JP3118972B2 - humidifier - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a humidifier for automatically performing appropriate humidification control according to the temperature and humidity in a room.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a humidifier of this type employs a method in which a constant humidification is always performed according to a set humidification amount regardless of the indoor humidity. As a result, appropriate humidification was not performed, and problems such as excessive humidification sometimes occurred. For this reason, when setting the humidification amount of the humidifier, it is necessary to detect the humidity of the room to be humidified, judge the set humidity and room temperature comprehensively, and perform appropriate humidification so as not to over-humidify etc. There is.

Therefore, a humidifier as shown in FIG. 3 has been conventionally proposed. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a humidifier disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-13547.
7 is a power switch, 38 is a power circuit, 40 is an oscillator oscillation circuit, 44 is a humidity sensor, 42 is a humidity setting switch,
43 is a comparison circuit, 45 is a display, and 49 is a microcomputer.

In the conventional humidifier having such a configuration, first, when detecting the current humidity, the microcomputer 49 uses the comparison circuit 43 to detect the humidity.
4 is read and the current humidity is determined by comparing and referring to the characteristic data stored in advance. The microcomputer 49 controls the operation switching circuit 4 so that the current humidity is maintained at the set humidity selected by the humidity setting switch 42.
1 and the current humidity is displayed on the display 45.

[0005] The conventional humidifier is configured as described above,
The humidity in the room is detected by the humidity sensor 44, and the detected value is used as it is as the current humidity value as the setting of the humidification amount or the value of the current humidity display.

[0006]

As described above, the conventional humidifier uses the detection signal from the humidity sensor 44 as it is, so that the air in the room is sufficiently absorbed by the blower fan motor 39 at the start of operation. In a state where it is not possible, the ambient humidity of the humidity sensor 44 in the humidifier may be considerably different from the humidity of the room, and the humidity detection is not performed accurately, which causes a problem in humidification amount control and humidity display. was there.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has as its object to provide a humidifier that can accurately display the current humidity and control the humidification amount quickly from the start of operation. I do.

[0008]

A humidifier according to the present invention comprises a humidity sensor for detecting indoor humidity, a humidity setting button for setting a target humidity, a room temperature sensor for detecting room temperature, and detection of both sensors. Sensor signal control means for reading, correcting, comparing values, etc., and a steam generator,
A display for displaying the indoor humidity, the set humidity, etc., and a humidification amount control for automatically determining the humidification amount based on the detection values of the humidity sensor and the room temperature sensor and the set humidity, and controlling the humidification amount to be obtained. Means, blower fan control means for automatically controlling the number of rotations of the blower fan for discharging water vapor according to the humidification amount, timer means for measuring the time elapsed from the start of operation, and controlling the display on the display. Display control means for correcting the detection value of the humidity sensor by the sensor signal control means until the timer means measures a predetermined time from the start of operation, and displays the corrected humidity on a display. It is like that.

[0009]

The humidifier according to the present invention performs humidification control, display control of current humidity, and the like based on a detection signal from a humidity sensor, a detection signal from a room temperature sensor, and timing information from the start of operation from timer means. The rotation of the blower fan is controlled, and the air in the room is not sufficiently taken into the humidifier by the blower fan until a predetermined time elapses after the power switch is turned on. Since it differs from the humidity value of the room, the detected value of the humidity sensor is displayed as a corrected humidity corrected so as to be close to the true room humidity, and the humidification amount is controlled with the corrected humidity, so that the user can obtain an accurate value. The current humidity display and appropriate humidification amount control can be performed.

[0010]

[Embodiment 1] FIG. 1 is a main block diagram of a humidifier showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation program of the humidifier stored in a microcomputer. In FIG. 1, 1 is a humidity sensor, 2 is a room temperature sensor, 3 is a humidity setting button, 4 is a humidification amount control means, 5 is a timer means for measuring an elapsed time from the start of operation, and 6 is a set humidity and room humidity. A display for displaying, 7 is a display control means for controlling the display mode of the display 6, 8 is a steam generator, 13 is a blower fan for discharging steam generated by the steam generator 8, and 9 is a blower fan 13. Blower fan control means for automatically controlling the number of rotations according to the amount of humidification; 10 sensor signal control means for reading, correcting and comparing temperature and humidity information from the humidity sensor 1 and the room temperature sensor 2;
Is a system signal control means for transmitting a temperature / humidity information command to the heater 39 and a humidification information command to be controlled and operated based on transmission data from the humidifier, and 12 is based on a command from the system signal control means 11. A system signal generator for transmitting an infrared signal to the heater 39 is a microcomputer. Reference numeral 38 denotes a heater temperature thermometer for monitoring overheating of the heater for heating the steam generator 8.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, when a power switch (not shown) is turned on, it is checked in step 15 whether or not the timer is operating. If NO, the process proceeds to step 16 in which the sensor signal control means 10 detects the temperature from the humidity sensor 1 and the room temperature sensor 2. Perform humidity reading. Next, at step 17, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the operation switch was turned on, that is, 5 minutes in this embodiment, and when 5 minutes have elapsed, the system signal generator 12 transmits a system signal to the heater 39. A command is issued to the system signal generator 12 so as to perform the operation. Next, in step 19, the room temperature sensor 2
It is determined whether the detected value is within a predetermined temperature range. In this embodiment, when the room temperature is 0 ° C. or lower or 30 ° C. or higher,
It is determined that the environment is not suitable for operating the humidifier, the process proceeds to step 20, and the humidification is stopped. In step 21, the display process of the current humidity, the set humidity, the single operation or the system operation is performed, and the process ends.

In step 17, the process proceeds to step 22 until 5 minutes have elapsed since the start of operation, the system signal control means 11 issues a transmission stop command, and the sensor signal control means 10 sets the detection value of the humidity sensor 1 to Make corrections. At the start of operation, the humidity around the humidity sensor 1 in the humidifier and the humidity in the room are considerably different until the blower fan 13 is operated for a predetermined time, and the humidity is detected by correcting this difference. This is to bring the value closer to the true humidity of the room. During this time, the system operation signal is not transmitted, and is transmitted to the heater 39 that is operated in the system after the detected value of the humidity sensor 1 approaches the room humidity and becomes a true value.

Then, two minutes and thirty minutes after the operation switch is turned on.
After the elapse of seconds, the process proceeds to step 19 described above. Until that time, the set humidity is read in step 25, and step 2 is performed.
In step 6, it is checked whether the heater temperature thermo 38 detects overheating. If NO, the process proceeds to humidification amount rank determination in step 27, and among the humidification amount ranks set in a plurality of stages,
It is determined at which rank to drive, and if it is not rank 0 at step 28, the process further proceeds to step 29, where the humidification amount of the rank determined at step 27 is controlled,
In step 21, display processing such as current humidity, set humidity, independent operation or system operation is performed.

On the other hand, in step 26, if the steam generator 8 is overheated due to water shortage or the like and the heater temperature thermo 38 is operating, the process proceeds to step 32, where the heater is turned off. In step 33, it is determined whether a predetermined time has elapsed since the heater was turned off, and in this embodiment, 6 minutes have elapsed.
If six minutes have elapsed, a failure signal is output in step 34, a failure display process of the heater temperature thermo is performed in step 21, and the user is notified that the operation has been stopped due to overheating. Also, in the case of rank 0 in step 28, the process proceeds to step 30 to turn off the heater, and then in step 31 control is performed to reduce the rotation speed of the blower fan 13, and humidification is stopped by the humidification amount control in step 29. I do.

On the other hand, when the timer operation is being performed in step 15, when the end of the timer time is confirmed in step 35, the heater is turned off in step 36 to stop humidification, and in step 37 all displays other than the operation lamp are displayed. It turns off and proceeds to step 21 to perform a display process for ending the timer operation.

In the above operation, in step 16 of reading the temperature and humidity, the air in the room is not sufficiently taken into the humidifier by the blower fan 13 until a predetermined time (5 minutes) has elapsed since the power switch was turned on. Since the detection value of the humidity sensor 1 in the vessel is different from the actual humidity value of the room, the signal from the timer means 5 determines the predetermined time (5.
) Until the time elapses.
, The transmission of the temperature and humidity information is stopped so that incorrect information is not transmitted, and the display process of step 21 displays the corrected humidity. Also,
In the control of the humidifier on the humidifier side, the detected value of the humidity sensor 1 is corrected in step 23, and the detected value is set to a value close to the true indoor humidity, the humidified amount is determined, and the appropriate humidified amount is controlled. Further, after the predetermined time (5 minutes) has elapsed, the humidity information is input to the system signal generator 12 after accurate information can be detected, and is detected by the humidity sensor 1 in the display processing in step 21. We are currently displaying the humidity.

On the other hand, if the value detected by the room temperature sensor 2 is restarted immediately after the operation is stopped, the room temperature overshoot is large due to the accumulation of heat inside the humidifier and the temperature becomes higher than the actual room temperature. Works. For this reason, the operation of the humidifier becomes impossible in spite of normal operation. Therefore, in step 24, about 2 minutes 3
During 0 seconds, the determination of the detection signal of the room temperature sensor 2 is passed to cancel the operation of the overheat prevention function.

Also, during normal operation, the heater temperature rises,
If the heater temperature thermo 38 detects overheating of the heater, at step 33, only the heater is turned off without displaying the heater overheating on the display 6 for about 6 minutes. This is because if the user quickly turns off the operation switch or unplugs the outlet due to the overheating display, the cooling by the blower fan 13 also stops, so even if the heater is turned off,
The internal temperature rises further due to the hot air. To prevent this, the fan 13 is turned for about 6 minutes to cool the inside, and after sufficient cooling, the overheating display is performed.

If it is determined in step 28 that the humidification amount is rank 0 and the heater is turned off,
If the operation is stopped immediately, the internal temperature rises and an error occurs in the detected temperature and humidity. Therefore, the rotational speed of the blower fan 13 is gradually reduced to suppress the internal temperature rise and reduce the operation noise. . In the present embodiment, the blower fan 13
Is reduced to about 70%. However, the rotation speed is an example, and the rotation speed is not limited to this and there is a method of gradually reducing the rotation speed.

When the display change of the current humidity display or the new humidity setting is read in step 16 for reading the temperature and humidity or step 25 for reading the set humidity, the new humidification amount is immediately set in steps 27 and 28. Make the settings for On the other hand, when the humidification for a predetermined time has been completed by the timer operation, the current humidity display and the set humidity display are turned off in steps 37 and 21 at the same time as the operation is completed, and operations other than the operation switch cannot be accepted. The end of the timer operation should be clearly displayed. This allows the user to determine whether the operation has stopped due to high humidity or whether the operation has stopped after the timer operation time has elapsed.

[0021]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, during a predetermined time from the start of operation, the detection value of the humidity sensor is corrected so as to be close to the true indoor humidity. By displaying the current humidity on the display,
Since the accurate current humidity is displayed to the user and the humidification amount is controlled based on the corrected humidity, an effect that appropriate humidification amount control can be performed can be obtained. Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, erroneous humidity information is not transmitted to the heater operated in the system, so that the heater can be used without any adverse effect on the operation of the heater. The effect is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a humidifier according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the humidifier of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional humidifier.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Humidity sensor, 2 Room temperature sensor, 3 Humidity setting button, 4 Humidification amount control means, 5 Timer means, 6 Display, 7 Display control means, 9 Ventilation fan control means, 10 Sensor signal control means, 11
System signal control means, 13 blower fan, 14
Microcomputer.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Satoshi Arai 800 Iwamatsu, Oaza-machi, Ojima-cho, Nitta-gun, Gunma Mitsubishi Electric Engineering Co., Ltd. Kamakura Office Gunma Branch (56) References JP-A-62-153637 (JP) , A) JP-A-4-116331 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) F24F 11/02 102

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A humidity sensor for detecting indoor humidity;
A humidity setting button to set the target humidity, a room temperature sensor to detect room temperature, and reading and reading of the detection values of both sensors
A sensor signal control means for performing correction / comparison, a water vapor generator, a display for displaying the indoor humidity, the set humidity, etc., and an automatic humidification amount based on the detected values of the humidity sensor and the room temperature sensor and the set humidity. Humidification amount control means for controlling so as to obtain the humidification amount, blower fan control means for automatically controlling the rotation speed of the blower fan for discharging water vapor according to the humidification amount, and Timer means for measuring the elapsed time, and display control means for controlling the display on the display, the detection value of the humidity sensor
From the start of operation to the predetermined time.
During the period, correction is performed by the sensor signal control means,
A humidifier characterized in that the corrected humidity is displayed on a display . 2. The system is operated in combination with the humidifier.
Sends a temperature / humidity information transmission command or humidification information transmission command to the heater.
System signal control device and system signal control device
An infrared signal to the heater based on a command from
Provide a stem signal generator that generates
During operation, the corrected humidity is displayed on the display.
Transmits the humidity information to the heater operating the system.
Humidifier according to claim 1, characterized in that as a no.