JPH07301680A - Object detecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an object detecting device of simple and inexpensive constitution dispensing with the manufacture of a body case corresponding to the detection area set range of a sensor. CONSTITUTION:A light transmission aperture part 18a is formed at the body case 18 of an automatic water washing device 16, and the LED and photodiode 23 of a sensor 19 fitted to a printed circuit board 20 in correspondence with the inside of the light transmission aperture part 18a are disposed. An optical guide member 24 removably formed is fitted into the light transmission aperture part 18a, and the detection area of the LED and photodiode 23 is set by a cylindrical optical guide path 25b formed at the optical guide member 24 in such a way as to be inclined obliquely downward. The optical guide member with the different optical guide path formed according to the set range of a detection area is thus fitted into the body case 18 so as to enable the setting of various detection areas.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an object detecting device for detecting the presence of an object by projecting light toward a detection area by a sensor having a light projecting element and a light receiving element and detecting the reflected light. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a device of this type, a sensor consisting of a light emitting element and a light receiving element is arranged toward a detection area,
Light is emitted from a light emitting element such as an LED, and when an object such as a human body is present in the detection area, the reflected light is detected by a light receiving element to detect the presence or absence of the object in the detection area. It is a thing. This is applied to a device such as a human sensor that detects a human body that has entered the detection area and operates the door or the flush device, such as an automatic door or an automatic flush device of a public toilet.

In this case, for example, in an automatic flushing device provided in a men's urinal such as a public toilet, the sensor is arranged on the wall surface of the upper part of the urinal, but the human body to be detected. In order to ensure that even if there is a difference in height between adults and children, it is arranged so that the optical axes of the light emitted and received by the sensor are directed slightly downward.

An example of such a structure in which the sensor is arranged downward of the front surface of the urinal is shown in FIG. That is, in FIG. 12, the case 1, which is the detection unit, is embedded in the upper portion of the wall surface portion in which the urinal is disposed. On the front panel 2 of this case 1,
A light-transmitting window portion 3 is formed which is opened obliquely downward. Inside the body of the light-transmitting window portion 3, the leads of the light-emitting diodes 6 of the sensor 5 arranged on the printed board 4 are bent. It is inserted and arranged so as to face the opening. As a result, the detection area is set so that the light emitting diode 6 projects light obliquely downward and forward of the urinal through the transparent window portion 3.

[0005]

However, when the sensor 5 is arranged as described above, there are the following problems. That is, in the structure shown in FIG. 12, in order to form the light transmitting window portion 3 in the front panel 2 of the case 1 obliquely, for example, when the main body case 1 is integrally molded with resin, the main body case 1 is simply molded at the time of molding. Since it is necessary to use not only the upper and lower molds but also the slide mold, there is a problem that the manufacturing cost becomes high.

Further, unlike the case of projecting light obliquely downward as described above, there is a case where it is desired to project horizontally, or the sensor 5 is arranged on the foot side of the urinal. On the contrary, when it is desired to project the light obliquely upward, it is necessary to manufacture the case 1 in which the light-transmissive window portions 3 are formed in the respective directions. However, there is a problem that the cost becomes high.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to make it possible to easily and easily set the direction of setting the detection area of a sensor without causing an increase in cost. An object is to provide an object detection device.

[0008]

According to the present invention, the presence of an object is detected by projecting light toward a detection area by a sensor having a light projecting element and a light receiving element provided in a main body case and detecting the reflected light. The object is a device for detecting an object, a detection area setting light guide member for setting the optical path of light projection and reception in a predetermined direction corresponding to the front surface of the sensor in the main body case It has a feature that it is detachably installed.

The light guide member may have a cylindrical light guide path directed to the detection area corresponding to the sensor.

Further, the light guide member is provided with a light guide plate having a light projecting window portion which allows at least a light projecting range corresponding to the light projecting element to be directed to the detection area. You can also

[0011]

According to the object detecting device of the present invention, by attaching the light guide member corresponding to the detection area to be set to the main body case, the target range of the detection operation by the sensor is desired by the light guide member. Therefore, it is not necessary to prepare a body case corresponding to various detection areas, and various detection areas can be set while using the same body case as a simple and inexpensive structure. become.

According to the object detecting device of the second aspect, since the light guide member has a cylindrical light guide path directed to the detection area, the light projection of the light projecting element is directed to the detection area. In addition to this, it is possible to easily and inexpensively manufacture a configuration for selectively detecting the reflected light from the detection area.

According to the object detecting device of the third aspect, since the light guide member is the light guide plate having the light projecting window portion which allows the light projecting range of the light projecting element to the detection area, it is simpler and cheaper. It can be configured in various ways.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an automatic flushing device for men's urine will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 shows the overall appearance of the apparatus in which the device is provided. A wallet 11 is provided with a men's urinal 12, and an upper part of the urinal 12 has a wall 1
A water supply pipe 14 is connected from the inner surface side of 1 through a main valve 13. The main valve 13 is controlled by a pilot valve 15 for water supply, and the pilot valve 15 is electrically driven by an automatic water washing device 16.

The automatic flushing device 16 is arranged so as to be embedded in the wall surface 11 above the urinal 12.
It detects a person approaching the urinal 12, detects that the person has moved away, and controls the water supply by the main valve 13 by opening the pilot valve 15 for a certain time.
A translucent front panel 17 is provided on the front portion.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the 13 automatic water washing device 16 has a transparent window portion 18a formed on the front surface of the main body case 18, and a sensor 19 inside the transparent window portion 18a.
The printed circuit board 20 provided with is fixed by screws 21. The sensor 19 comprises an LED 22 as a light projecting element and a photodiode 23 as a light receiving element, which are arranged so as to face an optical guide member 24 for setting an optical path fitted in the translucent window portion 18a.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the light guide member 24 has engaging claws 24a and 24b formed on the left and right, and two cylindrical light guide paths 25.
a and 25b are formed obliquely downward. Then, the light guide member 24 is attached to the transparent window portion 1 of the main body case 18.
In the state of being fitted in 8a, the engaging claws 24a, 24b are fixed in a state of being engaged with the inner wall portion of the transparent window portion 18a. LED22 and photodiode 2
3 is a light guide path 25a of the light guide member 24,
It is arranged so as to face 25b, and detects the light emitted by the LED 22 from the light guide path 25a obliquely downward (for example, angle θ = 15 ° to 20 ° with respect to the horizontal direction) on the lower front side of the urinal. The area Ea (see FIG. 7A) is set, and the reflected light from the detection area Ea is guided to the photodiode 23 via the light guide path 25b. Further, a transparent plate 26 is attached to the front surface of the light guide member 24.

FIG. 5 shows an electrical configuration of the automatic water washing device 16, in which an AC power source is connected between the AC power source terminals Vac and Vac, and a rectifier circuit 28 is provided via a transformer 27. The voltage is rectified, converted into a predetermined DC voltage by the constant voltage circuit 29, and applied to the DC power supply terminal Vdc.

The control circuit 30 is supplied with power from the DC power supply terminal Vdc, and has a light projecting circuit 31 and a hysteresis circuit 3.
2 is connected and the light receiving circuit 33 is connected, and the LED is provided by the light projecting circuit 31 toward the front of the urinal 12 described above.
Infrared rays are projected onto the beam 22, and reflected light from a human body or the like is received by the light receiving circuit 33, and the received light signal is input.

Further, the control circuit 30 is connected with an initialization circuit 34 for performing a reset operation when the power is turned on, and an oscillation circuit 35 for supplying a clock signal. The control circuit 30 is connected to a setting switch 36 for switching settings such as the washing time, and
A valve drive circuit 37 for driving the pilot valve 15 is connected.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
When the automatic water washing device 16 is supplied with power from the AC power supply Vac, the transformer 27, the rectifier circuit 28, and the constant voltage circuit 29.
A predetermined DC power supply is supplied to the DC power supply terminal Vdc via the. At this time, the control circuit 30 starts the detection operation when power is supplied from the DC power supply terminal Vdc after the initialization circuit 34 performs the power-on reset.

The control circuit 30 gives a light projecting signal to the light projecting circuit 31 to cut off the power to the LED 22 to perform a light projecting operation. As a result, infrared rays from the LED 22 are emitted downward through the light guide path 25a of the light guide member 24. As a result, FIG.
As shown in (a), a detection area Ea is set diagonally below and in front of the urinal 12. When a person is present in front of the urinal 12, the reflected light is reflected by the human body and returns to the front panel 17 side, and the reflected light travels through the light guide path 25b of the light guide member 24. The light enters the photodiode 23 via the light.

As a result, the control circuit 30 detects the presence of the human body, and thereafter, when it detects that the human body has moved away from the detection area Ea, the pilot valve 15 is opened for a certain period of time via the valve drive circuit 37. Control so that. As a result, the main valve 13 is opened for a certain period of time, and water is supplied to the urinal 12 via the water supply pipe 14 to automatically perform the flushing operation.

In the above case, the detection area is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7A, the case of setting the front of the urinal 12 obliquely downward has been described.
When it is desired to set the detection area Ec obliquely upward from the lower side of the urinal 12 as shown in (c), or as a human body sensor of the urinal 38 in the horizontal direction as shown in FIG. When the detection area Eb is provided in the above, it can be easily dealt with by configuring as follows.

That is, the printed circuit board 20 has an LED
Mounting holes for mounting the photodiode 22 and the photodiode 23 are formed.
As shown in, the above-mentioned three detection areas Ea, Eb, E
It is formed according to the setting of c. That is, when the detection area faces downward, the mounting hole 20a is made to correspond,
The mounting holes 20b are formed so as to correspond to the horizontal direction, and the mounting holes 20c are formed to correspond to the upward direction.

On the other hand, the light guide member 24 is located in the detection area Ea.
In contrast to the configuration for setting the
In order to set b, a light guide member 39 is provided as shown in FIG. 6 (b). That is, the light guide member 39 is provided with the light guide paths 39a and 39b (39b in the figure).
(Only shown) is formed in the horizontal direction,
The light emitting and receiving directions of the LED 22 and the photodiode 23 are guided in the horizontal direction. Further, in order to set the detection area Ec, a light guide member 40 is provided as shown in FIG. 6 (c). That is, in this light guide member 40, light guide paths 40a and 40b (only 40b is shown in the figure) are formed obliquely upward, and the directions of light projection and light reception of the LED 22 and the photodiode 23 are set. It is designed to guide diagonally upward.

Then, in the case of the above-described embodiment in which the LED 22 and the photodiode 23 are mounted in the mounting hole 20a, the mounting state is such that the detection area Ea shown in FIG. 7A is set (see FIG. 6A). ), The mounting state is such that the horizontal detection area Eb shown in FIG. 7B is set when the mounting hole 20b is mounted (see FIG. 6B).
When it is attached to the position shown in FIG.
(See (c)).

According to the present embodiment as described above, the detachable light guide member 24 is attached to the body case 18 to set the detection area by the LED 22 and the photodiode 23. Therefore, the body case itself. It becomes possible to set various detection areas by using the same main body case 18 more easily and cheaply than the conventional one in which the light guide portion is formed.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show a second embodiment of the present invention, and the portions different from the first embodiment will be described below. That is, in this embodiment, the light guide member 41 corresponding to the photodiode 23 is provided, and the light guide plate 42 corresponding to the LED 22 is provided. In this case, the light guide member 41 corresponding to the photodiode 23 has the same structure as the portion of the light guide member 24 in the first embodiment corresponding to the photodiode 23, and the engaging claws 41a and 41b are formed on the left and right. In addition, a cylindrical light guide path 41c is formed obliquely downward. On the other hand, the light guide plate 42 corresponding to the LED 22 is flat and has the light projecting window portion 43.
The light projecting window portion 43 is formed in a shape corresponding to the set range of the detection area.

On the side of the main body case 18, a light transmitting window portion 18 corresponding to each of the light guide member 41 and the light guide plate 42.
b and 18c are formed, and the translucent plate 26 is provided on the front surface of each of them in a state of being fitted in the corresponding positions.
Are configured to be attached.

In the above structure, the light guide plate 42 sets the detection area as follows. That is, in FIG. 10, assuming that the projection range of the LED 22 is the area F shown in FIG. 7A, the projection window portion of the light guide plate 42 corresponds to the detection area Ea shown in FIG. The detection area Fa is set as the light projecting window portion 43a which is positioned below 43 as shown in FIG. That is, the projection window 43 is used to project the light from the LED 22 to the upper portion.
The light projection range is limited by masking with a.

Similarly, by forming a light projecting window portion 43b on the light guide plate 42 as shown in FIG. 6 (c), the horizontal light projecting range of the LED 22 is allowed and the detection area Eb is formed. Set the corresponding detection area Fb, and
By forming the light projecting window portion 43c as shown in FIG. 8D, the light emitting range of the LED 22 in the obliquely upper direction is allowed and the detection area Fc corresponding to the detection area Ec is set. .

The light guide member 41 corresponding to the photodiode 23 has the above-mentioned detection areas Fb, Fb, F.
By using a light guide path 41c formed corresponding to each of c, the reflected light from the detection area is received similarly to the first embodiment.

Therefore, also in the second embodiment, the same main body case 18 as in the first embodiment is obtained.
The light guide member 41 and the light guide plate 42 corresponding to any of the detection areas Fa, Fb, Fc can be dealt with by simply attaching them to the main body case 18, and a simple and inexpensive structure can be provided. You can

FIG. 11 shows a third embodiment of the present invention. The difference from the second embodiment is that a light guide member 41 is provided.
And a light guide member 44 formed by integrally forming the light guide plate 42. That is, the light guide member 44 has a light guide path 44a in which a cylindrical hole is formed at a position corresponding to the photodiode 23, and
Projection window portion 44b formed at a position corresponding to the LED 22
And the detection area Fa,
Either Fb or Fc is set.

Engaging claws 44c and 44d are formed in the light guide path 44a, and the light guide member 44 is formed.
Is fitted into the translucent window portion 18d of the main body case 18,
It is adapted to be engaged and fixed. Therefore, the third embodiment as described above can obtain the same effects as those of the second embodiment, and at the same time, the light guide member 44.
Since there is only one, handling and assembling work becomes easy.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be modified or expanded as follows. The present invention can be applied to all devices that detect an object by using a sensor including a light emitting element and a light receiving element such as a human sensor of an automatic door. The light guide plate may be used for both the light projecting element and the light receiving element.

[0038]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the object detecting device of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.
That is, according to the object detection device of the first aspect, the light guide member for setting the detection area is provided in the main body case so that the light path for projecting and receiving the light can be set in a predetermined direction corresponding to the front surface of the sensor. Since it is detachably provided, the target range of the detection operation by the sensor can be set to a desired detection area by the light guide member, and it is not necessary to prepare a main body case corresponding to various detection areas, which is simple and easy. As an inexpensive structure, it has an excellent effect that various detection areas can be set while using the same main body case.

According to the object detecting device of the second aspect, since the light guide member has a cylindrical light guide path directed to the detection area, the light projection of the light projecting element is directed to the detection area. In addition to the above, there is an excellent effect that the structure for selectively detecting the reflected light from the detection area can be manufactured easily and inexpensively.

According to the object detecting device of the third aspect, since the light guide member is the light guide plate having the light projecting window portion which allows the light projecting range of the light projecting element to the detection area, it is simpler and cheaper. The excellent effect that it can be made into a different structure is exhibited.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional side view of essential parts showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the main body case as seen from the front thereof.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional plan view of a portion of a light guide member.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional side view of the entire configuration.

FIG. 5 is an electrical configuration diagram.

FIG. 6 is a view corresponding to FIG. 1 showing a different mounting mode.

7 is a detection area setting state corresponding to the mounting mode of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8: Sensor mounting position on printed circuit board

FIG. 9 is a view corresponding to FIG. 2 showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a detection area that is set.

FIG. 11 is a view corresponding to FIG. 2 showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a view corresponding to FIG. 1 showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

13 is a main valve, 15 is a pilot valve, 16 is an automatic water washing device, 18 is a main body case, 19 is a sensor, 20
Is a printed circuit board, 22 is an LED (light emitting element), 23 is a photodiode (light receiving element), 24 is a light guide member, 2
4a and 24b are engaging claws, 25a and 25b are optical guide paths,
26 is a translucent plate, 30 is a control circuit, 31 is a light projecting circuit, 33 is a light receiving circuit, 37 is a valve drive circuit, 39, 4
0, 41, 44 are light guide members, 39a, 39b, 40
Reference numerals a, 40b, 41c and 44a are light guide paths, 42 is a light guide plate, and 43 and 44b are light projecting window portions.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An object detection device configured to detect the presence of an object by projecting light toward a detection area by a sensor having a light projecting element and a light receiving element provided in a main body case and detecting the reflected light thereof. In the device, an object detection device is provided on the front surface of the sensor, and an optical guide member for setting a detection area for setting an optical path for projecting and receiving light in a predetermined direction is detachably provided in the main body case. 2. The object detection device according to claim 1, wherein the light guide member is configured to have a cylindrical light guide path directed to the detection area corresponding to the sensor. 3. The light guide member includes a light guide plate having a light projecting window portion that allows light to be projected to a range directed to the detection area at least corresponding to the light projecting element. The object detection device according to claim 1 or 2.