JPH05228298A - Iron - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an iron capable of responding to the temperature change due to the fluctuation of a load by realizing the know-how determining the current feed duty to a heater based on the temperature gradient on an iron base face and the temperature difference from the preset temperature as a fuzzy inference rule. CONSTITUTION:A power controller 22 controls the current feed to a heater 4 heating an iron base, and a temperature detecting element 7 detects the temperature on an iron base face. A main controller 21 calculates the timewise temperature change on the iron base face as the temperature gradient based on the output of a timer section 23 and the temperature data of the temperature detecting element 7, and calculates the temperature difference between the temperature set by an operation section 11 and the present temperature on the iron base face. A fuzzy inferring unit 20 infers the electric power to be fed to the heater 4 based on the temperature gradient and temperature difference obtained from the main controller 21 and feeds the inference data to the main controller 21. An iron having good responsiveness, compatible to the load fluctuation due to disturbances, and having good operability is obtained.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an iron using an electronic circuit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, electronically controlled irons that control the temperature using electronic circuits have become the mainstream. This type of iron generally has a structure as shown in FIG. The configuration will be described below. 1 is an iron base,
1a is an iron body, 2 is a handle, and 3 is a water tank.
Reference numeral 4 is a heater for heating the iron base 1, 5 is a vaporization chamber for converting the water dropped from the water tank 3 into steam, 6 is a steam hole for injecting the generated steam, and 7 is the temperature of the iron base 1. A temperature detecting element such as a thermistor for detecting (hereinafter simply referred to as a thermistor). 8
Is a steam button for selecting whether or not to discharge steam. When pressed down, the valve 9 opens, and when pressed again, the button rises up and the valve 9 closes. Reference numeral 10 is a control circuit that controls the energization of the heater 4 based on the temperature signal of the thermistor 7. Reference numeral 11 denotes an operation unit for the user to set the temperature of the iron.

In the conventional iron having the above-mentioned structure, as shown in FIG. 12, when the temperature detected by the thermistor 7 is lower than T ₀ degree by the control circuit 10 with the set temperature T ₀ degree as the threshold value, the heater 4 is used. When the temperature is higher than T ₀ degrees, the heater 4 is stopped from being energized to control the temperature of the iron base 1.

[0004]

In the conventional iron as described above, since the energization of the heater 4 is controlled depending on whether the temperature of the thermistor 7 is higher or lower than the temperature threshold T ₀ , the iron is ironed. The actual temperature of the surface of the base 1 has a large temperature change having an up-and-down amplitude around the threshold value T ₀ . Further, there is a problem that the temperature change occurs depending on the type of cloth and the use of steam, and the conventional structure cannot follow the temperature change.

Further, in the conventional iron, the amount of steam cannot be adjusted according to the temperature of the iron base surface, and the amount of steam does not change regardless of whether the set temperature is high or low. In addition, the temperature of the iron base surface of a damp cloth is often taken away and the temperature further decreases when steam is used. However, the conventional iron has a problem that the amount of steam cannot be increased or decreased depending on the type of load.

Further, if a relay is used for controlling the energization of the heater, the supplied power cannot be increased or decreased by phase control like a triac, and only ON / OFF control can be performed. Therefore, the heater can be controlled according to a temperature drop or a temperature gradient. There is a problem that fuzzy inference that outputs the supplied power value cannot be performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to solve the problems of the conventional structure as described above, and a first object thereof is to provide an iron capable of immediately responding to a temperature change due to a load change. A second object of the present invention is to provide an iron capable of controlling the amount of steam according to changes in load. A third object is to provide an iron using relay and fuzzy reasoning.

[0008]

A first means of the present invention for achieving the first object is to provide a heater for heating an iron base, a power control section for controlling energization of the heater, and an iron base. A temperature detecting element for detecting the temperature of the surface, an operating section for the user to set the temperature of the iron, a timer section for measuring the passage of time, an iron base from the output of the timer section and the temperature data of the temperature detecting element. A main control unit that calculates the time change of the surface temperature as a temperature gradient and further calculates the temperature difference between the temperature set by the operation unit and the current temperature of the iron base surface, and the temperature obtained from this main control unit. An iron having a fuzzy reasoner that infers the electric power supplied to the heater by inputting the gradient and the temperature difference and sends the inference data to the main controller.

The second means of the present invention for attaining the second object is, in addition to the constitution of the first means of the present invention,
The iron has a steam generation mechanism, and the fuzzy reasoner infers the steam amount based on the signal from the main control unit and controls the steam amount.

A third means of the present invention for achieving the third object is, in addition to the configuration of the first means of the present invention, a relay for controlling heater energization and a relay drive section for driving the relay. The main control unit shifts the stored contents to the next register in synchronization with the clock signal output from the timer unit and inputs the ON / OFF state of the relay as new stored contents at each clock. The iron having an energizing duty has a shift register composed of a plurality of stages, and the quotient obtained by dividing the number of registers storing relay-on in the shift register by the total number of registers is an energizing duty.

[0011]

The first means of the present invention realizes the know-how for determining the energization duty for energizing the heater from the temperature gradient of the iron base surface and the temperature difference with respect to the set temperature as a fuzzy reasoning rule. Therefore, the temperature control is highly responsive and adaptable to the load change due to the disturbance.

The second means of the present invention realizes the know-how for controlling the amount of steam as a fuzzy reasoning rule in addition to the operation of the first means of the present invention. For this reason, the steam amount control is highly responsive and adaptive to the load fluctuation due to the disturbance.

Further, the third means of the present invention is an iron which can increase / decrease the supply power by duty control using fuzzy reasoning even though a relay is used for energization control, and is an iron which responds immediately to temperature drop and temperature gradient. To work.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the first means of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, the entire structure of the iron is the same as the conventional structure, so the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted. 20 is a fuzzy reasoner, 21 is a main control unit, 22 is a power control unit, and 23 is a timer unit. The main control unit 21 calculates the temperature change of the iron base as a temperature gradient from the signals of the thermistor 7 and the timer unit 23, and further calculates the temperature difference from the set temperature set by the operation unit 11 and the current temperature indicated by the thermistor 7. To do. Then, the temperature gradient and the temperature difference are connected to the signal line 20a
And 20b are input to the fuzzy reasoner 20. The fuzzy reasoner 20 infers the power supplied to the heater 4, and returns this inference signal from the signal line 20c to the main controller 21. The power control unit 22 enters in series between the AC power supply 24 and the heater 4 and limits the power supplied from the AC power supply 24 to the heater 4 in response to a signal from the main control unit 21.

The structure and operation of the fuzzy reasoner 20 are as follows.
It is a cage. In this example, the base surface temperature is higher than the set temperature.
Temperature is lower, the temperature difference is large and the temperature gradient is steeply low.
When lowering, supply fairly large electric power to the heater 4.
We are building rules that Fuzzy reasoning is "temperature
If the difference is large and the temperature gradient is steep, the
To pay. It is done based on a rule such as. Temperature difference
"Large", "Temperature gradient", "Power"
A qualitative concept such as "Nari supply" is shown in Figure 2 (a),
By the membership function as shown in (b) and (c),
Is expressed quantitatively. In this embodiment, the temperature difference space is
4 divisions, the temperature gradient space is divided into 4 divisions, and no output is supplied.
I supply a little, I supply, I supply quite a lot.
It is divided into only four spaces. Figure 3 shows fuzzy
If the temperature difference is A and the temperature gradient is B,
It defines 16 rules that "force is C".
It A in FIG.₁~ A_FourCorresponds to each of FIG.
Therefore, B in FIG.₁~ B_FourIn each of Figure 2 (b)
It corresponds. Also, C in FIG.₁₁, C₁₂, C_{twenty one},
C ₃₁Is C in FIG. 2 (c)₁And C in FIG.₁₃, C_{twenty two},
C₃₂, C₄₁, C₄₂Is C in FIG. 2 (c)₂In FIG.
C₁₄, C_{twenty three}, C₃₃Is C in FIG. 2 (c)₃In FIG.
C_{twenty four}, C₃₄, C₄₃, C₄₄Is C in FIG. 2 (c)_FourTo each
It corresponds.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the fuzzy reasoner 20. The degree of conformity of the temperature difference p, which is the first input, to the membership function is determined by the value of the intersection point with each membership function A _{1 to} A ₄ as shown in FIG. Respect A ₁ with respect to G _a2, A ₃ and A ₄ with respect to G _a1, A ₂ is 0. The fitness of the temperature gradient q, which is the second input, to the membership function is obtained by the value of the intersection point with each membership function of B _{1 to} B ₄ as shown in FIG. G for B _2
It is G _{b3 for b2} and B ₃ , and 0 for B ₁ and B ₄ . These are the suitability of the antecedent part of the fuzzy inference rule.

The consequent part of the fuzzy inference rule is G _a1 and G _b2.
The minimum value that the C ₁ and the head cut with a, that the C ₂ Head removed with the minimum of G _a2, G _b2, that the C ₁ Head removed with the minimum of G _a1 and G _b3, G _a2, G with a minimum value of _b3 it is intended that the C ₂ was head cut, each becomes a conclusion C of each rule. The final conclusion is the value on the horizontal axis of the center of gravity of the figure in which the four trapezoids are superposed, and the supply power value P. Main controller 21
Outputs a control signal to the power control unit 22 so as to supply the heater 4 with the supply power value P of the output thus obtained.

According to the present embodiment, it is possible to realize know-how, which determines the heater power value from the temperature difference between the temperature gradient of the iron base surface to be controlled and the set temperature, as a fuzzy reasoning rule. Also, the parameters of the fuzzy reasoner (how to divide the space of input / output variables) and the fuzzy rule table can be easily adjusted empirically by the designer.

According to the iron described above, even if the base surface temperature is about to be cooled rapidly due to the iron being applied to a damp cloth, for example, the power supplied to the heater 4 is increased and the temperature is stable with little change. The base surface temperature can be maintained, making it easier to iron. In other words, it is possible to execute a control that immediately responds to load fluctuations, and realize an iron with good usability.

Next, an embodiment of the second means of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG. The entire structure of the iron of the present embodiment is the same as the conventional structure and is also partly common to the first embodiment, so the same parts will be denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted. Reference numeral 40 is a fuzzy reasoner, and 41 is a main control unit, which controls the power control unit 22 so that the temperature is set based on the temperature data of the thermistor 7.
Reference numeral 42 is a steam amount control unit, and 43 is a steam valve for controlling whether or not water dripping from the water tank 3 to the vaporization chamber 5 is passed through, and is controlled by an output signal of the steam valve control unit 42. The water tank 3, vaporization chamber 5 and steam valve 43 constitute a steam generating mechanism. Further, the main control unit 41 calculates the temperature change of the iron base from the signals of the thermistor 7 and the timer unit 23 as a temperature gradient, and further, a temperature difference from the set temperature set by the operation unit 11 and the current temperature indicated by the thermistor 7. To calculate. Then, the temperature gradient and the temperature difference are input to the fuzzy reasoner 40 using the signal lines 40a and 40b. The fuzzy reasoner 40
The main controller 4 is inferred from the steam amount and uses the signal line 40c.
Return to 1. The steam amount control unit 42 drives the steam valve 43 according to a signal from the main control unit 41 to limit the amount of water dropped from the water tank 3 to the vaporization chamber 5.

The structure and operation of the fuzzy reasoner 40 are as follows. In this embodiment, a rule is established to limit the amount of steam when the base surface temperature is lower than the set temperature, the temperature difference is large, and the temperature gradient sharply decreases. Fuzzy inference is performed based on a rule such as "if the temperature difference is large and the temperature gradient is steep, the amount of steam is reduced." The temperature difference is “large”, the temperature gradient is “steep”, and the steam amount is “small”.
Such a qualitative concept is quantitatively expressed by a membership function as shown in FIGS. 6 (a), (b), and (c). In this embodiment, the temperature difference space is divided into four, the temperature gradient space is divided into four, and the output is divided into four spaces such as a large output, a normal output, a small output, and a small output.

FIG. 7 is a fuzzy rule table, which defines 16 rules, "If the temperature difference is A and the temperature gradient is B, the output is D." A in FIG.
_{1 to} A ₄ correspond to each of FIG. 6A, and B _{1 to} B ₄ in FIG. 7 correspond to each of FIG. 6B. In addition, D ₁₁ , D ₁₂ , D ₂₁ , D ₃₁ , and D ₄₁ in FIG.
In FIG. 7C, D ₁₃ , D ₂₂ , D ₂₃ and D ₃₂ are added to D ₁ in (c).
Is D ₂ in FIG. 6C and D ₁₄ , D ₂₄ and D ₃₃ in FIG.
Is D ₃ in FIG. 6C, D ₃₄ , D ₄₂ in FIG.
D ₄₃ and D ₄₄ correspond to D ₄ in FIG. 6C, respectively.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the fuzzy reasoner 40 of this embodiment. The fitness of the temperature difference p, which is the first input, to the membership function is A _{1 to} A ₄ as shown in FIG.
The value at the intersection with each membership function of is obtained. A
Respect ₁ for G _a2, A ₃ and A ₄ with respect to G _a1, A ₂ is 0. The fitness of the temperature gradient q, which is the second input, to the membership function is determined by the value of the intersection point with each membership function of B _{1 to} B ₄ as shown in FIG. With respect to G _b2, B ₃ with respect to B ₂ with respect to G _b3, B ₁ and B ₄ is 0. These are the suitability of the antecedent part of the fuzzy inference rule.

The consequent part of the fuzzy inference rule is G _a1 and G a
those heads cut the D ₁ as minimum _b2, those heads cut the D ₂ as minimum G _a2 and G _b2, those heads cut the D ₁ as minimum G _a1 and G _b3, and G _a2 It is a minimum of G _b3 and is a truncated version of D ₂ , which is the conclusion of each rule. The final conclusion D is the value on the horizontal axis of the center of gravity of the figure in which the four trapezoids are superposed, that is, the supply power value S. Main control unit 4
1 outputs a control signal to the steam amount control unit 42 so that the steam amount of the output thus obtained is output.

According to this embodiment, the know-how for determining the amount of steam from the temperature difference between the temperature gradient of the iron base surface to be controlled and the set temperature can be realized as a fuzzy inference rule. The parameters of the fuzzy reasoner (how to divide the space of input / output variables) and the fuzzy rule table can be easily adjusted empirically by the designer.

When the iron of this embodiment is used, for example, when steam is used for a cloth having good air permeability and a large amount of steam is sprayed and the base surface temperature is about to cool rapidly, The amount of water dropped can be reduced to prevent temperature drop. Therefore, a stable base surface temperature can be maintained, and ironing is more likely to occur.

As described above, the present embodiment realizes an iron having good responsiveness and capable of controlling the amount of steam which is adaptable to the load fluctuation due to the disturbance, and which is easy to use.

Next, an embodiment of the third means of the present invention is shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. The entire structure of the iron of the present embodiment is the same as the conventional structure, and partly common to the embodiment of the first means of the present invention. Therefore, the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted. In the power control unit 22 of FIG. 9, 50 is an exciting coil of the relay, and 51 is an NPN type transistor for controlling the drive current of the exciting coil 50. 52 is a relay contact and is an exciting coil 50
Is turned on and off by the power supply, and the power supply from the AC power supply 24 to the heater 4 is controlled. Reference numeral 53 is a DC power supply for supplying a drive current to the exciting coil 50. Reference numeral 54 is a resistor, one end of which is connected to the output of the main controller 21 and the other end of which is connected to the base terminal of the transistor 51. Therefore, when the main controller 21 outputs a high level, the transistor 51 is turned on, and as a result, the relay contact 52 is closed and the heater 4 is energized. 55 is a diode connected in parallel to the exciting coil 50,
The current generated in the exciting coil 50 when the transistor 51 is turned off is supplied.

FIG. 10 is an internal block diagram of the main controller 21. Reference numeral 60 is a microcomputer, 61 is a five-stage shift register, and 62 to 66 are shift registers 61, respectively.
It corresponds to the registers R ₁ to R ₅ inside. Shift register 6
The data input of 1 is the same as the heater on / off signal output from the main control unit 21 to the power control unit 22. The output of the shift register 61 is a 5-bit signal from each of the registers 61 to 66, and is captured by the microcomputer 60.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. The shift register 61 is synchronized with the clock signal sent from the timer unit 23 every second, and inputs the state of the output signal 21a output from the main control unit 21 to the power control unit 22 at that time, that is, the energization state of the heater 4. .. Furthermore, the data held in each of the registers 62 to 66 is shifted to the left. Therefore, the register 66 of R ₅ stores the energization state to the heater 4 5 seconds before. The 5-bit output of the shift register 61 indicates the energization state for the past 5 seconds, and the value obtained by dividing the number of bits indicating heater energization ON by 5 is the energization duty D _u for 5 seconds. The microcomputer 60, since the previously known power value P _a of when energized with 100% duty, power P _a
Is multiplied by a duty D _u for 5 seconds so that the next heater energization is turned on or off so that the value P _u is as close as possible to the power value P _f which is the inference output from the fuzzy inference device 20. Decide

As described above, according to the present embodiment, even if a relay that can only be turned on and off is used to control the energization of the heater, a fuzzy reasoner that outputs the energized power as the inference output can be used. A user-friendly iron can be realized.

[0032]

As is apparent from the above embodiments, according to the first means of the present invention, the know-how for determining the energizing duty for energizing the heater is fuzzy based on the temperature gradient of the iron base surface and the temperature difference with respect to the set temperature. Since it can be realized as a rule of inference, it is possible to realize an iron with good responsiveness and adaptability to load fluctuation due to disturbance, which is easy to use.

Further, the second means of the present invention can realize know-how for controlling the amount of steam as a rule of fuzzy inference from the temperature gradient of the iron base surface and the temperature difference with respect to the set temperature, so that the responsiveness is high. It is possible to control the steam amount well and adaptable to the load fluctuation due to the disturbance, and it is possible to realize an iron with good usability.

Further, according to the third means of the present invention, although the relay is used for controlling the energization of the heater,
The power supply can be increased or decreased by duty control using fuzzy inference, and an iron with good usability can be realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an iron according to an embodiment of the first means of the present invention.

[Fig. 2] An explanatory view of the antecedent part and consequent part of the fuzzy rule of the iron.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a fuzzy rule table of the iron.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory diagram of fuzzy inference of the iron.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an iron according to an embodiment of the second means of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the antecedent part and consequent part of the fuzzy rule of the iron.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a fuzzy rule table of the iron.

FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory diagram of fuzzy inference of the iron.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an iron according to an embodiment of the third means of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a main control unit of the iron.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view showing the structure of a conventional iron.

FIG. 12 is an operation explanatory view of the iron.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Water Tank 4 Heater 5 Vaporization Chamber 7 Temperature Detection Element 11 Operation Section 20/40 Fuzzy Reasoner 21/41 Main Control Circuit 22 Power Control Section 23 Timer Section 42 Steam Amount Control Section 43 Steam Valve 60 Microcomputer 61 Shift Register

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A heater for heating an iron base, a power control unit for controlling energization to the heater, a temperature detecting element for detecting a temperature of an iron base surface, and an operating unit for a user to set the temperature of the iron. A timer unit for measuring the passage of time, and the temperature set on the operating unit by calculating the time change of the temperature of the iron base surface as a temperature gradient from the output of the timer unit and the temperature data of the temperature detecting element. And a main control unit for calculating a temperature difference between the iron base surface and the current temperature of the iron base surface, and the main controller controls the inference data by deducing the electric power supplied to the heater by inputting the temperature gradient and the temperature difference obtained from the main control unit. An iron with a fuzzy reasoner to send to the department. 2. The iron according to claim 1, further comprising a steam generation mechanism, wherein the fuzzy reasoner infers the steam amount based on a signal from the main control unit and controls the steam amount. 3. A power control unit is composed of a relay for controlling heater energization and a relay drive unit for driving the relay,
The main control unit shifts the stored contents to the next register in synchronization with the clock signal output from the timer unit, and inputs the ON / OFF state of the relay as new stored contents for each clock. The iron according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a register, wherein the quotient obtained by dividing the number of registers storing relay-on in the shift register by the total number of registers is the energization duty.