JP2975699B2 - Electronic iron - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic iron capable of continuously changing a temperature setting.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an electronic iron of this type is set to "off" when a key switch for setting a temperature is kept on for a certain period of time as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-5900. , The temperature setting can be switched to the high temperature side by one step at regular intervals.

However, in the above-described configuration, in the case of a cyclic system in which the temperature returns to "OFF" next to the maximum temperature setting, if the key switch is continuously turned on, it returns to "OFF" and then returns to the next temperature setting again. Since the switching is performed at intervals, there is a problem that, when the “OFF” setting operation is always performed after using the iron, if the key switch is turned off at an incorrect timing, the setting is switched to a setting other than “OFF”. This problem becomes more significant as the switching time interval of the temperature setting is shortened.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to improve the operability of "off" setting in an electronic iron capable of continuous temperature setting. It is.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a display means for displaying a plurality of stages of temperature settings including "OFF", a key switch for switching the setting of the display means, and a temperature switch each time the key switch is turned on. Step temperature setting means for setting a desired temperature by switching the setting step by step, and continuous temperature setting means for sequentially switching the temperature settings of the plurality of steps at time intervals while the key switch is kept on. The continuous temperature setting means sets the time interval from switching from another temperature setting to “OFF” setting to switching to the next temperature setting from the time interval for switching from a temperature setting other than “OFF” setting to the next temperature setting. Is also set long.

In addition, there is provided a notifying means which emits a sound for distinguishing that the "off" setting has been performed by the continuous temperature setting means from the case where another temperature setting has been performed.

[0007]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, if the key switch is kept on at the end of the ironing, the display of the temperature setting by the display means is sequentially switched,
When "OFF" is set, the display time is continued longer than the display time of the other temperature settings, giving the operator time to turn off the key switch.

In addition, when the "OFF" setting is made, a sound which is distinguished from the other temperature settings is simultaneously generated, so that the user can be reliably informed that the "OFF" setting has been made.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the temperature setting is set to “off”, “low”,
“Medium” and “High” are set in four stages. For convenience of explanation, the ironing temperature for the fabric of “Synthetic fiber” is set to “Low”, and “Wool” and “Cotton” are set to “Medium” and “Hemp”. "High".

In FIG. 1, (1) is an AC power supply, (2)
Is a heater built in a base unit (not shown), and is connected to an AC power supply (1) via a relay contact (3a) of a relay (3). (4) is a DC power supply connected to an AC power supply and outputting a low DC voltage, and (5) is a microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as a microcomputer) which operates by receiving power supply from the DC power supply (4). The microcomputer (5) controls the operation of each unit in accordance with a preset processing program. The microcomputer (5) controls heating of the heater (2) to change the temperature of the base, and a key switch (13) to be described later. And a continuous temperature setting means for switching the above-mentioned temperature setting based on the input of the display, display control means for controlling lighting of LEDs (16), (17), (18), and (19) described later, and a buzzer circuit (24) described later. And buzzer control means for controlling the driving of (1).

(6) a thermal element such as a thermistor for detecting the temperature of the base portion, which is connected between the DC power supply terminals via a resistor (7), and controls the temperature of the base portion with the thermal element and the resistor (7); And convert the voltage at this connection point to A / D
Convert to digital signal by converter (8) and microcomputer (5)
, The detected temperature of the base portion is input to the microcomputer (5).

A relay control circuit (9) is composed of a transistor (10) and resistors (11) and (12), and a relay coil (3b) of the relay (3) is connected via an emitter-collector of the transistor (10). A resistor (11) is connected between the emitter and base of the transistor (10), and the base is connected to the output terminal (O6) of the microcomputer (5) via the resistor (12). I have.

Therefore, when the output terminal (O6) becomes L level (hereinafter simply referred to as L), the transistor (10) is turned on, the relay coil (3b) is excited, and the heater (3) is connected via the relay contact (3a). 2) is energized, and the output terminal (O6) is at the H level (hereinafter simply referred to as H).
Then, the transistor (10) is turned off, the relay coil (3b) is de-energized, the relay contact (3a) is opened, and the power supply to the heater (2) is cut off.

Reference numeral (13) denotes a key switch for setting the temperature for changing the amount of heat generated by the heater (2). The key switch comprises a push switch or the like and is connected between DC power supply terminals via a resistor (14). At the same time, the connection point between the switch (13) and the resistor (14) is connected to the input terminal (i) of the microcomputer (5).
1), and the L and H signals are input to the microcomputer (5) when the switch (13) is turned on and off, respectively.

(15) is a display means, "OFF",
Plural Ls corresponding to each setting of “low”, “medium” and “high”
The anodes of the EDs (16) to (19) are connected to the positive terminal of the DC power supply via the resistors (20) to (23), and the cathodes are connected to the output terminal (O1) of the microcomputer (5). (O2), (O3), and (O4), and L, H from the output terminals (O1) to (O4).
Are output, the LEDs (16) to (1)
9) is turned on or off, respectively. (24) is a buzzer circuit which constitutes a notifying means, and is driven by an H signal from an output terminal (O5) of the microcomputer (5).

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. Immediately after the AC power supply (1) is turned on, the "off" setting is set, and the output terminal (O1) of the microcomputer (5) is set to L level.
As a result, only the LED (16) is turned on, the output terminal (O6) becomes H, and the power supply to the heater (2) is cut off.

The step temperature setting in which the temperature is set by repeating the ON operation of the key switch (13) will be described below. First, when the switch (13) is turned on only once from the above state and the L signal is input to the input terminal (i1),
The microcomputer (5) switches the temperature setting to the "high" setting, sets the output terminal (O1) to H and the output terminal (O4) to L, and sets the temperature to "high".
Only the display LED (19) is turned on to indicate that the setting has been switched to the "high" setting. At the same time, the microcomputer (5) sets the output terminal (O5) to a predetermined time (100 m).
s) The buzzer circuit (24) is driven to H for a short period of time to generate a "beep" sound. Thereafter, the microcomputer (5) takes in the base temperature signal from the input terminal (i2) and outputs an H signal or an L signal to the output terminal (O6) so that the temperature becomes the set temperature, and the heater (2)
To control the power cutoff.

When the key switch (13) is turned on again, the "medium" setting is set, and only the "medium" setting display LED (18) is turned on and the buzzer circuit (24) is turned on in the same manner as described above. When the switch (13) is driven for a short period of time and the switch (13) is turned on again, the "low" setting is set.
7) lights up and the buzzer circuit (24) is driven for a short fixed time. Next, when the switch (13) is turned on again, the "OFF" setting is set, and the "OFF" display LED is displayed.
(16) lights up to indicate that it is in the "off" state, and the buzzer circuit (24) is turned on for a slightly longer period of time (250 m).
s) The drive emits a beep and emits an "off" sound, and notifies that the setting is "off" by clearly distinguishing it from other states. After that, every time the switch (13) is turned on, “high”, “medium”, “low”, “off”
The settings are switched in the order of “high”.

Next, the continuous temperature setting in which the key switch (13) is kept turned on and the temperature setting is sequentially switched will be described with reference to the waveform diagram shown in FIG. First, the key switch (13) is turned on at the time point a from the state of the “off” setting, and
If the signal is continuously input to the terminal (i1), the microcomputer (5)
Switches the temperature setting to "high" at the point a, turns on the LED (19) in the same manner as in the case of the step temperature setting, and sounds the buzzer "beep" for a short time (100 ms).
At the time point b when the time T1 (800 ms) elapses from the time point a, the setting is switched to the “middle” setting, and the time T2 (40
0 ms), at time c, switch to the “low” setting,
Further, at the time point d when the time T2 has elapsed, the setting is switched to “OFF”. During this time, the LEDs are LED (18), LED (1
7) The LED (16) lights up in this order. At the time point d when the “OFF” setting is made, the buzzer sounds “P” and a long time (250m
s) Sound to make it easy to distinguish from other settings. When the time T3 (800 ms), which is longer than the time T2, elapses from the time point d when the "off" setting is made, the time point e is switched to the "high" setting again. "-" Off ", and when" off "is set," high "
Switch to setting.

When the key switch (13) is turned off, the setting at that time becomes the actual setting. Therefore, when ending ironing, if the key switch (13) is kept turned on, the settings are sequentially switched at short time intervals until the temperature setting is set to "OFF". First of all, it is easy to confirm that the buzzer sounds distinct from other settings and the “off” setting has been set, and then the “off” setting is maintained longer than the other settings. The user can be given sufficient time to turn off the key switch (13).

In the continuous temperature setting, the time T1 for maintaining the temperature setting switched immediately after the key switch (13) is turned on and the time T for maintaining the "OFF" setting.
3 is the same time (800 ms), but T2 (40
If it is longer than 0 ms), different times may be set. In addition, the buzzer sound when the “OFF” setting and other settings are made is distinguished by its length, but the buzzer sound frequency can be changed to distinguish it or it can be distinguished by voice. You may. Alternatively, a buzzer sound may be emitted only when the setting is “off”.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the ironing is finished, the key switch is kept turned on, so that when the setting is switched to the "off" setting, the state is more than the other setting. Since it can be maintained for a long time, the "OFF" setting can be easily selected, and there is no need to turn on and switch the key switch many times, and the operability is extremely good. In addition, the "off" setting and other temperature settings can be distinguished by the buzzer sound, so that the operability is further improved. Further, if the key switch is kept turned on, any temperature setting other than the "off" setting can be arbitrarily performed, so that the operability of normal temperature setting is not impaired.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an input / output waveform diagram of the microcomputer of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 5 Microcomputer 13 Key switch 15 Display means 24 Buzzer circuit

Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-1-175900 (JP, A) JP-A-61-87599 (JP, A) JP-A-2-295598 (JP, A) JP-A-61-280896 (JP, A) , A) JP-A-58-121998 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) D06F 75/26

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A display means for displaying a temperature setting in a plurality of stages including "OFF", a key switch for switching the setting of the display means, and a temperature setting being switched by one step every time the key switch is turned on. Step temperature setting means for setting the temperature to a predetermined temperature, and continuous temperature setting means for sequentially switching the temperature settings of the plurality of steps at intervals of time while the key switch is kept turned on. The time interval between switching from the temperature setting to the next temperature setting after changing from the temperature setting to the OFF setting is set longer than the time interval for switching from the temperature setting other than the OFF setting to the next temperature setting. Electronic iron. 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a notifying unit that emits a sound for distinguishing the setting of “OFF” by the continuous temperature setting unit from the case of performing another temperature setting. Electronic iron described.