JPH04314485A - Electric razor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To conduct a cleaning or blade exchange demand display through appropriate timing by detecting the shaving sound of beard to operate and set a waste beard cleaning time or blade exchange time, by comparing the time with an integrated razor-operating time to determine it and by displaying a demand for waste beard cleaning or blade exchange. CONSTITUTION:A shaving sound detection circuit 3 is constituted by arrangement together with a sensor for detecting the shaving sound of beard to output an electric signal according to the loudness of the shaving sound. In a control circuit 4 to which the electric signal is inputted, the heaviness of beard is determined, the revolution speed control circuit 31 of a motor M is controlled and the heaviness is displayed in the heaviness display part 22 of a display part 14. Also, a period for shaving beard is determined on the basis of the output of the control circuit 4 and measured by an operating time-measuring part 34 so that the product of the period and heaviness of beard is obtained. A cleaning time-determining part 35 and exchange time-determining part 36 integrate the product and compare it with a predetermined value and a cleaning and blade exchange time is informed by a cleaning demand display 23a and blade exchange demand display 23b.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric razor that can notify when to clean or replace the blade by detecting the thickness of the beard.

0002

[Prior Art] An electric razor has an outer blade that comes into contact with the skin,
It is equipped with a blade consisting of an inner cutter that cuts the beard introduced through the outer cutter by sliding against the outer cutter, and the cut beard scraps are collected inside. For this reason, if cleaning of the beard shavings is neglected, problems arise in that the shavings that have accumulated inside the blade fly away, and that the shavings stuck to the inner blade deteriorate the cutting ability. Furthermore, even if the beard shavings are cleaned frequently, the sharpness of the blade gradually deteriorates due to wear, so it is difficult for the user to determine when the blade has already reached the point of replacement. be.

[0003] To this end, electric shavers have been proposed that notify when it is time to clean or replace the blades. This is because the amount of beard crumbs and the amount of wear on the blade change depending on the thickness of the beard, so we have installed a switch that allows you to set the thickness of the beard in multiple stages. Based on the interval time and usage time, it is possible to notify that it is time to clean the beard shavings or replace the blade.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional example described above, the user himself/herself operates a switch to set the thickness of the beard, so the criteria for determining the thickness of the beard is ambiguous, and cleaning There is a problem that the relationship between the time to notify when it is time to replace the beard and the amount of beard debris accumulated inside or the amount of wear on the blade is not constant, and the switch for setting the beard density may be set incorrectly. Since they are usually arranged in such a way that they are relatively difficult to operate so that they cannot be switched, there is a problem in that once the settings have been made, it is troublesome to change them.

[0005] The present invention was made in view of the above points, and its purpose is to automatically detect the thickness of the user's beard and to check the amount of beard debris accumulated inside or the wear of the blade. To provide an electric shaver capable of accurately determining the amount.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides a shaving sound detection means for detecting the sound of shaving and converting it into an electric signal, and detecting the timing of cleaning beard debris or replacing the blade based on the output of the shaving sound detection means. a measuring means for accumulating the shaving usage time; and a determining means for comparing and determining the beard scrap cleaning time or blade replacement time set by the setting means and the shaving usage time determined by the measuring means; The present invention is characterized in that it includes a display means for displaying a cleaning reminder display for prompting cleaning of beard debris or a blade replacement reminder display prompting for blade replacement based on the output from the determination means.

[0007]

According to the present invention, since the thickness of the beard is automatically determined based on the sound of shaving, the display to remind the user to clean or to replace the blade can be displayed at an appropriate timing.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail based on the illustrated embodiment. As shown in FIG. In addition to the trimmer blade 12, on the front surface of the housing 10 and below the trimmer blade 12, there is also a switch handle 13 that can move up and down, and a display panel 14 made of a liquid crystal display. As shown in FIG. 8, the blade 11 is composed of an outer cutter 1 with a substantially inverted U-shaped cross section that comes into contact with the skin, and an inner cutter 2 that moves back and forth in the left-right direction in the figure while sliding on the inner surface of the outer cutter 1. The inner cutter 2 is reciprocated by a motor built into the housing 10. The switch handle 13 is responsible for turning the motor on and off as well as raising and lowering the trimmer blade 13. 15 in FIG. 7 is the lock button, 17 is the housing 1
This is a detachable button that allows the frame 16 to be opened and closed freely with respect to the frame 1.
Do this with step 6 open.

The display panel 14 includes a remaining capacity display section 21 that displays the remaining capacity of a built-in secondary battery that serves as a power source for the motor, a density display section 22 that displays the density of the beard, and a reminder display section. It is equipped with 23. The remaining capacity display section 21 displays the remaining capacity of the secondary battery in 20% increments. Further, the density display section 22 is
As shown in Figure 9, depending on the thickness of the beard, there is a "thin" state,
An inverted triangular indicator 22 is provided with display elements 22a, 22b, and 22c in three stages indicating a "normal" state and a "dark" state.
The position of d indicates the thickness of the beard. Further, the reminder display section 23 includes a display element 23a that indicates when it is time to clean the blade 11, and a display element 23b that indicates when it is time to replace the blade 11.

As shown in FIG. 8, a detection sensor 30, which is a microphone for detecting shaving sound during shaving, is disposed in the housing 10 near the inner cutter 2. As shown in FIG. 6, this detection sensor 30 constitutes a shaving sound detection circuit 3 together with a filter circuit 38, and outputs an electric signal depending on the magnitude of shaving sound during shaving.

[0011] Here, as the inner cutter 2 operates, the shaving sound detection circuit 3 outputs a pulse P of a certain level or more, and when the peak value Vp of this pulse P is more than a predetermined value, the shaving sound detection circuit 3 outputs a pulse P of a certain level or more. Since it is considered that the sound generated when cutting the beard becomes louder as the beard becomes thicker, the thickness of the beard can be determined based on the magnitude of this peak value Vp.

In this embodiment, in addition to determining the density of the beard and determining the amount of beard debris accumulated inside the process,
The rotation speed of the motor is controlled so that the operation is performed according to the thickness of the beard. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the output of the shaving sound detection circuit 3 is input to a control circuit 4 which is a discriminating means mainly composed of a microprocessor. The control circuit 4 determines the density of the beard based on the output of the shaving sound detection circuit 3, and controls the rotation speed control circuit 31 that controls the rotation speed of the motor M. Further, the density of the beard determined by the control circuit 4 is displayed on the density display section 22 of the display section 14.

By the way, since the amount of beard debris can be determined by the product of the thickness of the beard and the usage time, the period of shaving is determined based on the output of the control circuit 4, and this period is defined as the usage time. While being measured by the measuring section 34,
Find the product of beard density and usage time. The product of beard density and usage time is input to the cleaning time determining section 35 and the replacement time determining section 36. The cleaning time determining unit 35 integrates the above-mentioned products and compares the integrated value with a predetermined value, and when it determines that the amount of beard debris has reached a predetermined amount, the display element of the reminder display unit 23 in the display unit 14 is 23a is turned on to notify that it is time to clean the blade 11. The replacement time determining unit 36 integrates the above products and compares the integrated value with a predetermined value, and when it is determined that a predetermined amount of beard has been shaved, the display element 23b of the reminder display unit 23 in the display unit 14 is turned on. Notification is made that it is time to replace the blade 11. Note that the integrated value is stored in a nonvolatile memory (not shown). Also,
The integrated value of the cleaning time determining section 35 is reset each time the blade 11 is cleaned, and the integrated value of the replacement time determining section 36 is reset each time the blade 11 is replaced. Therefore, after cleaning the beard shavings or replacing the blade 11, a reset means is required to reset the integrated value stored in the nonvolatile memory of the cleaning time determining section 35 and the replacement time determining section 36. be. As for the reset means, the cleaning time determination section 35 may detect attachment/detachment of the frame 16 holding the outer cutter 1 to/from the housing 10, for example.
As for the replacement time determination section 36, a reset switch or the like may be used.

Battery E, which is a secondary battery, is connected to switch handle 13 for rotation speed control circuit 31 and motor M.
The other circuits are connected via a switch SW which is turned on and off by the operation of the switch SW, but power is constantly supplied to the other circuit sections so that the above-mentioned integrated value and the like are held. The on/off state of the switch SW is input to the control circuit 4, so that the output of the shaving sound detection circuit 3 is enabled only while shaving.

Next, the overall operation will be explained. here,
The thickness of the beard is determined based on the peak value Vp of the output level of the shaving sound detection circuit 3. As shown in Figure 2, switch S
When W is not turned on, reset processing is performed depending on whether the reset switch is operated. As shown in FIG. 3, the reset process is a process in which the integrated value Tc is set to 0 when the reset switch is turned on, and this process is performed when the blade 11 is cleaned. Furthermore, when the blade 11 is replaced, it is necessary to set the integrated value Td to 0 (not shown in the figure).

When the switch SW is turned on, first, the integrated values Tc and Td up to the previous use are read from the nonvolatile memory, and then the output of the shaving sound detection circuit 3 is read. The peak value Vp of the output of the shaving sound detection circuit 3 is compared with a predetermined threshold value V1 to determine whether a shaving operation is being performed. When it is determined that a shaving operation is being performed, a beard thickness determination process is performed. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, first, the peak value Vp is set to a predetermined threshold V.
2 (>V1), and the density of the beard is determined based on the magnitude of the peak value Vp. Here, Vc=V2 -Vp, and this Vc and predetermined setting values Vx, Vy (Vx<Vy)
Compare with. The thickness of the beard is thin when Vc<Vx, normal when Vx≦Vc≦Vy, and thick when Vy<V
When it is c, it is determined that it is dark. Here, the product of the thickness of the beard and the usage time is converted into a unit time t set according to the thickness of the beard, and the thicker the beard, the longer the unit time t (t1 < t2 <t3), it is possible to integrate the product of beard density and usage time by simply adding unit time. Also, depending on the thickness of the beard, the control amount V (Va<Vb
<Vc) is also set. When the density of the beard is determined in this way, it is displayed on the density display section 22.

[0017] Once the thickness of the beard has been determined, the accumulation of usage time is started. That is, a unit time t (any value of t1, t2, or t3) set according to the density of the beard is integrated. Here, the integrated value Tc used to determine when it is time to clean and the integrated value Td used to determine when it is time to replace are reset separately, so they need to be calculated separately. When the integrated values Tc and Td are obtained in this way,
Display processing is performed. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, when the integrated value Tc becomes equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value Ts, the reminder display section 23 displays that beard shavings have accumulated and that it is time to clean. Further, the integrated value Td is a predetermined threshold value T
When the time exceeds h, a reminder display section 23 displays a message indicating that it is time to replace the blade 11.

As described above, the process from receiving the output of the shaving sound detection circuit 3 to display processing is carried out by the switch SW.
By repeating this while it is on, it is possible to notify when it is time to clean or replace the blade 11. After turning off the switch SW, the integration is finished and the integrated values Tc and Td are written into the nonvolatile memory. In the above embodiment, the thickness of the beard was determined only by the peak value Vp of the output of the shaving sound detection circuit 3, but the pulse P shown in FIG.
Since the width fx corresponds to the period during which the inner cutter 2 is in contact with the beard, it can be determined that the wider the width fx, the thicker the beard is. Furthermore, since the generation interval fy of the pulses P corresponds to the interval between whiskers, it can be determined that the narrower the generation interval fy, the higher the density of the whiskers. Therefore, the width fx and generation interval f of these pulses P
By using y, the thickness of the beard can be determined more accurately.

In view of this point, the beard density determination process is shown in FIG.
Shown below. First, the thickness of the beard is classified into three levels based on the peak value Vp as in the first embodiment. Next, the width fx of the pulse P
is compared with a predetermined threshold value f1, and when fx>f1 holds, it is determined that the beard is thick, and the thickness of the beard is increased by one level. Also, the pulse P generation interval fy
is compared with a predetermined threshold value f2, and when fy<f2 holds, it is determined that the density of the beard is large, and the density of the beard is reduced to 1.
Try to move it up a level. However, the peak value Vp
If it is determined that the beard is thick, the process is performed as is. The processing after classifying the thickness of the beard in this manner is the same as in the previous embodiment.

[0020] According to this configuration, the density of the beard can be determined more accurately, and the time to clean or replace the blade 11 can be accurately notified. Moreover, control according to the thickness of the beard can be performed accurately, and an easy-to-use electric razor can be provided. In the above embodiment, the rotation speed of the motor M is adjusted depending on the thickness of the beard, but this may be done as necessary.

[0021]

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the present invention automatically determines the thickness of the beard using the sound of shaving, so there is no need to manually set the thickness of the beard, and an appropriate thickness is always selected. Therefore, it has the advantage of being able to accurately determine the amount of beard debris that accumulates inside and the amount of wear on the blade, and being able to accurately notify when it is time to clean or replace the blade.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an operational explanatory diagram of reset processing in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of beard density determination processing in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an operational explanatory diagram of display processing in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram showing an example of a shaving sound detection circuit in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a main part showing an example.

FIG. 9 is a front view of main parts of the display unit in the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of beard density determination processing in the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an operation explanatory diagram showing an example of the output of the shaving sound detection circuit in the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

3 Shaving sound detection circuit 4 Control circuit 11 Blade

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A shaving sound detection means for detecting the sound of shaving and converting it into an electrical signal, a setting means for calculating and setting the time for cleaning beard debris from the output of the shaving sound detection means, and integrating the shaving usage time. a measuring means for comparing and determining the beard scrap cleaning period set by the setting means and the shaving usage time according to the measuring means; and a display for displaying a cleaning reminder prompting to clean the beard scraps based on the output from the determining means. An electric razor characterized by comprising means. 2. Shaving sound detection means for detecting the sound of shaving and converting it into an electrical signal, setting means for calculating and setting the blade replacement period from the output of the shaving sound detection means, and integrating the shaving usage time. A measuring means, a determining means for comparing and determining the blade replacement period set by the setting means and the shaving usage time determined by the measuring means, and a display means for displaying a blade replacement reminder prompting to replace the blade based on the output from the determining means. An electric razor comprising: