JPH1181421A - Current-carrying control method and current-carrying control mechanism of electric apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To save electric power consumption by stopping or limiting the current-carrying in electric apparatuses such as a hot-water washing device and a heated toilet seat when there is little possibility for their use. SOLUTION: This current-carrying control mechanism is provided with a controller controlling the actions of electric apparatuses such as a hot-water washing device A and a heated toilet seat B, a light detector S detecting the brightness in a room, and a timer. When the light detector S detects that the brightness in the room becomes a prescribed value or below, the controller stops the current-carrying in the electric apparatuses or limits the current- carrying quantity after a fixed period set by the timer elapses. When the light detector S detects that the brightness in the room exceeds the prescribed value, the controller starts the current-carrying in the electric apparatuses or returns the current-carrying quantity to a standard value.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention saves power consumption by stopping or restricting energization of electric equipment such as a hot water washing device and a heating toilet seat provided in a toilet when there is almost no possibility of use. For technology.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When electric equipment such as a hot water washing device and a heating toilet seat is provided in a toilet, a hot water heater for always preparing hot water is provided in a hot water washing device, and a toilet seat is provided in a heating toilet seat. Toilet seat heaters for always heating are kept in an intermittent energized state.

[0003]

It is assumed that a toilet provided with the above-described electric equipment is installed in a public toilet such as an office building. Conventionally, electric appliances installed in such toilets are often kept in an energized state even during nights when people are unmanned, resulting in wasteful power consumption. Therefore, it is desirable to stop the power supply to the electric equipment or switch to the power saving mode in which the amount of power supply is limited during the time when the building is unoccupied, but this is performed by operating the power switch of each electric equipment. Trying to do so takes a lot of time.

Therefore, it is conceivable to attach a timer to each electric device to control the time. However, in an office building, the time during which the person is unmanned is often not always determined by the day. Control, the power supply to the electrical equipment stops even though there are still people in the building, and conversely, the power supply state of the electrical equipment is wasted even though people have already left the building. May be continued.

If an office building is observed on a floor-by-floor basis, some floors may have workers left early and become unmanned, and electrical equipment for toilets on such floors no longer needs to be energized. However, with uniform timer control, it is impossible to stop energizing only the electrical devices on the floor. Furthermore, if timer control is performed in consideration of holidays, summer holidays, year-end and new year holidays in addition to regular holidays on Saturdays and Sundays, the setting becomes extremely complicated.

Therefore, if electric wiring such as a hot water washing device and a heating toilet seat is constructed simultaneously with indoor wiring such as an electric light, it is considered that energization to these electric devices can be centrally and individually managed. In this case, in addition to the problem that the number of work steps for indoor wiring increases, it is difficult to retrofit because it must be designed from the beginning of construction, and when retrofitting, there is a drawback that new wiring work is required.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made for the purpose of controlling power supply to an electric device in accordance with the presence / absence of a person to save power consumption. The present invention is characterized by an energization control method adopted for achieving the above object. A specific stimulus such as a brightness or a sound level in a room where a toilet provided with an electric device such as a hot water washing device or a heating toilet seat is installed is predetermined. When the value is equal to or less than the value, the power supply to the electric device is stopped or the amount of power supply is limited after a certain period of time. In this case, when the specific stimulus such as the brightness or sound level in the room exceeds a predetermined value, the power supply to the electric device may be started or the power supply may be set to return to a standard value.

On the other hand, the features of the power supply control mechanism employed in the present invention include a controller for controlling the operation of electric equipment provided in a toilet such as a hot water washing device and a heated toilet seat, and a controller for controlling the operation of the room in which the toilet is installed. Detecting means for detecting a specific stimulus such as brightness or sound level, and a timer,
When the detection unit detects that the specific stimulus in the room has become equal to or less than a predetermined value, the controller stops energizing the electric device or restricts the energizing amount after a predetermined time set by the timer elapses. The point is that it is configured to do so. In this case, when a specific stimulus such as brightness or sound level in the room exceeds a predetermined value, the controller starts energizing the electric device or returns the energizing amount to a standard value. Can be.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[First Embodiment] A case will be described in which the energization state of a hot water washing device, a heating toilet seat, and the like installed in a toilet of a public toilet such as an office building is controlled based on indoor brightness according to the present invention. The embodiments described below assume a case in which the above-described electric device is retrofitted to a toilet bowl after completion of construction or already completed and used.
As shown in FIG. 1, the hot water washing device A and the heating toilet seat B are installed on a toilet C. Power is supplied to electric devices such as the hot water cleaning device A and the heating toilet seat B by connecting their power cords to outlets provided at appropriate places in the toilet.

[0010] The hot water washing device A includes a storage case 1 attached to the rear part of the toilet bowl C, in which a hot water tank T, a washing nozzle, a hot water pump, a hot air dryer, a deodorizing fan, an electromagnetic valve, a temperature fuse, a thermistor, and the like are provided. Devices and the like are stored. The storage case 1 may incorporate a room heating device (not shown) for blowing out warm air. The heating toilet seat B has a toilet seat heater h incorporated therein and a seating sensor provided therein, and is attached to the storage case 1 together with the toilet lid D.

In this embodiment, the light detection window 10 is formed in the storage case 1 and the light detector S for detecting the amount of light incident from the light detection window 10 is provided. Examples of the photodetector S include those using a photoconductive cell represented by a CdS cell, a photodiode, a photoelectric tube, a CCD element, and the like.

A controller is provided in the storage case 1, and as shown in FIG. 2, the controller includes various electric appliances and components constituting the hot water washing device A, a room heating device,
The toilet seat heater h and the seating sensor of the heating toilet seat B, and the photodetector S are connected, and control these operations and transmit and receive signals. The controller has a built-in timer.

Next, an energization control method according to this embodiment will be described. The hot water cleaning device A installed in the toilet of the office building is maintained in a state where it can be used at any time during a time when a person may use the device. That is,
By maintaining the hot water heater H of the hot water tank T, the toilet seat heater h of the heating toilet seat B, and the room heating fan and the room heating heater that constitute the room heating device in a predetermined energized state, the cleaning water in the hot water tank T is discharged. Keep at a constant temperature,
Toilet seat B is heated to an appropriate temperature, and an appropriate temperature of warm air is blown into the room.
However, in a warm season such as summer, the energization of the heating toilet seat B and the room heating device may be stopped.

When the working hours are over and all the people leave and become unmanned, the toilet is darkened by turning off the lights.
The light detector S detects this and outputs a light-off signal to the controller. The controller starts the timer in response to the light-out signal, and after a lapse of a predetermined time, stops energizing the hot water heater H of the hot water tank T, the toilet seat heater h of the heating toilet seat B, the room heating device, or enters a power saving mode. Switch. The power saving mode refers to, for example, a state in which the amount of electricity is limited to about half of the standard. When the lighting of the toilet is turned on again and the room becomes bright, the light detector S detects this and outputs a lighting signal to the controller. The controller receives this, and the hot water heater H in the hot water tank T
The energization of the toilet seat heater h and the room heating device of the heating toilet seat B is started or the energization amount is returned to the standard value, and the hot water washing device and the like are prepared to be usable.

As described above, according to the present invention, the possibility of using the hot water cleaning device or the like is determined by turning off and on the toilet, so that the switching of the energized state can be made to correspond to whether or not a person actually exists. . That is, even after the end of the prescribed working hours, if a person remains due to overtime, the toilet is not turned off, and the hot water washing device and the like are always kept in a usable state. Conversely, even during regular working hours, if people are absent due to circumstances, the toilet will be turned off,
Power supply to the hot water cleaning device or the like is stopped or switched to the power saving mode. In addition, even before the regular working hours, if the toilet is turned on due to work or the like in the early morning, power supply to the hot water washing device and the like is immediately started. Further, when no person goes to work and there is no lighting of the toilet, such as on a Sunday or a public holiday, the hot water cleaning device or the like is turned off or maintained in the power saving mode.

By the way, the switching of the energization state is performed after a lapse of a predetermined time from the detection of the light-off signal from the photodetector S, so that it is ensured that the hot water cleaning device or the like is no longer usable. That's why. If the power supply is set to stop immediately after turning off the light, if the toilet is turned off accidentally and left for a while, the power supply to the hot water washing device etc. will stop or decrease during that time. This may cause a decrease in temperature and room temperature, and may cause discomfort to the next user. Therefore, if it is set so that the energized state switches after a certain period of time after the light is turned off, even if the toilet is turned off by mistake, the hot water cleaning device etc. will remain in the standard energized state until the next user appears. Is more likely to be retained. For example, if the timer time is set to one hour, it is considered very unlikely that the toilet will not be used for more than one hour continuously during normal working hours. Then, if the toilet is used and the lighting is turned on within the set time of the timer, the light detector S detects this and resets the timer, so that the energized state is not switched and the standard state is maintained. Is done. If the setting time of the timer is variable and appropriately set according to the application status, the presence or absence of a person can be reliably determined. Where the frequency of use of the toilet is low, the timer time may be set longer, and where the frequency of use is high, the timer may be set shorter.

According to the present invention, energization can be controlled for each floor of an office building or the like. That is, if the lights are turned off in order from the unmanned floor, the light detector detects this, and after a certain timer time has elapsed, the power supply to the hot water washing device or the like installed in the toilet on the floor is stopped or Can be restricted.

[Second Embodiment] Next, based on the present invention,
A case will be described in which the energized state of an electric device such as a hot water washing device is controlled by the indoor sound level. In the case where the energization state is controlled by the sound level, in the control method and mechanism by the brightness in the above-described first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the light detector is replaced by a sound detector such as a microphone. Good. As a condition for stopping or restricting the energized state, for example, when the noise level in the toilet room is reduced to a sound level (about 50 to 70 dB) close to when the office building is unmanned or close to that, The timer may be started, and after a certain period of time, the setting may be made such that the energization of the electric device is stopped or limited.
Alternatively, it is also possible to detect a specific sound (for example, a motor sound of an air conditioner) closely related to the presence or absence of a person in the building, and control the energization.

The embodiment described above is an example in which the present invention is applied to energization control of electric equipment such as a hot water washing device installed in an office building toilet, but the present invention is not limited to this. Instead, it can take various forms.

[0020]

According to the present invention, the state of energization of electrical equipment such as a hot water washing device and a heating toilet seat installed in a toilet can be determined by a specific stimulus in a room, for example, a change in brightness by turning off / on the light, and a sound level in the room. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform a switch operation or a timer control for each electric device because the control is performed based on the decrease in the power consumption. In addition, since a specific stimulus such as brightness or sound level is detected by a detector provided for each electric device, it can be retrofitted to a toilet and there is no need for complicated wiring work.

In the first embodiment of the present invention, the power supply to the electric equipment is set to be stopped or restricted after a certain time has passed since the brightness of the room becomes lower than a predetermined value due to the light being turned off. Therefore, the switching of the energized state can be made to correspond to the actual availability. That is, since the energized state is maintained for a certain period of time even after the light is turned off, it is possible to prevent the stoppage or restriction of the energization of the hot water washing device or the like when the toilet is turned off by mistake, thereby giving a discomfort to the user. There is no. Then, if a certain period of time elapses after the light is turned off, the power supply to the hot water washing device or the like is automatically stopped or limited, so that the power consumption can be reduced.

In the second embodiment of the present invention, since the control is performed based on the sound level in the room, there is an advantage that even if the user forgets to turn off the electric lamp, the power supply can be reliably controlled. I have.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toilet provided with electric equipment such as a hot water washing device and a heated toilet seat to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a controller of an energization control mechanism according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a controller of an energization control mechanism according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A Hot water washing device B Heated toilet seat C Toilet bowl D Toilet H Hot water heater h Toilet seat heater S Light detector T Hot water tank 1 Storage case 10 Light detection window

Claims (6)

[Claims] When a specific stimulus in a room in which a toilet equipped with an electric device such as a hot water washing device or a heated toilet seat is reduced to a predetermined value or less, after a certain period of time, the power supply to the electric device is stopped or the power supply to the electric device is stopped. A method for controlling energization of an electric device, characterized in that the amount is limited. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the specific stimulus in the room exceeds a predetermined value, power supply to the electric device is started or the amount of power supply is returned to a standard value. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the specific stimulus is a brightness or a sound level. 4. A controller for controlling the operation of electrical equipment provided in a toilet such as a hot water washing device and a heated toilet seat, detection means for detecting a specific stimulus in a room in which the toilet is installed, and a timer are provided. When the detection unit detects that the specific stimulus in the room has become equal to or less than a predetermined value, the controller stops energizing the electric device or restricts the energizing amount after a predetermined time set by the timer elapses. A power supply control mechanism for an electric device, wherein 5. The controller according to claim 4, wherein when the specific stimulus in the room exceeds a predetermined value, the controller starts energizing the electric device or returns the energizing amount to a standard value. A power supply control mechanism for the electrical device described in the above. 6. The power supply control mechanism for an electric device according to claim 4, wherein the specific stimulus is a brightness or a sound level.