JP2782011B2 - Control method of electric soap dispenser - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention drives a pump to pump up soap water stored in a tank, and discharges the soap water from a soap water spout of a washbasin or a hand-washing machine. The present invention relates to a method for controlling an electric soap dispenser.

[Conventional technology]

Recently, an electric soap dispenser is installed in a washbasin, a handwasher, or the like. This is a type in which a pump is driven to pump up and discharge the soapy water in the tank. FIG. 4 shows an example of a fully automatic basin A in which the conventional electric soap dispenser 1 is incorporated. In the present specification, the fully automatic basin includes the electric soap dispenser 1, the automatic faucet 2, and the automatic hot air drying device 3, and controls the supply and stop of soap water, hot water, and hot air. It is something that is done automatically.

In the conventional fully automatic wash basin A, a head portion 6 having an L-shaped cross section is integrally erected near a wall surface on the inner side in front of a wash basin portion 5 embedded and attached to a counter 4. A soap water outlet 7, a hot water outlet 8, and a hot air outlet 9 are attached downward at predetermined intervals on the lower surface side of the portion of the head portion 6 protruding forward. Further, between these water outlets 7 and 8 and the outlet 9, dedicated human body detection sensors 10, 11 and 12 of the electric soap dispenser 1, the automatic faucet 2 and the hot air drying device 3 are attached. I have. On the other hand, in a cabinet 13 below the counter 4, a soap water storage tank 14, a hot water mixing faucet 15, a fan 16, and a hot air heater 17 are mounted.

The tank 14 is connected to a soap water supply port 18 attached to a side surface of the head section 6 by an inflow pipe 19, and is connected to the above-described water discharge port 7 by a discharge pipe 20. Further, a pump 21 for pumping up soap water is provided in the middle of the discharge pipe 20. Below the tank 14, a load sensor 22 for detecting the remaining amount of soap water is attached.

In the fully automatic basin A configured as described above, when the user puts his hand under the soapy water spout 7, the human body detection sensor 10 of the electric soap dispenser 1 detects this and drives the pump 21. Thus, the soap water stored in the tank 14 is pumped up and discharged from the water discharge port 7 through the discharge pipe 20. Then, when the user pulls his hand, the human body detection sensor 10 detects this and stops driving the pump 21 to stop the supply of the soapy water.

The user, who has removed the dirt with soapy water, then enters the hot water spout 8
Move your hand down. Thereby, the human body detection sensor 11 detects this, and the hot water mixed at a predetermined temperature by the hot and cold water mixing faucet 15 is discharged from the water outlet 8. After the washing of the soapy water and the dirt is completed, the user may then move his hand below the hot air outlet 9. Thereby, the discharge of the hot water is stopped, and the fan 16 and the hot air heater 17 are turned on this time, so that the hot air is discharged from the outlet 9. After the drying of the hands is completed, the hands may be pulled from below the outlet 9. Thereby, the fan 16 and the hot air heater 17 are turned off, and return to the state before use.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

By the way, the conventional electric soap dispenser 1
In the above, the remaining amount of the soap water in the storage tank 14 is detected by a load sensor 22 which is mechanically configured. However, the load sensor 22 is mounted on the support plate 23 of the storage tank 14.
Must be supported in the box 24 so as to be able to move up and down, and a limit switch 25 and a return spring 26 must be attached below the support plate 23. Then, by detecting the load of the storage tank 14 with the limit switch 25, the remaining amount of the soap water is detected. However, the conventional electric soap dispenser 1 has a drawback that the number of mechanical parts is large, and it is not permissible to cause a failure and the cost is increased.

In addition, in the conventional electric soap dispenser 1, the fact that the soap water in the storage tank 14 is insufficient is
Even when the limit switch 25 is turned on and detected, if the user extends his hand below the soapy water spout 7,
There is a drawback that the sensor 10 detects this and drives the pump 21 to perform a no-load operation.

[Means for solving the problem]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been improved and eliminated in view of the above-mentioned problems, and a method for controlling a soap dispenser capable of detecting the remaining amount of soap water by detecting a motor current for driving a pump. Is to be provided.

Means adopted by the present invention to solve the above-described problem is an electric-operated type in which the soapy water in the tank is driven up by driving a pump and discharged from a soapy water spout provided in a wash basin or the like. In the soap dispenser, the drive current value of the motor that drives the pump is detected, and the detection value is compared with a set value to detect whether there is any remaining soap water in the tank. A method for controlling an electric soap dispenser, wherein supply of a drive current to a motor is interrupted.

(Operation)

When the amount of the soap water is insufficient, the load of the pump for pumping the soap water in the storage tank is reduced. Therefore, the drive current value of the motor that drives the pump decreases as the load decreases. In the present invention,
By detecting the drive current value of this motor, the presence or absence of the remaining amount of soap water in the storage tank is detected.

Therefore, in the electric soap dispenser of the present invention,
By simply incorporating the current detection circuit, it is possible to detect the remaining amount of the soap water in the storage tank, which is extremely simple.

〔Example〕

The following is a description of an electric soap dispenser in which the method of the present invention is incorporated into a fully automatic basin, with reference to the drawings. The same reference numerals as those in the conventional case denote the same members.

1 to 3 relate to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a control flow of an electric soap dispenser 31, and FIG. 2 is a control circuit of a fully automatic basin A. 29 is a block diagram, and FIG. 3 is a fully automatic basin A.
It is a front view which shows the whole. In the electric soap dispenser 31 of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, a current detection circuit 28 for detecting a drive current is installed in a motor 27 (see FIG. 2) of a pump 21 for pumping soapy water. . The current value measured by the current detection circuit 28 is
At step 29, the set value is compared with the set value, and the presence or absence of the remaining amount of soap water is detected based on the magnitude. When the remaining amount of the soapy water is small, it is displayed on a warning indicator 30 (see FIG. 2) such as a lamp, an LED, a sound, and a screen display.
That is, in the present embodiment, the current detection circuit 28 that detects the drive current value of the motor 27 and the control circuit 29 that processes the signal output constitute a device that detects the presence or absence of the remaining amount of soap water. I am trying to do it. Other configurations are the same as those in the conventional case shown in FIG.

Next, a control method of the electric soap dispenser 31 configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, in the control circuit 29, the warning indicator 30 is turned off.
F Operate to clear. Then, when the human body detection sensor 10 for the soapy water detects the human body and turns ON, the current is supplied to the motor 27 for driving the pump 21. In the present embodiment, the drive current flowing to the motor 27 at this time is detected, and the drive current is differentiated to determine the degree of the change. If the differential value is large, it means that the drive current of the motor 27 has changed significantly. This is due to a large change in the load of the pump 21.

For this reason, in the present embodiment, the differential value is compared with a set value, and if it is equal to or greater than the set value, it is determined that the load of the pump 21 has fluctuated greatly. This variation in load is due to a state in which the soap water is sufficiently stored in the storage tank 14 and the soap water is being discharged.Therefore, the remaining amount of the soap water almost disappears, and the load on the pump 21 decreases. Means you did. Therefore, if the measured differential value of the motor current is larger than the set value, it is determined that the soap water is insufficient, and a warning signal is output to the warning display 30 and the driving current of the motor 27 is reduced. The supply is cut off.
Then, the soap water is replenished.

On the other hand, when the measured differential value of the motor drive current is equal to or less than the set value, the ON operation of the motor 27 is continued, and the pump 21 is driven to pump up the soapy water from the storage tank 14. The pumped soap water is discharged from the soap water outlet 7 through the discharge pipe 20. The user may remove the dirt attached to the hand with the discharged soapy water.

Thereafter, when the user pulls his hand from below the soapy water spout 7, the sensor 10 detects this and cuts off the supply of the drive current to the motor 27. Thereafter, the ON / OFF control of the motor 27 is performed based on the user's hand detection by the sensor 10, and the automatic supply of the soap water is performed.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the presence or absence of the remaining amount of the soap water in the storage tank 14 can be detected only by measuring the drive current flowing to the motor 27 and comparing the differential value with the set value. It is possible, and the overall configuration of the detection device can be extremely simplified. In addition, the number of parts can be reduced, and a failure or the like is unlikely to occur, so that the reliability is excellent.

By the way, in this embodiment, the measured motor
The case where the presence or absence of the remaining amount of the soap water in the storage tank 14 is detected by differentiating the drive current value of the motor 27 and comparing the rate of change with the set value has been described, but the drive current value of the motor 27 itself has been described. By comparing with the set value, it is also possible to detect the presence or absence of the remaining amount of the soap water in the storage tank 14.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, in the present invention, the presence or absence of the remaining amount of soap water in the storage tank is detected simply by measuring the drive current value of the motor that drives the pump that pumps up the soap water and comparing it with the set value. It is possible to Therefore, the detection device can be constituted only by the current detection circuit and the comparator, and the whole can be extremely simplified. In addition, since the number of components is small and the cause of failure is reduced, the reliability is excellent and the cost is low. Further, the presence or absence of the remaining amount of soap water is detected by an electric means, and it is easy to output a detection signal to an alarm device and display it. Moreover, for safety, it is easy to take measures such as cutting off the drive current to the motor.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 to 3 relate to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a control example of an electric soap dispenser, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a fully automatic wash basin, FIG. Is a vertical sectional front view of a fully automatic basin incorporating an electric soap dispenser, and FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional front view of a fully automatic basin incorporating a conventional electric soap dispenser. 7 ... soap water spout, 14 ... storage tank 21 ... pump, 27 ... motor 28 ... current detection circuit, 31 ... electric soap dispenser

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-28313 (JP, A) JP-A-62-169691 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) A47K 5/12 A47K 1/00 E03C 1/05

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An electric soap dispenser which drives a pump to pump up soap water in a tank and discharges the soap water from a soap water spout provided in a wash basin or the like. Detects and compares the detected value with the set value to detect the remaining amount of soap water in the tank, and if there is no remaining amount, shuts off the supply of drive current to the motor. A method for controlling an electric soap dispenser.