JPH06253367A - Hot water supplier - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a hot water supplier capable of facilitating the extension of a wireless type remote controller to the hot supplier provided with a wire type remote controller. CONSTITUTION:In the hot water supplier 1 provided with the wire remote controller 3 connected by a wire cable 4 for performing remote operations, a repeater 10 is provided on the wire cable 4 and the repeater 10 is provided with an antenna 11, a radio transmission/reception means and a wireless/wire conversion means. Thus, the wireless remote controller 5 can communicate through the wire cable 4 and the repeater 10 with the hot water supplier 1. Further, a collision time priority means is provided in the repeater 10 and communication is made appropriately possible even when the communication with the wire remote controller 3 and the wireless remote controller 5 overlaps.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a water heater which can be remotely operated by a remote controller (hereinafter referred to as a remote controller).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there are two types of remote control of a water heater by a remote control, a wired remote control and a wireless remote control.

In a remote control of a water heater by a wired remote controller, the operation contents instructed by the remote controller are transmitted to the water heater through a wired cable to remotely operate the water heater.

As a remote control of a water heater by a wireless remote controller, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-172100 is known.
There is the invention described in the publication. According to the present invention, a radio transmitter / receiver for communicating through an antenna is provided on the water heater side, and a radio transmitter / receiver for communicating through an antenna is also provided on the remote controller side to enable radio communication by radio waves. In this case, there is no need to install a cable between the water heater and the remote controller, so workability is good.

[0005]

Although such a conventional one exists, the conventional one has the following problems.

[0006] For example, when a wired remote controller is already installed and a wireless remote controller is to be added, the water heater itself does not have a wireless function. Must be replaced,
It was very troublesome and was against the effective use of resources.

In addition, when changing from a wired water heater to a wireless water heater, there is a problem that the wired cable already installed has to be removed.

Therefore, the present invention makes it possible to easily add a wireless remote controller to a wired water heater, and when a wired cable already exists, the wired remote controller and wired remote controller are used. An object of the present invention is to provide a water heater in which a wireless remote controller can be easily installed.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is a water heater having a wired remote controller which is connected by a wired cable to perform remote control, and performs remote communication by a wireless signal. A wireless remote controller for performing wireless communication between the wireless remote controller and the wireless remote controller, and a signal received by the wireless transmitter / receiver is converted into a wired signal to be transmitted by the wired cable, and the wired cable is used. A wireless / wired conversion unit for converting a wired signal to be transmitted into a wireless signal, and a relay device connected to a wired cable between the wired remote controller and the water heater.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in a water heater having a wired remote controller connected by a wired cable for remote control, a wireless remote controller for performing remote communication by a wireless signal and the wireless remote controller. A wireless transmission / reception means for performing wireless communication, and a wireless / wired conversion for converting a signal received by the wireless transmission / reception means into a wired signal to be transmitted by the wired cable, and converting a wired signal to be transmitted by the wired cable into a wireless signal. Means, and a signal from the wired remote controller and a signal from the wireless remote controller at the same time, and when there is a collision, a collision priority means for performing communication in accordance with a predetermined priority order, the wired remote controller And a repeater connected to the cable between the water heater and the water heater And it features.

[0011]

[Function] A repeater is provided on the cable connecting the water heater and the wired remote controller, the wireless transmission / reception means receives the wireless signal from the wireless remote control through the antenna, and the wireless / wired conversion means converts the received signal into a wired signal. Then send the signal over the wired cable.

On the other hand, when a signal is sent from the water heater to the wireless remote controller, the wireless / wired converting means converts the wired signal received through the wired cable into a wireless signal, and the wireless transmitting / receiving means transmits to the wireless remote controller via the antenna. Send.

Further, when there is a communication between the water heater and the wired remote controller and a communication between the water heater and the wireless remote controller at the same time, when collision occurs, the collision priority means provided in the relay device is predetermined. The communication is controlled based on the given priority.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, an example to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, the water heater 1 is a transmission control means 2
The remote controller 3 is connected to the wired remote controller 3 through the wired cable 4, and the water heater 1 can be remotely operated by operating the wired remote controller 3.

A repeater 10 is installed on the wired cable 4, and the repeater 10 has an antenna 11. Then, the wireless remote controller 5 via the antenna 11
The wireless cable from the wireless remote controller 5 is converted into a wired signal and the wired cable 4 is connected.
In addition to being superimposed on the above, the wired signal on the wired cable 4 can be converted into a wireless signal to communicate with the wireless remote controller 5. Therefore, if a wired water heater is already installed, the relay device 1 is placed on the wired cable 4.
Only by setting 0, wireless communication with the wireless remote controller 5 can be realized.

Next, the structure of the repeater 10 will be described with reference to FIG.

The repeater 10 has a wireless transmission / reception means 12 connected to the antenna 11 and wired transmission / reception means 13 and 14 connected to a cable for communicating with the water heater 1 and the wired remote controller 3. The wireless transmission / reception unit 12 and the wired transmission / reception units 13 and 14 are both connected to the control unit 20.

The radio transmitting / receiving means 12 is the antenna 1
The radio remote controller 5 communicates with the radio remote controller 5 via the radio wave. Wired transmission / reception means 1 connected to the water heater 1 side
Reference numeral 3 is for performing wired communication with the water heater 1 side through a wired cable 4. The wired transmitting / receiving means 14 connected to the wired remote controller 3 side performs wired communication with the wired remote controller 3 through the wired cable 4.

The control unit 20 includes a wireless / wired conversion unit 21,
Data type discrimination means 22, collision priority means 23, communication control means 24, hot water supply hot water temperature priority means 25 and other means 2
Have six.

The wireless / wired conversion means 21 is a wireless remote controller 5.
The wireless signal received from the cable is converted into a wired signal for transmission by the wired cable 4, and conversely, the wired signal transmitted from the wired cable 4 is converted into a wireless signal.

The data type discriminating means 22 discriminates the data type of the signal sent from the water heater 1, the wired remote controller 3 or the wireless remote controller 5 to the relay device 10. Specifically, the data destination is determined. It is used to make a distinction or to decide the priority of data or the like.

The collision priority means 23 is a means for dealing with a plurality of simultaneous communications, and the data type discrimination means 22 discriminates the data type of the communication data, and the high priority data is transmitted. The communication is sequentially executed from.

Specifically, for example, the case where the communication from the wireless remote controller 5 to the water heater 1 and the communication from the wired remote controller 3 to the water heater 1 are simultaneously performed is applicable. The communication control means 24 controls the wireless transmission / reception means 12 and the wired transmission / reception means 13, 14 based on the data type determination means 22, the collision priority means 23, etc., in order to perform wireless communication and wired communication.

Although not shown, the hot water supply hot water temperature priority means 25 is a means which operates when a hot water supply hot water temperature priority switch provided on the wired remote controller 3 and the wireless remote controller 5 is operated. If it does not work, it will not work. When the hot water supply hot water temperature priority switch is operated, the operation relating to the hot water supply temperature is accepted only by the operated remote controller, and the operation relating to the hot water supply temperature of the other remote controller is not accepted. This is to prevent burns and the like due to the hot water supply temperature being arbitrarily changed by another remote controller while the water heater 1 is in use.

Specifically, when the hot water supply hot water temperature priority switch is operated, the hot water supply hot water temperature priority means indicates to that effect to the storage unit 3.
0, the communication signal regarding the hot water supply temperature instruction is accepted only by the remote controller whose switch is operated, and the communication regarding the hot water supply temperature from other remote controllers is treated as invalid in the relay device 10 and is not transmitted to the hot water supply device 1. .

The other means are means for performing other than the above.

The control unit 20 is connected to the storage unit 30. The storage unit 30 stores the priority of communication data for each data type and temporarily stores communication data. The control procedure of the unit 20 and the like are stored.

Next, the operation of the repeater 10 of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, the communication control means 24 always determines whether any of the wireless transmission / reception means 12 and the wired transmission / reception means 13, 14 has received a communication signal (S1). If it is determined that the next repeater 1
It is determined whether or not communication is performed through 0 (S
2).

If the communication is already in progress, the data type discriminating means 22 discriminates between the type of communication data being communicated and the type of communication data to be newly communicated, and which communication data has a higher priority is determined. Judge (S3).

Then, the collision priority means 23 communicates the communication data having the higher priority, and the communication data having the lower priority is temporarily stored in the storage unit 30 (S4). When the communication is completed (S5), the communication data temporarily stored in the storage unit 30 is communicated (S6).

When a large number of remote controllers are provided and a large number of communications are duplicated, communications are performed in order from the highest priority as described above. Then, when all communication is completed (S7), it is determined whether or not the power is turned off (S7).
8) If the power is turned off, the operation ends, and if not, the process returns to step S1.

In step S2, if communication is not being performed, the communication is performed (S9), and if the power is not turned off, the process returns to step S1 and the same operation is repeated.

Next, the processing of steps S4, S6 and S9 in FIG. 3 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. First, regarding the communication data received by the wireless transmission / reception means 12 and the wired transmission / reception means 13, 14, the data type determination means 22
Determines the destination (S31). If it is communication from the remote controllers 3 and 5 to the water heater 1 (S32), the communication control means 24
Controls the wired transmission / reception means 13 to transmit to the water heater 1 (S33).

If the communication is from one of the wired remote controller 3 and the wireless remote controller 5 to the other remote controller (S3)
2) The communication control means 24 controls and transmits the wireless transmission / reception means 12 or the wired transmission / reception means 14 (S34). For example, a call signal from one remote controller to the other remote controller corresponds to this case and is performed via the relay device 10. Therefore, the water heater 1 can concentrate on control related to hot water supply without being involved in this operation.

If the communication signal is a signal to the repeater 10 itself, the repeater 10 itself performs processing (S35). For example, when a communication signal for operating the hot water supply / hot water temperature priority switch on the remote control is received, the hot water supply / hot water temperature priority means 25 stores the remote control and that effect in the storage unit 30. When a communication signal relating to the hot water supply temperature is received from another remote controller, the hot water supply hot water temperature priority means 25 invalidates the communication signal. As for the operations that can be processed by the repeater 10 in this way, the repeater 10 itself performs communication processing and does not transmit it to the water heater 1.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, by installing the repeater on the wire cable already possessed,
There is an effect that a wireless remote controller can be easily added.

Further, when the communication of the wired remote controller and the communication of the wireless remote controller overlap, the relay itself determines the priority and controls the communication, so that the load of communication control performed by the water heater is reduced. There is an effect that can be done.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a repeater.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the details of the operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Hot Water Heater 3 Wired Remote Control 4 Wired Cable 5 Wireless Remote Control 10 Repeater 12 Wireless Transmission / Reception Means 13 Wired Transmission / Reception Means 14 Wired Transmission / Reception Means 20 Control Unit 21 Wireless / Wired Conversion Means 22 Data Type Discrimination Means 23 Collision Priority Means 24 Communication Control Means

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Hirokazu Ueda Noritsu Co., Ltd. 32 Akashi-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe-shi, Hyogo

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A water heater having a wired remote controller that is connected by a wired cable to perform remote control, and a wireless remote controller that performs remote communication by a wireless signal, and wireless transmission and reception that performs wireless communication between the wireless remote controller. And a wireless / wired conversion means for converting a signal received by the wireless transmission / reception means into a wired signal transmitted by the wired cable, and converting a wired signal transmitted by the wired cable into a wireless signal, A water heater comprising: a repeater connected to a wire cable between the wired remote controller and the water heater. 2. A water heater having a wired remote controller that is connected by a wired cable to perform remote control, and a wireless remote controller that performs remote communication by a wireless signal, and wireless transmission / reception that performs wireless communication between the wireless remote controller. Means, wireless / wired conversion means for converting a signal received by the wireless transmission / reception means into a wired signal to be transmitted through the wired cable, and converting a wired signal to be transmitted through the wired cable into a wireless signal, and the wired remote When there is a signal from the controller and a signal from the wireless remote controller at the same time, and when there is a collision, there is a collision priority means for performing communication in accordance with a predetermined priority order, and between the wired remote controller and the water heater. And a repeater connected to the wired cable of .