JPH083485Y2 - Automatic faucet - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Use) The present invention relates to an automatic faucet that automatically opens and closes a faucet when tap water or the like is used in a washroom, a handwashing room, a kitchen, or the like.

(Prior art) When tap water has been used conventionally, an optical sensor is used, and the signal from the optical sensor hits the detected object by bringing the detected object, such as the human hand, that is exposed to water close to the tap. A so-called non-contact type automatic faucet that uses tap water without operating a handle when a water discharge request is made is used.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) For example, in an optical sensor type automatic faucet provided in a washbasin, even if there is no water discharge request due to a change in set value due to aged use of the sensor, etc. There is a problem that the signal is received by the wall surface of the washbasin and that the reflected signal causes a request for water discharge, so that unexpected water discharge is started.

For this reason, conventionally, even if an optical sensor is provided near the faucet, it is provided at a position where the signal is not transmitted toward the wall surface of the washbasin, for example, on the lateral side surface of the faucet.

For this reason, when washing hands, apart from the action of bringing your hand directly under the faucet, once you bring your hand close to the side of the faucet and apply it to the signal area of the optical sensor to make a water spout request, confirm that water spouting has started. It had to be brought right under the faucet, and the hand-washing work was unnatural, and there was the drawback of wasting water and wasting water at the beginning of hand-washing.

In addition, even when a swaying member such as a towel unexpectedly enters the transmission area of the optical sensor, it may malfunction due to a request for water discharge.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned difficulties, and an object thereof is to use at least two types of sensors, to make a multidimensional determination of these, and thereby to eliminate an erroneous signal of the sensor, that is, the above-mentioned erroneous operation.

(Means for Solving Problems) In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, an object to be detected, such as a hand of a human body, is interposed in a transmitting / receiving area by an active sensor. The active sensor detecting means for detecting the water discharge request, the passive sensor detecting means for detecting the water discharge request by the detection object intervening in the transmitting / receiving area by the passive sensor, and the water discharge command are determined by the logical product of both detecting means. A structure including a water discharge determining means is adopted.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the active sensor detecting means includes the water discharge detecting means that responds to the water discharge request only by the continuous movement of the object to be detected.

Further, according to claim 3, even if a pseudo signal such as natural light or illumination light other than the transmission signal is mixed in the transmission / reception area by the active sensor, these pseudo signals are not received. The configuration described is adopted.

(Operation) According to claim 1, even if a stationary object such as a wall of a washbasin or an oscillating object such as a towel intervenes in the transmission / reception area of the active sensor, a certain amount or more, such as a human hand, is present. Those that do not have the temperature of will not be responded to the water discharge request because they are not received by the passive sensor. If an object to be detected having a certain temperature or more, such as a human hand, is present in the transmitting / receiving areas of the active sensor and the passive sensor, it operates as if there was a water discharge request.

According to the second aspect, since the water discharge detection means that responds to the water discharge request only by the continuous movement of the detected object is provided,
For example, even a heat-retaining material having a certain temperature or higher, such as warm water, will not be discharged unless there is a continuous movement such as hand washing work.

According to the third aspect, even if pseudo signals such as natural light and illumination light are mixed in the transmission / reception area of the active sensor, these pseudo signals are removed and only the transmission signal is received.

Next, the operation of the combination of claims 1 to 3 will be described as follows.

That is, although various non-contact type sensors can be used as the active sensor, the case of using a simple optical sensor will be described. The lower surface of the water faucet, that is, the position where the optical sensor transmission area faces the wall of the washbasin. When a light sensor is installed on the to emit light and detect reflected light,
By modulating the radiated signal with a pulse or the like so that the received light can be discriminated and determined to be the transmitted optical signal, only the radiated optical signal can be discriminated and received from the received light. Even if this detected light is true detected light, is it reflected light from the wall of the washbasin or a stationary object such as a towel?
It is necessary to identify whether the light is reflected light from an object to be detected such as a human hand. As the identification method, when the detected object moves, the characteristic that the reflected signal from the detected object causes strength is used to determine whether or not the received signal detected within a predetermined time varies. By processing, it is determined whether or not it is a pseudo signal. In other words, the active sensor can discriminate between a stationary reflection signal from a stationary object and a continuous reflection signal from a moving object such as a human body, that is, an object to be detected, depending on whether or not the received signal varies. That is, the detection signal is processed as a temporal function of whether the detection signal level is substantially constant or the detection signal level greatly changes,
Only the reflected signal from the detected object is detected.

On the other hand, in the passive sensor, in order to distinguish the reflection signal from a moving object such as a towel and the like, which is lower than the body temperature, from the object having a body temperature such as a human body, that is, the reflection signal from the detected object. It is used to detect infrared energy reflected from the human body. In this way, the active sensor detects a moving object, and the passive sensor detects that the temperature of the reflective object is the human body temperature. By taking the logical product of these two types of detection signals, it is possible to discriminate and determine whether the detected object detected by the active sensor has a human body temperature, that is, whether the detected object is a human body. It is possible to obtain only noise-free detection signals by detecting only the reflection signals from the true object to be detected such as hands. In this way, the detection signals of the two types of sensors are multi-dimensionally processed to detect a signal only for the true water discharge request, and the valve drive device is operated by this water discharge request signal to perform the water discharge and water stop operations. .

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 is a water faucet and an active sensor is provided on the lower surface side thereof. Optical sensors 2a and 2b, which are one type, and an infrared sensor 2c, which is a type of passive sensor, are embedded.

First optical sensor 2a, when describing the operating state of 2b, radiates the received signal 2a ₁ from the transmitting unit 2a, received by the receiving unit 2b reflected signal 2b ₁ from the detected object W such as human hand.

That is, the signal generated by the signal generator 4 is applied to the driver 3
The power is amplified by and is supplied to the transmitting unit 2a by the cable 13a, and the transmitting signal 2a ₁ is radiated from the transmitting unit 2a. Since this transmission signal 2a ₁ is a signal corresponding to the signal of the signal generator 4, the signal of the signal generator 4 is used as an identification signal of the received signal. The received signal 2b ₁ detected by the receiver 2b is transmitted to the receiver 5 by the cable 13b. The detection signal transmitted to the receiver 5 is compared with the signal of the signal generator 4 to determine whether or not the detection signal 2b ₁ is the signal of the signal generator 4, and when the received signal matches the identification signal, The received signal is amplified and sent to the signal fluctuation detector 6. Signal fluctuation detector 6
Indicates that when the reception duration of the received signal is less than a predetermined time, that is, when it is a spiked noise signal, this signal is removed, and conversely, when it is a steady continuation signal for a specified time or longer, It is judged that the reflected signal 2b ₁ from the above is removed, and if it is an intermittent continuous signal other than the specified time, the signal is output only for a predetermined time. The signal fluctuation detector 6 includes a setter 6a and a holding circuit 6b.
The setting device 6a is a setting device that sets the holding time of the holding circuit 6b for a specified duration, and the holding circuit 6b
When the received signal 2b ₁ is determined by the setter 6a to be a signal having a duration within the set value, outputs the signal for the time designated by the holding circuit 6b.

On the other hand, the infrared sensor 2c provided together with the optical sensors 2a and 2b detects the body temperature of the human body. The operating principle is that an object with an absolute temperature of zero degrees or more radiates energy,
It is known from Stefan-Boltzmann's law and Winn's displacement law that the radiant energy is proportional to the fourth power of the absolute temperature, and the maximum radiant spectrum is inversely proportional to the absolute temperature. The body temperature of the human body can be detected by detecting an electromagnetic wave having a maximum spectrum according to the body temperature of the human body, that is, infrared rays emitted from the human body.
That is, the infrared ray 2c ₁ is emitted from the detected object W such as a human hand, and the infrared ray 2c ₁ is received by the infrared detector 2c which is a passive sensor. When a thermopile is used for the infrared detector 2c, the thermopile 2c that receives the infrared ray 2c ₁ is heated and its temperature rises, and the temperature of the thermocouple that composes the thermopile 2c also rises. An electromotive force is generated according to the temperature difference between the two. Thermopile 2c
Since a large number of thermocouples are connected in series, the number of thermocouples can be added even if the temperature difference is small, so that a signal with less noise can be extracted. The signal detected by the thermopile 2c is supplied to the control amplifier 7 through the cable 13c, and the infrared amplifier 2c ₁ signal detected by the thermopile 2c is amplified by the control amplifier 7 to a specified value. The control amplifier 7 controls the thermopile 2c, amplifies the signal detected by the thermopile 2c to a specified output, and controls the signal. For example, the control amplifier 7 controls the spectrum range and the output waveform. The output of the signal fluctuation detector 6 and the output of the control amplifier 7 are supplied to the determiner 8. The determiner 8 determines whether the output of the signal fluctuation detector 6 which is a detection signal from the detected object W such as the human hand and the output of the control amplifier 7 which is a detection signal of the body temperature of the human body are simultaneously output. Is something
In other words, whether it is a signal from the hands of the human body,
It detects the temperature and movement of the detected object W, and is basically performed by AND operation. When the AND operation of the determiner 8 is 1, that is, when the temperature condition and the motion condition match, the determiner 8 outputs an output signal. The output of the judging device 8 is sent to the valve control device 9, amplified by the valve control device 9 and sent as a control signal of the valve drive device 10 via the cable 14 to operate the valve drive part 10a to open the on-off valve 10b. Discharge. In addition, 11 is a power supply and 15 is a water supply pipe.

FIG. 2 shows a specific circuit of the block diagram of FIG.

First, the optical sensor circuit will be described. FIG. 2 shows a specific circuit of the block diagram of FIG. The signal generator 4 is a simple pulse generator, and the NAND element NA
It consists of a free-running multivibrator that uses two ND1 and NAND2. The frequency of this multivibrator is mainly determined by the capacitor C1 and the resistor R3, and this output signal configures the driver 3 via the resistor R5. The transistor W1 is supplied to the base of the transistor Tr1 for current amplification, and is supplied to the base of the transistor Tr2 to supply the necessary power to the light emitting diode that is the transmitter 2a to irradiate the detected object W. The transmitted signal 2a ₁ that irradiates the detected object W is diffusely reflected by the detected object W, and a reflected signal 2b ₁ that is a part of the reflected light.
Is detected by the receiver 2b and supplied to the receiver 5. In the receiver 5, the signal of the detected light 2b ₁ received first is the signal generator 4
To determine if the signal from
A bandpass filter constituted by 3, C4, C5 and resistors R9, R10 determines whether the received signal 2b ₁ is the signal of the signal generator 4. Now identified determined to be the same type signals, is supplied to the base of the transistor -Tr3 constituting the amplifier, to a predetermined amplitude level, generally being amplified to a rectangular waveform, and the transistor Tr ₄ and the diode D2
Amplified and detected by resistors R13, R15, R16, R17, diode
The frequency component of the signal generator 4, which is a carrier wave, is removed with a time constant determined by D3 and the capacitors C5 and C11, and the detection signal is rapidly lowered when the emission signal 2b ₁ disappears. That is, when the action of the capacitor C11 is the received signal is not present, but is held at the power supply voltage, when receiving the signal is the transistor Tr ₄ is short-circuited, the capacitor C11 is also discharged, the collector of the transistor Tr ₄ becomes zero voltage near , The output becomes 0. In other words, the output and receives the signal becomes 0, and when not receiving the signal, the collector resistance of the transistor Tr ₄ to the power supply voltage R14
Since the capacitor C11 is charged through and rises rapidly, it can be made much smaller than the time constant of a normal detection circuit when no signal is received. Can be converted to. The detected signal is amplified by a two-stage DC amplifier having negative feedback shown by operational amplifiers OPA1 and OPA2, and is supplied to the signal fluctuation detector 6 as an output signal of the receiver 5 via the resistor R23. The diodes D3 and D4 serve to widen the threshold level of the received signal. The signal sent to the signal fluctuation detector 6 is supplied to a delay circuit A composed of resistors R24, R25, R26 and a capacitor C8, and a delay circuit B composed of R27, a variable resistor VR1 and a capacitor C9, respectively. Operation amplifier OP of two signals delayed by two sets of delay circuits with different delay times
It supplies to the positive and negative terminals of A3 respectively, and outputs a signal corresponding to the two delay time differences as the output of the operational amplifier OPA3 only when a normal reception signal is received. This output is diode D5, resistors R28, R29, Variable resistor VR2 and capacitor
The voltage is supplied to the holding circuit 6b composed of C10, and the supplied voltage is held only for the time constant determined by the holding circuit 6b. The supply voltage held for this holding time is converted into a rectangular wave by the Schmitt circuit OPS, and the pulse signal corresponding to the holding time is output as the output signal of the signal fluctuation detector 6. That is, the output signal of the receiver is supplied to two delay circuits A and B having different delay times, and is converted by the delay circuits A and B into two signals having a time difference.

The change in these pulse waveforms will be described with reference to FIG. 3. The horizontal axis of FIG. 3 represents time, and the vertical axis represents each signal level, that is, relative voltage. First, 4F is the waveform of the signal generator 4, 3F is the waveform of the drive unit 3, and 2F is the waveform signal of 3F.
2a ₁ is a waveform which is irregularly reflected by the object to be detected W and is intermittently received irregularly in time to be received by the receiving unit 2b. If the receiving unit 2b intermittently detects the reflected signal 2b ₁ , this waveform signal The signal of the collector of the transistor Tr4 obtained by AC amplification of 2F becomes the waveform of 5F1, and the output signal of the operational amplifier OPA2 obtained by detecting and DC amplifying becomes 5F2, and this 5F2 becomes the output signal of the receiver 5. When the output signal 5F2 of the receiver 5 is supplied to two delay circuits A and B having different delay times, the delay circuit
At the outputs of A and B, the time axis of the signal of the output signal 5F2 of the receiver is shifted by the time corresponding to each delay time, and 6F1 and
Converted as shown in 6F2. The signal difference between the signals 6F1 and 6F2 occurs only immediately after the detection signal is detected by the receiver 2b and the output signal of the receiver 5 rises and changes intermittently, and the difference between the two signals occurs. Time is 2 delay circuits
It is the delay time difference ΔT between A and B. Thus, since the operational amplifier OPA3 operates as an operational amplifier that amplifies only the difference signal ΔT between the signals 6F1 and 6F2, only the signal difference between ΔT immediately after the output signal 5F2 of the receiver rises is the operational amplifier OPA3. Signal 6F3 appears as the output of r
It outputs signals with pulse widths corresponding to the delay time differences, such as 1, r2, r3, r4, r5. Therefore, the operational amplifier OPA3
As long as a steady continuous reception signal continues, no output occurs because the human power signal does not change, and only one pulse signal is generated for one continuous reception signal. It is possible to remove the emission signal 2b ₁ from the object. The pulse signal which is the output of the operational amplifier OPA3 is supplied to the holding circuit 6b, held for a time determined by the holding circuit 6b, and the held voltage is continuously converted into a rectangular wave by the Schmitt circuit OPS as shown in 6F4. The pulse signal TT is output as the output of the signal fluctuation detector 6. In addition, since TNO of 6F4 is a continuous continuous signal from a stationary object, the output of the operational amplifier OPA3 does not occur,
Therefore, it means that the output T of the Schmitt circuit OPS is not generated.

On the other hand, if a thermopile is used as the infrared sensor 2c that is a passive sensor as described above,
In 2c, a large number of thermocouples are arranged and the output of each thermocouple is connected in series.

Infrared rays with a maximum spectrum according to the body temperature are emitted from the human body that is the object to be detected, and this infrared ray 2c ₁ heats a part of the many thermocouples that form the thermopile 2c, and the temperature rises. However, a temperature difference occurs between the contact point of another thermocouple that is not heated and an electromotive force corresponding to this temperature difference is generated. In this case, by connecting a large number of thermocouples in series, the number of thermocouples is added even if the temperature difference is small, so that the body temperature of the human body can be accurately detected with a signal with less noise. Infrared 2c detected by Thermopile 2c ₁
Signal is supplied to the control amplifier 7 by the cable 13c,
It is amplified to the specified value.

The output of the signal fluctuation detector 6 is supplied to the determiner 8 via the resistor R30, and the output of the control amplifier 7 is supplied to the determiner 8 via the resistor 31. The determiner 8 determines whether the output of the signal fluctuation detector 6 which is a detection signal from the detected object W such as the hand of a human body and the output of the control amplifier 7 which is a detection signal of the body temperature of the human body are simultaneously output. It is what you do.
In other words, it is the judging device 8 that judges whether the signal is from the human hand or the like by detecting the temperature of the detected object W and the presence or absence of movement, and this judgment is basically a logical product operation. It is done by. The logical product operation of the determiner 8 is 1, that is,
When the temperature condition and the motion condition match, the determiner 8 outputs an output signal. The output signal of the judging device 8 is 8F in FIG.
In HNO1, even if it is detected by the control amplifier 7 which is the output of the body temperature detection, the decision device 8 does not operate because the output 6F4 of the signal detector 6 which is the output of the active sensor does not operate, and the valve drive Device 8 also does not work. Also, with HNO2 of the output signal 8F of the determiner 8, even if the active sensor detects the detected object W, the control amplifier 7 which is the output of the body temperature detection does not detect the body temperature. No signal is generated, the valve drive device 8 does not operate, and the water discharge is stopped. The output of the judgment device 8 is supplied to the base of the transistor Tr5 of the valve control device 9 via the resistor 32, the transistor Tr5 is operated, the electromagnet 10a1 of the valve drive unit 10a is driven, and the on-off valve 10b is operated. , Will respond to the water discharge request. The variable resistors VR1 and VR2 of the signal fluctuation detector 6 are setting devices, the variable resistor VR1 is for setting the delay time, and the variable resistor V
R2 is for setting the retention time. The valve driver 10a 10a ₂ is a spike killer that prevents the pulses generated by the electromagnet 10a ₁ .

Although the optical active sensor was used as the active sensor in the above examples, an ultrasonic active sensor, an electromagnetic active sensor, etc. can also be used, and a thermopile was used as a passive sensor, but various infrared sensors were developed. They can be used as well. As the bandpass filter, a bandpass filter using a simple CR circuit, a digital filter, an active filter, or the like can be used, and a logical product negation element is used for the signal generator 4, but other active elements, For example, it can be composed of various IC elements including a transistor.
Although the electronic circuit of the embodiment is configured by a linear circuit, it can be easily replaced by a digital circuit, a microprocessor, or the like, and one of the two types of sensors can be operated without operating the two types of sensors from the beginning. Alternatively, if one type of sensor detects a detection signal, the other sensors may be activated to contribute to energy saving. For example, at first, only the active sensor may be operated, and when the active sensor detects a signal from the detected object, the passive sensor may start operating, or vice versa. .

(Effect) According to claim 1, since it operates in response to a water discharge request only for an object to be detected having a temperature above a certain level, such as a hand of a human body, for example, a stationary object such as a wall of a washbasin or a shake like a towel Even if a member intervenes in the signal area of the active sensor and the passive sensor, it does not operate, and thus accurate operation can be expected.

According to the second aspect, even if there is a certain amount of heat-retaining material such as warm water, water is not discharged unless there is a continuous movement such as hand washing work. it can.

According to the third aspect, in addition to the effect of the second aspect, it can be used without being influenced by the natural environment.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of the same details of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a time chart showing the signal waveform of each part of FIG. FIG. 1 ... Water faucet, 2a ... Active sensor transmitter, 2a
₁ …… Sending signal, 2b …… Reception part of active sensor, 2b ₁
…… Received signal, 2c ₁ …… Infrared, 3 …… Driver, 4 ……
Signal generator, 5 ... Receiver, 6 ... Signal fluctuation detector, 6b
...... Holding circuit, 7 ...... Control amplifier, 8 ...... Determination device, 9 ...
… Valve controller, 10 …… Valve drive, 10a …… Valve drive, 1
0b …… Open / close valve, 11 …… Power supply, W …… Human hands, 13a, 13
b, 14 …… Cable, 15 …… Water pipe, R _{1 to} R ₃₂ …… Resistance, T
r1~Tr5 ...... transistor, VR ₁ ~VR ₂ ...... variable resistor.

Claims (3)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An active sensor detecting means for detecting a water discharge request by an object to be detected such as a human hand intervening in the area to be transmitted / received by an active sensor, and the object to be detected is interposed in an area to be transmitted / received by a passive sensor. An automatic water faucet including a passive sensor detection unit that detects a water discharge request by doing so and a water discharge determination unit that determines a water discharge command by a logical product of both detection units. 2. The automatic faucet according to claim 1, wherein the active sensor detecting means includes a water discharge detecting means which responds to a water discharge request only by a continuous movement of an object to be detected. 3. The automatic system according to claim 1, wherein even if a pseudo signal such as natural light or illumination light other than the transmission signal is mixed in the transmission / reception area of the active sensor, the pseudo signal is not received. Water faucet.