JPH0430502Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the idea] [Industrial application field]

This invention relates to a remaining amount display device for a drug tank such as a power sprayer, and more specifically, when the drug tank such as a backpack-type power sprayer is out of the worker's field of vision, the remaining amount of drug inside the tank is displayed within the field of view during work. The present invention relates to a display device for displaying images.

[Conventional technology]

With power sprayers, etc., where the worker carries the drug tank and its driving power source on his or her back, the remaining amount of the drug in the drug tank decreases as the work progresses and continues, so it is important to always check the remaining amount correctly. It is necessary to carry out spraying work while being aware of this. However, when the patient is carrying the drug on their back, the drug tank is on their back, so the amount remaining inside the tank cannot be recognized because it is out of sight. The current situation is that However, it is extremely primitive to judge the remaining amount by intuition, and it is difficult to judge the remaining amount by intuition.
The perceived weight of the granules is significantly different, which causes the drug to run out and reduces work efficiency. In addition, it is safe to remove the drug tank from your back and visually check the remaining amount, but it is very troublesome to remove the drug tank from your back while working.
It was also inefficient. Therefore, various proposals have been made so that the remaining amount of medicine in the medicine tank can be recognized while the patient is carrying the medicine on his or her back. For example, Utility Model Application No. 54-10878, Utility Model Application No. 61-
Publication No. 11977 can be mentioned.

[Problem that the idea aims to solve]

However, these proposed display devices are dedicated to liquid drugs, powders, and granules, and cannot be applied to power sprayers that use powder, granules, or liquid drugs. was left as it was. Therefore, the object of this invention is to provide a display device that can accurately determine the remaining amount of a drug, whether it is a liquid or a powder.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve this purpose, the drug tank remaining amount display device of the present invention detects the remaining amount of drug detected by a detection section provided inside the drug tank made of translucent or permeable plastics. A remaining amount display device that displays on a display section provided within the field of view of a worker via a drive section that converts transmitted light from a tank wall into an electrical signal and outputs it to the display section, wherein the detection section is configured to A cylindrical guide rod provided upright inside the drug tank, a plurality of lighting windows perforated at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction of the guide rod, and a light shield that wraps around the guide rod and expands and contracts along the longitudinal direction of the guide rod. a float attached to the top end of the bellows and formed with an opening into which the guide rod is loosely fitted; and a drive circuit that drives a display element of the display unit based on the output from the conversion unit, wherein when the drug tank contains a liquid drug, the float is located on the surface of the liquid drug, and the When the drug tank stores the powdery granular drug, the lighting window below the level of the residual powdery granular drug is blocked by the powdery granular drug, and the remaining amount level of the drug is displayed on the display section. .

[Example] Below, examples of this invention are shown in Figures 1 to 5.
This will be explained along the diagram. In these figures, the sign 1
2 indicates the engine that is the power source of the power sprayer, 2 indicates the blower, and 3 indicates the drug tank made of milky white plastic that does not block light but allows some light to pass through. A drug delivery pipe 4 extends from the blower 2,
A drug can be supplied to the dispersion tube via a flexible tube 5 connected to its tip. A remaining amount detecting section 10 is provided in the drug tank 3, and the optical detection output from this remaining amount detecting section 10 is inputted to a driving section 20 of a display section provided at an appropriate location, and an electrical output is generated. The display unit 30 provided near the worker's hand is driven by the display unit 30. The remaining amount detecting unit 10 has a cylindrical guide rod 12 erected from a base 11 provided at a suitable location at the bottom of the drug tank 3, and is arranged substantially vertically when in use. This guide rod 12 has an appropriate length (height) along the depth direction of the drug tank 3, and has lighting windows 12U, 12V, 12X,...12Z are worn. A bellows 13 is attached around the guide rod 12, and the base 11 is a fixed end, and the bellows 13 is at the same level as the top end of the guide rod 12 in the most extended state.
A float 14 is attached to the upper end, and the guide rod 12 is inserted through the center hole 14A of the float 14.
is pervasive. Each lighting window 12U of the guide rod 12...
At 12V...12Z, end faces of glass fibers 15 as light guides are located, and each glass fiber 15 is led out of the drug tank 3 and connected to a coupler 16. Another glass fiber 21 is extended from the coupler 16 to the glass fiber 15, and the end 21A of each glass fiber 21 corresponds to a phototransistor 22U, V...Z provided for each glass fiber. Phototransistor 22U,
A drive transistor 23U corresponds to V...Z, and each collector of the phototransistor is pn type.
The display elements 31U, V, are connected to the bases of V,
. . , and uses a magnet generator of the engine 1 as a Vcc power source 24. The switching action of the phototransistors 22X causes the display element 31 such as the LCD or LED of the display section 30 to light up. The display section 30 is an independent translucent LCD or LED.
Display elements 31 such as are lit to indicate the remaining amount of medicine, and when the tank is full, all display elements 31 are lit, and as the medicine decreases, the display elements 31 go out one by one. placed in a location that is easily visible to the public. Next, the operation of displaying the remaining amount in the drug tank 3 will be explained. First, when the liquid medicine is filled in the medicine tank 3, the detection unit 10 detects the float 1.
4 floats to the liquid surface due to buoyancy, and this float 1
The bellows 13 is extended to the liquid surface due to the floating of the liquid. In other words, if the top end of the guide rod 12 or beyond it is filled with the drug, all the lighting windows 12U, 1 of the guide rod 12
2V...12Z is shielded from light by the bellows 13.
By optically blocking the lighting window, the drive unit 20
Each phototransistor 22 becomes "off" and the drive transistor 23 turns on, and all the display elements 31 corresponding to this phototransistor 22 are driven. As the liquid level L of the drug falls, the float 14 also falls, and for example, when the lighting windows 12U and 12V look above the liquid level L, the brightness (light) inside the drug tank 3 increases.
is from each glass fiber 2 from the lighting window 12U, 12V.
Light enters at 1U, 21V. When light is input to the phototransistors 22U and 22V using the light from the end portion 21A of those glass fibers as a light source,
These two phototransistors 22U and 22V are turned on, and the pn type drive transistor 23
U, 23V becomes "off" and display element 31U,
31V goes out and the remaining display elements 31X, 31
Only Y and 31Z are driven and lit, and the bar graph is shortened to display the remaining amount of medicine (the diagonally shaded display elements in FIG. 3 are lit). Then, as the liquid level L of the chemical drops as the chemical is sprayed, the lighting windows of the guide rod 12 are sequentially exposed above the liquid level and the display elements are sequentially turned off. Furthermore, if the drug used is granules or granules, the buoyancy of the drug does not act on the float 14 . However, due to the weight of the drug loaded on the upper surface of the float 14, the float 14 descends to the lowest position, and as the float 14 descends, the bellows 1
Contract 3. At this time, each lighting window 12 of the guide rod 12
U, 12V...12Z are not shielded from light by the bellows 13, but are shielded from light by the medicine filled around the guide rod 12. All the display elements 31 of the display section 30 are driven by blocking the light from the lighting window. When the lighting window is exposed above the drug level due to a decrease in the remaining amount, the light inside the drug tank will pass through the lighting window 12.
It enters from U and V, and the display element 3
1U and 31V are lit and the remaining amount is displayed as a bar graph.

[Effect of the idea]

As explained above, in the remaining amount display device for a drug tank of the present invention, a light-shielding bellows is wrapped around a guide rod provided with a plurality of lighting windows in the longitudinal direction, and a float having an opening into which the guide rod loosely fits. is attached to the top end with a bellows. When a liquid drug is stored in a drug tank, a float floats on the surface of the drug, and the light that passes through the tank wall of the drug tank reaches the lighting window of the guide rod located above the float. The light is blocked by the bellows and does not reach the lighting window located below the float. This creates a difference in the amount of light incident on the float, that is, the lighting windows located above and below the liquid level of the liquid medicine. On the other hand, when a powdered drug is stored in the drug tank, the float is located at the bottom of the tank, and the lighting window is blocked by the drug remaining in the tank. Therefore, the light that has passed through the tank wall reaches the lighting window located above the residual level of the granular drug, but the granular drug remaining in the tank acts as a light shield and the transmitted light is directed downward. It never reaches the lighting window. Therefore, there is a difference in the amount of light incident on the lighting windows above and below the residual level of the powdered medicine. In this way, a difference in light amount depending on the residual level is obtained and displayed on the display device, regardless of whether the drug is a liquid drug or a powder drug. The residual level is displayed as a bar graph on a display device in the worker's field of vision, so the worker can always accurately grasp the amount of chemical remaining in the chemical tank and perform spraying operations smoothly. I can do it.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a front view of the backpack-type power sprayer with this invention, Fig. 2 is an enlarged explanatory view of the detection section, Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the detection section, drive section, and display section, and Fig. 4 The figure is an equivalent circuit diagram of the driving section, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the display state of the display section. 1...Engine, 2...Blower, 3...Drug tank, 4...Delivery pipe, 5...Flexible pipe, 1
0... Remaining amount detection section, 11... Base, 12...
Guide rod, 13... Bellows, 14... Float, 14A... Center hole, 15... Glass fiber, 16... Coupler, 20... Drive unit, 21...
Glass fiber, 21A... end, 22U, V,
X, Y, Z...phototransistor, 23U,
V, X, Y, Z...drive transistor, 24...
Vcc power supply, 30...display section, 31...display element.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] The remaining amount of the drug detected by a detection unit installed inside a drug tank made of translucent or porous plastic is determined by converting the light transmitted through the tank wall into an electrical signal. A remaining amount display device that displays the remaining amount on a display section provided within the field of view of a worker via a drive section that outputs output to the display section, wherein the detection section is a cylindrical amount that is provided upright inside the drug tank. A guide rod, a plurality of lighting windows bored at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction of the guide rod, a light-blocking bellows that wraps around the guide rod and expands and contracts along the longitudinal direction of the guide rod, and is attached to the top end of the bellows. and a float in which an opening is formed into which the guide rod is loosely fitted, and the drive section includes a conversion section that electrically converts the transmitted light incident on the lighting window, and a float that converts the transmitted light incident on the lighting window into electricity based on the output from the conversion section. a drive circuit that drives a display element of a display unit, the float is positioned at the surface of the liquid drug when the drug tank contains a liquid drug, and the float is located at the surface of the liquid drug when the drug tank contains a powdered drug. A remaining amount display device for a drug tank such as a power sprayer, characterized in that a lighting window below the level of the residual powdery granular drug is blocked by the powdery granular drug, and the remaining amount level of the drug is displayed on the display section.