a water storage tank 7 for storing dehumidified water by the operation of the dehumidifying apparatus; a dropping unit 9 providing a step at a water passage 8 for conducting the dehumidified water by the operation of the dehumidifying apparatus and making the dehumidified water into water droplets to drop; a water droplet detector 10 for detecting that the water droplets drop in the position where the water droplets are supposed to drop from the dropping unit 9; and a controller 11 for detecting that the number of the water droplets dropped. The operation of the dehumidifying apparatus can be changed by detecting the amount of dehumidified water within a predetermined time from the number of the water droplets within a predetermined time, and thus, obtaining the effect that the operation is appropriately changed following the change of ambient environments such as humidity.

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for detecting the amount of moisture per unit time dehumidified by a dehumidifier and controlling the operation of the dehumidifier.

  Conventionally, a dehumidifying apparatus related to this type is known which controls the operation of the dehumidifying apparatus by detecting the water level and the water level change stored in a water storage tank for storing dehumidified water (for example, Patent Document 1). reference).

  Hereinafter, the dehumidifier will be described.

  It is a dehumidifying device that detects the level of water accumulated in a water storage tank using an ultrasonic sensor in the dehumidifying device, and determines abnormality of the dehumidifying device or drying of clothes from the change in the water level per hour.

Japanese Patent No. 4189759

  In such a conventional dehumidifying device, the water level accumulated in the water storage tank and the water level change are detected, but the amount of water per time dehumidified by the dehumidifying device greatly affects the cross-sectional area of the water storage tank. Since the amount of water is very small with respect to the received water level change, it takes a long time for the dehumidified water to appear as a water level change in the water storage tank. For this reason, in the method of detecting the water level change in the water storage tank, a large time difference occurs between the actual water volume change and the water level change of the water storage tank. There was a problem that the operation of the dehumidifier cannot be changed appropriately.

  Accordingly, the present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, confirms the change in the amount of water dehumidified by the dehumidifier in a short time, and appropriately changes the operation following changes in the surrounding environment such as humidity. It aims at providing the dehumidification apparatus which can do.

  In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides a water storage tank that stores water dehumidified by the operation of the dehumidifying device, and a water passage that guides the water dehumidified by the operation of the dehumidifying device to the water storage tank. Dropping means for dropping dehumidified water into water droplets, water drop detecting means for detecting that water drops have dropped from the dropping means to a position where the water drops fall, and control means for detecting the number of water drops dropped, The present invention is characterized in that the amount of water dehumidified within a certain time is detected from the number of water droplets within a certain time and the operation of the dehumidifying device is switched, thereby achieving the intended purpose.

  According to the present invention, a water storage tank that stores water dehumidified by the operation of the dehumidifying device, and a water channel that guides the water dehumidified by the operation of the dehumidifying device to the water storage tank, the dehumidified water is made into water droplets. A dropping means for dropping, a water drop detecting means for detecting that a water drop has dropped at a position where the water drop falls from the dropping means, and a control means for detecting the number of dropped water drops, from the number of water drops within a certain time It is possible to switch the operation of the dehumidifying device by detecting the amount of water dehumidified within a certain time, and obtain the effect that the operation can be changed appropriately following changes in the surrounding environment such as humidity Can do.

The figure of the dehumidification apparatus of Embodiment 1 of this invention The figure which shows the structure of the water channel of the dehumidification apparatus of Embodiment 1 of this invention. The figure which shows the structure of the control means of the dehumidification apparatus of Embodiment 1 of this invention. Diagram of control method of the dehumidifier Diagram of dryness detection method of the dehumidifier Diagram of detection method of abnormality of the dehumidifier Diagram of full water detection method of the dehumidifier

  The dehumidifying device according to claim 1 of the present invention is dehumidified by providing a step in the water storage tank for storing the water dehumidified by the operation of the dehumidifying device and the water channel for guiding the water dehumidified by the operation of the dehumidifying device to the water storage tank. A drip means for dropping the water into water drops, a water drop detection means for detecting that a water drop has dropped from the dripping means to a position where the water drop falls, and a control means for detecting the number of dropped water drops for a certain period of time. It has a configuration in which the operation of the dehumidifier is switched by detecting the amount of water dehumidified within a predetermined time from the number of water droplets inside. Thereby, there exists an effect that driving | running | working can be changed appropriately following the change of ambient environments, such as humidity.

  Moreover, you may make it the structure which narrows the width of a water channel gradually as it becomes close to the level | step difference of a dripping means. As a result, it is possible to narrow down the target of the falling water droplet, and it is possible to reliably detect the dropping of the water droplet.

  Moreover, you may make it the structure which protrudes with respect to the wall of the level | step difference provided in the water channel at the front-end | tip part where the water of a dripping means falls. Thereby, there exists an effect that the amount of water dripped can be made constant.

  Further, the water drop detection means may be installed so as to be perpendicular to the direction in which the water drops fall. Thereby, there is an effect that it is possible to easily detect a signal generated by the weight of the falling water droplet.

  Moreover, you may make it the structure which installs a water drop dripping means so that it may become diagonal with respect to the direction where a water drop falls. Thereby, there is an effect that the dropped water droplet can be prevented from remaining on the upper surface of the water droplet detecting means.

  Moreover, you may make it the structure which judges drying of clothing. As a result, the power consumption can be reduced without continuing useless operation.

  Moreover, you may make it the structure which judges the failure of a dehumidification apparatus. Thereby, there exists an effect that a driving | operation can be stopped at the time of abnormality of a dehumidifier.

  Moreover, you may make it the structure which judges the fullness of the water storage tank which stores the dehumidified water of a dehumidifier. Thereby, there exists an effect that a dehumidifier can be stopped before water overflows from a water storage tank.

  Moreover, you may make it the structure which uses a pressure sensor for a water droplet detection means. Thereby, there is an effect that the number of dropped water drops can be detected.

  Moreover, you may make it the structure which uses a distortion sensor for a water droplet detection means. Thereby, there is an effect that the number of dropped water drops can be detected.

(Embodiment 1)
1 to 3 show the overall configuration of a dehumidifying apparatus according to the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the dehumidifying device blows out the dehumidified air on the top surface of the main body 1, an operation display unit 2 for displaying the operation and operating state of the dehumidifying device, a suction port 3 for sucking indoor air. The air outlet 4 and the air outlet louver 5 for changing the air direction of the air blown from the air outlet 4 in the vertical direction, the air blowing louver 6 for changing the air blowing range in the horizontal direction, and the water storage tank 7 for collecting dehumidified water are provided. ing.

  Inside the main body 1 of the dehumidifying device, as shown in FIG. 2, there are a water channel 8 for guiding the dehumidified water to the water storage tank 7, dropping means 9 for dropping the dehumidified water into water droplets, and the dropped water droplets. The water channel 8 is provided with a water droplet detection means 10 to detect, and the water channel 8 has a structure that becomes narrower as the water channel 8 becomes closer to the drip device 9 so that the dehumidified water can be surely dropped onto the water droplet detection device 10. A tip portion 9a having a sharpened tip so that the dropped water can be dropped into a certain amount of water droplets and a step 9b where the water drops fall, and the tip portion 9a is dehumidified more than the step wall 9c. The dehumidified water falls down along the stepped wall 9c, and the water dehumidified by the water droplet detection means 10 can be detected as a drop of water droplets. To disappear So that to stop. By adopting such a shape, the dehumidified water is made into a certain amount of water droplets and is surely dropped onto the water droplet detection means 10.

  Here, only the method of narrowing the path of the water channel 8 is described, but the method is limited to that method as long as the accumulated water is guided in a specific direction and dropped into a certain amount of water droplets. No difference is made in the effect.

  Here, the tip portion 9a of the dripping means 9 is sharpened, but the shape is not limited to this shape as long as it is a shape for making dehumidified water into a certain amount of water droplets. There is no difference.

  Here, the water droplet detection means 10 is disposed obliquely with respect to the direction in which the water drops fall, but this is to prevent the dropped water from remaining on the water drop detection means 10. However, if the water droplet detection means 10 is arranged perpendicular to the direction in which the water droplet falls, it is easy to detect a signal that the water droplet has dropped when the amount of the water droplet is small or when the drop height is low.

  Thus, if the method is to adjust the direction of the water droplet detection means 10 from the combination of the amount of water droplets, the falling height, and the water repellency of the water droplet detection means 10, the method is not limited to the inclination, and there is a difference in the effect. Does not occur.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a control unit 11 that controls the operation of the dehumidifying device is provided inside the main body 1 of the dehumidifying device, and the control unit 11 changes the signal from the water droplet detecting unit 10 within a certain time. The surrounding environment of the dehumidifying device is judged from the number of times, and the load drive circuit 12 composed of electronic parts such as a triac and a relay for driving the load and the RAM and ROM such as a counter, timer and clock function are included inside A microcomputer 13 is provided. Here, the operation of the microcomputer 13 is carried out in the form of a microcomputer program in which the counter, timer, clock function, RAM, and ROM in the microcomputer cooperate. Also, the moisture absorbent 14 that adsorbs moisture from the sucked air, the regeneration heater L15 for heating the moisture absorbent 14 to release the moisture from the moisture absorbent 14, the regeneration heater H16, and the moisture released from the moisture absorbent 14 are condensed. And a fan 18 for blowing indoor air from the inlet 3 and circulating the inside of the main body 1 to blow out dehumidified air from the outlet 4. The regenerative heater here is configured such that the power consumption of the regenerative heater H16 is greater than that of the regenerative heater L15, but each role is the same, so that the dehumidifying ability can be adjusted in stages. This is the configuration.

  Although not shown in the drawing, a stepping motor for driving the wind direction louver 5 and the air blowing range louver 6 is accommodated in the body 1 of the dehumidifier.

  Moreover, the water drop detection means 10 should just be what can detect that the water drop fell rather than measuring the weight of a water drop, and can use a pressure sensor, a distortion sensor, etc.

  In the dehumidifying device configured as described above, a method for determining the amount of water to be dehumidified from the number of water droplets within a predetermined time, and appropriately switching the operation of the dehumidifying device following the change in the surrounding environment such as humidity, This will be described with reference to FIG.

  When the operation of the dehumidifying device is started in step 1, the timer T for measuring the predetermined time T1 is started in step 2, and the water dehumidified by the operation of the dehumidifying device in step 3 flows through the water channel 8 and drops from the dropping means 9 A counter K that counts the number of water drops that have fallen on the detection means 10 is activated, and the process proceeds to step 4. Next, when a change in signal is detected when a drop of water drops from the dropping means 9 as a fixed amount of water drops to the water drop detection means 10 in step 4, the process proceeds to step 5 and the counter K is incremented by one. The process proceeds to step 6, and the value of the counter K is stored in the number of drops N that counts the number of water drops that have fallen within the predetermined time T, and the process proceeds to step 4. Then, Step 4 to Step 6 are repeatedly executed until the predetermined time T1 elapses in Step 7, and when the predetermined time T1 elapses, the process proceeds to Step 8. In step 8, the number N1 of drops of water that is judged to have a small amount of dehumidified water for a certain time T1 is compared with the number N of drops. If N1 is smaller than the number N of drops, it is determined that the dehumidifying capacity of the dehumidifying device is low, and the process proceeds to step 9 where the regenerative heater L15, the regenerative heater H16, and the fan 18 are operated to operate the heater power and the wind blown out. The air volume is increased to increase the dehumidifying capacity, and the process proceeds to step 13 where the counter K, the number of drops N, and the timer T are set to zero, and the process returns to step 2. If the number of drops N1 is larger than the number of drops N, the process proceeds to step 10, and the number N2 of drops of water drops that are judged to have a large amount of dehumidified water for a certain time T1 is compared with the number N of drops. If the number of drops N2 is smaller than the number of drops N, it is determined that the dehumidifying capacity of the dehumidifier is high, and the process proceeds to step 11, and the regeneration heater L15, regeneration heater H16, and fan 18 are operated to operate the heater power and blow off. Decrease the dehumidifying capacity by reducing the amount of wind and proceed to Step 13, set the counter K, the number of drops N and the timer T to zero, and return to Step 2. If the number of drops N2 is greater than the number of drops N, the process proceeds to step 12, where it is determined that the current dehumidifying capacity of the dehumidifier is appropriate for the surrounding environment such as humidity, and the current operation is continued. The falling numbers N1 and N2 here are values determined from the dehumidifying capacity of the dehumidifying device and experiments. Then, in step 13, the counter K, the fall number N, and the timer T are set to zero, and the process returns to step 2, and step 2 to step 13 are repeatedly executed while the operation of the dehumidifier is continued.

  In this way, by converting the water dehumidified by the operation of the dehumidifying device into the number of water droplets falling during a certain time, it is possible to detect a change in the amount of water that has been dehumidified by a short time operation. Thus, a dehumidifying device capable of switching the operation appropriately following changes in the surrounding environment such as humidity can be obtained.

  A method of stopping the dehumidifying device by determining the drying of clothes in the same configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 5, the same components as those in FIGS. 1 to 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the operation is started in step 1, and if it is determined that the amount of dehumidified water in step 8 is small, the process proceeds to step 9. After increasing the dehumidifying capacity of the dehumidifying device in step 9, the process proceeds to step 14, and the continuous number H of counting the number of times of continuously detecting that it is determined that the dehumidifying capacity needs to be increased is incremented by one. Compared with the number of consecutive times H1 for determining the drying of clothes that have been dried indoors, from the number of times that it has been determined that it is necessary to increase the dehumidifying capacity. Then, the number of consecutive times H and H1 are compared, and if the number of consecutive times H is smaller than H1, it is determined that the clothes are not yet dried and the process proceeds to step 13 where the counter K, the number of drops N, and the timer T are set to zero. Return to step 2. On the other hand, if the number of consecutive times H is larger than H1, it is determined that the clothes have dried and the routine proceeds to step 17, where the number of consecutive times H is set to zero and the operation of the dehumidifier is stopped. Next, when it is determined that the amount of water dehumidified in step 8 is sufficient, the process proceeds to step 16, the number of consecutive times H is set to zero, and the process proceeds to step 10. The number of consecutive times H1 here is a value determined from the dehumidifying capacity of the dehumidifying device and experiments.

  In this way, it is possible to detect that the clothes have dried and stop after detecting that the amount of time that the amount of dehumidified water does not increase even if the dehumidifying capacity of the dehumidifying device is increased, A dehumidifier that can reduce energy consumption due to useless operation is obtained.

  A method of stopping the dehumidifier by judging the abnormality of the dehumidifier in the same configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 6, the same components as those in FIGS. 1 to 5 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the operation is started in step 1, and the process proceeds to step 18. Next, in step 18, the number N of drops of water drops is compared with the number N3 of drops that can be determined to be unusual because the amount of water dehumidified in a certain time T1 is small. If the number of drops N is greater than N3, it is determined that the dehumidifying device is normal, and the routine proceeds to step 19. If the number of drops N is less than N3, it is determined that the dehumidifying device may not be dehumidified and there is a possibility of abnormality, and the process proceeds to step 20, and it is determined that the amount of water dehumidified by the dehumidifying device is small and abnormal. The abnormal number E for counting the number of consecutive times is incremented by one. Next, in step 22, the number E of abnormalities is compared with the number E1 that the dehumidifying device is determined to be abnormal. When the abnormal number E is less than E1, the process proceeds to step 2, and the abnormal number E is less than E1. When it is larger, it is determined that there is an abnormality in the dehumidifying device, and the process proceeds to step 22 to stop the operation. Here, the number of drops N3 and the number of abnormal times E1 are values determined from the dehumidifying ability of the dehumidifying device and experiments.

  In this manner, a dehumidifying device that can detect that the amount of water to be dehumidified in a certain time immediately after operation is too small, determine abnormality of the dehumidifying device, and stop the operation can be obtained.

  A method of stopping the dehumidifier when it is determined that the water storage tank of the dehumidifier is full in the same configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 7, the same components as those in FIGS. 1 to 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the operation is started in step 1, and every time a drop of water is detected in step 4, the number of drops N is compared in step 23 with the number N4 of drops in which the water storage tank 7 is full. The operation of the dehumidifying device is continued while the number N is smaller than the falling number N4, and when the falling number N becomes larger than the falling number N4, it is determined that the water storage tank 7 is full and the operation is stopped. Here, the amount of one drop of water and the number of drops N4 at which the water storage tank 7 becomes full are values determined from the dehumidifying capacity of the dehumidifying device and experiments.

  In this way, a dehumidifier that can be stopped by judging the amount of water accumulated in the water storage tank of the dehumidifier from the number of water droplets is obtained.

  The dehumidifier according to the present invention detects the amount of water from the number of water droplets within a certain period of time, and is useful for home appliances having a water storage tank for storing water.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body 2 Operation display part 3 Intake port 4 Outlet 5 Air direction louver 6 Blowing range louver 7 Water storage tank 8 Water channel 9 Dripping means 9a Tip part 9b Step 9c Step wall 10 Water drop detection means 11 Control means 12 Load drive circuit 13 Microcomputer 14 Hygroscopic material 15 Regenerative heater L
16 Regenerative heater H
17 Condenser 18 Fan

Claims (10)

  A water storage tank for storing water dehumidified by the operation of the dehumidifying device, and a dropping means for dropping the dehumidified water as water droplets by providing a step in a water channel that leads the water dehumidified by the operation of the dehumidifying device to the water storage tank; It is provided with a water drop detection means for detecting that a water drop has dropped at a position where the water drop falls from the dropping means, and a control means for detecting the number of dropped water drops, and dehumidified within a certain time from the number of water drops within a certain time. A dehumidifier that switches the operation of the dehumidifier by detecting the amount of water.   2. The dehumidifying device according to claim 1, wherein the width of the water channel is gradually narrowed as it approaches the step of the dropping means.   The dehumidifying device according to any one of claims 1 and 2, wherein a tip portion of the dropping means from which the water falls projects into a stepped wall provided in the water channel.   The dehumidifying device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the water droplet detecting means is installed so as to be perpendicular to a direction in which the water droplet falls.   The dehumidifying device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the water droplet dropping means is installed so as to be inclined with respect to the direction in which the water droplet falls.   The dehumidifying device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein drying of clothing is determined.   The dehumidifying device according to claim 1, wherein a failure of the dehumidifying device is determined.   The dehumidifying device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the dehumidifying device judges whether or not a water storage tank for storing dehumidified water is full.   The dehumidifying device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein a pressure sensor is used as the water droplet detecting means.   The dehumidifying device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein a strain sensor is used as the water droplet detecting means.

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