JP7413632B2 - Dimming control mechanism - Google Patents

Description

Article 30, Paragraph 2 of the Patent Act applies March 13, 2019 Published in EQ House July 1, 2020 Published by Shinkenchikusha Co., Ltd. Shinkenchiku Vol. 94 No. 9, No. 116- Published on pages 123, 193, 194

The present invention relates to a dimming control mechanism.

Patent Document 1 discloses a technology related to a lighting device that detects the state of a person present in a lighting space and controls the dimming of indoor lighting equipment based on the detection result.

Patent Document 2 describes a method of changing the slat angle and the length of the blind according to information about people in the living space detected by a human body sensor, or adjusting the amount of incident light by adjusting the transmittance of light control glass. A technique related to an optical device is disclosed.

Patent Document 3 discloses an image recognition device that recognizes an operation pattern of a moving image captured by an imaging means, an electrical equipment operation control unit that uses this image recognition device to control the operation of an electrical equipment, and an electrical equipment operation control unit. Techniques related to installed electrical appliances, image recognition programs, and semiconductor devices are disclosed.

JP2009-238400A Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 1996-060956 Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-009558

For example, you may want to maintain the illuminance inside a building while preventing sunlight from hitting you so as not to dazzle you. Alternatively, you may want to make sure that only you are exposed to sunlight so that other people are not dazzled.

However, the technologies disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3 are designed to prevent sunlight from shining on the person inside the building, or to allow sunlight to shine only on the person inside the building. It does not take into account the realization of a light environment of

In view of the above facts, the present invention aims to provide a sunlight environment desired by people inside a building.

A first aspect includes: a plurality of light shielding parts that are provided at an opening that lets in sunlight into a building and whose light shielding rate is variable; an imaging device that is provided in the building and that images people in the building; a control device that acquires an image taken by the device and detects a motion of the person, and when a predetermined motion is detected, controls a light shielding rate of the light shielding portion through which sunlight hitting the person passes; It is equipped with a dimming control mechanism.

In the dimming control mechanism of the first aspect, when a person performs a predetermined action, the control device controls the light blocking rate of the light blocking section through which sunlight hitting the person passes. Therefore, a sunlight environment desired by people inside the building can be obtained.

In a second aspect, the control device acquires position information and time information of the person in the building, and based on the acquired position information and time information of the person, The dimming control mechanism according to the first aspect determines a light blocking portion.

In the second aspect of the dimming control mechanism, by acquiring the position information and time information of the person in the building, it is possible to easily determine the light blocking portion through which the sunlight hitting the person passes.

A third aspect is the first aspect or the second aspect, wherein the light shielding part has a glass part through which light passes, and a light control film that is provided on the glass part and can increase or decrease transmittance. This is the dimming control mechanism described.

In the light control mechanism of the third aspect, the light blocking rate can be easily controlled by increasing or decreasing the transmittance of the light control film.

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a sunlight light environment desired by people in the building.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a building in one embodiment. FIG. 1 is a sectional view schematically showing a longitudinal section of a building according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view and a block diagram of a glass portion of a window portion. It is an explanatory view explaining a dimming control mechanism of one embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a dimming control mechanism according to an embodiment. It is a flowchart of a dimming control routine.

<Embodiment>
A dimming control mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[composition]
First, the configuration of the dimming control mechanism of this embodiment and the building equipped with this dimming control mechanism will be described.

(Building configuration)
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the building 10 is constructed on a foundation (not shown) provided on the ground G (see FIG. 2). Although FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view, hatching (diagonal lines) representing the cross section is omitted for clarity.

The building 10 has a roof section 12 and an outer peripheral wall section 14. The roof portion 12 of this embodiment is a sloped roof. Note that the roof portion 12 is not limited to a sloped roof, and may be a flat roof. This roof portion 12 is formed with an opening 20 for letting light from the sun T (hereinafter referred to as "sunlight P") into the room 16 (see FIG. 2). A plurality of windows 22 are provided in the opening 20 in a grid pattern. In addition, in the explanatory diagram of FIG. 4, which will be described later, the opening 20 and the window 22 are illustrated along the horizontal direction for easy understanding.

As shown in FIG. 3, the window section 22 as an example of a light shielding section includes a window frame (not shown) and a glass section 24 provided within the window frame. In this embodiment, the glass portion 24 has a double glass structure composed of two transparent glass plates 23 and 25.

A light control film 30 is pasted on the inner surface of the outer glass plate 23 of the glass section 24 facing the indoor 16 side. Note that the light control film 30 only needs to be attached to at least one of the glass plates 23 and 25. Further, the glass portion 24 may be made of single-layered glass instead of double-layered glass, or may be composed of triple-layered or more glass.

The transmittance of the light control film 30 increases or decreases depending on the applied voltage. Specifically, when the voltage applied to the light control film 30 increases, the transmittance of the light control film 30 increases, and the glass portion 24 becomes transparent. On the other hand, when the voltage applied to the light control film 30 decreases, the transmittance of the light control film 30 decreases, and the glass portion 24 becomes like frosted glass. Note that when no voltage is applied to the light control film 30, the transmittance of the light control film 30 is minimum.

The light control film 30 is electrically connected to the control unit 50 (see also FIG. 5). Further, the control unit 50 is connected to a power source (not shown) such as a commercial power source, for example. This control unit 50 controls the voltage applied to the light control film 30 from the power source. That is, the control unit 50 controls the transmittance of the light control film 30.

In addition, in the building 10 of this embodiment, normally, the maximum voltage is applied to the light control film 30, the transmittance|permeability of the light control film 30 is maximized, and the glass part 24 is in a transparent state. Therefore, sunlight P is normally directed into the room 16.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the room 16, cameras 36 as an example of an imaging device are provided at a plurality of locations, and in this embodiment, each is provided at a corner of the room (see also FIGS. 4 and 5). The camera 36 of this embodiment images a moving image. In addition, in this embodiment, although the cameras 36 are provided in multiple places, four places in this embodiment, it is not limited to this. The camera 36 may be provided at least at one or more locations in the room 16.

Further, the room 16 is provided with a human sensor 34 (see also FIGS. 4 and 5) that detects the position of the person H in the room 16.

(Dimmer control mechanism)
As shown in FIG. 5, the light control mechanism 100 includes a control device 70, the human sensor 34, the camera 36, and the light control film 30 described above. In this embodiment, when the person H performs a predetermined action, the light control mechanism 100 adjusts the window portion 22 through which the sunlight P that hits the person H who has raised the right hand HR passes. The transmittance of the optical film 30 is minimized to prevent sunlight P from hitting the person H who has raised his right hand HR.

The hardware configuration of the control device 70 that constitutes the dimming control mechanism 100 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown), a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores programs, etc. for realizing each processing routine, and a data storage system. It is composed of a computer that includes a RAM (Random Access Memory) for temporary storage, a memory as a storage means, a network interface, and the like. Note that the control device 70 may be configured using a plurality of servers, a cloud, or the like.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the control device 70 functionally includes an acquisition section 52, a storage section 54, and a control section 50.

The acquisition unit 52 configuring the control device 70 acquires the captured image captured by the camera 36 and the position information and time information detected by the human sensor 34. The time information is the current time including the month, day, hour, and minute, and is obtained from the NTP server 38 via the Internet 37 in this embodiment.

The storage unit 54 constituting the control device 70 controls the voltage applied to the light control film 30, that is, the transmittance of the light control film 30, according to the captured image, position information, and time information (current time). A control program and a database (hereinafter referred to as "DB") for performing the operations are stored. The DB stored in the storage unit 54 shows the relationship between time information (current time) and the window 22 through which the sunlight P hitting the person H in the area 18 passes, for each area 18 of the room 16 shown in FIG. was calculated in advance through computer simulation and compiled into a database.

Note that the area 18 is a virtual division of the indoor room 16 into predetermined areas in a grid pattern in a plan view.

Further, "sunlight P that hits the person H" is "sunlight P that passes through the range between the head position of a child and the head position of an adult standing in the area 18". Specifically, it is sunlight P that passes between 0.9 m and 2.0 m from the floor surface of the area 18.

The control unit 50 constituting the control device 70 determines whether the sun is hitting the person H based on the captured image, position information, and time information (current time) acquired by the acquisition unit 52 and the DB stored in the storage unit 54. The window portion 22 (see FIG. 4) through which the light P passes is specified, and the transmittance of the light control film 30 (see FIG. 3) of the specified window portion 22 is controlled.

In the present embodiment, the control unit 50 is based on the captured image of the camera 36 acquired by the acquisition unit 52, the position information and time information (current time) of the person H (see FIG. 4) detected by the human sensor 34. The control program and DB stored in the storage unit 54 are read out, and as shown in FIG. The transmittance of the light control film 30 (see FIG. 3) is minimized.

(Dimmer control routine)
Next, according to the image information, position information, and time information (current time), specific light control is performed to minimize the transmittance of the light control film 30 of the window section 22 through which the sunlight P hitting the person H passes. An example of the control routine will be described using the flowchart of FIG. 6.

In step S100, the acquisition unit 52 (see FIG. 5) uses the captured image captured by the camera 36 (see FIGS. 2, 4, and 5), the human sensor 34 (see FIGS. 2, 4, and 5), Obtain detected location information and time information.

In step S200, the control unit 50 (see FIG. 5) detects a predetermined motion of the person H (see FIG. 4) from the captured image. In this embodiment, a motion in which the person H raises the right hand HR from below to above is detected (see FIG. 4). Note that image processing techniques such as optical flow and template matching can be used to detect a predetermined motion of the person H from the captured image. Additionally, AI techniques such as deep learning may be used.

In step S300, the control unit 50 (see FIG. 5) controls the area 18 where the person H is located based on the position information of the person H (see FIG. 4) detected by the human sensor 34 (see FIGS. 4 and 5). (See Figure 4).

In step S400, the control unit 50 (see FIG. 5) reads the DB stored in the storage unit 54 from the time information (current time) and the specified area 18 (see FIG. 4), and reads out the DB that corresponds to the person H who is in the area 18. The window portion 22 through which sunlight P passes is specified.

In step S500, the control unit 50 (see FIG. 5) lowers the electric voltage applied to the light control film 30 (see FIG. 3) of the identified window portion 22 (see FIG. 4) to minimize the transmittance. .

(action and effect)
Next, the functions and effects of this embodiment will be explained.

In this embodiment, when the person H performs a predetermined action, the light control mechanism 100 adjusts the window portion 22 through which the sunlight P that hits the person H who has raised the right hand HR passes. The transmittance of the optical film 30 is minimized. As a result, the glass portion 24 of the window portion 22 becomes a frosted glass, and the sunlight P does not shine on the person H who has raised his right hand HR. In this way, while maintaining the illuminance of the room 16, it is possible to prevent sunlight P from hitting the person (person H) so as not to be dazzled. That is, it is possible to obtain a light environment of sunlight P that is desired by the person H in the room 16.

In addition, by acquiring the time information (current time), for example, compared to the case where the azimuth and altitude of the sun T are measured with a sunlight sensor or the like and the window 22 through which the sunlight P that hits the person H passes is identified. , the azimuth and altitude of the sun T can be easily determined.

Further, since the position information of the person H is detected by the human sensor 34, the position information can be easily obtained compared to, for example, the case where the position information is obtained from a captured image.

In addition, since the relationship between the window portion 22 through which the sunlight P that hits the person H in the room 16 passes through and the time information (current time) is stored in a database for each area 18 of the room 16, The window portion 22 through which the sunlight P that hits the person H passes can be easily determined, for example, compared to calculating and calculating each time the person H raises his or her right hand HR.

Further, by adjusting the voltage applied to the light control film 30 of the glass portion 24 of the window portion 22, the light shielding rate can be easily controlled.

[others]
Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments.

For example, in the above embodiment, "sunlight P that hits the person H" is "sunlight P that passes through the range between the head position of a child and the head position of an adult standing in the area 18", Specifically, it was "sunlight P passing between 0.9 m and 2.0 m from the floor surface of the area 18". It is not limited to this. “The sunlight P that passes through the range between the head position of a child and the head position of an adult standing in the area 18” may be set to a value other than 0.9 m to 2.0 m. Further, for example, only the sunlight P hitting the face of an adult may be targeted. Alternatively, the posture information of the person H may be acquired from the captured image, and the range of sunlight P hitting the person H may be adjusted. For example, the range may be adjusted depending on whether the person H is standing or sitting.

For example, in the above embodiment, the relationship between the time information (current time) and the window portion 22 through which the sunlight P that hits the person H in the area 18 in each area 18 of the room 16 passes is determined by computer simulation in advance. Although the database was created based on the above information, it is not limited to this. The window portion 22 through which the sunlight P hitting the person H passes may be sequentially calculated based on time information (current time) and position information (area 18 where the person H is present).

In addition, instead of time information (current time), the azimuth and altitude of the sun P are measured using a sunlight sensor, etc., and based on the measurement results and position information (area 18 where person H is present), sunlight P hitting person H passes through. The window portion 22 may be obtained by creating a database or by performing sequential calculations.

Further, for example, in the above embodiment, the area 18 where the person H is present in the room 16 is identified using the human sensor 34, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the area 18 where the person H is present may be identified by analyzing the image captured by the camera 36.

Further, in the embodiment described above, when the person H raises the right hand HR from below to the top, the light control mechanism 100 minimizes the transmittance of the light control film 30 of the window section 22 through which the sunlight P hitting the person H passes. , the control was performed so that the sunlight P would not hit the person H who raised the right hand HR, but the invention is not limited to this.

For example, normally, no voltage is applied to the light control film 30, the transmittance of the light control film 30 is minimized, the glass portion 24 is in a frosted state, and the person H performs a predetermined movement, for example, right hand HR. When lowering from the top to the bottom, the transmittance of the light control film 30 of the window section 22 through which the sunlight P that hits the person H passes through is maximized, and even if the sunlight P is controlled so that it hits the person H who lowers the right hand HR. good. In other words, sunlight P may be directed only to the user (person H) so that other persons in the room 16 are not dazzled.

Alternatively, the transmittance of the light control film 30 of the window 22 on the temporary line connecting the palm and the eyes when the person H holds the right hand HR or left hand HL (see FIG. 5) in front of the face can be minimized or maximized. You may also do so. Note that the above-mentioned virtual line may be obtained by, for example, analyzing the captured image and detecting the three-dimensional coordinates of the palm position and the eye position of the person H.

In addition, when the person H moves in the room 16, the window portion 22 that maximizes or minimizes the transmittance of the light control film 30 is moved accordingly, so that even if the person H moves, the sunlight P does not shine on the window 22. The state where sunlight P hits may be maintained.

Alternatively, when the person performs a predetermined action, for example, when the person H raises the left hand HL (see FIG. 5) from below to above, the transmittance of the light control film 30 of all the windows 22 becomes the minimum, and the entire room 16 is illuminated. Sunlight P may be allowed to enter. Furthermore, when the person performs a predetermined action, for example, when the person H lowers the left hand HL from above to below, the transmittance of the light control film 30 of all the window sections 22 becomes maximum, and the sunlight P illuminates the entire room 16. You may choose not to do so.

Further, the light shielding rate of the light control film 30 of the window portion 22 may be not only the minimum and maximum, but also an intermediate value between these values. If an intermediate value is used, it may be determined based on the movement of person H, time information (current time), and the like. Note that the motion of the person H is, for example, the height and angle of raising the right hand HR or left hand HL, and when the right hand H is horizontal, the light shielding rate is set between the minimum and maximum. Furthermore, the time information (current time) means, for example, that the shading rate is set to an intermediate value in the morning and evening.

Further, in the above embodiment, the light shielding rate of the window section 22 of the opening section 20 is adjusted by the light control film 30, but the invention is not limited thereto. For example, the slat angle may be adjusted using a variable blind.

Further, in the above embodiment, the plurality of light shielding parts with variable light shielding rates are provided on the roof 12 of the building 10, but the invention is not limited thereto. For example, it may be provided in an opening that lets in sunlight P, such as a window provided in the outer peripheral wall 14 of the building 10.

Further, the building includes an inner skin representing an inner outer wall and an outer skin representing an outer wall located outside the inner skin, and an opening in the outer skin that lets in sunlight and an opening that lets in sunlight in the inner skin. A plurality of light shielding parts with variable light shielding rates may be provided in at least one of the openings.

Furthermore, the invention may be implemented in various ways without departing from the spirit of the invention.

10 Building 16 Indoor (example inside the building)
20 Opening 22 Window (example of light shielding part)
24 Glass portion 30 Light control film 36 Camera (an example of an imaging device)
70 Control device 100 Light control mechanism
H person
P Sunlight

Claims (9)

A plurality of light shielding parts with variable light shielding rates are provided at openings that let sunlight into the building,
an imaging device that is installed in the building and captures images of people in the building;
A captured image captured by the imaging device is acquired to detect the motion of the person, and when a predetermined motion is detected, a light shielding rate of the light shielding portion through which sunlight hitting the person who has performed the predetermined motion passes is determined. a control device for controlling;
A dimming control mechanism with The control device includes:
Acquire position information and time information of the person in the building, and determine the light shielding portion through which sunlight hitting the person who has performed the predetermined action passes, based on the acquired position information and time information of the person. ,
The dimming control mechanism according to claim 1. The control device includes:
A relationship between the time information and the light-shielding portion through which sunlight that hits the person in the area passes through is stored in advance for each area that is virtually divided into a grid pattern,
The control device includes:
controlling the light blocking rate of the light blocking section in the area where the person who has performed the predetermined action is present;
The dimming control mechanism according to claim 2. The control device includes:
controlling the shading rate of the shading portion through which sunlight passes between 0.9 m and 2.0 m from the floor surface of the area;
The dimming control mechanism according to claim 3. The control device includes:
Maximizing the light blocking rate of the light blocking portion by minimizing the transmittance of the light blocking portion through which sunlight that hits the person who has performed the predetermined action passes;
The dimming control mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 4 . The control device includes:
moving the light shielding part that minimizes transmittance in accordance with the movement of the person who has performed the predetermined action, and maintaining a state in which sunlight does not hit the person who has performed the predetermined action;
The dimming control mechanism according to claim 5 . The control device includes:
maximizing the light transmittance of the light shielding part through which sunlight that hits the person who has performed the predetermined action passes, and minimizing the light shielding rate of the light shielding part;
The dimming control mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 4 . The control device includes:
moving the light shielding part that maximizes transmittance in accordance with the movement of the person who has performed the predetermined action, and maintaining a state in which sunlight hits the person who has performed the predetermined action;
The dimming control mechanism according to claim 7 . The light shielding part is
A glass part through which light passes,
a light control film provided on the glass part and capable of increasing and decreasing transmittance;
have,
The dimming control mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 8 .