JP3406721B2 - Sanitary fitting cleaning equipment - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning device for sanitary appliances such as urinals used in public toilets and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, each urinal (hereinafter referred to simply as a urinal) installed in a public toilet has a cleaning device. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, each toilet bowl 1 is installed on a wall surface 2 and a water supply pipe 3 is provided therein. Each water supply pipe 3 is provided with an electromagnetic control valve 4 in the vicinity of the toilet 1. The electromagnetic control valve 4 uses a latching solenoid that consumes electric power only when it is operated, thereby reducing the power consumption of the cleaning device. Each control valve 4 is connected to a cleaning device provided in a control box 5 provided for each toilet 1. Each control box 5 is provided in the wall surface 2 located slightly above the toilet bowl 1. The control box 5 is provided with a power supply circuit section 6, a control circuit section 7 and a detection section 8 which constitute a cleaning device together with the control valve 4. The control box 5 is exposed to the outside so that its surface plate 9 constitutes a part of the wall surface 2. The detection unit 8 is attached to the surface plate 9, and the detection unit 8 is attached.
Is composed of a light emitting diode that emits light forward and a photodiode that receives reflected light of the light emitted by the light emitting diode.

FIG. 6 shows an electric circuit of the cleaning device. The cleaning device includes an electromagnetic control valve 4, a power supply circuit unit 6, a control circuit unit 7, and a detection unit 8. The power supply circuit section 6 is composed of a step-down transformer 10 and a bridge rectifier circuit 11. The AC voltage VAC of the commercial AC power supply AC is input to the primary side input terminal of the transformer 10 via the switch 12. The AC voltage VAC is also supplied to the cleaning device provided in another toilet bowl 1 via the switch 12. The step-down transformer 10 steps down the AC voltage VAC and outputs it to the bridge rectifier circuit 11. The bridge rectifier circuit 11 full-wave rectifies the stepped-down AC voltage VAC and outputs the full-wave rectified voltage VS to the control circuit unit 7.

The control circuit section 7 includes a capacitor 13 for charging power, a constant voltage circuit 14, a microcomputer (hereinafter,
It is composed of a microcomputer 15), a detector control circuit 16 and a valve drive circuit 17. The capacitor 13 has one end connected to the rectifier circuit 11 and the other end grounded. The capacitor 13 charges the full-wave rectified voltage VS.
The constant voltage circuit 14 is composed of a three-terminal regulator,
The charging voltage VC of the capacitor 13 is input, and a stable DC voltage without ripple is output to the power supply line 18. This DC voltage is supplied as an operating power supply for the detection unit control circuit 16 and the valve drive circuit 17 via the power supply line 18.

The microcomputer 15 is a central processing unit (CPU)
And a read-only memory (ROM) 15a storing a control program, a readable / rewritable memory (RAM) 15b, a timer 15c, and an input / output interface. The microcomputer 15 has an output port P1 and an input port P2, and both ports P1 and P2 are connected to the detection unit control circuit 16. The microcomputer 15 outputs a light emission signal to the detection unit control circuit 16. The detection unit control circuit 16 causes the light emitting diode of the detection unit 8 to emit light based on the light emission signal. Further, the detection unit control circuit 16 outputs to the microcomputer 15 a light reception signal obtained by amplifying and waveform-shaping the detection signal output by the phototransistor based on the reflected light of the light emitted by the light emitting diode.

The microcomputer 15 has output ports P3 and P4.
Both ports P3 and P4 are connected to the valve drive circuit 17. The microcomputer 15 outputs from the output port P3 to 1
The valve opening signal O consisting of a pulse and the valve closing signal C consisting of one pulse are output from the output port P4 to the valve drive circuit 17, respectively. The valve drive circuit 17 responds to the valve open signal O to switch the electromagnetic control valve 4 to the valve open position. Also, the valve drive circuit 1
7 responds to the valve closing signal C to switch the electromagnetic control valve 4 to the valve closing position.

The electromagnetic control valve 4 is composed of a latch type solenoid. Therefore, after the electromagnetic control valve 4 is switched to the valve open position by the valve drive circuit 17 in response to the valve open signal O, the state of the valve open position is maintained. That is, the electromagnetic control valve 4 remains in this valve open position unless it is switched to the valve close position by the valve drive circuit 17 in response to the valve close signal C. Therefore, the flush water is supplied to the toilet bowl 1 only while the electromagnetic control valve 4 is in the valve open position. Then, the microcomputer 15 stores in the RAM 15b whether the electromagnetic control valve 4 at that time is in the valve open position or the valve closed position.

In the cleaning device thus constructed,
When a person stands in front of the toilet 1, the light emitted by the light emitting diode hits the person and is reflected, and the reflected light is received by the photodiode. The detection unit control circuit 16 outputs a light reception signal to the microcomputer 15 based on the light reception of the photodiode.
The microcomputer 15 determines that a person stands in front of the toilet 1.

Then, when the person leaves, the phototransistor does not receive the reflected light, and the light receiving signal from the detector control circuit 16 disappears. The microcomputer 15 outputs the valve opening signal O to the valve drive circuit 17 in response to the disappearance of the light receiving signal. The valve drive circuit 17 switches the electromagnetic control valve 4 from the valve closed position to the valve open position in response to the one-pulse valve open signal O. At this time, data in which the state of the electromagnetic control valve 4 changes from the valve closed position to the valve open position is stored in the RAM 15b. Further, the microcomputer 15 causes the timer 15c to count the time.

When the timer 15c counts a predetermined time, the microcomputer 15 outputs the valve closing signal C to the valve drive circuit 1
Output to 7. The valve drive circuit 17 switches the electromagnetic control valve 4 from the valve open position to the valve close position in response to the valve closing signal C of one pulse. At this time, data in which the state of the electromagnetic control valve 4 is changed from the valve open position to the valve closed position is stored in the RAM 15b. Therefore, the cleaning device stops supplying the cleaning water to the toilet 1 after supplying the cleaning water to the toilet 1 for a predetermined time after the person leaves the toilet 1, and performs the next cleaning (this is called normal cleaning).
Wait for

If a power failure occurs while the electromagnetic control valve 4 is in the valve open position and cleaning is being performed, the supply of the AC voltage VAC to the power supply circuit 6 is stopped. However, microcomputer 1
The switch 5 drives the electromagnetic control valve 4 to switch to the valve closed position based on the charging voltage VC charged in the capacitor 13. That is, the capacitor 13 secures the charging voltage VC necessary for switching and driving the electromagnetic on-off valve 4 to the valve closed position at the time of power failure. Therefore, even if a power failure occurs during normal cleaning, the cleaning water does not continue to flow.

Further, when the switch 12 is closed and the AC voltage VAC is supplied to the cleaning device of each toilet 1, each cleaning device first flushes the toilet 1 with cleaning water for a predetermined time in the form of initial cleaning. It is like this. Therefore, when the switch 12 is closed and the AC voltage VAC is supplied to the cleaning device of each toilet 1, the toilets 1 are simultaneously subjected to the initial cleaning. The simultaneous cleaning of each toilet 1 by this initial cleaning is used when cleaning all the toilets 1 in a public toilet or the like. That is, when the operator cleans each toilet 1, the switch 12 is once opened to stop the operation of the cleaning device of each toilet 1 so that the cleaning water is not wastefully supplied. Then, after all the toilet bowls 1 have been cleaned, the switches 12 are closed again to cause all the toilet bowls 1 to simultaneously perform initial cleaning to complete the cleaning. This initial cleaning is executed by the microcomputer 15 when the operating voltage is applied based on the control program of the ROM 15a and the microcomputer 15 is initially set.

[0013]

However, when opening and closing the switch 12 to cause the cleaning devices of the toilets 1 to simultaneously perform the initial cleaning, there are the following problems. That is, the switch 12
Capacitor 1 even if the AC voltage VAC is cut off by opening the circuit
The charge of 3 is not immediately discharged, and the charging voltage VC does not become 0 immediately. This is because the above power outage is taken into consideration. Therefore, it takes a while for the microcomputer 15 to set the operating voltage to 0, input the operating voltage again, and initialize the operating voltage. As a result, switch 1
If the time for opening 2 and closing again is short, the microcomputer 15 is not initially set and simultaneous initial cleaning cannot be performed. Therefore, it was very inconvenient because the switch 12 had to be closed until the capacitor 13 was completely discharged.

In order to solve this, when the supply of electric power is stopped, the electromagnetic control valve 4 is driven to switch to the valve closed position,
A method of forcibly discharging the charging voltage VC of the capacitor 13 can be considered. According to this method, when the switch 12 is opened, the operation of the microcomputer 15 is stopped in a short time. Then, when the switch 12 is closed again, the microcomputer 15 is initialized and the initial cleaning is performed based on the control program. Therefore, it is possible to perform the initial cleaning by opening the switch 12 once and then closing it without waiting for a long time. However, in this method, once a power failure occurs, the initial cleaning is performed after a short time, and therefore the initial cleaning is performed even during a power failure for a relatively short time. As a result, when the cleaning device is used in an area where power supply conditions are bad and short power failures frequently occur, useless initial cleaning is frequently performed.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and its purpose is to perform initial cleaning when the power is turned on and to stop the supply of cleaning water at the time of power failure during normal cleaning. Another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning device for sanitary ware capable of performing initial cleaning by supplying power after an appropriate time has elapsed after stopping the supply of cleaning water.

[0016]

In order to solve the above problems, the invention according to claim 1 performs an initial cleaning for a preset time when the AC power is turned on, and a normal cleaning by normal use of sanitary equipment. When the power supply stops during
In the sanitary equipment cleaning device in which the electromagnetic control valve is switched to the valve closed position where the cleaning water is not supplied to the sanitary equipment by the charging voltage of the capacitor, in the state where the electromagnetic control valve is in the valve closed position after the power supply is stopped, When power is supplied again, re-initial cleaning means that waits in a state where normal cleaning is performed after another initial cleaning, and power is supplied again within a preset reference time from the time when power supply is stopped. And a normal-cleaning returning unit that waits in a state in which normal cleaning is performed by invalidating the operation of the reinitialization cleaning unit.

The invention according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1, wherein the reinitialization cleaning means determines whether the power is supplied from the AC power supply or not. The normal cleaning recovery means is provided with a time measuring means for measuring an elapsed time from the time when the power supply is stopped to the time when the power supply is performed again.

According to a third aspect of the invention, in the second aspect of the invention, the power supply discriminating means includes a discriminating circuit provided with a switching element that is switched by an AC voltage to generate an ON / OFF signal. The time measuring means is a timer built in the microcomputer, which comprises a microcomputer for judging the presence / absence of power supply by an on / off signal output from the judging circuit.

[0019]

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, when the power supply from the AC power source is stopped, the electromagnetic control valve in the valve open position is switched to the valve closed position by the charging voltage of the capacitor, and the valve closed position is obtained. The solenoid control valve at will remain. Then, when power is supplied again with the electromagnetic control valve in the valve closed position, the normal cleaning is performed after the initial cleaning is performed again. When the time elapsed until the power is supplied again is less than the preset reference time, the normal cleaning unit does not perform the initial cleaning by the re-initial cleaning unit and stands by in the state where the normal cleaning is performed. . As a result, after the power is stopped due to a power failure or the like, the initial cleaning is performed when the power is supplied again after a predetermined time has elapsed.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 2, in addition to the operation of the invention described in claim 1, the power supply from the AC power supply is determined by the power supply determination means, and the power supply determination means Based on the determination result, the reinitialization cleaning unit determines the power supply. Further, the elapsed time from the time when the power supply is stopped until the power supply is restarted is measured by the time measuring means, and the normal cleaning return means compares the time measured by the time measuring means with the reference time to determine the reinitialization cleaning means. Disable the action.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 3, in addition to the operation of the invention described in claim 2, the discrimination circuit provided with the switching element which is switched by the AC power supply voltage can cope with the AC voltage. The generated on / off signal is generated, and the microcomputer determines the power supply based on the on / off signal. Further, the time elapsed after the power supply is stopped is performed by the timer built in the microcomputer.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment embodying the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS.
It will be described with reference to FIG. The present embodiment is different only in that the discrimination circuit 30 is added to the conventional control circuit section 7 and the control operation of the microcomputer 15 based on the discrimination circuit 30 is different. Therefore, the points different from the conventional one will be described in detail, the same configurations will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

In FIG. 1, the discriminating circuit 30 which constitutes the power supply discriminating means is composed of a diode 31, a Zener diode 32, an NPN transistor (hereinafter simply referred to as transistor) 33, and resistors 34 and 35.
The diode 31 has an anode connected to the full-wave rectifier 11 and a cathode connected to the constant voltage circuit 14. The capacitor 13 is connected between the cathode of the diode 31 and the ground. The Zener diode 32 has its cathode connected to the full-wave rectifier 11 and its anode connected to the resistor 34.
Is connected to the base of the transistor 33 as a switching element via. As a result, the full-wave rectified voltage VS shown in FIG. 3 from the full-wave rectifier 11 is input to the cathode of the Zener diode 32. Further, the Zener diode 32 is not affected by the charging voltage VC of the capacitor 13 by the diode 31. Therefore, when the voltage value of the full-wave rectified voltage VS input to the cathode of the Zener diode 32 becomes a predetermined value or more, the Zener diode 32 applies the base current to the transistor 33. That is, the transistor 33 periodically inputs the base current while the AC voltage VAC is supplied.

The collector of the transistor 33 is a resistor 35.
Is connected to the power supply line 18 via the, and the emitter is grounded. Therefore, the transistor 33 performs on / off operation based on the base current that is periodically input. That is, while the AC voltage VAC is being supplied, the transistor 3
3 repeats on / off operation. And AC voltage VAC
Is cut off, the transistor 33 is turned off.

The collector of the transistor 33 is connected to the input port P5 of the microcomputer 15, and the input port P5
The ON / OFF signal G of the transistor 33 is output to the terminal 5.
Therefore, the discrimination circuit 30 determines that the AC voltage VAC is the power supply circuit unit 6
Is being supplied to the input port P of the microcomputer 15.
The on / off signal G is output to 5. On the contrary, the determination circuit 30 causes the on / off signal G to disappear to the input port P5 of the microcomputer 15 when the AC voltage VAC is not supplied to the power supply circuit unit 6.

The microcomputer 15 as the re-initial cleaning means, the normal cleaning recovery means, and the power supply determination means has an input port P.
When the on / off signal G input from 5 disappears (turns off), the elapsed time from that point is measured by the timer 15c as a time measuring means. Then, the microcomputer 15
If the elapsed time until the on / off signal G is input again is less than the preset time of 50 milliseconds, it means that there is no power outage and normal cleaning is performed. Also, microcomputer 1
When the elapsed time from the disappearance of the on / off signal G to the re-input of the on / off signal G is 50 milliseconds or more, it is determined that there is a power failure. Then, the valve position of the electromagnetic control valve 4 is stored in the RAM.
The determination is made based on the data stored in 15b. The microcomputer 15 outputs a one-pulse valve closing signal C from the output port P4 to the valve drive circuit 17 when the electromagnetic control valve 4 is in the valve open position. Further, the microcomputer 15 turns on / off the signal G.
When the ON / OFF signal G is input again within less than 1 second, which is a preset reference time after disappearance of, the normal cleaning is performed, assuming that the power outage has ended. Also, the microcomputer 15
When the elapsed time until the ON / OFF signal G is input again is 1 second or more, it is assumed that the power outage has ended and the initial cleaning is performed again, and then the normal cleaning is performed. still,
The microcomputer 15 stops its operation when the on / off signal G is not input during a power failure and the voltage supplied from the capacitor 13 becomes equal to or lower than the operating voltage.

Next, the operation of the cleaning apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the switch 12 is closed and the power is turned on, the microcomputer 15 is initially set. Therefore, the microcomputer 15 first performs the initial cleaning according to the control program (step 1, hereinafter referred to as S1). The capacitor 13 is charged by turning on the power. Next, the microcomputer 15 executes normal cleaning based on the light reception signal from the detection unit control circuit 16 (S2, S
3).

Now, if the on / off signal G is interrupted and 50 milliseconds or more has elapsed since the interruption, the microcomputer 1
5 is judged to be a power failure (S4). The microcomputer 15 is a RAM
Based on the data of 15b, it is determined whether or not the electromagnetic control valve 4 is in the valve open position (S5). And the microcomputer 15
Is the valve drive circuit 1 when the electromagnetic control valve 4 is in the valve open position.
A valve close signal C is output to 7 to switch the electromagnetic control valve 4 from the valve open position to the valve closed position (S6). Then, microcomputer 1
When the on / off signal G is input again after less than 1 second has elapsed from the point at which the on / off signal G was interrupted, 5 stands by for normal cleaning (S7). Also, the microcomputer 15
Is the capacitor 13 when the elapsed time becomes 1 second or more.
While the voltage supplied from the device does not fall below the operating voltage of the microcomputer 15, when the on / off signal G is input again, the initial cleaning is executed again (S7, 8, 1). Then, the microcomputer 15 stands by to newly perform normal cleaning.
Further, the microcomputer 15 determines that the capacitor 13 has reached the time when the elapsed time from the disappearance of the on / off signal G becomes 1 second or more.
When the voltage supplied from the device becomes lower than the operating voltage, the operation is stopped (S8, 9).

As described above in detail, according to the sanitary equipment cleaning device of this embodiment, the electromagnetic control valve 4 is returned to the valve closed position at the time of a power failure of 50 milliseconds or more, thereby supplying unnecessary cleaning water. Is stopped. Then, when the power failure time exceeds 1 second, after the initial cleaning is performed again when the power failure is restored,
It is ready for normal cleaning. Therefore, the wash water being supplied can be stopped at the time of a power failure, and when performing simultaneous initial cleaning at the time of cleaning, it is possible to immediately open the switch 12 for 1 second or more and stop the power supply immediately. Initial cleaning can be performed. That is, in order to cause the cleaning device to perform the initial cleaning, the capacitor 1 is opened after the switch 12 is opened.
It is not necessary to wait until the voltage supplied to the microcomputer 15 drops below the operating voltage and the microcomputer 15 is initially set. Therefore, when cleaning a large number of toilet bowls 1, the initial cleaning can be conveniently used.

Further, after switching the electromagnetic control valve 4 to the valve closed position at the time of power failure, when the power failure is completed in less than 1 second, the initial cleaning is not performed and the normal cleaning is performed. Therefore, when the cleaning device is used in an area where power supply conditions are bad and short power failures frequently occur, unnecessary initial cleaning is not frequently performed for each short power failure.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but may be configured as follows. (1) In the above embodiment, after the on / off signal G disappears, the elapsed time until the microcomputer 15 determines that there is a power outage (50 milliseconds in the embodiment), and the on / off signal G again The reference time (1 second in the embodiment) to be compared with the elapsed time until the supply may be changed as appropriate.

(2) The control by the microcomputer 15 may be hardware control by a wired logic circuit. (3) The bridge rectifier circuit (full-wave rectifier circuit) 12 of the power supply circuit unit 6 may be a half-wave rectifier circuit.

(4) The constant voltage circuit 14 may be omitted. (5) The NPN transistor 33 is replaced with another FE, for example.
It may be changed to a switching element such as T.

(6) Not only the urinal 1 for men, but also a cleaning device for sanitary ware such as a wash basin may be used. The technical ideas other than the claims that can be understood from the above-described embodiments will be described below along with their effects.

(1) In the sanitary ware cleaning device according to claim 1, the electromagnetic control valve 4 is provided in a water supply pipe 3 for supplying cleaning water to the urinal 1 for men. Cleaning equipment. With this configuration, when cleaning a large number of men's urinals provided in public toilets and the like at the same time, it is possible to perform cleaning without unnecessarily operating the cleaning device for each urinal, and at the end of cleaning The initial cleaning can be performed.

[0036]

As described in detail above, according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the initial cleaning is performed when the power is turned on, and the supply of the cleaning water is stopped during a power failure during the normal cleaning. In addition, after stopping the supply of cleaning water, the initial cleaning can be performed by supplying power after an appropriate time has elapsed.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 3, in addition to the effects of the invention described in claims 1 and 2, it is not necessary to newly design the logic circuit in the control circuit portion because the microcomputer is used. . Further, the reference time and the like can be easily changed without changing the circuit configuration.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an electric block diagram of a sanitary equipment cleaning device.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the cleaning device.

FIG. 3 is an operation chart showing the timing of stopping the AC voltage and the timing of initial cleaning.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional side view of a part of a conventional urinal and cleaning device.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a urinal and a cleaning device.

FIG. 6 is an electrical block diagram of the cleaning device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Urinal as sanitary equipment, 4 ... Electromagnetic control valve, 13 ...
A condenser, 15 ... a reinitialization cleaning means, a normal cleaning recovery means and a microcomputer as a power supply determining means, 15c ... a timer as a time measuring means, 30 ... a determining circuit as a power supply determining means, 33 ... an NPN transistor as a switching element, AC ... AC power supply, G ... ON / OFF signal, VAC
... AC voltage, VC ... charging voltage.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Shiho Kaneda Noda No. 1 in Toyota, Oguchi-machi, Niwa-gun, Aichi Prefecture Toda Rika Electric Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A-8-177103 (JP, A) ) JP-A-3-288073 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) E03D 5/10

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. When an alternating current power supply (AC) is turned on, initial cleaning is performed for a preset time, and when the power supply is stopped during normal cleaning by normal use of the sanitary equipment (1),
In the sanitary equipment cleaning device in which the electromagnetic control valve (4) is switched to the valve closed position in which the cleaning water is not supplied to the sanitary equipment (1) by the charging voltage (VC) of the capacitor (13), after the power supply is stopped, When power is supplied again with the electromagnetic control valve (4) in the valve closed position, re-initial cleaning means (15) that waits in a state where normal cleaning is performed after performing initial cleaning again, and power. When the power is supplied again within a preset reference time from the time when the supply is stopped, the operation by the reinitialization cleaning means (15) is invalidated, and the normal cleaning recovery means stands by in the state of performing the normal cleaning ( 1
5) A cleaning device for sanitary ware comprising: 2. The reinitialization cleaning means (15) comprises a power supply determining means for determining whether a power is being supplied from an AC power source (AC) or not, and the normal cleaning restoring means (15) is The sanitary equipment cleaning device according to claim 1, further comprising: a time measuring unit that measures an elapsed time from the time when the power supply is stopped to the time when the power supply is performed again. 3. The power supply discriminating means is an alternating voltage (VAC).
Discriminator circuit (30) equipped with a switching element (33) that is switched on and off to generate an on / off signal (G)
And an on / off signal (G) output from the discrimination circuit (30)
The sanitary equipment cleaning device according to claim 2, further comprising a microcomputer (15) for determining whether or not power is supplied, and the time measuring means is a timer (15c) built in the microcomputer (15).