JP2012225592A - Heating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve such problems that when a structure for moving a head swinging mechanism in a wide angle range or a structure allowing a heat generator to be vertically or horizontally movable is employed, it is necessary to increase the number of elements constituting infrared sensors for achieving high accuracy human body detection, and this increases the cost.SOLUTION: A heating apparatus having a body sensor includes a structure of turning a body part in a vertical or horizontal direction and a head swinging mechanism. The body sensor is composed of an IR sensor comprising two elements. The two elements are disposed diagonally to the horizontal direction. The head swinging mechanism performs a swinging operation only in a region where the body sensor detects the presence of a human body. When the IR sensor does not detect the presence of a human body, energization of a heat generator is stopped.

Description

The present invention relates to a heating apparatus that performs operation control according to the presence or absence of a human body.

Conventionally, several configurations have been proposed for the purpose of comfortable heating and reduction of power consumption by optimally heating the human body using a human body detection sensor such as an infrared sensor and improving the heating efficiency. Yes. As a typical example of this, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-49636 (hereinafter “Patent Document 1”) is known.

In the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, the head swing mechanism unit or the wind direction control mechanism unit that changes the direction of heating, the human body detection sensor that detects the presence of the human body, and the human body according to the detected region of the human body Heating control means for controlling the changing operation of the heating direction by the swing mechanism unit or the wind direction control mechanism unit so as to obtain a predetermined heating effect.

In addition, as a human body detection sensor, it is possible to easily detect a human body at low cost by using an infrared sensor. Furthermore, as swing control after human body detection, air is blown only to the human body detection area, or conversely, heating air is sent to areas other than the human body detection area, and heating stops automatically when no human body is detected. By doing so, you can practice energy saving.

In addition to the infrared sensor for detecting the human body, by providing a distance sensor that can measure the distance such as an ultrasonic sensor, the distance to the human body, and further, the amount of activity of the human body and the temperature distribution in the room can be accurately measured. Since it is possible to measure, there has been proposed a heating apparatus capable of automatically controlling the power of heating and the intensity of air blowing more accurately.

JP 9-49636 A

However, the above-described conventional heating apparatus has the following problems. That is, by installing an infrared sensor capable of detecting the human body on the rotation shaft of the swing mechanism part of the heating device and feeding back to the swing mechanism part, it is possible to perform heating air blowing around the human body, By detecting the amount of metabolism and the amount of activity, the intensity of the air flow can be controlled, and a heating device that can efficiently send the optimum wind to the human body can be obtained. If it is designed to be movable at a wide angle or the structure in which the heating element of the heating device can be moved vertically and horizontally, it is necessary to improve the accuracy of human body detection. In order to improve the accuracy of human body detection, it is necessary to configure an infrared sensor. Since it is necessary to increase the number of elements such as dielectrics, the cost increases.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the number of elements constituting the infrared sensor can be increased even if the swing mechanism is movable at a wide angle or the arrangement direction of the heating element can be moved vertically and horizontally. The aim is to provide a heating device that can perform highly accurate human body detection.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is configured as follows. That is, in the invention of claim 1, the main body part of the heating device includes a heating element and a reflector that reflects the heat of the heating element forward, and the main body part includes a human sensor that detects the presence or absence of a human body, In the heating apparatus provided with a swing mechanism that changes the orientation of the main body part up and down or / and left and right, the plurality of elements constituting the human sensor are at positions where the human body's lateral movement and vertical movement can be detected. It arrange | positions and it is set as the heating apparatus characterized by controlling the said heating apparatus based on the detection of the said human sensor.

In the above configuration, the main body portion may be configured to be rotatable in a vertical direction or a horizontal direction, the human sensor may be an infrared sensor including two elements, and the head swing mechanism may be the human sensor. Only the region where the presence of the human body is detected may be swung. Further, when the human sensor does not detect the presence of a human body, the amount of heat generated by the heat generator may be controlled. When the human sensor does not detect the presence of a human body, energization of the heat generator is stopped. May be. Furthermore, the human sensor may be arranged on the same plane as the heat dissipation direction of the heating element, and the plurality of elements may be arranged obliquely with respect to the horizontal direction.

As described above, in the heating device provided with the human sensor, the main body unit is provided with a structure in which the main body portion can be rotated in the vertical direction or the horizontal direction and the swing mechanism, and the human sensor is an infrared sensor including two elements. Arranged diagonally with respect to the horizontal direction. The swing mechanism performs a swing motion only in the region where the human sensor detects the presence of the human body. In addition, if the infrared sensor does not detect the presence of a human body, by stopping energization to the heating element, even if the swing mechanism is made movable at a wide angle or the arrangement direction of the heating element is moved vertically and horizontally, A heating device that can perform highly accurate human body detection without increasing the number of elements constituting the infrared sensor can be realized.

It is a perspective view of the heating device which made the main-body part the 1st Example of this invention vertically. It is a perspective view of the heating apparatus which turned the main-body part which makes it a 1st Example sideways. 1 is a perspective view of an infrared sensor according to a first embodiment. (A) is a front view of the infrared sensor in the heating apparatus of FIG. 1, (B) is a front view of the infrared sensor in the heating apparatus of FIG.

An example showing the embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a heating device in which the main body is vertically oriented according to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the heating device in which the main body is horizontally oriented, and FIG. 3, (A) is a front view of the infrared sensor in the heating device of FIG. 1, and (B) is a front view of the infrared sensor in the heating device of FIG.

1 and 2, the heating device 10 includes a main body 12, a pedestal 18, and a column 20, and the main body 12 includes a heating element 14 and a reflector 16 that reflects the heat of the heating element 14 forward. Is provided behind the heating element 14, and the heating element 14 is a far-infrared heater. Further, an infrared sensor 30 for detecting the presence or absence of a human body is provided on the front side surface of the main body 12, and the infrared sensor 30 is a pyroelectric infrared sensor. Further, the main body 12 is provided with a power switch 22 for turning on / off the power of the heating device 10 and the amount of heat generated by the heating element 14, and the main body 12 has a human body detection result of the infrared sensor 30. And a CPU for performing control and calculation based on the input from the power switch 22.

In addition, the support column 20 supports the main body unit 12, and the support column unit 20 is provided with a swing mechanism to automatically move the main body unit 12 to the left and right. Further, the support column 20 is provided with a mechanism for rotating the main body 12 in a vertical direction or a horizontal direction, and releases heat of the heating element 14 in a wide range of up, down, left and right.

Next, the structure of the infrared sensor will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 3, the infrared sensor 30 includes a first element 32 and a second element 34 made of a ferroelectric ceramic, and the first element 32 and the second element 34 are arranged side by side. Further, when the first element 32 and the second element 34 receive infrared rays emitted from the human body, they absorb the thermal energy, cause a change in spontaneous polarization, and charge is excited according to the amount of change. The That is, it is possible to detect the position of the human body based on which of the first element 32 and the second element 34 is the first element to which the current first flows and the current flows.

Next, the structure of the human body detection of the infrared sensor in the direction of the main body of the heating device will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 4, (A) is the infrared sensor 30 when the main body 12 of the heating device 10 is in the vertical orientation, and the first element 32 and the second element 34 are arranged at an angle of 45 degrees, When the human body is detected when it is moved in the direction of the arrow (A) by the swing mechanism of the heating device 10, the first element 32 first receives infrared rays from the human body, and then the current flows, and then the second element 34 Receives infrared rays from the human body and current flows. When the human body is detected when the heating device 10 is moved in the direction of the arrow (A) by the swing mechanism of the heating device 10, the second element 34 first receives infrared rays from the human body, and then the current flows, and then the first element 32 receives the infrared rays from the human body and current flows. Therefore, the position of the human body is detected by the CPU from the timing of the current flowing through the first element 32 and the second element 34 and the swing angle.

Further, (B) is the infrared sensor 30 when the main body 12 of the heating device 10 is in the horizontal direction, and the main body 12 is rotated by 90 degrees from (A), and the infrared sensor 30 is also (A). The position is rotated 90 degrees from the position. When the human body is detected when it is moved in the direction of the arrow (c) by the swing mechanism of the heating device 10, the second element 34 first receives infrared rays from the human body, and then a current flows, and then the first element 32 Receives infrared rays from the human body, and current flows. Further, when a human body is detected when the heating device 10 is moved in the direction of the arrow (d) by the swing mechanism of the heating device 10, the first element 32 first receives an infrared ray from the human body and then a current flows, and then the second element. 34 receives the infrared rays from the human body and current flows. Therefore, the position of the human body is detected by the CPU from the timing of the current flowing through the first element 32 and the second element 34 and the swing angle.

Further, based on the human body detection result of the infrared sensor 30, the CPU supplies a control signal to the head swing mechanism so as to swing the head only in a region where a human body is detected. Further, when no human body is detected by the infrared sensor 30, the CPU stops energizing the heating device 10 regardless of the state of the power switch 22.

As a modification of the first embodiment, the configuration of the heating device 10 can be changed to an arbitrary configuration depending on design circumstances as long as the swing mechanism and the main body portion 12 have a structure that can be moved vertically or horizontally. May be. The swing mechanism may be automatically movable in the vertical direction, and the structure for moving the main body 12 vertically or horizontally may be changed to any structure depending on design circumstances. Further, the heating element 14 may be a halogen heater, a carbon heater, a ceramic heater or the like other than the far infrared heater as long as it is a radiation type.

The infrared sensor 30 may be composed of an element other than a ferroelectric ceramic, and the arrangement of the first element 32 and the second element 34 is such that the main body 12 is oriented vertically or horizontally. The arrangement may be arbitrarily changed as long as the detection performance is sometimes equivalent, and the number of elements constituting the infrared sensor 30 is equivalent to the detection performance when the main body portion 12 is oriented vertically or horizontally. If it is, you may change to arbitrary numbers. Further, the infrared sensor 30 may be arbitrarily changed as long as it is a position where human body detection in a wide-angle range can be performed in addition to the main body unit 12.

Further, based on the human body detection result of the infrared sensor 30, when the human body is not detected, the heat generation amount of the heat generating body 14 may be reduced, or only energization to the heat generating body 14 is stopped, and the neck A configuration may be adopted in which the swing mechanism is operated and human body detection by the infrared sensor 30 is subsequently performed. Further, a control unit that performs control and calculation based on a human body detection result of the infrared sensor 30 and an input from the power switch 22, and timing and swing of the current flowing through the first element 32 and the second element 34. The controller that detects the position of the human body from the angle may be changed to an arbitrary configuration depending on the design circumstances.

10: Heating device
12: Body
14: Heating element
16: Reflector
18: Pedestal
20: Prop
22: Power switch
30: Infrared sensor
32: First element
34: Second element

Claims (8)

A heating element and a reflector that reflects the heat of the heating element forward are provided in the main body of the heating device.
A human sensor that detects the presence or absence of a human body in the main body,
In the heating apparatus provided with a swing mechanism that changes the orientation of the main body part up and down or / and left and right,
The plurality of elements constituting the human sensor are arranged at positions where the horizontal movement and the vertical movement of the human body have equivalent detection capabilities,
A heating device that controls the heating device based on detection of the human sensor. The heating device according to claim 1, wherein the main body is configured to be movable in a vertical direction or a horizontal direction. The heating device according to claim 1, wherein the human sensor is an infrared sensor including two elements. The heating apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the swing mechanism performs a swing operation only in a region where the human sensor detects the presence of a human body. The heating device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein when the human sensor does not detect the presence of a human body, the amount of heat generated by the heating element is controlled. The heating device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein when the human sensor does not detect the presence of a human body, energization of the heating element is stopped. The heating device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the human sensor is disposed on the same plane as a heat dissipation direction of the heating element. The heating device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the plurality of elements are arranged obliquely with respect to a horizontal direction.

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