JPH03210454A - Humidity controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To detect the abnormality of a wick by lowering relative humidity when dry- and wet-bulb temps. become equal when objective relative humidity is ot a predetermined value and informing the generation of the abnormality of water supply at a wet-bulb temp. detection end when the dry- and wet-bulb temps. are equal to each other even after the elapse of a predetermined time. CONSTITUTION:When dry- and wer-bulb temps. become equal, a microcomputer 38 determines the operation quantity of a humidifier 36 on the basis of the difference between 100% RH and objective relative humidity in a direction lowering humidity excepting such a case that objective relative humidity is 100% RH and an operation part 40 operates the heater 362 of the humidifier 36 on the basis of the operation quantity. When dry- and wet-bulb temps. are still equal after a predetermined time is elapsed in the operation in the direction lowering humidity, an alarm is emitted from an alarm apparatus 42 to inform that the water of a wick pan 34 is exhausted or a wick sucks no water.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION C. Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to a humidity control device used in various environmental test devices and others.

C. Prior Art) A typical humidity control device of this type detects the current relative humidity based on the output of a dry bulb temperature detection end and the output of a wet bulb temperature detection end equipped with a wick that sucks water from a wick pan. Humidity control devices are known that obtain a target relative humidity by operating a humidity adjusting means based on the difference between the determined relative humidity and a target relative humidity.

In this type of humidity control device, the wick pan is usually provided with a water shortage detection means, and the device is configured to detect when the water in the wick pan decreases below a predetermined amount or when several wicks run out. ing.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, the water supply abnormality at the wet bulb temperature detection end is not only due to water shortage in the wick pan, but also may be due to the wick itself being unable to absorb water.

However, according to the conventional humidity control device, this abnormality in the wick is not detected.

Therefore, the present invention provides a humidity control device of the above type, which includes:
It is an object of the present invention to provide a humidity control device that can detect an abnormality in the wick as a water supply abnormality at a temperature detection end of the bulb.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above problem, the present invention calculates the current relative humidity based on the dry bulb temperature output from a dry bulb temperature detection end and the wet bulb temperature output from a wet bulb temperature detection end equipped with a wick that sucks water from a wick pan. , a humidity control device for obtaining a target relative humidity by operating a humidity control means based on the difference between a grafted relative humidity and a target relative humidity, when the target relative humidity is not 100% RH, the dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures If the dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures are still equal even after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the humidity adjusting means is operated in the direction of lowering the relative humidity and the operating means is operated in the direction of lowering the humidity. The present invention provides a humidity control device characterized by comprising an alarm means for notifying that a water supply abnormality has occurred at a wet bulb temperature detection end.

Methods for determining whether the dry bulb temperature and wet bulb temperature are equal include a method of directly comparing the true temperatures to determine whether they are equal, and a method of determining the current relative humidity from the true temperature. It is conceivable to determine that the true temperatures are the same when the relative humidity is 100% RH, and that the true temperatures are different when the relative humidity is not 100% RH.

In this specification, the term wick refers not only to a wick in a narrow sense, but also to all means capable of sucking up water from a wick pan, such as gauze.

[For production]

According to the humidity control device of the present invention, under normal conditions, the current relative humidity is determined based on the output of the dry bulb temperature detection end and the output of the wet bulb temperature detection end, and the current relative humidity is determined based on the difference between the grafted relative humidity and the target relative humidity. The humidity adjusting means is operated to achieve the target relative humidity. However, when the dry bulb temperature and the wet bulb temperature are equal and the target relative humidity is not 100% RH, the humidity adjusting means is operated in the direction of lowering the relative humidity, and even after a predetermined period of time has elapsed, the humidity control means is still dry. When the bulb and wet bulb temperatures are equal, it is detected that a water supply abnormality has occurred at the wet bulb temperature detection end.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The embodiment described below is a humidity control device employed in a constant temperature constant temperature chamber.

FIG. 1 schematically shows the interior of the thermostatic chamber and the internal temperature control device 2 and humidity control device W3 attached thereto.

The thermostatic chamber 1 is equipped with a door 11 that can be opened and closed, and has a partition wall 12 at the back of the chamber. It is being

The temperature control device includes a temperature control electric heater 21, a dehumidifier/cooler 22, and the like.

The humidity control device 3 has a dry bulb temperature detection end 31 placed in a thermostatic chamber. It is equipped with a wet bulb temperature detection end 32, a humidifier 36, a dehumidifier/cooler 22, and a regulator 37 placed outside the device.

Both humidifier 36 and dehumidifier 22 contribute to humidity regulation.

Dry bulb and wet bulb temperature detection @31 and 32 are air conditioned room 13
The humidifier 36 is placed near the air outlet, and the humidifier 36 is placed at the lower end of the air conditioned room.

A wick 33 is attached to the wet bulb temperature detection end 32, and this wick is designed to suck up water from a wick pan 34. Further, a water level detection sensor 35 is arranged in the wick pan 34 to detect water shortage in the pan.

The humidifier 36 consists of a humidifying tray 361 for storing water and an electric heater 362 placed inside the tray.

The controller 37 is mainly composed of a microcomputer 38 (hereinafter referred to as "microcomputer 38").
8, a target relative humidity setting section 39 and a humidifier operation section 40 are provided. The outputs of the dry bulb and wet bulb temperature detection terminals and the output of the water level detection sensor 35 are configured to be input to the microcomputer 38, and the operating section 40 is connected by wire to the humidifier heater 362.

Further, the regulator 37 is equipped with both an alarm device 41 that notifies that water is running out in the wick pan 34 and an alarm device 42 that notifies that there is an abnormality in the wick.
These are also connected to the microcomputer 38.

In this example, a fixed amount of refrigerant is always flowed into the dehumidifying/cooling device 22, so that the humidity is substantially controlled by operating the heater 362 of the humidifier 36.

According to the humidity control device 3, the target relative humidity is input into the microcomputer 38 by operating the setting section 39 of the regulator 37.

On the other hand, the microcomputer 38 calculates the current relative humidity in the thermostatic chamber based on the outputs of the dry bulb and wet bulb temperature detection terminals 31 and 32, determines the difference between the calculated relative humidity and the target humidity, and determines the difference between the calculated relative humidity and the target humidity. Based on this, the operation amount of the humidifier 36 is calculated.

The humidifier operating unit 4o receives this operating amount in the microcomputer 38 and operates the humidifier heater 362 in a direction to obtain the target relative humidity. The above operations are repeated, and the inside of the thermostatic chamber approaches the target relative humidity.

The alarm device 41 is a sensor 35 set on the wick pan 34.
It is activated when a water out signal is input to the microcomputer 38 from the microcomputer 38.

On the other hand, the alarm device 42 operates as follows. That is,
When the dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures become equal, the microcontroller 38
determines the operation amount of the humidifier 36 in the direction of lowering the humidity based on the difference between the 100% RH and the target relative humidity, and
o operates the humidifier heater 362 based on the operation amount. If the dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures are still equal after a predetermined period of time has elapsed after the operation to lower the humidity has elapsed, the alarm device 42 issues an alarm.

Activation of the alarm device 41 is to notify at least that the wick pan 34 has run out of water or that the wick 33 is not absorbing water. Further, the activation of the alarm device 42 is to notify the user of a wick abnormality in which the wick 33 is not sucking up water.

Next, the operation of the microcomputer 38 will be explained using the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in step 1, the timer is set to "0" and the humidifier operation amount is set to "0".

Next, in step S2, the target relative humidity is input based on the operation of the setting unit 39, in steps S3 and S4, the dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures are measured, and in step S5, the target relative humidity is input based on the measured dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures. The current relative humidity is calculated. Next, in step S51, it is determined whether or not there is a water shortage input from the water level detection sensor 35. If there is an input, a first alarm process is performed in step S52, and the alarm device 41 issues an alarm. If there is no input, the process advances to step S6.

In step S6, it is determined whether or not the calculated relative humidity is 100% RH. If it is not 100% RH, step S7
The timer is reset in step S8, and the operation amount of the humidifier 36 is calculated from the difference between the current relative humidity and the target relative humidity.Subsequently, in step S9, the operation amount is instructed to the operation unit 40, and then the process returns to step S3. do.

When it is determined in step S6 that the current relative humidity is 100% RH, the target relative humidity is set to 100% RH in step SIO.
%RH or not is determined, and if the target humidity is 100%RH, the process advances to step S7.

However, if the target relative humidity is not 100% RH, the process proceeds to step Sit, where it is determined whether or not the humidity is to be lowered, and if it is not, the process proceeds to step S7. When the relative humidity is about to be lowered, the timer is incremented in step S12, and the relative humidity is set to 100 in step S13.
It is determined whether or not a predetermined time (limit time) has elapsed in the state of %RH, and if the limit time has not yet elapsed, the process proceeds to step S8. However, if the limit time has elapsed, a second alarm process is performed in step 314, and the alarm device 4
2 indicates a wick abnormality.

Note that in the alarm process in step S52.314, a process to set the humidifier operating section to O is also performed.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and can be implemented in various other ways.

For example, in the embodiment described above, the humidity is substantially controlled by the humidifier heater 36.
2, but in addition to this, the amount of refrigerant circulating in the cooling/dehumidifier 22 may also be controlled. In this case, the operating section 40 is an operating section that can also operate the opening degree of the expansion valve in the refrigeration system including the cooling/dehumidifier 22, for example.

Note that such an expansion valve whose opening degree can be adjusted may be an electronic expansion valve whose opening degree can be adjusted by a stepping motor.

Alternatively, a separate dehumidifier may be provided, and both the humidifier 36 and this dehumidifier may be operated.

Also, during the operation of the microcomputer 38 in the above embodiment, the second
Steps S51 and S52 shown in the figure are omitted and step S5 is directly connected to step S6, and step 3
After determining rYES in step 13, it is determined whether or not there is a water shortage input, and when rYES, the first alarm process is performed and the device 41 is activated, and when "NO", the second alarm process is performed. The device 42 may also be activated.

Furthermore, the alarm device 41 and the water level detection sensor 35 in the previous embodiment are omitted, and during the operation of the microcomputer 38, step S51 shown in FIG. S52 may be omitted. In this case, in step 323 ryEs, .
When this judgment is made and the alarm device 42 is activated, this indicates that at least one of the wick pan running out of water and the wick abnormality has occurred.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the humidity control device of the present invention has the advantage that even if there is an abnormality in water absorption in the wick, it can be detected.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a constant temperature constant temperature chamber using an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of a microcomputer in the humidity control device shown in FIG. 1. ... Humidity control device l ... Dry bulb temperature detection end 2 ... Wet bulb temperature detection end 3 ... Wick 4 ... Wink bang 5 ... Water level detection sensor 6 ... Humidifier 62 ... ...Humidifier heater 7...Adjuster 8...Microcomputer 9...Target relative humidity setting section O...Humidifier operating section 1.42...Alarm device

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Calculate the current relative humidity based on the dry bulb temperature output from the dry bulb temperature detection end and the wet bulb temperature output from the wet bulb temperature detection end equipped with a wick that sucks water from the wick pan, and use the calculated relative humidity and In a humidity control device that obtains a target relative humidity by operating a humidity adjusting means based on a difference in target relative humidity, when the dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures become equal when the target relative humidity is not 100% RH, the humidity adjusting means If the dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures are still the same even after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the operation of the operating means in the direction of lowering the relative humidity, the water at the wet bulb temperature detection end A humidity control device comprising: an alarm means for notifying that a supply abnormality has occurred.