JP6326635B2 - Washing machine operation panel - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an operation panel of a washing machine.

  In recent years, the operation panel of a washing machine has been found to have a design and an advanced feeling, and a transition from a higher-end model has started from one that uses a conventional tactile switch to one that uses a touch switch or a touch panel. Yes.

  Here, the touch switch is a part of the switch on the operation panel, or an electrostatic electrode is arranged on the back side of the switch, and the input is detected by reading the change in capacitance when the finger is touched and the change in voltage associated therewith. To do. A touch panel has a transparent electrode attached to the surface of a liquid crystal display panel. Here, they are collectively referred to as a touch sensor.

  However, since many of these touch sensors are configured to capture a minute change in capacitance by a minute voltage change, there is a concern about malfunction due to noise. In addition to external noise, inverters such as washing machines have a circuit that obtains a desired voltage by switching a commercial power supply voltage or its voltage doubler with a semiconductor, such as a switching power supply circuit or inverter circuit. There was a high possibility of adverse effects.

  Conventionally, as a noise removal method of a touch sensor, a method of removing noise by taking a difference from a signal of an adjacent sense line (see, for example, Patent Document 1), a clear noise is generated, a scanning period, a backlight Various methods are proposed such as a method of detecting except for the on / off period (for example, see Patent Document 2) and a method of creating a reference value from a detection signal and making a determination based on the reference value (for example, see Patent Document 3). It has been.

International Publication No. 2013/179422 JP 2014-6413 A JP 2011-233109 A

  A capacitive touch sensor essentially measures the capacitance between a sensing electrode and a (grounded) person. Therefore, at this measurement, what level the potential of the detection electrode is is an important point. However, a washing machine is a device that is connected to a commercial power source to operate. It is also a device that is grounded for safety. For this reason, the touch electrode may be configured to be in a state where a commercial power supply voltage is applied to the ground or in a state where it is insulated but connected to the ground or the commercial power supply voltage with some impedance. Many.

  Therefore, the circuit state when the ground is actually taken (see FIG. 10) and when the ground is not taken (regardless of whether it is equipment or installation work) (see FIG. 11). Things are very different as shown in the figure, and the threshold for touch determination is also different.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 12, one of the two lines of the commercial power supply of the washing machine should be connected to the ground. When the impedance difference between the two lines and the electrode is large, the circuit state is also greatly different, and the touch determination threshold is also different. And when rectifying in the power supply circuit and making a low voltage for touch determination with a switching power supply etc., when considering the voltage to the ground, the higher one depends on which of the two lines of the commercial power supply is higher, Or it sticks to the lower line and moves. This means that the grounding state appears to change greatly every half wave of the power cycle.

  This difference in installation environment is certainly considered noise, but it does not mean that it should be detected only when it is not moving. Due to cost and design limitations, it is not always possible to make the detection electrodes adjacent to each other or to generate a reference that can perform complicated numerical calculations.

  Therefore, in order to remove the adverse effects of noise, operation panels of washing machines equipped with various noise removal techniques such as those described in the above patent documents have been proposed. There is a problem that the sensitivity of the touch sensor is lowered due to the necessity of a complicated numerical arithmetic device for calibration and the necessity of dealing with the difference in noise level depending on the installation environment of each washing machine and the ground contact state.

  In addition, when a capacitive touch sensor is mounted on the operation panel of a conventional washing machine, the threshold value for touch determination is appropriately switched according to the installation environment and the grounding state peculiar to the washing machine, so that noise is generated. On the other hand, there is no one that operates stably with fewer malfunctions.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides an operation panel for a washing machine that switches a threshold value for touch determination according to a determination result of a ground determination circuit that determines whether grounding is performed.

  The operation panel of the washing machine of the present invention has a ground determination circuit and a set of two or more determination thresholds, and by switching the determination threshold according to the ground state, complicated numerical calculation for calibration becomes unnecessary, Even low-cost microcomputers can subtract effective thresholds according to the installation environment, and can effectively eliminate external noise and noise generated by the device itself. Can be improved.

The block diagram which shows the control means of the operation panel of the washing machine in Embodiment 1 of this invention Sectional drawing of an example of the concrete structure of the electrode part of the operation panel of the washing machine in Embodiment 1 of this invention The circuit diagram which shows a specific example of the ground determination circuit of the operation panel of the washing machine in Embodiment 1 of this invention The flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of power activation of the operation panel of the washing machine in Embodiment 1 of this invention. The block diagram which shows the control means of the operation panel of the washing machine in Embodiment 2 of this invention The circuit diagram which shows a specific example of the ground determination circuit of the operation panel of the washing machine in Embodiment 2 of this invention The circuit diagram which shows a specific example of the earth current detection circuit of the operation panel of the washing machine in Embodiment 2 of this invention First operation explanatory diagram of a configuration in which the operation panel of the washing machine is grounded in Embodiment 2 of the present invention Second operation explanatory diagram of the configuration in which the operation panel of the washing machine in the second embodiment of the present invention is grounded The block diagram of the structure by which the main body outline in the operation panel of the conventional washing machine is earth | grounded The block diagram of the structure where the main body outline in the operation panel of the conventional washing machine is not grounded The block diagram of the structure which connected the power outlet in the operation panel of the conventional washing machine reversely to FIG.

The present invention relates to an electrostatic touch switch, a touch determination circuit for determining presence / absence of input to the touch switch, a ground line for grounding a main body outline, and whether the ground line is grounded Which of the two power supply cords connected to the commercial power supply is grounded has a ground determination circuit, and switches the touch determination threshold of the touch determination circuit according to the determination result of the ground determination circuit . A neutral wire determination circuit for determining whether the touch determination threshold value of the touch determination circuit is switched according to the determination result of the neutral wire determination circuit. Since it can be set to a threshold value and external noise and noise generated by the device itself can be effectively removed, the touch determination accuracy of the touch sensor is further improved. Door can be.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control means of the operation panel of the washing machine in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an example of a specific configuration of an electrode portion of the operation panel of the washing machine. FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of a specific example of the ground determination circuit of the operation panel of the washing machine.

  In FIG. 1, a control board 1 that is a control means of an operation panel of a washing machine is connected to a commercial power source CPS, and a DC power source for each voltage used in the washing machine is created by a power supply circuit 3. Between the commercial power supply CPS and the power supply circuit 3, a ground determination circuit 2 is provided for determining whether a ground line for grounding the outer shell of the washing machine is grounded. The control device 4 is mainly composed of a microcomputer and controls an operation panel 10 equipped with a capacitive touch switch. Further, the control device 4 loads each load of the washing machine such as a motor for rotating the washing tub and the pulsator based on the program built in the control device 4 based on the setting on the operation panel 10 performed by the user. (Not shown) are operated in order.

  The detection circuit 5 is a touch determination circuit that is mounted on the printed wiring board 9 in the operation panel 10 and determines whether or not the user touches the operation panel 10. The detection electrode 6 is a conductor formed on the back surface of the resin panel 8 constituting the operation panel 10 touched by the user, and is electrically connected to the detection circuit 5.

  As a specific example of the electrode portion that is configured by the detection electrode 6 and the like and constitutes a part of the operation panel 10, there is the one shown in FIG. On the surface of the structural resin panel 8, a display sheet 7 of an operation unit is attached, which displays a course display name, a switch, an LED display frame, and the like by printing or the like. A printed wiring board 9 on which the detection electrode 6 is printed is bonded to the back surface of the resin panel 8.

  FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of a specific example of the ground determination circuit 2. The output of the zero-phase current transformer 13 is amplified by the amplifier 11, and the value is compared with two reference potentials serving as threshold values by the comparators 12a and 12b. The comparators 12a and 12b have a window comparator configuration, and can detect either current direction.

  The operation and operation of the operation panel of the washing machine configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. 4 which is a flowchart showing an outline of the operation when the power is turned on.

  After the user presses the power switch (not shown) of the washing machine and the power supply circuit 3 starts up, first, the control device 4 reads the ground input (step S1) and sets the output HI / LOW of the ground determination circuit 2 Check.

  As described above, a specific example of the ground determination circuit 2 is as shown in FIG. This is a circuit based on a leakage detection circuit, and it is considered that the current difference of the commercial power line flows to the ground, and outputs LOW if the current flowing to the ground is above a certain level, and outputs HI if it does not flow. is there. When the washing machine is connected to the ground E with a grounding wire (not shown), a constant leakage current that does not safely affect the washing machine flows, so the presence or absence of the leakage current is determined. The reference potential used for the determination of the comparators 12a and 12b is set according to the magnitude of the leakage current.

  Next, the control device 4 performs grounding determination based on the read input of the grounding determination circuit 2 (step S2). In this case, if the output of the ground determination circuit 2 is LOW, it is grounded, and if it is HI, it is determined that it is not grounded.

  Next, the control device 4 outputs the result determined by the ground determination circuit 2 in step S2 to the detection circuit 5 (step S3). The detection circuit 5 incorporates a threshold value for touch determination according to the presence or absence of grounding, and switches the threshold value for touch determination according to the output from the control device 4.

  Finally, the detection circuit 5 starts reading the detection electrode 6 based on the determined threshold value. Thereafter, each time the detection electrode 6 detects a touch on the operation panel 10 of the user, the detection circuit 5 reads (step S4) and repeats the SW input process (step S5).

  In the present embodiment, the grounding determination is performed immediately after turning on the power switch when each load of the washing machine such as a motor is not operating. However, if the detection state is stable, it is not immediately after the power is turned on. May be.

  Since the ground determination circuit 2 only needs to be able to detect the ground state, the ground determination circuit 2 may not be a zero-phase transformer circuit as shown in FIG. It may be a circuit that measures the impedance between them, a circuit that measures the voltage between the ground E and the commercial power supply line, or a combination of these that improves accuracy.

  Although omitted in the circuit of FIG. 3, a filter having an appropriate time constant should be placed between the zero-phase current transformer 13 and the amplifier 11 or the like.

  The detection electrode 6 only needs to be able to detect a change in capacitance due to a human finger, and is not necessarily configured on the printed wiring board 9. The detection electrode 6 is not necessarily formed inside the resin panel 8, on the surface, or on the display sheet 7. It may be configured. Further, the printed wiring board 9 does not have to be bonded to the resin panel 8, and the detection electrode 6 at that time may be a coil spring-like electrode that hits the resin panel 8 or a plate spring-like electrode.

  Further, the printed wiring board 9 is not necessarily required, and may be electrically connected from the main or sub board to the detection electrode 6 on the resin panel 8 or the display sheet 7.

  The detection circuit 5 may be composed of discrete components, an IC, a microcomputer with a built-in function, or integrated with the control device 4. Absent.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control means of the operation panel of the washing machine in the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram of a specific example of a ground determination circuit, and FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram of a specific example of a ground current detection circuit. These two blocks constitute a characteristic part of the circuit of the present embodiment.

  FIG. 5 is obtained by adding a ground current detection circuit 14 and a zero-cross detection circuit 18 to the first embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, the neutral line determination circuit 23 is configured by the ground determination circuit 2 and the ground current detection circuit 14. The zero cross detection circuit 18 is connected between the ground determination circuit 2 and the power supply circuit 3, and detects a voltage zero cross between two lines of the commercial power supply line.

  FIG. 6 shows a specific example of the ground determination circuit 2 in the present embodiment, which is based on the zero-phase transformer circuit of the first embodiment shown in FIG. Is amplified by an amplifier 16, and when the value exceeds a certain value, the comparators 17a and 17b detect the output. The comparators 17a and 17b have a window comparator configuration. The difference from the first embodiment is that the outputs of the comparator 17a and the comparator 17b are not connected. With this configuration, the direction of current can be understood.

  FIG. 7 shows a specific example of the earth current detection circuit 14 in the present embodiment. The amplifier 20 amplifies the output of the current transformer 19 inserted between the body 22 and the earth E. The value is compared with two reference potentials serving as threshold values by the comparators 21a and 21b. The comparators 21a and 21b have a window comparator configuration, and the two outputs of the comparator 21a and the comparator 21b are not connected. With this configuration, the direction of current can be understood.

  The operation and action of the operation panel of the washing machine configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 8 is a first operation explanatory diagram of a configuration in which the operation panel of the washing machine is grounded, and FIG. 9 is a second operation explanatory diagram of a configuration in which the operation panel of the washing machine is grounded.

  After the user presses the power switch (not shown) of the washing machine and the power supply circuit 3 is started up, first, the neutral wire is determined by the neutral wire determination circuit 23 including the ground determination circuit 2 and the ground current detection circuit 14. Make a decision.

  Neutral wire determination by the neutral wire determination circuit 23 including the ground determination circuit 2 and the ground current detection circuit 14 is performed as follows.

  Two lines of the commercial power supply CPS are referred to as lines L1 and L2. Assume that the impedance between lines of the control board 1 of the washing machine is Z1, the impedance between the line and the ground E is Z2 (in the state shown in FIG. 8), and Z3 (in the state shown in FIG. 9). The current flowing through the line L1 is I1, the current flowing through the line L2 is I2, and the current to the ground E is I3.

  In FIG. 8, the line L1 is the live side, and the line L2 is the neutral side that is connected to the ground E in the distribution facility, that is, the neutral line. In FIG. 9, the line L2 is the live side, and the line L1 is the neutral side that is connected to the ground E in the distribution facility, that is, the neutral line.

  At this time, a simple relationship of Equation 1 holds in the case of FIG. 8 and Equation 2 holds in the case of FIG. 9 between the currents.

接地判定回路２のゼロ相電流トランス１５によってＩ１−Ｉ２とその方向がわかり、アースの電流検知回路１４によってアースＥへの電流Ｉ３とその方向がわかるため、現在この洗濯機が、従来例で示した図１０、図１１、図１２のどの状態で接地されているかが、判別できるのである。

Since the zero-phase current transformer 15 of the ground determination circuit 2 indicates I1-I2 and its direction, and the current detection circuit 14 for ground indicates the current I3 to the ground E and its direction, this washing machine is shown in the conventional example at present. It is possible to determine in which state of FIGS. 10, 11 and 12 the ground is made.

  Subsequent operations are the same as those in FIG. 4 of the first embodiment, and the control device 4 reads the output of each circuit, and the washing machine is currently grounded in any state of FIGS. 10, 11, and 12. It is determined whether it is. Next, the control device 4 outputs the determined result to the detection circuit 5.

  Here, the zero-crossing detection circuit 18 determines the voltage zero-crossing of the lines L1 and L2 of the commercial power supply CPS. At the same time, since the voltage of the lines L1 and L2 is higher, it is determined which is closer to the electrode potential. Can be determined. The control device 4 makes this determination and outputs to the detection circuit 5 which state is shown in FIG. 8 or FIG. 9 for each zero cross.

  The detection circuit 5 incorporates a threshold value for touch determination according to each grounding pattern, and switches the threshold value for touch determination according to the output from the control device 4.

  Thus, according to the operation panel of the washing machine of the present embodiment, the touch determination accuracy of the touch sensor can be further improved than that of the first embodiment.

  Note that the grounding determination and neutral line determination are performed immediately after turning on the power switch when each load of the washing machine such as a motor is not operating. Alternatively, the determination may be made at every zero crossing.

  Also, as long as you know the combination, do not perform zero-cross detection output for each zero-cross, but only when the power is turned on or when instantaneous voltage drop is restored, etc., and switch the threshold at the timing only with the touch detection circuit Also good.

  The ground determination circuit 2 and the ground current detection circuit 14 are only required to be able to detect the power supply and ground state of the device, and therefore may not be a zero-phase transformer circuit as shown in FIG. 6 or a current transformer circuit as shown in FIG. It may be a circuit that measures the impedance between the ground and the commercial power line, a circuit that measures the voltage between the ground and the commercial power line, or a combination of these that improves accuracy. .

  Although not shown in the circuits of FIGS. 6 and 7, a filter having an appropriate time constant should be placed between the zero-phase current transformer 15, the current transformer 19 and the amplifiers 16 and 20.

  As described above, the operation panel of the washing machine according to the present invention is a low-cost microcomputer by switching the touch determination threshold of the operation panel according to the determination result of the ground determination circuit that determines whether the ground line is grounded. However, it is possible to draw an effective threshold according to the installation environment, and it can be operated stably against external noise and noise generated by the equipment itself, so that various grounding situations can be considered depending on the installation environment This is useful as an operation panel for a machine.

1 Control board (control means)
2 Ground determination circuit 3 Power supply circuit 4 Control device 5 Detection circuit (touch determination circuit)
6 Detection Electrode 7 Display Sheet 8 Resin Panel 9 Printed Wiring Board 10 Operation Panel 11 Amplifier 12a, 12b Comparator 13 Zero Phase Current Transformer 14 Current Detection Circuit 15 Zero Phase Current Transformer 16 Amplifier 17a, 17b Comparator 18 Zero Cross Detection Circuit 19 Current Transformer 20 Amplifier 21a, 21b Comparator 22 Body 23 Neutral wire determination circuit CPS Commercial power supply E Earth (ground)
L1, L2 line

Claims (1)

An electrostatic touch switch, a touch determination circuit for determining whether or not there is an input to the touch switch, a ground line for grounding the outer shell of the main body, and a ground determination circuit for determining whether the ground line is grounded And switching the touch determination threshold value of the touch determination circuit according to the determination result of the ground determination circuit to determine which of the two lines of the power cord connected to the commercial power source is a neutral line. An operation panel of a washing machine having a sex wire determination circuit and switching a touch determination threshold of the touch determination circuit according to a determination result of the neutral wire determination circuit .

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