JP2023025937A - Discharge device and discharge control method - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a discharge device that discharges a content at a more appropriate discharge rate.SOLUTION: A discharge device includes: a discharge unit for discharging a content filled in a container, through a discharge port provided in the container; a detection unit for detecting that a user has brought his/her hand closer to the discharge port; and a control unit for controlling a discharge rate of the content discharged from the discharge unit, depending on the user's speed of bringing his/her hand closer to the discharge port, based on a detection result of the detection unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to a discharge device and the like for discharging contents.

2. Description of the Related Art Among ejection devices for ejecting contents, an ejection device for ejecting contents in a non-contact manner using a sensor is known.

An example of an ejection device is described in US Pat. Patent Literature 1 discloses a discharge device that appropriately adjusts the discharge amount and discharge speed according to the liquid for internal use.

Further, in Patent Document 2, based on a detection signal of a hand detected by a sensor, a liquid is ejected while the hand is being detected, and a predetermined A technique has been disclosed that can adjust the ejection amount of the liquid within the amount of the liquid.

Furthermore, Patent Document 3 discloses a technique of detecting the speed of a hand and controlling the timing of starting water spouting.

JP 2019-017672 A JP 2018-083133 A JP 2010-144473 A

However, the techniques described in Patent Literatures 1 to 3 cannot satisfy the user's desire to adjust the discharge amount to an appropriate amount according to the movement of the user's hand.

An object of the present disclosure is to provide a discharge device that discharges contents in a more appropriate discharge amount.

A discharge device according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes a discharge unit that discharges contents filled in a container from a discharge port provided in the container, and a detection unit that detects that a user has brought his or her hand close to the discharge port. and a control unit for controlling the amount of content to be ejected by the ejection unit according to the speed at which the user approaches the ejection port based on the detection result of the detection unit.

An ejection control method according to one aspect of the present disclosure detects that a user has brought his or her hand close to an ejection port of an ejection device, and adjusts the speed at which the user approaches the ejection device, which is obtained from the detected information. Accordingly, the discharge amount of the dispenser is controlled.

One example of the effect of the present disclosure is that the content can be ejected at a more appropriate ejection amount.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the ejection device 100 of the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the ejection operation of the ejection device 100 in the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the ejection device 200 of the second embodiment. FIG. 4 is a correspondence table for discharge amount control according to the second embodiment. FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the ejection operation of the ejection device 200 in the second embodiment. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the ejection device 300 of the third embodiment. FIG. 7 is a correspondence table for discharge amount control in a modified example.

Next, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[First embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the ejection device 100 according to the first embodiment. Referring to FIG. 1 , the ejection device 100 includes a detection section 101 , a control section 102 and an ejection section 103 .

The detection unit 101 detects that the user's hand is close to the ejection port of the ejection device 100 . Further, the detection unit 101 may detect that the user moves his or her hand away from the ejection port. The detection unit 101 is, for example, various sensors such as a capacitance sensor or an infrared sensor. The detection unit 101 is installed at a position where it can detect that the user brings his or her hand closer to or away from the periphery of the ejection port. A detection result obtained by the detection unit 101 is a detection value of a physical quantity detected when the user brings his or her hand closer to the ejection port. The physical quantity is, for example, capacitance when the detection unit 101 is a capacitance sensor, but is not limited to this, and may be a physical quantity according to the type of sensor. The detected value increases, for example, as the user moves his or her hand closer to the ejection port of the ejection device 100 . Also, the detection unit 101 outputs the detection result to the control unit 102 .

The control unit 102 controls the amount of content to be ejected by the ejection unit 103 according to the speed with which the user approaches the ejection port based on the detection result obtained from the detection unit 101 . Furthermore, the control unit 102 may control the ejection amount according to the speed at which the user moves his or her hand away from the ejection port. The control unit 102 may determine the speed at which the user moves his/her hand closer to the ejection port and the speed at which the user moves his or her hand away, for example, based on the amount of change per unit time in the capacitance detected by the capacitance sensor. . That is, the control unit 102 does not necessarily have to calculate the speed as a physical quantity, that is, the distance traveled per unit time.

For example, the control unit 102 may detect the speed at which the user approaches the ejection port by detecting an increase in capacitance per unit time based on the detection result of the detection unit 101 . Further, the control unit 102 may detect that the user moves his or her hand away from the ejection port by detecting a decrease in capacitance based on the detection result of the detection unit 101 . Furthermore, when the capacitance is decreasing, the control unit 102 may detect the speed at which the user moves his or her hand away from the ejection port by detecting the amount of decrease in capacitance per unit time. . Therefore, based on the amount of change in capacitance per unit time, the control unit 102 determines the speed at which the user approaches the ejection port, the motion at which the user moves the hand away from the ejection port, and the speed at which the user moves the ejection port. It is possible to detect the speed at which the hand is moved away from the Such an operation of the control unit 102 is the same even when the physical quantity detected by the detection unit 101 is other than the capacitance.

Specifically, in controlling the ejection amount, the control unit 102 increases the amount of increase in the ejection amount as the speed at which the user approaches the ejection port increases. The smaller the value, the smaller the amount of increase in the ejection volume.

Further, for example, the control unit 102 increases the ejection amount more as the user moves his or her hand closer to the ejection port at a higher speed. For example, the control unit 102 increases the amount of increase in the ejection amount per unit time according to the speed at which the hand is brought closer. Alternatively, the control unit 102 reduces the ejection amount more greatly as the speed at which the user moves his or her hand away from the ejection port increases. For example, the control unit 102 increases the amount of decrease in the ejection amount per unit time according to the speed at which the user moves his or her hand away from the ejection port.

Furthermore, the control unit 102 determines the amount of content to be ejected by the ejection unit 103 when the speed at which the user moves his or her hand closer to the ejection port and the speed at which the user moves his or her hand away from the ejection port are zero. may be controlled to maintain When the speed at which the hand approaches and the speed at which the hand moves away are zero, it means that the user stands still while keeping the hand close to the ejection port, or that the hand does not approach. If the user stands still with his or her hand close to the ejection port, the control unit 102 maintains the ejection amount controlled by the speed at which the hand approaches. Also, when the hand is not near, the discharge unit 103 does not discharge the contents, so the control unit 102 maintains the discharge amount at zero.

The functions of the control unit 102 are realized by, for example, a computer including a microprocessor and memory.

Dispensing device 100 may include a container filled with content such as a liquid. The discharge section 103 may include a discharge port connected to the container and a discharge mechanism controlled by the control section 102 .

The container may be removable or replaceable from the dispensing device 100, or may be directly poured with contents. The contents are, for example, disinfectants, detergents such as shampoos, body soaps and dishwashing detergents, or skin cosmetics such as lotions and foundations. Also, the outlet connected to the container may include a connecting portion with the container. A flow path for the content is formed in the connecting portion with the container. The discharge port discharges the content from the container by means of a discharge mechanism.

The discharge mechanism of the discharge part 103 is, for example, a small electric pump that delivers the contents to the discharge port. Depending on the type of the small electric pump, the discharge mechanism can discharge the contents in liquid form or in the form of bubbles containing air. The discharge mechanism is controlled by a control signal from the control unit 102 to adjust the discharge amount, that is, the amount of the contents to be discharged from the small electric pump. Alternatively, the dispensing mechanism may comprise a dispensing nozzle equipped with a mechanical pump used in general dispensers and an electromagnetic cylinder that operates the dispensing nozzle. Additionally, the dispensing mechanism may be a pump that controls the pressure within the container. In this case, the discharge mechanism may be configured such that the pump is controlled by the controller 102 and the contents can be discharged by increasing the pressure in the container.

Next, the operation of the ejection device 100 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, first, the detection unit 101 detects that the user has brought his or her hand close to the ejection port, and outputs the detection result to the control unit 102 (step S101).

Next, the control unit 102 controls the ejection amount of the ejection unit 103 according to the speed with which the user approaches the ejection port based on the detection result of the detection unit 101 (step S102).

Next, the ejection unit 103 ejects the contents from the ejection port at the ejection amount controlled by the control unit 102 (step S103).

Thus, the ejection device 100 completes the ejection operation.

In the ejection device 100 according to the present embodiment described above, the detection unit 101 detects that the user has brought his or her hand closer to the ejection port. Then, the control unit 102 controls the ejection amount of the contents to be ejected according to the speed at which the user's hand approaches, based on the detection result. As a result, the ejection device 100 can eject the contents in a more appropriate ejection amount according to the speed with which the user moves his or her hand closer to the ejection port of the ejection device.

[Second embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the following, the description of the contents overlapping with the above description is omitted to the extent that the description of the present embodiment is not unclear.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the ejection device 200 according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2, the ejection device 200 of this embodiment includes a detection unit 201 instead of the detection unit 101 and a control unit 202 instead of the control unit 102, as compared with that of the first embodiment. Furthermore, the ejection device 200 includes a storage section 204 in addition to the above configuration.

It is assumed that the detection unit 201 is a capacitance sensor. A detection unit 201 detects the capacitance near the ejection port. The detection unit 201 then outputs the detection result to the control unit 202 .

The control unit 202 controls the amount of content to be ejected by the ejection unit 103 according to the speed at which the user approaches the ejection port based on the detection result of the detection unit 201 . For example, assuming that the user wants to slowly increase the ejection amount when the user slowly approaches the ejection port, the control unit 202 increases the ejection amount by a small amount. Alternatively, assuming that the user wants to quickly increase the ejection amount when the user quickly brings the hand closer to the ejection port, the control unit 202 greatly increases the ejection amount. That is, the higher the speed at which the hand approaches, the greater the ejection amount is increased.

Similarly, the control unit 202 controls the amount of content to be ejected by the ejection unit 103 in accordance with the user's hand movement. Specifically, for example, the control unit 202 reduces the ejection amount more greatly as the speed of moving the hand away increases.

The storage unit 204 stores data for the control unit 202 to control the discharge amount according to the speed at which the hand is brought closer and the speed at which the hand is moved away. For example, it stores a correspondence table for ejection amount control, which will be described later.

A specific example of control of the ejection amount by the control unit 202 in accordance with the speed at which the hand is brought closer and the speed at which the hand is moved away will be described.

First, the storage unit 204 stores a correspondence table for ejection amount control. For example, in the ejection amount control correspondence table, a combination of the speed at which the user moves his or her hand closer to the ejection port, the speed at which the hand moves away from the ejection port, and the ejection amount corresponding to the speed at which the user moves the hand closer are set. FIG. 4 shows an example of a correspondence table for discharge amount control. In the discharge amount control correspondence table of FIG. 4, the amount of change in capacitance and the discharge amount are stored in association with each other. The contents of the correspondence table for the discharge amount control are not limited to this, and may be stored in association with the change amount of the capacitance and the control signal or the like for realizing the discharge amount.

The control unit 202 monitors changes in capacitance based on the detection result of the detection unit 201 . The amount of change in capacitance is an index of the speed at which the hand approaches and the speed at which the hand moves away. The control unit 202 calculates the amount of change in capacitance when there is a change in capacitance. In accordance with the amount of change in capacitance, the correspondence table for ejection amount control in the storage unit 204 is referred to, and control is performed to eject the contents at the corresponding ejection amount. Note that the values shown in FIG. 4, including the amount of change in capacitance, may be determined according to the characteristics of the capacitance sensor used in the detection unit 201 and the performance of the ejection mechanism of the ejection unit 103. The example shown in FIG. Not limited.

In the example of FIG. 4, for example, it is assumed that the speed of approaching the hand was slow when the amount of change in capacitance per unit time was +1 F (farad). At this time, the control unit 202 performs control to increase the discharge amount by 0.01 L/min (liters/minute) by referring to the discharge amount control correspondence table shown in FIG. The unit time in the amount of capacitance change is, for example, 0.5 seconds. The unit time is not limited to 0.5 seconds, and may be other time. Also, when the amount of change in capacitance per unit time was +10 F, it is assumed that the speed at which the hand approached was high. At this time, the control unit 202 performs control to increase the discharge amount by 0.08 L/min by referring to the discharge amount control correspondence table shown in FIG. In this way, the control unit 202 increases the ejection amount, for example, as the speed at which the user approaches the ejection port increases. Conversely, the control unit 202 may control, for example, such that the smaller the speed at which the user moves his or her hand closer to the ejection port, the smaller the increase in the ejection amount.

Furthermore, when the amount of change in capacitance per unit time was −1 F, it is assumed that the speed at which the hand was moved away was small. At this time, the control unit 202 refers to the discharge amount control correspondence table shown in FIG. 4 and performs control to decrease the discharge amount by -0.01 L/min. Further, the control unit 202 may reduce the ejection amount more greatly as the speed at which the user moves his or her hand away from the ejection port increases. The control unit 202 increases the ejection decrease amount per unit time according to the speed at which the user moves his or her hand away from the ejection port.

Next, the operation of the ejection device 200 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 5, first, the detection unit 201 detects capacitance (step S201).

When YES in step S201, that is, when there is a change in capacitance, the control unit 202 calculates the amount of change in capacitance based on the detection result output from the detection unit 201 (step S202). .

Next, the control unit 202 acquires from the storage unit 204 the ejection amount corresponding to the amount of change in capacitance calculated in step S202 (step S203). For example, if the storage unit 204 stores the correspondence table for discharge amount control shown in FIG. .

Then, the control unit 202 controls the ejection unit 103 to eject the contents at the ejection amount obtained in step S203 (step S204).

Further, when NO in step S201, that is, when there is no change in the capacitance, the ejection device 200 does not perform ejection.

In the flowchart shown in FIG. 5, when the determination in step S205 is NO, the ejection device 200 ends the operation, but when the determination in step S205 is NO, the detection unit 201 detects the capacitance again after a predetermined time. may be set as The predetermined time until the detection unit 201 performs detection again may be set to, for example, 1 second or 10 seconds. For example, when the predetermined time is short, the ejection device 200 can more appropriately respond to the movement of the user's hand, and when the predetermined time is long, the ejection device 200 can save power. Also, the detection unit 101 of another embodiment may be set to perform detection at predetermined time intervals.

Thus, the ejection device 200 completes the ejection operation.

In the ejection device 200 according to the present embodiment described above, the detection unit 201 detects that the user has brought his/her hand close to the ejection port by monitoring the change in capacitance. Then, the control unit 202 calculates the amount of change in capacitance, acquires from the storage unit 204 the amount of change in capacitance, that is, the discharge amount according to the speed with which the user approaches the hand, and This is because the ejection amount of the ejection portion 103 that ejects is controlled. As a result, the ejection device 200 can eject the contents in a more appropriate ejection amount according to the speed with which the user moves his or her hand closer to the ejection port of the ejection device.

Note that the operation of the control unit 202 in the second embodiment has been described for the case where the detection unit 201 is a capacitance sensor, but the physical quantity detected by the detection unit 201 is also applied to cases other than capacitance. good.

[Third embodiment]
Next, a third embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following, the description of the contents overlapping with the above description is omitted to the extent that the description of the present embodiment is not unclear.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the ejection device 300 according to the third embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 6, the ejection device 300 in this embodiment includes a control section 302 instead of the control section 102 compared to that of the first embodiment. Furthermore, the control unit 302 includes a setting change unit 305 .

The setting change unit 305 changes the settings of the ejection device 300 according to the user's operation on the button or touch panel provided on the ejection device 300 . By adding this configuration, the user can arbitrarily set the ejection amount according to the speed at which the hand approaches, or the ejection time, which will be described in a modified example described later. Alternatively, the setting change unit 305 may be configured to change the setting by operating a computer such as a smartphone that is communicably connected to the ejection device.

The control unit 302 controls the ejection of the contents by the ejection unit 103 based on the settings of the setting change unit 305 .

[Modification]
In the first embodiment, the second embodiment, and the third embodiment, each control unit may control the ejection time in addition to the ejection amount in accordance with the speed at which the hand approaches. For example, the faster the hand approaches, the shorter the ejection time. More specifically, when the speed at which the user approaches the ejection port is high, the user quickly moves the hand toward the ejection port. In this case, assuming that the user wants to eject quickly, the controller greatly increases the ejection amount and shortens the ejection time. Alternatively, when the speed at which the user approaches the ejection port is slow, the user slowly moves the hand toward the ejection port. In this case, assuming that the user wants to eject slowly, the controller increases the ejection amount by a small amount and lengthens the ejection time.

For example, in the second embodiment, when the control unit 202 controls the ejection amount and the ejection time, the control unit 202 refers to the ejection amount control correspondence table of FIG. The amount of change in the volume, that is, the ejection amount and the ejection time corresponding to the speed at which the hand is brought closer are acquired. Then, the control unit 202 performs control to eject the contents with the acquired ejection amount and ejection time.

Although the present disclosure has been described above with reference to each embodiment, the present disclosure is not limited to the above embodiments. Various changes that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made to the configuration and details of the present disclosure within the scope of the present disclosure.

For example, although the operations are described in order in the form of a flowchart, the order in which they are described does not limit the order in which the operations are performed, and the operations may be repeated. Therefore, when implementing each embodiment, the order of the plurality of operations can be changed within a range that does not interfere with the content.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 ejection device 101 detection unit 102 control unit 103 ejection unit 200 ejection device 201 detection unit 202 control unit 204 storage unit 300 ejection device 302 control unit 305 setting change unit

Claims (10)

a discharge means for discharging the contents filled in the container from a discharge port connected to the container;
detection means for detecting that a user has brought his or her hand close to the ejection port;
a control means for controlling the amount of the content to be discharged by the discharge means according to the speed with which the user approaches the discharge port based on the detection result of the detection means;
A dispensing device comprising: 2. The ejection device according to claim 1, wherein the control means increases the ejection amount more as the speed at which the user approaches the ejection port increases. The detection means further detects that the user has moved his or her hand away from the ejection port,
The control means controls the amount of the content to be discharged by the discharge means according to the speed at which the user moves his/her hand away from the discharge port, which is obtained from the detection result of the detection means. 3. The discharge device according to claim 1 or 2. 4. The ejection device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the control means reduces the ejection amount more as the speed of the user's hand moving away from the ejection port increases. 3. The control means controls to maintain the discharge amount when the speed at which the hand of the user approaches the discharge port and the speed at which the user moves the hand away from the discharge port are zero. 5. The ejection device according to any one of 1 to 4. further comprising storage means for storing a correspondence table in which combinations of the speed and the discharge amount are set;
The ejection device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said control means obtains said ejection amount according to said speed from said storage means and controls said ejection amount. 7. The ejection device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the control means controls the ejection time according to the speed in addition to controlling the ejection amount. 8. The ejection device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising setting change means for changing settings of the combination of the speed and the ejection amount. The detection means detects capacitance,
9. The ejection according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the control means calculates a change in the capacitance and controls the ejection amount according to the calculated change in the capacitance. Device. 10. The ejection device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein said detection means detects that said user brings his or her hand close to said ejection port at predetermined time intervals.

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