JP2015039598A - Bathroom system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bathroom system reducing a load on the body of a bathing person even when taking a bath at high temperatures, and allowing comfortable bathing.SOLUTION: A bathroom system includes a hot water supply apparatus 3, an operation device 5, a bathroom dryer 6, bathing state sensors 10, 11, and a controller 12. The bathroom dryer 6 is disposed in a ceiling part 1A of a bathroom 1, and the bathroom dryer 6 is provided with the bathing state sensor 10. The operation device 5 is disposed in a side face part of the bathroom 1, and the operation device 5 is provided with the bathing state sensor 11. The bathing state sensors 10, 11 detect presence/absence of actual bathing behavior, a heart rate, a skin temperature or the like of a bathing person as parameters related to heat quantity absorbed in the body of the bathing person from hot water inside a bathtub 2. The controller 12 has an execution function of body temperature rise suppression control to suppress a body temperature of the bathing person by controlling the bathroom dryer 6, and executes the body temperature rise suppression control on the basis of the parameters detected by the bathing state sensors 10, 11.

Description

  The present invention relates to a bathroom system including a hot water supply device for supplying hot water to a bathtub.

  As a prior art, for example, as described in Patent Document 1, when bathing a bathtub under a low temperature condition such as winter, control for operating a bathroom drying apparatus in accordance with the outside air temperature is known. In this control, heating of the bathroom is performed in advance before bathing to enhance comfort during bathing. Further, as another conventional technique, as described in Patent Document 2, a configuration in which a blower capable of blowing air toward the head is provided in a bathtub is known. In this configuration, the blower is operated according to the hot water temperature to prevent it from rising during bathing.

Japanese Patent No. 4008842 JP 2003-19082 A

  However, even in the prior arts of Patent Documents 1 and 2 described above, there are cases where sufficient comfort for bathers cannot be ensured. For example, bathers who want to warm their bodies quickly, for example, often bathe in the bath and bath immediately at high temperatures, but bathing at high temperatures is difficult to continue for a long time. There is a problem. This is because bathing at a high temperature causes the blood vessels to expand rapidly, increasing the amount of hot water flowing into the body, and causing sweating and an increase in heart rate to cause discomfort to the bather. On the other hand, when bathing for a long time, it is recommended to bathe at a low temperature of about 37 to 38 ° C., for example. However, when taking a bath at a low temperature, it takes time for the body to warm up, so it is often unacceptable to the user. In addition, if it continues for a long time even in low temperature bathing, it may be lifted.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems. Even when bathing at high temperatures, the burden on the body of the bather can be reduced, and bathing can be performed comfortably for a long time. The purpose is to provide a bathroom system.

  The bathroom system according to the present invention includes a hot water supply device for supplying hot water to a bathtub arranged in the bathroom, a bathroom drying device for blowing air into the bathroom, and the hot water in the bathtub that is absorbed by the bather's body. A bathing state sensor that detects a parameter related to the amount of heat generated, and a function to execute body temperature rise suppression control that controls the body temperature of the bather by controlling the bathroom drying device, and is based on the parameter detected by the bathing state sensor. And control means for executing body temperature rise suppression control.

  According to the present invention, the control means can detect the parameter related to the amount of heat absorbed by the bather's body from the bath water by the bathing state sensor, and can execute the body temperature rise suppression control based on the detected parameter. . Thereby, a bather's body can be cooled moderately and the hot flash during bathing can be controlled. Therefore, even when bathing at high temperatures, the burden on the body can be reduced and bathing can be performed comfortably for a long time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a whole block diagram which shows the bathroom system by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a principal part enlarged view in FIG. 1 which expands and shows a bathroom drying apparatus. It is the side view which looked at the bathroom drying apparatus from the arrow X direction in FIG. In Embodiment 1 of this invention, it is a flowchart which shows an example of control of a bathroom system. In Embodiment 1 of this invention, it is a characteristic diagram which shows an example of the data map for changing the rotation speed of a ventilation fan temporally. FIG. 6 is a characteristic diagram showing an example of the wind speed of cooling air blown from the outlet of the bathroom drying device when the rotational speed of the blower fan is changed as shown in FIG. 5.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
Hereinafter, Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In each drawing used in this specification, common elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing a bathroom system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. As shown in this figure, a bathtub 2 for bathing is provided in the bathroom 1, and the upper part of the bathtub 2 is covered with a ceiling portion 1 </ b> A of the bathroom 1. The bathroom system includes a hot water supply device 3, an operation device 5, a bathroom drying device 6, bathing state sensors 10 and 11, and a control device 12.

  The hot water supply device 3 is constituted by, for example, a heat pump unit, an electric heating water heater, and the like, and is connected to the bathtub 2 via a reheating pipe 4. The reheating pipe 4 circulates the bathtub water between the bathtub 2 and the hot water supply device 3. The hot water supply device 3 heats the low-temperature bath water introduced from the bathtub 2 via the reheating pipe 4 to a desired temperature set by the user, for example. And the heated hot water or the warm water stored in the hot water supply apparatus 3 after the heating is supplied to the bathtub 2 through the reheating pipe 4.

  The operation device 5 is for a bather to operate the hot water supply device 3 from inside the bathroom 1, and is attached to, for example, a side surface in the bathroom 1 and connected to the hot water supply device 3 through a signal line or the like. The operation device 5 includes a display unit 5A that displays an operating state of the hot water supply device 3 and an operation unit 5B such as a button that operates the hot water supply device 3. In addition, the operation device 5 is provided with a sensor 11 described later.

  The bathroom drying device 6 blows air into the bathroom 1 and is provided, for example, on the ceiling 1 </ b> A of the bathroom 1 as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. Here, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part in FIG. 1 showing the bathroom drying apparatus in an enlarged manner, and FIG. 3 is a side view of the bathroom drying apparatus seen from the direction indicated by the arrow X in FIG. As shown in these drawings, the bathroom drying apparatus 6 includes a blower fan 7, a blower outlet 8, and a plurality of wind direction changing plates 9A and 9B. In the following description, the wind generated by the blower fan 7 is referred to as “cooling air”. The two wind direction change plates 9A and 9B may be collectively referred to as the wind direction change plate 9 in some cases.

  The blower fan 7 is driven by a motor or the like to generate cooling air, and is installed on the ceiling 1 </ b> A of the bathroom 1. The ceiling 1 </ b> A of the bathroom 1 is provided with an outlet 8 for cooling air, and the cooling air generated by the blower fan 7 is configured to blow out into the bathroom 1 through the outlet 8. . The air outlet 8 is provided with a plurality of air direction changing plates 9A and 9B for changing the direction of the cooling air. As shown in FIG. 3, these wind direction changing plates 9 </ b> A and 9 </ b> B are arranged in a straight line along the preset swing axis L within the opening range of the air outlet 8. As shown in FIG. 2, the wind direction changing plates 9 </ b> A and 9 </ b> B are configured to individually oscillate around the oscillating axis L to blow the cooling air in a plurality of directions. In this embodiment, two wind direction change plates 9A and 9B are illustrated as the wind direction change plate 9, but the present invention is not limited to this, and three or more wind direction change plates 9 may be used.

  Next, the control system of the bathroom system will be described. The bathroom system of the present embodiment includes, for example, two bathing state sensors 10 and 11. The bathing state sensors 10 and 11 detect parameters related to the amount of heat absorbed by the bather's body from the hot water in the bathtub 2. As a specific example, the bathing state sensors 10 and 11 are, for example, human sensors for detecting whether or not a bather is present in the bathtub 2, that is, whether or not the bather is actually bathing, It is comprised by at least 1 type of sensor among the various sensors which detect the heart rate, skin temperature, etc. of the bather in the bathtub 2. FIG. In these specific examples, the presence or absence of an actual bathing operation, the heart rate of the bather, the skin temperature, and the like correspond to the above parameters. In the present invention, the bathroom drying device 6 may be controlled based on the output of the bathing state sensor 10, and the hot water supply device 3 may be controlled based on the output of the bathing state sensor 11.

  Also, one bathing state sensor 10 is disposed, for example, in the ceiling 1 </ b> A or the bathroom drying device 6 in the bathroom 1, and the other bathing state sensor 11 is disposed in the side surface of the bathroom 1 or the operation device 5. FIG. 1 illustrates the case where the bathing state sensors 10 and 11 are provided in the bathroom drying device 6 and the operation device 5, respectively. In the present invention, the bathing state sensor is a device other than these devices 5 and 6. You may install in the place of.

  The control device 12 is a control unit that controls the bathroom system, and includes a microcomputer having an arithmetic processing unit and a storage circuit. Connected to the control device 12 are a sensor system including the bathing state sensors 10 and 11, a hot water supply device 3, an operation device 5, a bathroom drying device 6, and the like. In the bathroom drying device 6, a motor that drives the blower fan 7 and two actuators that individually swing the air direction changing plates 9 </ b> A and 9 </ b> B are connected to the control device 12.

  Thereby, the control apparatus 12 controls the rotation speed of a motor and adjusts the intensity | strength (air volume) of cooling air, driving the motor of the ventilation fan 7 and generating cooling air. Further, the control device 12 drives the actuator to swing the wind direction changing plates 9A and 9B at different angles, thereby blowing cooling air in a plurality of directions. In addition, the control apparatus 12 is good also as a structure integrated with the control circuit etc. of the hot-water supply apparatus 3, the operation apparatus 5, or the bathroom drying apparatus 6, etc., or built in these apparatuses 3,5,6.

  Further, the control device 12 has an execution function of body temperature rise suppression control that controls the bathroom drying device 6 to suppress the body temperature of the bather. The body temperature rise suppression control is executed based on a parameter detected by the bathing state sensor 10, for example. Hereinafter, a specific example of body temperature rise suppression control will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of control of the bathroom system in the first embodiment of the present invention. It is assumed that the routine shown in this figure is repeatedly executed during use of the bathroom 1, for example.

  In the routine shown in FIG. 4, first, in step S1, it is determined whether or not the temperature of the hot water supplied to the bathtub 2 is equal to or higher than a preset high temperature determination value. The high temperature judgment value is set, for example, as a lower limit value of the hot water temperature that needs to suppress the body temperature of the bather. In step S1, the case where the high temperature determination value is set to 42 ° C. is illustrated. Moreover, the temperature of the hot water supplied to the bathtub 2 is detected by a temperature sensor or the like (not shown).

  When the determination in step S1 is established, the bather's body temperature is likely to rise because the bath water is hot, so the bather first takes a bath in the bathtub 2 by either of the bathing state sensors 10, 11. Detect whether it started. And when bathing in the bathtub 2 is started, it transfers to step S2 and body temperature rise suppression control is started. In the body temperature rise suppression control, the cooling air is blown toward the upper body of the bather immersed in the bathtub 2 by adjusting the angle of the wind direction changing plates 9A and 9B while driving the blower fan 7 of the bathroom drying device 6. To do. If bathing is not started even if the determination in step S1 is established, step S2 is executed after waiting until bathing is started.

  According to the control in steps S1 and S2, when the temperature of the bath water is high, the upper body of the bather immersed in the hot bath water can be quickly cooled from the early stage of bathing. Thereby, the body temperature of the bather can be efficiently suppressed by using the cooling air of the bathroom drying device 6, and the bather can be prevented from climbing.

  On the other hand, if the determination in step S1 is not established, the bath water is not so hot, the process proceeds to step S3, and a parameter related to the amount of heat absorbed by the bather's body from the hot water in the bath 2 is detected. . More specifically, in step S3, the bathing state sensors 10 and 11 detect the bather's heart rate and skin temperature. In step S4, the following determination processes (1) and (2) are executed based on the detected values of heart rate and skin temperature.

(1) Has the detected value of the skin temperature become higher than the preset temperature rise judgment value with respect to the skin temperature at the start of bathing?
(2) Did the heart rate detection value increase above a preset heart rate judgment value?

  Here, the temperature increase determination value is set corresponding to a large increase amount of the skin temperature, for example, for which it is necessary to execute body temperature increase suppression control. In step S4, the temperature increase determination value is set to 1 ° C. The case where it set is illustrated. The skin temperature at the start of bathing is acquired when the bathing state sensors 10 and 11 detect the start of bathing and stored in the control device 12. On the other hand, the heart rate determination value is set corresponding to a high heart rate that requires execution of body temperature increase suppression control, for example. In step S4, the case where the heart rate determination value is set to 100 bpm is exemplified. doing.

  In step S4, it is determined whether at least one of the determination processes (1) and (2) is established. And when determination of step S4 is materialized, it is judged that there is much calorie | heat amount absorbed by the bather's body from the bath water, and the bather's skin temperature (body temperature) or heart rate is rising significantly. Therefore, in this case, by shifting to step S5, body temperature increase suppression control is started in the same manner as in step S2, and then the process returns to step S3. On the other hand, if the determination in step S4 is not established, that is, if both of the determination processes (1) and (2) are not established, the process proceeds to step S3 to continue monitoring the bather's skin temperature and heart rate. To do.

  According to the control in steps S3 to S5, when at least one of the body temperature and the heart rate of the bather is greatly increased, it is determined that the bather is likely to rise and the body temperature rise suppression control is started. can do. Therefore, it is possible to accurately detect a situation in which hot flashes are likely to occur, and to efficiently suppress the body temperature of the bather.

  In addition, in the control shown in FIG. 4, the case where execution of body temperature rise suppression control was determined based on both a bather's skin temperature and heart rate was illustrated. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it may be determined whether to execute the body temperature increase suppression control based on only one of the skin temperature and the heart rate. Moreover, in this Embodiment, the bather's skin temperature and the heart rate were illustrated as a parameter relevant to the calorie | heat amount absorbed by a bather's body from bath water. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other parameters such as a bathing time that has elapsed since the bather immersed in the bathtub 2 may be used.

  Moreover, in this Embodiment, the case where the bathroom drying apparatus 6 was operated at the time of execution of body temperature rise suppression control was mentioned as an example, and was demonstrated. However, the present invention is not limited to this. When the body temperature rise suppression control is executed, the amount of cooling air blown by the bathroom drying device 6 is increased or the cooling air is compared with when the control is not executed. The temperature may be lowered. These configurations can be realized, for example, by increasing the number of rotations of the blower fan 7 or mounting a heat exchanger or the like on the bathroom drying device 6 to provide a cooling function. And according to these structures, the bather's body temperature can be lowered | hung more efficiently by the bathroom drying apparatus 6. FIG.

(Rotational speed variable control)
Further, when the body temperature rise suppression control is executed, the rotation speed variable control for changing the rotation speed of the blower fan 7 may be executed. Hereinafter, a specific example of the rotation speed variable control executed by the control device 12 will be described. In the control device 12, time series data for setting the rotation speed of the motor of the blower fan 7 is stored in advance as a data map. FIG. 5 is a characteristic diagram showing an example of a data map for temporally changing the rotational speed of the blower fan in the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In the rotational speed variable control, the control device 12 reads the rotational speed from the data map, converts it into a command signal (voltage), and inputs this command signal to the motor of the blower fan 7. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 5, the rotation speed can be continuously changed while driving the blower fan 7 at a desired rotation speed. Here, it is preferable to change the rotation speed of the blower fan 7 at, for example, a frequency obtained by combining a plurality of irregular sine waves. Further, this frequency is preferably set so that a high frequency component of 10 Hz or more is included in the basic frequency set to 1 Hz or less.

  FIG. 6 is a characteristic diagram showing the wind speed of the cooling air blown out from the outlet of the bathroom dryer when the rotational speed of the blower fan is changed as shown in FIG. FIG. 6 illustrates the wind speed at a position 2.5 m away from the air outlet 8. In general, naturally occurring wind often includes a change in wind speed at a high frequency of about 10 to 20 times per minute in a change in wind speed at a moderate frequency of 1 Hz or less. The natural wind includes a rapid wind that occasionally occurs and an air current that can be felt throughout the body.

  On the other hand, it can be seen that the change in the wind speed shown in FIG. 6 reproduces the cooling air close to the natural wind. Therefore, according to the above variable speed control, the body of the bather can be cooled by the cooling air that is close to the natural wind, and the comfort during bathing can be improved. However, in the present invention, at the time of executing the body temperature rise suppression control, it is not always necessary to use the rotational speed variable control, and only the body temperature rise suppression control may be executed.

  Also, even with the variable speed control, it is sometimes difficult to stably realize a rapid wind that occurs occasionally, an airflow that is felt throughout the body, and the like. That is, even if the command signal for the blower fan 7 is suddenly changed, the actual rotational speed of the blower fan 7 does not increase rapidly following the command signal, so it is difficult to realize a rapid wind. . Moreover, if the rotation speed of the blower fan 7 is rapidly increased, noise such as rotation noise increases, which may cause uncomfortable feeling to the bather.

(Wind direction variable control)
For this reason, in this embodiment, for example, two wind direction changing plates 9A and 9B are provided in the bathroom drying device 6, and the swing angle of these wind direction changing plates 9A and 9B is controlled by an actuator, whereby the wind direction variable control is performed. Execute. In the air direction variable control, the direction of each cooling air is temporally changed while the cooling air generated by the blower fan 7 is blown in two directions by the air direction changing plates 9A and 9B. In the present invention, the airflow direction variable control is not necessarily used together with the body temperature rise suppression control, and only the body temperature rise suppression control may be executed. Further, the wind direction variable control may be used together with the rotation speed variable control or may be executed instead of the rotation speed variable control.

  As a result, in the air direction variable control, the air direction changing plates 9A and 9B are individually swung in the front and rear direction (direction perpendicular to the paper surface) at the left and right positions in FIG. Left, right and front and back can be blown. For this reason, even if it does not change the rotation speed of the ventilation fan 7, the air volume of the cooling air which hits a bather can be changed greatly temporally, the strength and weakness of the cooling air can be increased, and a natural airflow can be applied to the bather. Can be generated around.

  Therefore, according to the wind direction variable control, it is possible to create a state in which the cooling air blows strongly for a moment and a state in which the bather feels the cooling air throughout the body. As a result, it is possible to prevent the bather from being exposed to a strong wind and feeling uncomfortable or drying being promoted more than necessary. Moreover, since the cooling air close | similar to a natural wind can be received, a comfortable cooling sensation can be obtained during bathing and comfort can be improved.

  Further, since the two wind direction changing plates 9A and 9B are arranged linearly along the swing axis L and swing individually about the swing axis L, the one wind direction change plate 9A is used. It can be prevented that the cooling air blown and the cooling air blown by the other wind direction changing plate 9A collide with each other to disturb the wind direction. In addition, the cooling air can be blown over a wide range by the two air direction changing plates 9A and 9B.

  As described above in detail, according to the present embodiment, the control device 12 detects the parameters related to the amount of heat absorbed from the bath water by the bather's body by the bathing state sensors 10 and 11, and detects the detected parameters. Based on this, body temperature rise suppression control can be executed. Thereby, a bather's body can be cooled moderately and the hot flash during bathing can be controlled. Therefore, even when bathing at high temperatures, the burden on the body can be reduced and bathing can be performed comfortably for a long time.

  Moreover, the 1st bathing state sensor 10 was provided in the bathroom drying apparatus 6 arrange | positioned at 1 A of ceiling parts of the bathroom 1, and the 2nd bathing state sensor 11 was provided in the operating device 5 arrange | positioned at the side part of the bathroom 1. Therefore, the bather state can be detected from different positions and angles by the two bathing state sensors 10 and 11. Thereby, detection accuracy can be raised and body temperature rise suppression control can be performed stably. In the present invention, only one of the bathing state sensors 10, 11 may be employed, and the other sensor may not be installed.

  In the present embodiment, specific values such as 42 ° C., 1 ° C., and 100 bpm are described in the flowchart shown in FIG. However, in the present invention, these specific values may be set to arbitrary values as necessary, and are not limited to these specific values.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Bathroom, 1A Ceiling part, 2 Bathtub, 3 Hot-water supply apparatus, 4 Reheating piping, 5 Operation apparatus, 5A Display part, 5B Operation part, 6 Bathroom drying apparatus, 7 Blower, 8 Outlet, 9 (9A, 9B Wind direction Change plate), 10, 11 Bathing state sensor, 12 Control device (control means)

Claims (11)

A hot water supply device for supplying hot water to a bathtub arranged in the bathroom;
A bathroom dryer for blowing air into the bathroom;
A bathing state sensor that is disposed in the bathroom and detects a parameter related to the amount of heat absorbed by the body of the bather from the hot water in the bathtub;
Control means for performing the body temperature rise suppression control based on the parameter detected by the bathing state sensor, having a function for performing body temperature rise suppression control for controlling the body temperature of the bather by controlling the bathroom drying device; ,
With bathroom system. An operating device for operating the hot water supply device;
The bathroom drying device is disposed on the ceiling of the bathroom,
The bathroom system according to claim 1, wherein the bathing state sensor is provided in at least one of the bathroom drying device and the operation device.   The control means is configured to start the body temperature increase suppression control when a bather starts bathing in the bathtub when the temperature of hot water supplied to the bathtub is equal to or higher than a preset high temperature determination value. The bathroom system according to claim 1 or 2. The bathing state sensor detects a bather's heart rate as the parameter,
4. The control unit according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to start the body temperature increase suppression control when the bather's heart rate increases to a predetermined heart rate determination value or more. 5. Bathroom system. The bathing state sensor detects a bather's skin temperature as the parameter,
The control means is configured to start the body temperature increase suppression control when the skin temperature of the bather becomes higher than a predetermined temperature increase determination value with respect to the skin temperature at the start of bathing. The bathroom system according to any one of 4.   The bathroom system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the bathroom drying device is configured to blow air toward an upper body of a bather during execution of the body temperature increase suppression control.   When the body temperature rise suppression control is executed, the amount of air blown by the bathroom drying device is increased or the temperature of the wind is reduced compared to when the control is not executed. The bathroom system according to any one of 1 to 6. The bathroom dryer is
A blower fan that generates wind toward the bathroom;
A plurality of wind direction change plates that are arranged side by side at the wind outlet to change the direction of the wind generated by the blower fan, and individually blown to blow the wind in a plurality of directions;
The bathroom system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising:   The bathroom system according to claim 8, wherein the plurality of wind direction change plates are arranged linearly along a preset swing axis, and swing individually about the swing axis.   The bathroom system according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the number of rotations of the blower fan is changed at a frequency obtained by synthesizing a plurality of sine waves.   The bathroom system according to claim 10, wherein the frequency includes a high frequency component of 10 Hz or more in a basic frequency set to 1 Hz or less.

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