JPH0572515B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] This invention relates to a control device for electric blinds,
In particular, the present invention relates to a control device for an electric blind that raises and lowers the blind in accordance with the rotation of an electric motor.

[Prior Art] The lower limit of electric blinds currently proposed and commercially available is set by a mechanical lower limit switch provided on a lifting shaft. The operation of this is roughly as described below. That is, a limit switch is constructed by a screw provided at the other end of the lifting shaft, one end of which is connected to the output shaft of the reduction gear of the electric motor, and a cam that engages with this screw and moves left and right as the lifting shaft rotates. are doing. Then, as the cam moves, a limit switch is operated to stop power supply to the electric motor and stop the blind from lowering.

However, in the above-described method, the relationship between the engagement position of the lifting shaft and the cam, the distance between the limit switch, and the lowered position of the blind becomes unclear. For this reason, after installing the blind at a designated location such as a window frame, it is necessary to lower the blind and repeatedly cut and try to adjust the mounting position of the blind. Also,
Lifting tape for hoisting slats (wings) may stretch over time due to long-term use, and adjustments must be made each time.The complexity of adjustment work at the time of installation impairs the workability of construction, and even This method has disadvantages of high construction costs, and is not desirable because maintenance adjustments after installation due to changes over time are complicated.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In order to improve the above-mentioned drawbacks, the rotation of the lifting shaft is detected and a setting value set by the detection signal and a lower limit setting switch is provided to a microcomputer or the like. , electric blinds have been proposed that determine the current position of the blind and lower the blind to the lowest limit. Such electric blinds have the advantage of being able to reliably lower the blind to the lower limit position set by the lower limit setting switch, but the lower limit position of the blind from the upper limit position to the current position is It must be stored in the computer's memory. However, when the electric power is turned on or when the power is restored after a power outage, the data that indicates the position of the blind stored in the memory is erased, and even if the blind is raised or lowered thereafter, the positional relationship from the upper limit is unknown, and the blind This results in the disadvantage that the lower limit cannot be lowered to the correct lower limit position. In order to overcome these drawbacks, it is conceivable to back up the memory of the microcomputer using dry cell batteries, but this method has the problem of increasing the space required to store the dry cell batteries and the effort and cost required to replace them. Further arises.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide a control device for an electric blind that can overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks and reliably lower the blind to its lowest limit after power is restored or turned on.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The invention set forth in claim 1 is a control device for an electric blind that raises or lowers a blind according to the rotation of an electric motor. blind position detection means for detecting the raised position or lowered position of the blind by counting pulse signals generated by the blind; setting means for setting the lower limit of the lowering value of the blind; and detection means for detecting the upper limit position of the blind. and an upper limit position detection means for detecting the upper limit position of the blind, and in response to the upper limit position of the blind being detected by the upper limit position detection means when the power is turned on, the lowering position of the blind detected by the blind position detection means is set to the setting means. Thus, the blind is lowered by rotating the electric motor until the blind reaches the set lower limit value.

In the invention according to claim 2, the control means rotates the electric motor to raise the blind in response to the fact that the upper limit position of the blind is not detected by the upper limit position detection means when the power is turned on;
In response to the upper limit position of the blind being detected by the upper limit position detection means, the electric motor is reversed to lower the blind.

[Function] The electric blind control device according to the present invention has the following features:
When the power is turned on, the current position of the blind is detected, and if the blind is at the upper limit, the electric motor is rotated to lower the blind until the detected lowering position of the blind matches the set lower limit, thereby eliminating the drawbacks of the conventional method. can be resolved.

[Embodiment of the Invention] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline of an embodiment of the invention. First, the external configuration of an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Power cord 1 and controller 2 are connected to control section 3 . The controller 2 includes a rise switch 21 for instructing the blind to rise, a stop switch 22 for instructing it to stop, and a lowering switch 23 for instructing it to descend.
, a switch 24 for instructing the slat 13 to open, and a close switch 25 for instructing the slat 13 to close. Inside the control unit 3,
It has a built-in microcomputer, power supply, etc. A geared motor 4 composed of an electric motor and a reduction gear is connected to the control section 3 .

A rotating shaft of the geared motor 4 is connected to a lifting shaft 12 via a coupling 5. Lifting units 6, 7 and 8 are connected to the lifting shaft 12. Sensors, fault switches (not shown), and upper limit switches 16 built into these lifting units 6, 7, and 8 are connected to the control section 3 by wiring members 9. In addition, the wiring material 9
This also includes wiring to the geared motor 4 and wiring to the controller 2. Lifting units 6 and 8
includes a winding drum 37 and a ladder drum 39,
The lifting unit 7 includes only a rudder drum 39.
One end of a lifting tape (which may be in the form of a string) is fixed to the winding drum 37. The other end of the lifting tape 10 passes through a plurality of slats 13 and is fixed to a bottom rail 14. Then, the winding drum 37 rotates the lifting tape 1 as the lifting shaft 12 rotates.
The slat 13 and bottom rail 14 are raised and lowered by winding up or unwinding the slat 13 and bottom rail 14. Further, one end of the ladder cord 11 is fixed to the ladder drum 39, and the other end of the ladder cord 11 is fixed to the bottom rail 1.
It is fixed at 4. And rudder drum 39
rotates with the rotation of the lifting shaft 12 to control the degree of opening of the slats. The bottom rail 14 functions as a weight when lowering the blind and as a weight to prevent the blind from swinging due to wind after lowering.

The control section 3, geared motor 4, and lifting units 6, 7, and 8 are covered by a head box 15 constituting an outer box. An upper limit switch 16 is provided at the bottom of the head box 15, and when the blind is rolled up, the upper limit switch 16 is pressed by the slat 13 and operates to detect the upper limit position.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention. Next, with reference to FIG. 3, the electrical configuration of an embodiment of the present invention will be described. AC power is input to the power transformer 31 via the power cord 1. The power transformer 31 steps down the input AC power, provides a low voltage to the stabilized power supply section 32, and generates the power necessary for the control section 3 and the geared motor 4. A motor drive circuit 33 is connected to a microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as MPU) 34, and according to instructions from the MPU 34,
The geared motor 4 is controlled in forward rotation, reverse rotation, or brake mode.

Here, the brake mode means short-circuiting the input terminals of the geared motor 4 via the motor drive circuit 33. By short-circuiting the input terminals of the geared motor 4 in this way, the brake mode You can apply the brakes. In other words, when mechanical rotational force is applied to the geared motor 4 due to inertia due to the descent of the blind or when the blind is artificially pulled strongly in the downward direction, the geared motor 4 operates on the principle of a DC generator. By generating a back electromotive force and short-circuiting the input terminals, a current flows in a direction that prevents this rotation, that is, causes the geared motor 4 to rotate in the opposite direction, and the geared motor 4 stops. A voltage detection circuit 35 is connected to the MPU 34. This voltage detection circuit 35 detects the voltage Vcc supplied to the control section 3. That is, the voltage detection circuit 35 converts the voltage supplied from the power cord 1 into the transformer 3.
1 on the low voltage side.

The obstacle switch 36 is built into the lifting unit 6, and if the blind hits an obstacle while lowering and the lowering operation is stopped, the geared motor 4 continues rotating in the lowering direction. If the lifting tape 10 loosens and this continues, the lifting tape 10 will come off the winding drum 37, and even if you try to raise the blind next time, you will not be able to wind up the lifting tape 10, resulting in serious malfunction. will occur.

To prevent this, use lifting tape 1
The slack at 0 is detected by a mechanical switch or an optical or magnetic sensor, and the detection output is
The signal is input to the MPU 34 and the geared motor 4 is stopped via the motor drive circuit 33. That is, the motor drive circuit 33 is set to the brake mode. Further, after the geared motor 4 is stopped, the MPU 34 rotates the geared motor 4 in reverse for an arbitrary period of time to wind up the blind, eliminates slack in the lifting tape 10, and then stops the geared motor 4.

The winding drum 37 winds or unwinds the lifting tape 10 as the geared motor 4 rotates, and raises and lowers the blind.
Contains 1,372. Also, for example, the guide 371
A slit 373 is formed around the . Note that a disc may be attached to another part of the lifting shaft 12 separately from the winding drum 37, and a slit may be formed in the disc, so that the rotation of the lifting shaft 12, the geared motor 4 or the motor of the geared motor 4 The same effect can be obtained by detecting the rotation of the shaft, so the mounting position and method are not critical.

A photo interrupter 38 is provided in conjunction with the guide 371 of the winding drum 37. This photo interrupter 38 is connected to the guide 3 of the winding drum 37.
The discontinuation of the slit 373 formed in the slit 71 is optically detected, and the rotation of the elevating shaft 12 is converted into an electrical signal and input to the MPU 34. That is,
The MPU 34 can know the amount of rise or fall of the lifting tape 10 due to the rotation of the winding drum 37 through an electric signal. Rudder drum 39
As mentioned above, one end of the ladder cord 11 is fixed to the ladder drum 39, and the angle of the slat 13 is changed by the rotation of the ladder drum 39, thereby changing the amount of incident outside light and adjusting the brightness of the room appropriately. , and block out external light.

The ladder drum 39 is fitted into the elevating shaft 12 via a drum shaft 40 penetrating therethrough with a frictional force. Lifting shaft 12 and drum shaft 4
0 rotate together (synchronously), but when the rudder drum 39 rotates approximately half a rotation, the rotation is stopped by a protrusion (not shown) provided on the head box 15 or the drum holder, and the drum shaft 40
He slipped and spun around. In addition, the lifting shaft 1
When the rudder drum 2 is reversed, the rudder drum 39 is also reversed in the same way, but it hits a protrusion such as the head box 15 and spins idly in the same manner as described above. As the rudder drum 39 rotates approximately half a turn, the slat 13 rotates clockwise, and the angle of the slat 13 changes. That is, the slats 13 change from a state in which they are slanted and closed indoors to a state in which they are opened horizontally and slanted toward the outdoors. When the lifting shaft 12 rotates in a direction opposite to that described above, the angle of the slat 13 changes counterclockwise. That is, it is opened from a tilted closed state on the outdoor side, horizontally opened, and then tilted and closed on the indoor side.

A slit 391 for detecting the rotation of the ladder drum 39 is formed at one end of the ladder drum 39. This slit 391 is formed at an angle corresponding to approximately half a rotation of the ladder drum 39, and a photo interrupter 41 is provided to detect the position of this slit 391. This photo interrupter 41 detects the position of the slit 391, converts it into an electrical signal, and supplies it to the MPU 34. The MPU 34 can determine the angle of the rudder drum 39, that is, the angle of the slat 13, in response to this electrical signal. The lower limit setting switch 42 sets the lower limit position when the blind is lowered, and is composed of four switches. Note that the number of lower limit setting switches 42 is not limited to this number, but may be any number, and is determined depending on how finely the setting range of the lower limit position is set.

Note that each of the switches 21 to 25, the clock generation circuit 43, and the reset circuit 44 of the controller 2 are connected to the MPU 34.

Here, a method of operating an electric blind device according to an embodiment of the present invention and its operation will be explained. When the lowering switch 22 of the controller 2 is operated, the MPU 34 gives a control signal to the motor drive circuit 33 to rotate the geared motor 4.
That is, the geared motor 4 rotates the lifting shaft 12 in a direction to lower the blind, and the lifting tape 10 is rewound by the winding drum 37, thereby lowering the blind. Winding drum 37
As the slit 373 rotates, the slit 373 formed in the guide 371 turns the photo interrupter 38 on and off, and provides a pulse signal as a rotation signal to the MPU 34. MPU34 counts this pulse signal,
The amount of descent of the blind can be determined based on the counted value.

MPU34 is the stop switch 2 of the controller 2
2 is not operated, the blind is further lowered and pulse signals from the photo interrupter 38 continue to be counted. Then, when the value set by the lower limit setting switch 42 and the count value of the pulse signal from the photo interrupter 38 match, the MPU
34 determines that the blind has been lowered to the lower limit position, and sets the motor drive circuit 33 to brake mode. Thereby, the motor drive circuit 33 stops the geared motor 4 and stops lowering the blind. Here, by changing the setting value of the lower limit setting switch 42 to an arbitrary value, the lowering position of the blind can be arbitrarily changed accordingly.

In the electric blind described above, the operation after the power is restored after the power is cut off due to a power outage or the like will be described.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining the specific operation of an embodiment of the present invention.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, a specific operation of an embodiment of the present invention will be described.
When the power is turned on or when the power is restored after a power outage, the MPU 34 is initialized. The voltage detection circuit 35 detects the voltage of the stabilized power supply 32,
A voltage detection signal is given to the MPU 34 after a slight delay time. The MPU 34 reads the output signals of the photo interrupters 38 and 41 and confirms the current position of the blind and the angle of the slat 13. and,
The MPU 34 drives the geared motor 4 via the motor drive circuit 33 to raise the blind. That is, by rotating the geared motor 4, the winding drum 37 is rotated to wind up the lifting tape 10 and the blind is raised.

When the winding drum 37 rotates, a slit 373 formed in the guide 371 intermittents the output signal of the photo interrupter 38 and supplies it to the MPU 34 as a pulse signal. At this time, the ladder drum 39 also rotates, and a slit 391 formed in the ladder drum 39 causes the photo interrupter 4 to
1 is output intermittently, and a pulse signal is given to the MPU 34. MPU34 is photo interrupter 3
Count the pulse signals from 8 and store the counted value. When the blind is raised, the slat 13 presses the upper limit switch 16 and a signal is given to the MPU 34 indicating that the blind has reached its upper limit.
In response, the MPU 34 puts the motor drive circuit 33 into brake mode to stop the geared motor 4,
Stop the blind from rising. By this,
The rotation of the winding drum 37 stops, and the photo interrupter 38 stops outputting a pulse signal. MPU
34, when the signal from the upper limit switch 16 and the pulse signal from the photo interrupter 38 are no longer input, the distance that the blind has risen is determined by the number of rotations of the winding drum 37. be able to.

Next, the MPU 34 outputs a signal to the motor drive circuit 33 to lower the blind,
The geared motor 4 is reversed to lower the blind. At this time, the MPU 34 sequentially counts the pulse signals from the photo interrupter 38 in the same manner as described above, and lowers the blind until it matches the count value stored in the memory when the blind was raised. If the counted values match, the MPU 34 puts the motor drive circuit 33 into brake mode, stops the geared motor 4, and stops the blind from lowering. That is, when the power is turned on or the power is restored after a power outage, the blind is raised and then returned to its previous position.

As mentioned above, after the power is restored after a power outage, the blind is raised and the upper limit position is set by the signal from the upper limit switch 16, and then the blind is lowered, but in this case, the setting of the lower limit switch 42 It is also easy to lower the blind to the lowest limit, that is, until the value matches the number of pulse signals from the photo interrupter 38.

As described above, after lowering the blind to the lowest limit, the MPU 34 outputs a signal to the motor drive circuit 33 to raise the blind.
As a result, the motor drive circuit 33 rotates the geared motor 4 in the normal direction and closes the slat 13.
This is done by the MPU 34 determining a signal from a photo interrupter 41 provided in connection with the rudder drum 39, thereby determining that the slat 13 is in the rotated closed state. If the slat 13 is closed, the MPU 34 is connected to the motor drive circuit 33.
is set to brake mode to stop the geared motor 4.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the specific operation of another embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 described above, the blinds were returned to the position before the power was cut off after the power was cut off due to a power outage, etc., but in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, after the power was restored, The blind is lowered to the lower limit and the slats 13 are closed. That is, when the power is restored, the MPU 34 checks the state of the upper limit switch 16. When the upper limit switch 16 is turned on, that is, when it is determined that the blind is rolled up to the upper limit, the initial setting value is set to the upper limit, and then the geared motor 4 is rotated to lower the blind. However, if the upper limit switch 16 is not turned on, the geared motor 4 is turned on until the upper limit switch 16 is input.
drive to raise the blind. Then, the blind reaches the upper limit position and the upper limit switch 16
When turned on, the upper limit position is set as an initial value and the geared motor 4 is stopped.

After the blind is raised to the upper limit position as described above, the MPU 34 reverses the geared motor 4. The blinds are thereby lowered. The MPU 34 counts clock pulses from the photo interrupter 38, rotates the geared motor 4 until the counted value matches the set value of the lower limit switch 42, and lowers the blind. If the number of pulses from the photo interrupter 38 matches the set value of the lower limit switch, the MPU 34 determines based on the pulse signal from the photo interrupter 41 whether or not the slat 13 is closed. MPU13
determines that the slat 13 is closed,
The geared motor 4 is brought to a halt, and the descent of the blind is stopped.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the position of the blind is detected when the power is turned on, and the electric motor is rotated until the detected position of the blind matches a set lower limit value to lower the blind. As a result, there is no need to back up the data stored in the memory with dry batteries, etc., to prevent the data stored in the memory from being erased after the power is restored after a power outage, as was the case in the past. In addition to eliminating the need for space, it also eliminates the need for maintenance such as battery replacement. Furthermore, for example, if you lower the blinds and go out, the blinds can always be lowered even when the power goes out and the power is restored. At this time, if the slats are closed when the blind is lowered,
It is also possible to eliminate the fear that the interior of the room may be looked into from outside.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining the specific operation of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the concept of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention. Fourth
The figure is a flow diagram for explaining the operation of another embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 2 is a controller, 3 is a control unit,
4 is a geared motor, 6, 7, 8 are lifting units, 10 is a lifting tape, 11 is a ladder cord, 12 is a lifting shaft, 13 is a slat, 1
4 is the bottom rail, 33 is the motor drive circuit, 34
37 is a winding drum, 38 and 41 are photo interrupters, 39 is a ladder drum, and 42 is a lower limit setting switch.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A control device for an electric blind that raises or lowers a blind in accordance with the rotation of an electric motor, the control device comprising: counting pulse signals generated in accordance with rotation of a winding shaft of the blind; blind position detection means for detecting the raised position or lowered position of the blind; setting means for setting the lower limit of the lowering of the blind; upper limit position detection means for detecting the upper limit position of the blind; and a power source. In response to the upper limit position of the blind being detected by the upper limit position detecting means at the time of closing, the lowering position of the blind detected by the blind position detecting means is set by the setting means. A control device for an electric blind, comprising control means for lowering the blind by rotating the electric motor until the electric motor reaches a lower limit value. 2. The control means rotates the electric motor to raise the blind in response to the fact that the upper limit position of the blind is not detected by the upper limit position detection means when the power is turned on, and the control means rotates the electric motor to raise the blind, and the upper limit position detection means 2. The control device for an electric blind according to claim 1, wherein the electric motor is reversed to lower the blind in response to the upper limit position of the blind being detected by the method.