JP2021141961A - Toilet device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a toilet device capable of viewing a detection area of a foot detection part by a user, without forming a spot by irradiating a floor surface with light.SOLUTION: A toilet device includes: a toilet bowl body; a foot detection part for detecting a human's foot approaching the toilet bowl body; and a display part arranged on a position corresponding to a detection area of the foot detection part, for recognizing a position of the foot detection part by emitting light. The display part may be operated so as to change a light emission state, based on the state of the toilet device.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

The present disclosure relates to a toilet bowl device.

Conventionally, the toilet bowl device described in Patent Document 1 is known. This toilet device is provided with a sensor that detects the foot of a person who approaches the toilet device, and when the sensor detects the foot, the toilet lid stands up and irradiates light to the left and right front of the toilet bowl to form a spot. It is configured as follows. According to this toilet bowl device, when the foot is placed on the spot, the foot is detected by the sensor and the toilet seat is rotated upright.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-119442

Generally, the foot detection unit that detects the user's foot is arranged near the foot, which is difficult for the user to directly see. According to the above technique, the sensor that detects the foot irradiates light so as to form a spot toward the floor surface in front of the user, so that the user can visually recognize the location and detection area of the sensor by the spot. However, depending on the material of the floor, the user may feel dazzling due to the irradiation of light, or it may be difficult to obtain a sense of unity with the design of the toilet bowl device and the toilet room. Therefore, there is a need for a toilet device that allows the user to visually recognize the location and detection area of the foot detection unit without irradiating the floor surface with light to form a spot.

The present disclosure is arranged at a position corresponding to a toilet bowl body, a foot detection unit that detects the foot of a person approaching the toilet bowl body, and a detection area of the foot detection unit, and the position of the foot detection unit by emitting light. This is a toilet bowl device including a display unit that allows the user to recognize the above.

It is a perspective view of the toilet bowl device which concerns on one Embodiment of this disclosure. It is a side sectional view of the toilet bowl device which concerns on one Embodiment of this disclosure. It is a perspective view which looked at the front part of the toilet bowl device which concerns on one Embodiment of this disclosure from the bottom surface side. It is a development view of the foot detection part in the toilet bowl device which concerns on one Embodiment of this disclosure. It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of the toilet bowl device which concerns on one Embodiment of this disclosure. It is a front view of the toilet bowl device which concerns on one Embodiment of this disclosure.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the toilet bowl device 1 of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the front-back direction when viewed from a person sitting on the toilet seat 21 of the toilet bowl device 1 is defined as the front-back direction. The direction connecting the left and right intersecting in the front-back direction is defined as the left-right direction. The vertical direction along the vertical direction is defined as the vertical direction.

As shown in FIG. 1, the toilet device 1 includes a toilet body 10, a toilet seat 21, a toilet lid 22, a functional unit 3, a foot detection unit 4 (see FIG. 2), and a protective member 5 (see FIG. 4). And a display unit 7. The toilet bowl device 1 is, for example, a flush toilet device that is arranged in a wall-mounted type in a toilet room (not shown) and flushes filth into sewage to wash it.

The toilet seat 21 is a substantially annular and flat member whose center is open so as to communicate with the opening of the toilet body 10, which will be described later, and is placed on the upper surface of the toilet body 10 and attached so as to be openable and closable. The toilet lid 22 is arranged on the toilet seat 21 and is attached so as to be openable and closable like the toilet seat 21, and covers the recesses of the toilet seat 21 and the toilet body 10.

The functional unit 3 is arranged behind the toilet bowl body 10. As shown in FIG. 5, the functional unit 3 includes a control device 31, a toilet seat rotating device 32 which is an opening / closing mechanism of the toilet seat 21, and a toilet lid rotating device 33 which is an opening / closing mechanism of the toilet lid 22. The toilet seat rotating device 32 and the toilet lid rotating device 33 include a motor (not shown) for rotating the toilet seat 21 and the toilet lid 22, respectively. The drive of each of the toilet seat rotating device 32 and the toilet lid rotating device 33 is independently controlled by the control device 31. Further, the functional unit 3 can include functional components such as a heating device, a music board, and a speaker (all of which are not shown). Various mechanisms and devices are connected to the functional unit 3, and electrical wiring for supplying electric power to the functional parts in the functional unit 3, piping for water supply, and the like are arranged.

The toilet body 10 is installed on a wall as shown in FIG. 2, and has a bowl portion 11, a drain port 11a, a drain trap 11b, a peripheral wall portion 12, and a groove portion 13. In FIG. 2, the toilet seat 21, the toilet lid 22, and the functional unit 3 are omitted. The bowl portion 11 is a container that is formed in a concave shape with an open upper portion and receives filth and the like. The drainage port 11a is an opening arranged at the lower end of the bowl portion 11 and continuous to an external sewer pipe (not shown). The drain trap 11b is a bent pipe that extends from the drain port 11a and extends in a substantially U shape. The drain trap 11b is formed by extending downward and then bending upward between the lower end of the drain port 11a and the sewer pipe, and has a water storage portion 11c capable of storing water. The drain trap 11b collects water in the water reservoir 11c to prevent the odor from the sewage side from moving to the bowl portion 11.

The peripheral wall portion 12 is a wall that covers the outer periphery of the bowl portion 11 and extends in the vertical direction. The peripheral wall portion 12 defines the outer shell of the toilet bowl body 10. As shown in FIG. 2, the groove portion 13 is a recess formed between the lower surface of the bowl portion 11 and the inner surface of the peripheral wall portion 12, and is formed in a substantially U shape along the periphery of the lower surface of the bowl portion 11. Has been done.

The foot detection unit 4 is provided below the toilet bowl main body 10, and is electrically connected to the control device 31 of the functional unit 3 as shown in FIG. The foot detection unit 4 outputs a detection signal to the control device 31 when it detects that the user has approached the toilet device 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the foot detection unit 4 is arranged in the groove portion 13. More specifically, the foot detection unit 4 is arranged on the front side of the drain trap 11b and is fixed to the inner side surface 12a of the peripheral wall portion 12 on the front side of the toilet bowl body 10. The foot detection unit 4 has a mounting unit 41 and a sensor unit 42.

As shown in FIG. 4, the mounting portion 41 is a member having a substantially T-shape in a plan view. The mounting portion 41 is a bracket that can be mounted in a cantilever shape, is fixed to the inner side surface 12a of the peripheral wall portion 12 of the toilet bowl body 10 with a screw, and is mounted so as to extend in the front-rear direction of the toilet bowl body 10. The inner side surface 12a on the front side of the peripheral wall portion 12 has a surface on which no problem occurs even if a hole is formed. The T-shaped horizontal bar portion 41a of the mounting portion 41 is fixed against the inner side surface 12a of the peripheral wall portion 12, and the T-shaped vertical bar portion 41b extends toward the rear side. The vertical bar portion 41b is substantially centered in the left-right direction of the toilet bowl body 10.

The sensor unit 42 is a portion that is connected to the mounting unit 41 and performs detection. As shown in FIG. 4, the sensor unit 42 includes a sensor 420, a sensor holder 421, a sensor case 422, a sensor window 423, and a harness unit 424 as wiring.

The sensor 420 is an infrared ranging sensor. The sensor 420 has a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit (not shown). The light emitted from the light emitting unit is reflected and received by the light receiving unit, and the distance is measured to detect that the user's foot is approaching.

The sensor holder 421 is a housing that holds the sensor 420. The sensor holder 421 is formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped in which two square tubular portions are integrated in parallel.

The sensor case 422 is a case that can accommodate the sensor 420 and the sensor holder 421 inside. The sensor case 422 has a case portion 422a, a thin piece 422b, and a flap piece 422c. The case portion 422a has a box shape with open upper and front side walls. In the sensor case 422, the sensor 420 and the sensor holder 421 are housed in the case portion 422a, and are fixed to the lower surface of the mounting portion 41 with screws. The thin section 422b is a pair of plate-shaped pieces extending rearward from one and the other in the left-right direction at the rear end of the case portion 422a.

The flap piece 422c projects outward from the outer peripheral edge of the sensor case 422. One of the flap pieces 422c projects forward from the front edge of the case portion 422a of the sensor case 422. The remaining two flap pieces 422c project outward from the pair of side edges of the sensor case 422 at the boundary between the case portion 422a and the thin piece 422b. The flap piece 422c has a flat surface having a through hole 422d formed in the center, and is screwed under the mounting portion 41 and the groove portion 13.

The sensor window 423 is a resin plate attached to the opening in front of the sensor case 422, and blocks visible light from the light emitted from the sensor 420 and transmits infrared rays.

The harness portion 424 is a bundle of wiring of the sensor 420 extending from the rear of the case portion 422a. The harness portion 424 is held between a pair of flakes 422b of the sensor case 422.

As shown in FIG. 2, the foot detection unit 4 is arranged above the virtual line IM connecting the front lower end of the peripheral wall portion 12 and the front lower end of the drain trap 11b in a side view. The foot detection unit 4 is mounted in the groove portion 13. The sensor unit 42 is tilted to emit the sensor light, and a part of the sensor unit 42 projects downward from the toilet bowl body 10. A part of the protruding sensor unit 42 is located above the virtual line IM. The detection area of the foot detection unit 4 is, for example, about 70 mm forward from the tip of the toilet bowl body 10 and about 80 mm above the floor surface. The detection area may be changed as appropriate.

The protective member 5 is a rubber tube that covers the periphery of the harness portion 424. As shown in FIG. 4, the protective member 5 is fastened to the rear of the sensor case 422 by clamping the end of the tube with a metal ring. The protective member 5 is arranged on the lower surface side of the bowl portion 11 so as to extend from the rear of the sensor case 422 to the rear of the toilet bowl body 10 along the circumference of the drain trap 11b and along the groove portion 13. Since the protective member 5 is arranged in the groove portion 13, it is not visible from the outside of the toilet bowl body 10 in the front view and the side view of the toilet bowl body 10. The protective member 5 has a rigidity such that it does not move in a state of being fitted in the recess of the groove portion 13, and is not fixed to the toilet bowl main body 10 with a nut or the like. The protective member 5 is arranged inside the rear part of the toilet bowl body 10 through a through hole formed behind the toilet bowl body 10.

The display unit 7 is configured by arranging a plurality of light emitting units 71 made of, for example, LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) in a line in the left-right direction of the toilet bowl body 10. As shown in FIG. 5, the display unit 7 is electrically connected to the control device 31 so as to be controllable by the control device 31. The operation of the display unit 7 controlled by the control device 31 includes a light emitting and extinguishing operation of the light emitting unit 71, a blinking operation of the light emitting unit 71, and an operation of changing the emission color of the light emitting unit 71. The display unit 7 only emits visible light by causing the light emitting unit 71 to emit light, and does not irradiate the light emitting unit 71 with light so as to positively form a spot on the floor surface.

The display unit 7 is arranged close to the foot detection unit 4 so that the user recognizes the position of the foot detection unit 4 by the light emitted from the light emitting unit 71. That is, the display unit 7 is arranged in front of the foot detection unit 4 arranged at the lower end in front of the toilet body 10. Specifically, the display unit 7 is attached to the leading edge portion 12c of the lower surface 12b of the peripheral wall portion 12. More specifically, the display unit 7 is arranged at a position corresponding to the detection area X of the foot detection unit 4 on the leading edge portion 12c of the peripheral wall portion 12 of the toilet bowl main body 10. As shown in FIG. 6, the position corresponding to the detection area X of the foot detection unit 4 is the position in the left-right direction of the detection area X formed on the floor surface F at the leading edge portion 12c of the peripheral wall portion 12 of the toilet bowl body 10. A region with a width approximately equal to the width.

As shown by the broken line in FIG. 6, the sensor light emitted from the foot detection unit 4 has a constant spread in the left-right direction and is applied to the floor surface F in front of the toilet bowl body 10 to form the detection area X. .. The foot detection unit 4 detects that the user has approached the toilet bowl body 10 when the user's foot has entered the range of the detection area X. As shown in FIG. 6, the display unit 7 is located on the floor of the front edge portion 12c of the peripheral wall portion 12 of the toilet bowl body 10 when the toilet bowl body 10 is observed from the front, which is the irradiation direction of the sensor light of the foot detection unit 4. It is provided so as to extend in the left-right direction along the curve drawn by the leading edge portion 12c within a range having a width substantially equal to the width in the left-right direction of the detection area X of the surface F.

Therefore, according to the toilet device 1 of the present embodiment, the user can easily recognize the position of the foot detection unit 4 itself and the detection area X of the foot detection unit 4 depending on the range in which the display unit 7 is arranged. Since the floor surface F is not irradiated with the sensor light to form a spot, there is no possibility that the user feels dazzling or the design of the toilet bowl device 1 and the toilet room is impaired.

The detection area X of the foot detection unit 4 shown in the present embodiment extends in a wide width along the left-right direction of the toilet bowl main body 10. Therefore, the display unit 7 is arranged on the front side of the toilet bowl main body 10. Specifically, the display unit 7 extends in a line shape from the leading edge portion 12c of the peripheral wall portion 12 of the toilet bowl body 10 along the left-right direction of the toilet bowl body 10 over substantially the entire width of the front surface of the toilet bowl body 10. According to this, since the detection area X of the foot detection unit 4 can be more easily visually recognized by the user, the user can easily intrude the foot into the detection area X of the foot detection unit 4. However, when the detection area X of the foot detection unit 4 is further narrowed, the display unit 7 is provided over a narrow range of the leading edge portion 12c of the toilet bowl body 10 corresponding to the narrow detection area X. good. The detection area X does not have to extend symmetrically with respect to the front surface of the toilet bowl body 10.

The display unit 7 may be configured to change the light emitting state of the light emitting unit 71 based on the state of the toilet bowl device 1. According to this, the user can easily visually recognize the state of the toilet bowl device 1, particularly the state of the operation function unit of the toilet bowl device 1 which cannot be directly visually recognized. By recognizing the state of the toilet bowl device 1 from the light emitting state of the light emitting unit 71, the user can also perform additional operations according to the state.

The state of the toilet bowl device 1 indicates the operating state of each operating function unit included in the toilet bowl device 1. Specifically, when the operating function unit is the toilet seat 21 and the toilet lid 22, the state of the toilet device 1 indicates whether the toilet seat 21 and the toilet lid 22 are in the open state or the closed state. When the operation function unit is the foot detection unit 4, the state of the toilet bowl device 1 indicates whether the foot detection unit 4 is in the operating state or the non-operating state. The operating state of the foot detection unit 4 means that the foot detection unit 4 is in a state in which the user's foot can be detected by irradiating the sensor light. The non-operating state of the foot detection unit 4 means that, for example, at least one of the toilet seat 21 and the toilet lid 22 is rotating, so that the foot detection unit 4 does not irradiate the sensor light and the user's foot is pressed. It means that it is in an undetectable state. The state of the toilet device 1 may be at least one of the toilet seat 21, the toilet lid 22, and the foot detection unit 4.

Changing the light emitting state of the light emitting unit 71 means, for example, turning off the light emitting unit 71 that is emitting light, causing the light emitting unit 71 that is turned off to emit light, blinking the light emitting unit 71, or making the light emitting unit 71 blink. For example, changing the emission color. The light emitting unit 71 that changes the light emitting state may be all of the plurality of light emitting units 71 provided in the display unit 7, or may be a part of the plurality of light emitting units 71.

Hereinafter, a specific operation example in which the display unit 7 changes the light emitting state of the light emitting unit 71 based on the state of the toilet bowl device 1 will be shown.

Operation example 1: When the toilet lid 22 is in the closed state, the display unit 7 causes the light emitting unit 71 to emit yellow light. The user recognizes that the foot detection unit 4 is in a detectable state when the display unit 7 emits yellow light. In this state, when the foot detection unit 4 detects the user's foot, the control device 31 controls the drive of the toilet lid rotation device 33 so as to open the toilet lid 22.

Operation example 2: When the toilet lid 22 is in the open state and the toilet seat 21 is in the closed state, the display unit 7 causes the light emitting unit 71 to emit blue light. The user recognizes that the foot detection unit 4 is in a detectable state when the display unit 7 emits blue light. In this state, when the foot detection unit 4 detects the user's foot, the control device 31 controls the drive of the toilet seat rotation device 32 so as to open the toilet seat 21. When the foot detection unit 4 continues to detect the user's foot for a predetermined time, the control device 31 may control the drive of the toilet lid rotation device 33 so as to close the toilet lid 22.

Operation example 3: When both the toilet seat 21 and the toilet lid 22 are in the open state, the display unit 7 causes the light emitting unit 71 to emit red light. The user recognizes that the foot detection unit 4 is in a detectable state when the display unit 7 emits red light. In this state, when the foot detection unit 4 detects the user's foot, the control device 31 controls the drive of the toilet seat rotation device 32 so as to open only the toilet seat 21. When the foot detection unit 4 continues to detect the user's foot for a predetermined time, the control device 31 may control the drive of the toilet lid rotation device 33 so as to close the toilet lid 22.

The above operation example shows the case where the display unit 7 changes the emission color of the light emitting unit 71, but the display unit 7 may blink the light emitting unit 71 in any of the above operation examples.

The display unit 7 may operate so as to emit light when the foot detection unit 4 is in the operating state and turn off when the foot detecting unit 4 is not in the operating state. According to this, the user can easily recognize whether or not the foot detection unit 4 is in a detectable state by confirming whether the display unit 7 is emitting light or is extinguished. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate unnecessary operations of the user.

When the display unit 7 operates so as to change the light emitting state of the light emitting unit 71, the display unit 7 may change the light emitting state of the light emitting unit 71 at the timing when the state of the toilet bowl device 1 is determined. The timing at which the state of the toilet bowl device 1 is determined is the timing at which the operation of the operation function unit of the toilet bowl device 1 is completed, and does not include the operation. For example, when the operation function unit is the toilet seat 21 and the toilet lid 22, the timing when the state of the toilet device 1 is confirmed is that the toilet seat 21 and the toilet lid 22 are completely rotated after the toilet seat 21 and the toilet lid 22 start to rotate. This is the timing when the toilet seat 21 and the toilet lid 22 are stopped. As a result, the user can surely recognize whether or not the foot detection unit 4 is in the detectable state.

The toilet bowl device of the present disclosure is not limited to the above embodiment, and modifications, improvements, etc. are included in the present disclosure. For example, the toilet bowl device may be floor-mounted.

1 Toilet bowl device, 4 foot detector, 6 display, X detection area, 21 toilet seat, 22 toilet lid

Claims (7)

Toilet bowl body and
A foot detection unit that detects the foot of a person approaching the toilet body,
A display unit that is arranged at a position corresponding to the detection area of the foot detection unit and that recognizes the position of the foot detection unit by emitting light.
Toilet bowl device. The toilet device according to claim 1, wherein the display unit changes the light emitting state based on the state of the toilet device. The toilet device according to claim 2, wherein the display unit changes the light emitting state at the timing when the state of the toilet device is determined. With a toilet lid and a toilet seat,
The toilet device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the state of the toilet device is at least one of the toilet lid, the toilet seat, and the foot detection unit. The toilet bowl according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the display unit emits light when the foot detection unit is in operation and turns off when the foot detection unit is not in operation. Device. The toilet device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the display unit is arranged on the front surface side of the toilet body. The detection area of the foot detection unit extends along the left-right direction of the toilet body.
The toilet device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the display unit extends in a line along the left-right direction of the toilet body.

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