JPH0461257B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention <Industrial Application Field> The present invention provides a remote control device that can operate the main body of a water heater having a gas boiler, oil boiler, etc. in its combustion section using an operating device located at a location apart from the main body. Concerning improvements to operated water heaters.

<Conventional technology> In modern water heaters, the equipment body (base unit) that directly controls the combustion part of the boiler, for example, is placed outdoors, and operation commands to the base unit are issued by an operating device (located indoors). A remote control type has been developed that allows transmission from the base unit (remote unit), and when connecting the base unit and the remote unit using electrical data signal lines and power supply lines, the number of crossover wiring lines has increased. To prevent this, a two-wire system in which the data signal is superimposed on the power supply line is currently considered the most rational.

Typical conventional examples of such two-wire remote-controlled water heaters can be found in the following publications.

Conventional example: JP-A-57-120027; name: “Two-wire combustion control device” Conventional example: JP-A-60-228820; name: “Remotely controlled combustion device” <Problems to be solved by the invention ＞ However, in the past, the basic operating functions that were considered to be the minimum required for such remote-controlled water heaters, regardless of manufacturer or model, were:
By operating an operating switch provided on the remote unit side, the user can start combustion in a combustion section located outdoors or stop combustion in a combustion section that is currently burning.

In other words, all of the water heaters of this type that have been proposed in the past have been premised on the existence of an operation switch that is operated by the user. Of course, the operation switch referred to here is not a power switch that is generally used in electrical equipment, but is a microcomputer built into this type of water heater system, as is well known in this type of field, including the above-mentioned conventional publication. This is a switch that can be set to on mode or off mode.

In other words, although the microcomputer is constantly supplied with power, it performs predetermined control operations only when it is in the on mode, and does not operate in the off mode. This is similar to, for example, a TV with a so-called remote control, and although the remote control has the notation "power" on it, this switch does not actually turn on or off the main power of the TV itself. Power is always supplied to the circuitry that responds to the operation of the power switch, and after that, the function as a television is activated after the remote control ``power'' switch is turned on. It is. The switch labeled "power" on such a remote control can be considered to be the operating switch referred to in this book.

However, when such an operation switch is provided, the user's convenience or inconvenience is greatly affected by where the remote unit to which it is installed is installed.

For example, if a remote unit is installed in a bathroom, there is an inconvenience that even if you want to heat water in another place, such as the kitchen, you will have to go to the bathroom and turn on the operation switch before you can get hot water.

The present invention has been made basically in order to eliminate such inconvenience, and to provide a water heater that can omit an operation switch and still ensure safety.

<Means for Solving the Problems> In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a remote-controlled water heater having the following configuration.

First, the water heater to be improved by the present invention only needs to have at least the following configurations a, b, and c.

a. The base unit that directly controls the combustion equipment and the remote unit that operates the base unit from a remote location are connected by a two-wire data transmission line that also serves as a power supply line.

b. Each of the base unit and remote unit has a built-in microcomputer that creates water heater control data to be carried on the data transmission line in the on mode and transmits and receives this data via the data transmission line.

c) Even if the microcomputer is powered on, at certain times it is in an off mode, it is in a dormant state in which it does not create or transmit the above data.

For a remote-controlled water heater having such structural requirements a, b, and c, the present invention further provides: d) When the water flow sensor detects a significant water flow when the electromagnetic valve for opening and closing the fuel flow path is in a closed state, The microcomputer in the base unit and the remote unit is reset to the above-mentioned on mode, and a circuit is provided to set the microcomputer to the above-mentioned off mode based on this when the water flow sensor no longer detects a significant amount of water. Add requirement d.

<Operations and Effects> According to the present invention, the condition for setting the microcomputer to the on mode after it has been reset is limited to the case where a water flow is generated while the solenoid valve is closed.

In other words, if a user opens a faucet or other hot water outlet in a state where combustion is not occurring, each microcomputer in the remote unit and base unit will be reset to ON mode. , which means combustion begins.

Therefore, this type of water heater can be used extremely conveniently without being restricted by the location of the remote unit.

On the other hand, after being reset as described above, the microcomputers in each unit that were in on mode and controlling combustion will also notify you when the water flow detection sensor no longer detects a significant amount of water. The off mode is set based on the signal.
Of course, when the microcomputer is shifted to off mode, it may be caused by a previous command from the microcomputer, or by a direct command from the water level detection sensor via a separate hardware system, etc. The solenoid valve for opening and closing the fuel flow path may be closed using an appropriate method similar to that described above to stop combustion.

In this combustion stop state, as is clear from the above summary structure, according to the present invention, the microcomputers maintain a hibernation state or an off mode until the water starts flowing next and each microcomputer is reset again. Therefore, even if the nozzle overlaps with the data transmission line during this combustion stop, there is no risk of the microcomputer malfunctioning, and safety is enhanced in this respect.

Note that the above-mentioned significant water flow refers to the minimum flow rate state in which the water flow sensor can recognize that water is flowing, and has a property that is arbitrarily determined depending on the device.

<Embodiment> FIG. 1 shows a schematic circuit diagram of a preferred embodiment of a remote-controlled water heater constructed according to the present invention.

First of all, among the circuits that were provided in the past,
To explain the basics for convenience, they are the microcomputers 11 and 2 in both the base unit 10 and the remote unit 20.
1, transmitting circuits 12, 22, receiving circuits 13, 23,
The power supply circuit 14 of the base unit is connected to a commercial power supply (not shown), and is generally equipped with a solenoid valve 19 that opens the fuel flow path only when current is applied. It is controlled by a control signal from the computer 11. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the fuel is gas, and therefore the solenoid valve is illustrated as a gas solenoid valve.

Various data necessary for controlling combustion equipment are
It is processed into a form suitable for being superimposed on a two-wire power supply and data transmission line 30 (hereinafter simply referred to as data transmission line 30) which also serves as a power supply line from each microcomputer 11, 21 via the respective transmission circuit 13, 23. After that, it is placed on the data transmission line 30 and transmitted from the base unit to the remote unit.
The signals are sent from the remote unit to the base unit, decoded by the corresponding receiving circuits 23 and 13, and input to their own microcomputers 21 and 11.

Furthermore, each receiving circuit 13, 23 can also monitor the transmission data output from its own unit.

Normal combustion control is performed by such a circuit system, but since the present invention does not directly specify its specific form, further detailed explanation will be omitted.

The configuration added to such a water heater according to the present invention is, first, a reset pulse generation circuit that is located in the base unit 10 and selectively generates a reset pulse according to the output of the water flow detection sensor 18 and the state of the gas solenoid valve 19. It is 17.

To explain below with reference to FIG. 2, in the case of the present invention, water starts flowing when the user turns the faucet, etc.
When the flow rate exceeds a predetermined value, the water flow detection sensor 18
When data indicating that water has flowed appears in the output, a reset pulse is output from the reset pulse generating circuit 17 only if it is confirmed that the gas solenoid valve 19 was closed at that time.

In this embodiment, this reset pulse is sent to the transmission circuit 12 in the base unit 10, converted into a form convenient for transmission, and then superimposed on the data transmission line 30 from there.

Therefore, on the remote unit side which receives this reset pulse via the data transmission line 30 by the receiving circuit 23, the transmission pulse monitoring circuit 25 which monitors the received contents of the receiving circuit 23 checks the pulse width etc. The reset pulses are differentially detected and the corresponding reset pulses are issued to control the microcomputer 2 in the remote unit 20.
After resetting 1, set it to on mode.

On the other hand, in the case of the illustrated embodiment, since each unit can also monitor its own output data, as mentioned above, the reset signal generating circuit 17 provided in the base unit is able to satisfy the above conditions. The reset pulse emitted by detecting this is also decoded by its own receiving circuit 13 in the base unit 10, and similarly, the reset pulse is differentially extracted by the pulse monitoring circuit 15 and sent to the microcomputer 11. After resetting it, put it in on mode.

Generally speaking, for safety reasons in already developed water heaters of this type, considering the pulse width of transmitted and received data exchanged under normal conditions, abnormalities exceeding the pulse width range above and below the possible pulse width under normal conditions are If a long or abnormally short pulse width is detected, it is assumed that some kind of abnormality has occurred and a pulse width monitoring circuit is provided to reset the microcomputer. If a signal with an appropriate pulse width that falls within the pulse width range that can be considered as a reset pulse is intentionally used as a reset pulse, the above-mentioned pulse monitoring circuit for abnormality detection can be used as the transmission pulse monitoring circuit 15, 25 for reset detection of the present invention. be able to.

Similarly, the water flow detection sensor 18 is generally used in water heaters of this type, in order to bring the outlet hot water temperature as close as possible to the desired temperature set by the user, so it is necessary to calculate the required combustion amount. Since a flow rate sensor is provided to measure the flow rate per unit time, it is reasonable to use this sensor and determine that there is water flow if the flow rate sensor emits some kind of flow rate signal.

However, as mentioned above, regardless of the case where the receiving circuits 13 and 23 in each unit are capable of monitoring the outputs of their own transmitting circuits 12 and 22, if this is not possible, the reset pulse generating circuit The output of 17 may be configured to directly reset the microcomputer 11 in the base unit, or a sensor may be provided specifically for detecting only the presence or absence of water flow.

Further, in the illustrated case, only a single remote unit 20 is shown, but it is also possible to provide a plurality of remote units in parallel with respect to the data transmission line 30, each of which may have the same configuration.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of a remote-controlled water heater according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the circuit device shown in FIG. 1. In the figure, 10 is a base unit, 11 and 21 are microcomputers, 12 and 22 are transmitting circuits, and 1
3 and 23 are receiving circuits, 14 and 24 are power supply circuits, 1
5 and 25 are mode instruction signal detection circuits, 17 is a reset pulse generation circuit, 18 is a water amount detection sensor, 1
9 is a gas solenoid valve, 20 is a remote unit, 30
is a two-wire power supply and data transmission line.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A base unit that directly controls the combustion device and a remote unit that operates the base unit from a remote location are connected by a two-wire data transmission line that also serves as a power supply line, and A microcomputer is built into each of the base unit and remote unit to create water heater control data to be carried on the data transmission line and to transmit and receive the data via the data transmission line, and the microcomputer is , a remote-controlled water heater that is in a dormant state in which it does not create or transmit the above data when it is in off mode even when the power is on; When the sensor detects a significant water flow, the microcomputers in the base unit and remote unit are reset to the on mode, and when the water flow sensor no longer detects the significant water flow, the A remote-controlled water heater characterized by: having a circuit for setting the microcomputer to the above-mentioned off mode.