JP3284772B2 - Water heater - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a water heater which can be remotely operated by, for example, a remote controller (hereinafter referred to as "remote controller"), and particularly to data storage of data required for storage.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, data such as error data, combustion time and the like are stored in a water heater.
In some cases, data is stored using an EEPROM which is a program memory capable of electrically writing and erasing data, so that there is no need to worry about a power failure or the life of a battery in the case of a secondary battery.

[0003]

Although there is such a conventional device, the conventional device has the following problems. As shown in FIG. 5, an EEPROM for storing data
Is usually mounted on the control board 20 in the water heater 10. When a failure occurs in the control board 20, the control board 20 itself is replaced with a new control board 30 to cope with the failure. The control board and the EEPROM
Is replaced with a new one, so that the data stored in the EEPROM cannot be used.

In such a case, as shown in FIG. 5, an IC socket 21 for the EEPROM 11 is mounted on the control board 20 so that the EEPROM 11 is detachable, and the failed old control board 20 is controlled by a new control. Substrate 3
When trying to replace with 0, the old EEP
If the ROM 11 is removed and attached to the IC socket 21 of the new control board 30, data retention can be realized. However, this causes a problem that the replacement of the control board is troublesome, and the control board is replaced.
EPROMs are problematic because they can be forgotten to be replaced.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an EEPROM storage means on the main unit and a storage means on the remote control side. .

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems To achieve the above object, an invention according to claim 1 has a water heater main body and a remote controller for remotely operating the water heater main body, and instructs the remote controller to operate the remote controller. In the water heater operating according to the above, writing and erasing data in said water heater body
Main body storage means comprising an electrically readable EEPROM
The suitability of the data stored in the main body storage means
Data check means for determining whether
And the remote controller
All or part of the contents stored in the main body storage means
Remote controller-side storage for storing common data
Means are provided, wherein said writing control means is
When there is a change in the data stored in the storage unit
The main body side storage means and the remote controller side
Rewrite both data in the
The data in the controller side storage means and the data in the main body side storage means are shared.
On the other hand, in the data check means, the main body side
That the data stored in the storage means is determined to be inappropriate
Stored in the remote controller side storage means
Data stored in the main body side storage means.
Characterized in that that.

[0007] The invention according to claim 2 is the data checker.
The water heater body and the remote controller
After a lapse of a predetermined time since both of the power are turned on, the main body
To judge the suitability of the data stored in the side storage means.
The water heater according to claim 1, characterized in that:

[0008]

[0009]

According to the present invention, the main body storage means on the water heater main body side is constituted by an EEPROM, and the remote control side is also provided with the remote control side storage means. Then, for example, the data to be periodically saved is rewritten to both the main body side storage means and the remote control side storage means, and the data in the main body side storage means becomes abnormal.
If it occurs, transfer the data from the remote
It is stored in the side storage means.

[0010] The data check means may be a memory device on the main body side.
The determination of the propriety of the stage data is based on the above-mentioned water heater body and
And the remote controller are both turned on.
Since the fixed time has passed, repairing this predetermined time
Water heater during repair by setting enough time
Handling data of the check remote control connected to the main unit
Can be prevented from being written into the main body side storage means.

[0011]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below.
In this embodiment, a remote controller 1 is connected to a water heater main body 10 as shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the remote controller 1 and the water heater main body 10. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the remote controller 1 has a remote controller control unit 2, an operation unit 3, a display unit 4, a data transfer unit 5, a remote control side storage unit 6, a power control unit 7, a backup unit 8, and a clock unit 9. ing. The operation means 3 is for instructing the operation of the water heater, and the display means 4 is for displaying the contents of the operation by the operation means 3, the state of the water heater body 10, and the like.

The data transfer means 5 transfers data from the remote controller 1 to the water heater main body 10,
It accepts data sent from the Internet.

The remote controller-side storage means 6 is composed of, for example, a random access memory (RAM). In addition to temporarily storing the operation contents of the operation means 3 and temporarily storing the transfer data, the burning time shown in FIG. , Stored data such as the number of times of combustion, normal time, and error history.

The power supply control means 7 is supplied with power from the water heater main body 10 side by a two-core cord, and further supplies power to the remote controller 1. The backup means 8 performs backup of the storage means 6. Normally, the power supply control means 7 charges the backup means 8, and when power is not supplied at the time of power failure or the like, the backup means 8 retains the stored contents of the storage means 6 for a predetermined period. This includes a secondary battery type and a backup type using a capacitor.

The remote controller control means 2 controls each of the operation means 3, display means 4, data transfer means 5, storage means 6, power supply control means 7, and backup means 8,
It performs mutual control operations. The clock means 9 has a clock function and takes timing or measures a predetermined time.

The water heater main body 10 has an EEPROM storage means 11, an EEPROM writing control means 12, a data transfer means 13, a data check means 14, a hot water supply means 15, and the like.

The EEPROM storage means 11 is an electronically erasable and electrically rewritable content.
It is composed of an eraseable PROM (EEPROM), and stores data such as the burning time, the number of times of burning, the energizing time, and the error history shown in FIG. Burning time,
Since the number of times of combustion and the energizing time are indices indicating the life of the water heater, they need to be added up, and are therefore suitable to be stored in the EEPROM. Also, since the error history needs to be retained even when the power supply is stopped, the EEPROM is used.
It is suitable to memorize it.

The EEPROM write control means 12 has an EEPROM
This is a means for rewriting the contents stored in the ROM storage means 11. The data transfer means 13 transfers data between the water heater main body 10 and the remote control 1 in the same manner as the data transfer means 5 of the remote control 1.

The data checking means 14 checks whether the data transferred by the data transferring means 13 and the data stored in the EEPROM storage means 11 are normal or abnormal. For example, a parity code is added to the data. By performing a parity check, it is possible to check whether or not data is normal. Hot water supply means 15 is means for supplying hot water by controlling a burner, a valve, and the like (not shown) according to an instruction from remote controller 1.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, it is determined whether or not the power is turned on by the operation unit 3 of the remote controller 1 (S
1). If the power is on, then it is determined whether five hours have elapsed since the power was turned on by measuring the time of the clock means 9 (S2).

If five hours have elapsed, the data check means 14 checks the contents of the data stored in the EEPROM storage means 11 (S3). The check checks whether the data is initial data and whether the data is normal.
In the case of the initial data, all bits constituting the data are "0" or "1", so that it can be determined by looking at the contents of the data. Further, since the data is provided with a parity check code in addition to the data itself, the data check unit 14 can perform a parity check to determine whether the data is normal. here,
The case where the data is determined to be the initial data is a case where the board to which the EEPROM storage means 11 in the water heater main body 10 is attached is replaced with a new board due to a failure or the like.

If the data stored in the EEPROM storage means 11 is not the initial data, and if the data is normal, the process proceeds to step S6. If the initial data or the data is abnormal, the correct data is written in the remote controller 1 side. The data is transferred from the means 6, and the EEPROM write control means 12 writes the data to the EEPROM storage means 11 (S5). In this way, the reason that the operations in steps S2 to S5 are performed, for example, 5 hours after the power is turned on is that it is performed immediately after the power is turned on. In some cases, the remote controller for checking may be connected to check the operation, and the data of the remote controller for checking may be written. I'm trying to do it.

Next, if it is not at the time when 5 hours have elapsed in step S2, it is determined whether or not the content of the data stored in the EEPROM storage means 11 has changed (S2).
6). If there is no change, the process proceeds to step S10, and if there is a change, it is determined whether or not the change is related to an error (S7). If there is a change in the error data, the EEPROM write control means 12 writes the error data into the EEPROM storage means 11 (S8). Then, the error data is transferred to the remote controller 1 by the data transfer means 13 and 5, and stored in the storage means 6 (S9).

Next, it is determined whether every 10 hours have passed since the power was turned on (S10). This means that the data other than the error data, such as the combustion time, the number of combustions,
This is to rewrite every hour. Therefore, at the time of every 10 hours, the burning time, the number of burning times, and the energizing time of the water heater up to now are rewritten in the EEPROM storage means 11 (S11), and are transferred to the remote controller 1 side to be stored in the storage means 6
(S12). If the power is turned off, the process ends. If the power is not turned off, the process returns to step S2 (S1).
3).

As described above, the contents stored in the EEPROM storage means 11 are also transferred and stored in the storage means 6 of the remote controller 1, so that when the board on which the EEPROM is mounted is exchanged, If an error occurs, the data can be transferred from the remote controller and written into the EEPROM.

Further, the remote control 1 side fails and the remote control 1
Storage means 6 on the remote controller 1 side even when the
Therefore, the data on the remote controller can be rewritten by a normal operation.

In the above-described embodiment, the remote control side storage means 6 uses a RAM, but any other means may be used as long as it stores data.

In the above embodiment, the data check means 14 checks the data only once from the EEPROM storage means 11 to perform the check. However, the data check means 14 reads a plurality of times to make a majority decision, and stores the data determined by the majority decision. If the content is determined to be 11, the reliability of the data check is improved.

[0030]

As described above, in the present invention, an EEPROM is employed as the data storage means on the water heater main body side.
The contents of the EEPROM are also stored in the remote controller side, and when the EEPROM is replaced or when the EEPROM is replaced.
When an abnormality occurs in the contents of the OM, the contents stored in the remote controller are transferred and stored in the EEPROM.
Therefore, there is an effect that the data can be securely stored, and the repair at the time of failure can be easily performed without paying attention to the handling of the data.

The contents of the EEPROM are stored on the remote controller.
Only the water heater and the remote
Since the operation is performed on the condition that a predetermined period of time has passed since both power supplies of the remote controller were turned on , there is an effect that the operation is not performed during the repair and the operation is safe.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of a water heater.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a water heater.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of stored data.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 remote control 2 remote control control means 5 data transfer means 6 storage means 8 backup means 10 water heater body 11 EEPROM storage means 12 EEPROM write control means 13 data transfer means 14 data check means 15 hot water supply means

Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Tadashi Matsubara No. 32, Akashi-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe-shi, Hyogo (72) Inventor Kenken Kubotani 32, Akashi-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo -Ritsunai (72) Inventor Hidehito Ichimaru 32, Akashi-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe-shi, Hyogo Pref. (72) Inventor Yasuyuki Takeda 32, Akashi-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe-shi, Hyogo (72) Inventor: Mamoru Miyazaki, 32, Akashi-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan (72) Inventor Tadahiko Oshio 32, Akashi-cho, Akashi-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo ( 56) References JP-A-5-99433 (JP, A) JP-A-2-112349 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04Q 9/00-9/16 F23N 5/26

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A water heater that has a water heater main body and a remote controller that remotely controls the water heater main body and that operates according to an instruction operation of the remote controller, wherein writing and erasing of data to and from the water heater main body are performed electrically.
Main body storage means comprising an EEPROM capable of
Judge the suitability of the data stored in the main body storage means
Data check means and write control means are provided.
With the remote controller,
Record data that is common to all or part of the
Remote controller-side storage means for storing the data, wherein the write control means is provided periodically and the main body-side storage means.
When there is a change in the data stored in the
Storage device and the remote controller side storage device
Rewrite the data, and
While sharing the data between the column and the main body side storage means,
Stored in the main body storage means in the data check means.
When it is determined that the data
The data stored in the controller side storage means is
A water heater characterized by being transferred to and stored in a main body storage means . 2. The water heater according to claim 2, wherein said data check means comprises :
Both the main unit and the remote controller are turned on.
After a predetermined time has passed since the
Determining whether the data is correct or not.
2. The water heater according to 1.