JPH01145028A - Electric hot-water heater - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To lessen a waste of power by making equipment have such a mechanism that a main operating section may be stopped, assuming that the equipment is not in use, when there is no change in mode for a specified period of time even if an AC power supply is in an ON state. CONSTITUTION: A container for storing a liquid is heated by a heating element 12 and the turning on and off of electricity to the heating element 12 is controlled by a controlling circuit 3. Indicating elements 8 indicate modes such as warming, heating, abnormal, etc., to the outside and a microcomputer 4 having a timer counts up the time during which the same mode continues. There is also a stopper mode to turn off electricity to the heating element 12 and all the indicating elements 8 when there is no change in mode for a spedified period of time. As a result, a waste of power can be lessened and the user does not have to be anxious about whether he or she had pulled a power plug or not.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric water heater for heating and keeping a liquid contained in a container warm.

BACKGROUND ART In general, an electric water heater can stop its operation only by turning off the transformer power supply, and continues to operate if left with the AC power supply ON.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, with the above-mentioned configuration, it is not possible to turn off the power while the AC power is on, and there is a lot of wasted power consumption due to forgetting to unplug the power plug even when it is not in use. Or, if the user went out without doing so, it could give them a sense of anxiety.

The present invention solves these problems and uses AC power supply O.
The purpose is to stop the energization control of the heating element and the display if it is not used for a predetermined period of time even if it remains N.

Means for Solving the Problem In order to solve this problem, the present invention provides a timer in the microcomputer that measures a predetermined time that is cleared every time the mode changes, and when the timer elapses for a predetermined time, A stopper mode is provided to control the current flow and turn off the display element.

Note that when the external input switch i is turned on during the stopper mode, the stopper mode is canceled and each mode process is performed depending on the temperature at that time.

Function: With this configuration, it is possible to automatically control energization and turn off the display element when there is no change for a predetermined period of time.
can be done. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the user's anxiety about forgetting to unplug the power plug, and to reduce wasted power.

EXAMPLE Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on the accompanying drawings.

In FIG. 1, 1 constitutes an AC power supply and 2 constitutes a DC power supply. 3 is a control circuit, and 12 is a heating element. The control circuit 3 is composed of a microcomputer 4, a transistor 6, a relay coil'/I/6, and a relay contact 7.
is turned ON and OFF, thereby controlling the current in the relay coil 6, opening and closing the relay contact 7, and controlling the heating of the heating element 12. 8 is a display element composed of a light emitting diode and a resistor, and a microcomputer 4
ON depending on the current mode determined in
, is turned off. Reference numeral 9 denotes an input switch, which in this embodiment is a reboiling switch 10 and an integrated switch 11 that stops the supply of electricity for a predetermined period of time (here, 6 hours).

FIG. 2 shows the specific operation of the microcomputer 4 in the above configuration, and the operation will be explained according to this figure. First, AC power is applied. ! = (A) Mode selection and operation are performed within the microcomputer 4 (B) and display is performed (C). Next, determine if there is an external switch input and change the Anba mode (D)
. Next, in step (E), it is determined whether the mode matches the previous one, and if it matches, the timer continues counting.
If they do not match, the timer is cleared by 1 and then the count is started (y. Next, the current timer count value and the pre-stored predetermined time value (in this example, 2
4 hours), and if it is less than the predetermined time, return to B, select mode j× and perform all operations again, and perform B and G. If a predetermined time elapses in G, the microcomputer 4
) OFF to each port of the relay control circuit 3 and display element 8
sends a signal to stop the operation).

In this stopper mode, the microcomputer 4
Checks the input of external input switch 9 (I),
I-JI is repeated until either switch 10 or 11 is turned on. When it is determined that the switch input is ON, the process returns to B and the mode selection and operation are performed again. From then on, the above process is carried out when the AC power supply 1 is turned off. Repeat until

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above description of the embodiments, the present invention, even when the AC power supply is turned on, if there is no mode change for a predetermined period of time, it is assumed that the mode is not currently being used, and the main operating section is stopped. This makes it possible to reduce wasteful power consumption, eliminate anxiety caused by forgetting to unplug the power plug, and provide a more convenient electric water heater.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of an electric water heater showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a microcomputer of the electric water heater. 3...Control circuit, 4...Microcomputer, 8...Display element, 9...External input switch, 12...Heating element . Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person/-
11 years old home care. ;”--IL Toshimi Kan. J---J ri 4 self "P times series 4---Zia 0 con σ Yuk δ---Display 4F child y ---y> Ikuiri Funui. tchi / 2-1-i E combination / Figure 1 Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] The same mode is continuous between the container containing the liquid, the heating element that heats the container, the control circuit that controls the energization of the heating element, and the display element that externally indicates each mode such as keeping warm, heating, and abnormality. This electric water boiler is equipped with a microcomputer with a timer that counts time, and has a stopper mode that controls energization of a heating element and turns off all display elements if one mode does not change to another mode for a predetermined period of time.