JP2567469Y2 - Obstacle detection device - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

The present invention relates to an obstacle detection device,
In particular, the present invention relates to an obstacle detection device that outputs an obstacle detection signal when an obstacle is detected during opening and closing operations of a shutter such as an electric shutter.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an obstacle detection device has been used to detect an object (obstacle) that hinders or prevents the operation of a device and to stop the device or cause the device to perform an avoidance movement or the like. I have. The obstacle detection device includes a detection unit that detects an obstacle, an output unit that outputs an obstacle detection signal when an obstacle is detected by the detection unit, and a power supply circuit that supplies power to each unit. In this power supply circuit, a dry battery is mainly used as a power supply. The signal output from the output unit is received by the receiving unit, and it is determined from the received signal whether an obstacle is present.

[0003] However, in the conventional obstacle detection device, a dry battery is used as a power source as described above, so that when the voltage of the dry battery drops, even if the detection unit detects an obstacle, a signal is output from the output unit. There is a problem that an output is not performed and an appropriate operation cannot be performed when an obstacle exists. For this reason, conventionally, the voltage of the dry battery was detected, and when the voltage became equal to or less than a predetermined value, a discrimination signal in which a pulse train was encoded was output. It is determined that a voltage drop has occurred.

[0004]

However, the electric circuit such as the detection section is composed of electric elements such as transistors and integrated circuits (ICs), and these electric elements operate properly when the operating voltage decreases. May not be done. Therefore, an output device having a function of detecting a voltage drop of a dry battery and automatically transmitting the same as a conventional obstacle detecting device, for example, in the case of a transmitter, because an obstacle is detected in a state where the voltage is lowered, the dry battery is used. Even if there is a remaining capacity capable of detecting the voltage drop of the battery, when the dry battery does not have sufficient capacity to output the detected signal, the above-described determination signal can be output properly. Therefore, there is a problem that the receiving side cannot determine whether or not the voltage of the dry battery is low.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and has as its object to provide an obstacle detecting device capable of correctly determining a voltage drop of a battery such as a dry battery.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an obstacle detecting means for detecting an obstacle, a voltage detecting means for detecting that the voltage of a battery has fallen below a predetermined value, and A reference signal having a predetermined period is output while the voltage of the battery detected by the voltage detection means exceeds a predetermined value, and when the voltage is equal to or lower than the predetermined value, the output of the reference signal is stopped. Output means for outputting an obstacle detection signal when an obstacle is detected by the means; and determination means for determining whether or not the obstacle detection signal has been output and whether or not output of the reference signal has been stopped. And

[0007]

According to the present invention, when an obstacle is detected by the obstacle detecting means, an obstacle signal is output from the output means. The output means outputs a reference signal having a predetermined period while the battery voltage exceeds a predetermined value, and stops outputting the reference signal having the predetermined period when the battery voltage is equal to or lower than the predetermined value. The determination means determines whether the obstacle detection signal has been output and whether the output of the reference signal has been stopped. Therefore, the output means always outputs a reference signal having a predetermined period when the battery voltage exceeds a predetermined value, and stops outputting the reference signal when the battery voltage is lower than the predetermined value. For this reason, it is possible to determine whether the battery voltage exceeds the predetermined value or is lower than the predetermined value by determining whether the output of the reference signal in the predetermined period is stopped. Accordingly, the reference signal is not output when the battery voltage is lower than the predetermined value and the signal cannot be output, so that the determination that the battery voltage is lower than the predetermined value is not erroneously made.
As described above, according to the present invention, when the battery voltage exceeds the predetermined value, the reference signal having the predetermined period is output. This state can be determined even when there is not enough battery voltage,
The state of consumption of the battery voltage can be easily confirmed.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 2 and 3 show the present invention applied to an obstacle detection device for an electric shutter that is attached to the electric shutter and transmits an obstacle detection signal to a receiving unit using infrared rays. The shutter curtain 10 is configured so that both sides are guided by a metal guide rail 21 having a substantially U-shaped cross section that extends from the lintel portion 16 to the floor surface 17 and moves up and down. The upper end of the shutter curtain 10 is attached to a winding shaft 23,
The winding shaft 23 is connected to the motor 2 via a chain 25.
The shutter curtain 10 is rotated by 2
Is wound or unwound, and the shutter curtain 10 can be moved up and down.

At the lower end of the shutter curtain 10, there is provided a seat plate switch 12 which is turned on when an obstacle or the like abuts, and a light emitting unit 40 which emits infrared rays when the seat plate switch 12 is turned on. Machine 14 is mounted. The transmitter 14 is connected to a transmission control circuit 36 including a battery such as a dry battery or a storage battery. Further, a light receiving section 19 is attached to the lintel section 16.
Is connected via a receiver 18 to a control circuit 20 to which a motor 22 for opening and closing the shutter curtain is connected. The control circuit 20 is connected to an indicator 34 including a low-battery warning light 42 and an obstacle detection light 44 composed of a red lamp or the like.

As shown in FIG. 1, the transmission control circuit 36 includes a read only memory (RO)
M) 46, a random access memory (RAM) 48, a central processing unit (CPU) 50, an input / output port 52, and a bus 5 such as a data bus or control bus connecting these.
4 is included. The ROM 46 stores a control program for forming a transmission signal described later (see FIG. 4). The input / output port 52 includes
The timer 68, the voltage detection circuit 24 for detecting the voltage of the battery B, the seat panel switch 12, and the transmission circuit 26 for forming a transmission signal from the transmitter 14 are connected. The voltage detection circuit 24 detects the voltage of the battery B, and outputs a high-level signal when the voltage of the battery B exceeds a predetermined value Vo.

The control circuit 20 includes a ROM 56, a RAM 58, and a CPU 6 as in the transmission control circuit 36.
0, an input / output port 62 and a bus 64 such as a data bus or a control bus for connecting these. The ROM 56 stores a control program for performing a received signal determination control described later (see FIG. 5). The input / output port 62 includes a timer 70, a low battery warning light 42 and an obstacle detection light 44, and a driver 6.
6, a shutter control circuit 30 connected to the motor 22, and a receiving circuit 28 for converting an analog signal received by the receiver 18 into a digital signal and outputting the digital signal.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below with reference to the control flowcharts shown in FIGS.

First, when a dry battery as a voltage supply source of the battery B is loaded into the transmission control circuit 36 and the power supply voltage is turned on, the process proceeds to step 102 in FIG. In step 102, the reference signal S is output and the timer 68 is reset to set the elapsed time T to zero. In the next step 104, the output signal of the voltage detection circuit 24 is read, and in step 106
It is determined whether the voltage of the battery B is equal to or higher than a predetermined value by determining whether the output signal of the voltage detection circuit 24 is at a high level. In the case of a negative determination in step 106, since the voltage of battery B is equal to or less than predetermined value Vo, step 10 is performed so that the following reference signal is not output.
Return to 4. In the case of an affirmative determination in step 106, since there is sufficient capacity to transmit the battery B voltage, the process proceeds to step 108, where the timer 38 is read to read the elapsed time T since the previous transmission of the reference signal S. . In the next step 110, it is determined whether or not the elapsed time T from the previous transmission of the reference signal S is the period To of the reference signal S. If the determination is negative, the reference signal S does not need to be output. Return to 104. When the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step 112 because the cycle of the reference signal S is present, and returns to step 104 after outputting the reference signal S to the transmission circuit 26. Accordingly, the transmitter 14 outputs the reference signal S at a predetermined cycle when the voltage of the battery B exceeds the predetermined value Vo, and does not output the reference signal S when the voltage is lower than the predetermined value Vo.

Next, an interrupt processing routine executed when the seat panel switch 12 is turned on will be described with reference to FIG. First, an interrupt is generated at the time when the seat plate switch 12 is turned on and the routine is executed. In this routine, the obstacle signal E is output to the transmission circuit 26 (step 124), and the process ends.

The obstacle signal E and the reference signal S
Can be formed by generating pulse signals of different durations for each signal or by coding each signal and generating a code signal in the transmission circuit 26.

As described above, the transmitter 14 transmits the battery B
When the voltage exceeds a predetermined value, a reference signal S having a predetermined period To is sent out.
Is sent. Infrared rays are emitted from the light emitting section 40 by the signal output from the transmitter 14, and the emitted infrared rays are received by the light receiving section 19, converted into an electric signal, and received by the receiver 18.

Although the control routine of the transmitter 14 has been described as being executed while a battery, which is a battery B voltage supply source, is loaded, the control routine is executed after the battery B voltage drop is detected. The processing may be terminated.

Next, a control program for performing the reception signal discrimination control shown in FIG. 6 will be described. When the worker instructs the shutter curtain 10 to be lowered by the operation switch or the like, the present routine is executed, and the routine proceeds to step 152. In step 152, the output from the receiving circuit 28 is read, and the flow advances to step 154. In step 154,
The presence or absence of the output read in step 152 is determined. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step 156 because some signal transmitted from the transmitter 14 is input. If the determination is negative, the signal is not input and the signal from the transmitter 14 is received. Is not transmitted, the process proceeds to step 158.

In step 158, by reading the timer 70, it is determined whether or not the elapsed time T from the previous reception of the reference signal S is a predetermined time To. The process returns to step 152 because it is within the time To). on the other hand. In the case of an affirmative determination in step 158, since the period of the reference signal S (predetermined time To) has been exceeded, it is determined that the voltage of the battery B of the transmitter 14 is equal to or lower than a predetermined value. The battery voltage lowering process is performed, and this routine ends. The battery voltage lowering process may be alarmed. The lighting of the low battery warning light 42 and the like can notify the worker that the battery voltage has dropped. Further, in the battery voltage lowering process, when the shutter curtain 10 is being lowered, the lowering of the shutter curtain 10 is stopped. This allows
When the shutter curtain 10 descends when the battery voltage of the transmitter 14 drops and an abnormality occurs due to the presence of an obstacle, the obstacle signal E is not output and the abnormality cannot be detected. .

In step 156, the read signal is subjected to signal processing by measuring the duration of a pulse signal or decoding a coded code signal, and then proceeds to step 162. It is determined whether or not the signal E is included. When the signal includes the obstacle signal E, an affirmative determination is made, an obstacle detection process is performed in step 166, and the routine ends. In this obstacle detection processing, an obstacle detection signal is output to the shutter control circuit 30 and the obstacle detection lamp 44 is turned on. At this time, the shutter control circuit 30 stops the motor 22 to stop the operation of the shutter curtain 10 or reverses the motor 22 to raise the shutter curtain 10. Thereby, further contact between the shutter curtain 10 and the obstacle can be evacuated. When the obstacle is removed and the shutter curtain 10 can be lowered, the operator again gives an instruction using an operation switch or the like for lowering the shutter curtain 10.
The processing is executed again from step 152.

If the read signal does not include the obstacle signal E, a negative decision is made in step 162 and a negative decision is made in step 1
Proceeding to 64, since the voltage of the battery B of the transmitter 14 exceeds the predetermined value Vo and the reference signal S is periodically output, the timer 70 is reset to set the elapsed time T to 0, and then returns to step 152. . Therefore, when the voltage of the battery B of the transmitter 14 exceeds the predetermined value Vo, since the transmitter 14 periodically outputs the reference signal S, steps 152 to 164 are repeatedly executed.

As described above, the receiver 18 detects the presence or absence of the reference signal S output from the transmitter 14 so that even if the transmitter 14 cannot output a signal due to a decrease in battery voltage. , Which can be detected.

In the above description, the signal is transmitted from the transmitter to the receiver by infrared rays, but the signal may be transmitted using radio waves, ultrasonic waves, or the like.

In the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which the detection of a decrease in the battery voltage of the transmitter is performed when an instruction to lower the shutter curtain 10 is given by an operator. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is also possible to always detect a decrease in the battery voltage of the transmitter and to activate a notification means such as a display and an alarm.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the reference signal is output when the battery voltage exceeds a predetermined value, it is difficult to transmit the signal when the battery is consumed. Also, the effect that the consumption of the battery can be easily determined can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram in which the present invention is applied to an electric shutter.

FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating control of signal formation on the transmission side according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an interrupt process in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating control of receiving-side signal determination according to the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 B Battery 12 Seat switch, 20 Control circuit 24 Voltage detection circuit 34 Display 36 Transmission control circuit 68 Timer

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. An obstacle detecting means for detecting an obstacle, a voltage detecting means for detecting that a voltage of a battery has become a predetermined value or less, and a voltage of the battery detected by the voltage detecting means has a predetermined value. A reference signal having a predetermined cycle is output while the voltage exceeds the predetermined value, and output of the reference signal is stopped when the voltage is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and an obstacle detection signal is output when an obstacle is detected by the obstacle detection means. An obstacle detection device comprising: an output unit configured to perform the output; and a determination unit configured to determine whether the obstacle detection signal is output and whether the output of the reference signal is stopped.