JPH09264572A - Water shortage warning device for humidifier - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To demand a user to supply water even when the user has missed to hear a water shortage warning when a water shortage generates, and also give a water shortage warning by a most suitable warning degree in response to the using status. SOLUTION: This water shortage warning device for humidifier is equipped with a humidity sensor 1 which detects the present humidity of a room, a water shortage detecting means 3 which detects a water shortage of a water supply tank, a clock means 6 which counts a specified period of time and outputs a signal, and a water shortage warning means 4 which visually notifies the water shortage. This water shortage warning means 4 makes a water shortage warning function by specified intervals by output signals with specified intervals from the clock means 6.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a drought warning device for a humidifier, which automatically and appropriately controls humidification according to the humidity in a room.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a humidifier of this type performs humidification by vaporizing water in a water supply tank. When the water in the water supply tank runs out, the drought detecting means detects the drought and stops the humidifying operation. At the same time, the water shortage warning means notifies the water shortage to encourage the user to supply water. The water shortage warning means is composed of either one or both of a water shortage display means for visually notifying by a display lamp or the like and a water shortage warning means for aurally notifying by a buzzer or the like. In the conventional drought warning means, when the drought occurs, the drought warning means gives an audible notification for a certain period of time for a certain period of time, and thereafter, many of the drought warning means notify the drought.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a conventional water shortage warning device for a humidifier having both a visual display and an audible notification.
Reference numeral 1 is a humidity sensor as a humidity detecting means for detecting the present humidity in the room, 2 is a humidity indicating means for indicating the present humidity from the signal of the humidity sensor 1, and 3 is water within a water supply tank (not shown) at a predetermined level or less. A drought detecting means 4 for detecting the occurrence of a signal and generating a signal is a drought warning means for receiving a signal from the drought detecting means 3 and for informing a drought, and a drought warning means 4a for aurally informing by a buzzer or the like. And a drought display means 4b for performing a visual display using a display lamp or the like.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing a drought warning operation of a conventional humidifier. Steps 8 to 11 are humidifying operation processing when there is water in the water supply tank. When a water shortage occurs in the water supply tank, it is determined in step 9 and step 12
Stop the humidifying operation with. Then, in step 13, a drought display such as turning on the display lamp is performed, and then in step 1
At 6 the buzzer sounds the drought alarm once.

FIG. 9 is a time chart showing the operation of the conventional water shortage alarm, and shows the operation state, the humidity detected by the humidity sensor, the operation of the water shortage display, and the operation of the water shortage alarm from the top of the figure. That is, when the water shortage is detected at the point t1, the operating state is stopped and the water shortage display is turned ON at the same time. Here, the alarm such as a buzzer sounds only once. If the user misses the notification here, the buzzer and other audible alarms will not sound again, so there is no other way than confirming only by the drought display by the display lamp or the like.

[0006]

As described above, according to the conventional drought warning means, if the user is absent in the room when the drought occurs and the user misses the warning, the warning will not sound after that. You end up relying only on the display. However, the drought display has a low warning property, and it is difficult for the human senses to sense the decrease in humidity. Therefore, it is difficult for the user to notice the drought, and even if the humidity decreases, the humidification is stopped, and the humidifier cannot be effectively used.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and even in the case where a drought warning when a drought occurs is missed, the user can be prompted to supply water. The purpose is to obtain the device.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a water shortage warning device for a humidifier, which can give a water shortage warning with an optimum warning degree according to the usage condition.

[0009]

A drought warning device for a humidifier according to the present invention is configured so that a drought alarm is sounded at a predetermined drought interval by a signal from a timing means.

Further, the drought alarm is sounded only when the current humidity detected by the humidity detecting means is lower than a predetermined value.

Further, when the present humidity detected by the humidity detecting means is lower than a predetermined value, the predetermined interval is shortened and a drought alarm is sounded.

Further, when the current humidity detected by the humidity detecting means is lower than a predetermined value, the drought warning time is extended.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Embodiment 1. 1 is a block diagram of a drought warning device for a humidifier showing a first embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a humidity sensor as a humidity detecting means for detecting the present humidity in the room, 2
Is a humidity display means for displaying the current humidity from the signal of the humidity sensor 1, 3 is a drought detecting means for detecting that the water in the water supply tank has dropped below a predetermined level and generates a signal, 4 is a drought detecting means 3 Is a drought warning means for receiving a drought warning signal, and is composed of a drought warning means 4a such as a buzzer for aural warning and a drought display means 4b for visually indicating with a display lamp or the like. Reference numeral 6 denotes a time measuring means for starting time counting from the time when the water shortage detecting means 3 detects the water shortage, measuring time, and outputting a signal.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the operation in the first embodiment. Steps 8 to 11 are operation processes when there is water in the water supply tank. When drought occurs, the determination is made in step 9, and the humidifying operation is stopped in step 12. Then, the water shortage is displayed in step 13, and then it is determined in step 14 whether it is a predetermined time. Here, for the first time, you may be forced to proceed to step 16. If the predetermined time has not been reached, the process returns to step 8. When the predetermined time is reached, a drought alarm is sounded in step 16.

Embodiment 2 Second Embodiment FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a drought warning control device for a humidifier showing a second embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 to 4 are the same as those described in the first embodiment, and therefore the description is omitted. Reference numeral 5 is a judging means for judging whether or not the humidity detected by the humidity sensor 1 is lower than a predetermined value, and the drought warning means 4a is provided only when the judging means 5 judges that the present humidity is lower than the predetermined value. Sound an alarm.

The operation of the second embodiment is shown in the flowchart of FIG. Steps 8 to 14 are the same as those in the first embodiment described above. If the predetermined time is measured in step 14, it is determined in step 15 whether the present humidity is lower than the predetermined value, and if it is lower, the drought alarm is sounded in step 16. If the current humidity is higher than the predetermined value, the process returns to step 8 and the alarm does not sound.

Embodiment 3 In the first embodiment,
In step 13, the water shortage was displayed, and in the next step 14, the predetermined time was always set to a constant interval. However, as shown in FIG. 5, in step 17, it is determined whether the current humidity is higher or lower than a predetermined value. Set a predetermined time longer (step 17A)
If the humidity is lower than the predetermined value, the predetermined time is set shorter (step 17B), and the interval of the predetermined time is changed according to the current humidity condition. The drought warning can be activated more frequently and the warning level can be increased.

Embodiment 4 If the present humidity is higher than the predetermined value in the humidity determination in step 17 of the third embodiment, the operating time of the drought warning in step 19 is set to be long, and if it is lower than the predetermined value, the operating time of the drought alarm is shortened. Even if the humidity is set, the warning level can be higher when the humidity is lower than the predetermined value than when the humidity is high.

FIG. 6 shows an operation time chart of the drought alarm according to the first to fourth embodiments of the present invention. Alarm 1 is the operation of the drought alarm of the first embodiment, and alarm 2 is the drought alarm of the second embodiment. The operation and the alarm 3 are the operations of the drought alarm of the third embodiment, and the alarm 4 is the operations of the drought alarm of the fourth embodiment. t
When the water shortage is detected at one point, the operating state is stopped and the water shortage display is turned on at the same time. Here, the alarms 1 to 4 give the first notification. Even if the user misses the notification here, since the alarm 1 gives notification at a predetermined interval thereafter, it is possible to notice the drought by the next notification.

However, since the humidity in the room gradually decreases after the humidification is stopped at the point t1, it is not always necessary to inform the user while the humidity is high. Therefore, the alarm 2 sounds the second drought alarm at the time t2 when the detected humidity becomes equal to or lower than the predetermined value. For alarm 3 and alarm 4, the interval of the predetermined time for alarm 3 to sound the drought alarm is short from the time t2 when the detected humidity at t2 is below the predetermined value, and for alarm 4, the operation for sounding the drought alarm becomes long. The warning level of the drought warning increases.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the drought warning for aural notification is sounded at a predetermined interval, the warning can be issued again even if the first warning is missed. It is possible to reliably inform the user of water supply to the water supply tank without noticing.

When the present humidity is higher than a predetermined value,
Since the drought alarm is not activated, it is possible to give an optimal drought warning depending on the usage conditions.

Further, when the humidity is lower than a predetermined value, the predetermined time interval for issuing an alarm is set to be short, so that the warning level of the drought alarm becomes high, and an optimum drought warning can be given depending on the use condition. it can.

Further, when the humidity is lower than a predetermined value, the warning time is set to be long, so that the warning level of the drought warning becomes high, and the optimum drought warning can be given depending on the use condition. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a first embodiment of a drought warning device for a humidifier according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation flow chart of Embodiment 1 of the drought warning device for a humidifier according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing a second embodiment of a drought warning device for a humidifier according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart of Embodiment 2 of the drought warning device for a humidifier according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a control flow chart of Embodiment 3 of a drought warning device for a humidifier according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a time chart showing the operation of the drought warning in the first to fourth embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram showing a conventional drought warning device for a humidifier.

FIG. 8 is an operation flowchart of a conventional drought warning device for a humidifier.

FIG. 9 is a time chart showing the operation of a drought alarm of a conventional humidifier.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Humidity sensor 2 Humidity display means 3 Drought detection means 4 Drought warning means 4a Drought warning means 4b Drought display means 5 Judgment means 6 Timing means

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A humidity detecting means for detecting the current humidity of a room, a drought detecting means for detecting a shortage of water in a water supply tank, and a drought warning means for issuing a warning when the drought detecting means detects a shortage of water in a water supply tank. And a timing means for starting timing from when the drought detecting means detects drought, wherein the drought warning means is configured to sound a drought warning at a predetermined interval of drought by a signal from the timing means. Warning device for drought of humidifier. 2. The water shortage warning means is provided only when the current humidity detected by the humidity detection means is lower than a predetermined value.
A drought alarm is sounded.
The humidification warning device for the humidifier described. 3. The time measuring means outputs a signal for shortening a predetermined interval for sounding a drought alarm when the current humidity detected by the humidity detecting means is lower than a predetermined value. The humidification warning device for the humidifier described. 4. A drought warning device for a humidifier according to claim 1, wherein the drought warning time is lengthened when the present humidity detected by the humidity detecting means is lower than a predetermined value.