MXPA99000460A - Electronic card for the automatic control of flow valves for lavabo and fluxomet - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is related to an electronic circuit that controls the actuation of closing and opening valves and fluxometers without the intervention of the human hand. One of the characteristics of the valve control circuit, whether it is a flushometer or a basin tap, is that it uses the minimum amount of energy to operate, thus lengthening the life of the batteries it uses, with a sensitivity that senses well the presence of a user at a preset distance, also allowing changes in the different parameters so that it is not necessary to change the general structure of the equipment, for example to be used both in a flushometer and in a sink key. The circuit is characterized by 1) a microcontroller, which communicates and controls a, 2) a transmitter, which generates a beam with one of sequence within the range of infrared, 3) a receiver, which perceives this reflected radiation, 4) a low voltage sensor, to indicate when it is necessary to change the batteries, 5) a visual indicator, which, by different flash patterns, indicate various situations of the circuit and 6) an output driver for actuating the flushometer valve or of the lla

Description

ELECTRONIC CARD FOR THE AUTOMATIC CONTROL OF FLOW VALVES FOR WASHBASINS AND FLUXOMETERS FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention is related to an electronic circuit that controls the actuation of closing and opening valves and fluxometers without the intervention of the human hand.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Those related to the field of public health have long been aware of the health advantages of automated flow meter systems. Such types of systems include those operated by time devices which periodically activate the flushometers. These types of systems are satisfactory in installations of high frequency of use but tends to make excessive use of water in facilities that have a low frequency of use. Systems that respond only to the presence of an individual have the disadvantage of being subject to false operations. That is, the system operates when it is not required because it has been activated by the lighting of the place, the reflected light and the momentary passage of people.

Other proximity sensors that may cooperate with the operation of automatic fluxometers, but these are not selective. For example, a capacitive bridge detector detects only the movement of an object in a field. It can not discriminate between several objects in movements and can not detect or completely static objects. Likewise, most optical sensors only detect when a beam of light is cut or reflected. Thus, these prior art proximity sensors can not distance between a target person or a traffic flow of transients. Congruently, there is a need for a selective proximity sensor that is capable of responding to only the predetermined target when it remains in a predetermined area for a predetermined period of time.

Until now, when a sensor-activated fl uxometer valve loses energy to activate or there is a power cut, the circuitry for the flushometer valves becomes operational and all the valves of the flushometers in a facility begin to operate when it restores energy, but since there is not enough water supply, such flushometer valves continue to function after the fl ow is restored.

Up to now, infrared sensor systems have been used in connection with mechanisms to operate the valves of the flux meters. Such systems use a single filter through which the infrared radiation energy is both transmitted and received when reflected to a control module.

The most common methods of contactless activation of flow valves comprise the use of a sensor-operated system. One can see for example the patents 3,339,212; 3,434,164; 3,462,769; 3,670,167; 3,863,196; 4,309,781; 4,624,017; 4,667,350; 4,707,867; 4,742,583; 4,793,588 and 4,805,247. These systems carry out their function by first detecting when a person is present in front of the sanitary furniture, immediately detecting when the person moves away and then they activate the unloading mechanism. All these mechanisms carry out their function at the expense of the user's direct control of the fluxótro mechanism that is present in the systems operated by handle and flow button. To overcome this inconvenience, many flow valves operated by sensors have been provided by operating buttons that allow manual operation. This allows the user or maintenance personnel to operate the device at will when necessary.

In none of the disclosures has the specifications of the flushometer valve controller circuit been presented that may ultimately optimize the use of the battery. Likewise, the parameters have not been established to avoid wasting water due to unnecessary use due to its immunity to external light source and discrimination between a user and a person who is simply passing by the sanitary furniture.

OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION One of the objectives of the present invention is to make possible a valve controller circuit, either a flushometer or a washbasin tap, which uses the minimum amount of energy to operate, thus extending the useful life of the batteries it uses.

Another objective of the present invention is to make possible a circuit that allows a sensitivity such as to detect well the presence of a user at a preset distance.

Still another objective is to make possible a circuit that allows changes in the different parameters so that it is not necessary to change the general structure of the equipment, for example to be used both in a flushometer and in a sink key.

And all those qualities and objectives that will become apparent when carrying out the description of the present invention, based on the appended figures.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Broadly speaking, the circuit of the present invention consists of a circuit with a microcontroller, which communicates and controls a transmitter, a receiver, a low voltage sensor, a visual indicator and an output driver for the valve actuator. of the flushometer or the key. This controller will execute a different algorithm depending on whether it is used for a flushometer or for a key.

The transmitter uses a led that radiates in the infrared range and is fed with a pulse current of 250 μs every two seconds at its maximum allowable current value. With this situation the maximum range of perception is achieved and the use of the battery charge is decreased.

The receiver consists of an optical converter to current, a current-to-voltage converter and an analog to digital converter, thus achieving high sensitivity, wide bandwidth and compatibility with digital logic.

The output driver is responsible for feeding the electrical device that operates the flushometer valve or the key in two directions, one to activate the valve and the other to return it to its normal position. It is also possible, in one of its modalities, to make an output drive circuit that only impedes in one direction, when this circuit is applied, for example, to an engine that moves a cam that operates the normal lever of the flushometer.

The low voltage sensor has the function of detecting at which moment a voltage less than or equal to Vcc-0.5 volts is detected in the input by placing a logic zero in its output resef.

The microcontroller has all the pins with the characteristic of being all of input / output. For the entry operations, the ports do not have latch (they do not retain the logical value when writing to the port); any logical value may be present in the pin until an input instruction is executed. When the ports are outputs, they have latch and remain unchanged until the output latch is rewritten.

For a better understanding of the invention, a description will be made of one of the modalities thereof, illustrated in the drawings that are annexed to the present description for non-limiting purposes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 shows the block diagram of the circuit object of the present invention.

Figure 2 illustrates one embodiment of the transmitter module of the control circuit, Figure 3 shows the electrical diagram of a modality of the receiver module circuit.

Figure 4 schematizes the equivalent circuit for a pin of the I / O port of the microcontroller.

Figure 5 shows the structure of the driver for triggering the valve actuator in the mode in which it is required to activate the device in both directions.

Figure 6 shows the association of the different modules of this electronic control card.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The characteristic details of the present invention are described below, relying on the accompanying drawings and serving the same reference signs to indicate the same parts of the circuit.

In figure 1 it can be seen that the circuit object of the present invention is formed by the microcontroller MC and five well-defined modules that communicate with it. The TR transmitter receives the signal from the microcontroller to make it emit a radiation that the RC receiver captures when it is reflected by a target, when it is close enough to receive the emitted radiation and can be reflected with sufficient intensity to reach to said RC receiver. The DRS output driver receives the signal from the microcontroller when the activation device of the valve that is being controlled must be activated.

The SBV low-voltage sensor performs its function by means of an integrated circuit that places a logic zero in its output. -Resef when in the input there is a voltage less than or equal to Vcc - 0.5 volts, where Vcc is the voltage of feeding. This function in a specific mode is carried out by means of an MC34064 circuit whose leg 1 is connected to pin 1 of the microcontroller to send it the value 0 or 1.

The INDV visual indicator is composed of a normal LED that turns on to indicate one of the following events: > When it detects the presence of a user, it emits a brief flicker. > When the battery voltage has dropped below the set value to operate correctly, it flashes continuously, indicating that the battery should be replaced.

In Figure 2 a preferred embodiment of the circuit of! Transmitter module TR. This has as its main element a light-emitting diode D4 that radiates in the range of infrared. A good option for this LED is the GL527V from Sharp.

In order to obtain the highest intensity of radiation and consequently a greater detection range, the current through the LED will be pulsating with the maximum permissible value, said current will be a pre-established design parameter.

Capacitor C4 will be charged through resistor R10 during the idle time of the system. The microcontroller, through its RBO terminal, will saturate the transistor Q3 and in turn the transistor Q4, so that in this way C4 presses the current to the LED and there is no noise through the source to other circuits of the electronic card. . The connection of the transistors in the Darlington circuit provides a high current gain to pulse the LED.

This module with this specific mode works in the following way: it is saturated to Q3 by means of a pulse of 250 μs, sent by the microcontroller (RBO terminal). The logical level of this pulse is low.

Once saturated Q3, a base current of Q4 will flow with what will enter the conduction state, allowing a current to flow through D4 supplied in large part by C4. Resistor resistor R10 is set to ensure full load of C4.

In Figure 3 an embodiment of the reception module is exemplified, which must combine the following characteristics: 1) a 11 to sensitivity, 2) wide bandwidth and 3) compatibility with digital logic.

This module consists of an optical converter to current, a current-to-voltage converter and an analog converter. A PIN photodiode and a transimpedance amplifier are used to perform the first two functions, while the A / D converter is performed by a comparator with an operational amplifier.

For the section of the optical converter to current, the PD410PI photodiode of Sharp (D2) polarized in reverse by R6 and Vcc was selected. This configuration transforms the current Ip produced by the transformation of the light into the photodiode D2 in voltage (reflected in R6). The output voltage is proportional to the amount of infrared light that falls on the photodiode.

The resistance R6 must be of such magnitude that the dark current of the photodiode does not damage the circuit.

The capacitor C2 performs two important functions: first, it eliminates any shifting voltage created by the polarization of the photodiode, and also creates a high pass filter at the input of the transimpedance amplifier. This filter sets the low cut frequency of the bandwidth.

The transimpedance amplifier section is made with a basic configuration with a pre-set transfer function. The first step for the definition of the transimpedance amplifier is the selection of the feedback resistor R17. Knowing the maximum current value of the photodiode, Isc, R17 is selected to optimize the signal-to-noise ratio.

C3 is selected so that the bandwidth of the circuit covers the transmission frequency of the infrared LED.

For the last section of the receiver circuit, that is, the analog-to-digital converter, an operational amplifier is used in a comparator configuration, which has a reference voltage Vref = 0.6 V. This voltage is obtained by polarizing a diode general purpose directly; This same reference voltage is applied to the non-inverting input of the operational amplifier A in order to always observe a positive voltage at the output of the transimpedance amplifier, since the output voltage is expressed as a function of time.

It is sought that the output voltage is a negative voltage when the input Vi is positive; the reference voltage also sets the level of the virtual ground for the operational amplifier A. Therefore, when the photodiode receives the infrared signal (theoretically square pulse), a negative voltage will be observed at the output of the transimpedance amplifier with respect to the virtual ground, but positive with respect to the physical ground, causing the operational amplifier B to trigger its positive saturation voltage since the voltage at the inverting input will be negative with respect to the inverting input of the operational amplifier B.

The saturation pulse delivered by B is applied to the base of Q2 to saturate or cut it and form logical levels (0 or 1). When the receiver detects the transmitted pulse, a logical 0 will be observed in the collector of Q2, otherwise it will remain at a logical level 1.

The R9 value is proposed of 10 kO, to achieve a minimum current consumption when the transmitted pulse is detected (Q2 in saturation). This current is approximately 0.6 mA. Q2 is a general-purpose NPN switching transistor.

Figure 4 shows the circuit responsible for polarizing the actuator of the key valve or the flushometer to be open or closed.

The drive principle is as follows: when P2 is reached by a pulse in zero logic state, transistors Q6 and Q7 enter saturation state, allowing a current to flow through the collector-emitter junctions of both transistors and transistors. the load a / b in the direction of a towards b causing the activation of the load to activate the valve of the flushometer or the key.

The duration of the pulses are only 25ms, enough to activate the drive device. The current to activate the drive device is on average 300 mA, which must flow through the collectors of all the transistors when they are in conduction state. Normally the saturation hFE for the PNP transistors is 10. Then the resistances must be calculated to be able to saturate the transistors.

Figure 5 shows the equivalent circuit for one of the I / O port pins. A microcontroller that gave very good results in the electronic card of the present invention is the PIC16C5x from Microchip Technology Inc.

Figure 6 shows the association of the different modules in the electronic card. Regarding the interface with the input ports, the low voltage sensor and receiver output systems are connected to port A, bit O and 1 (RAO and RA1) respectively, configured as an input port; in these cases, when there is a logical level O in the pins, the current is drained through R8 and U2 for the voltage sensor system through R9 and Q2 for the receiver. Therefore, no current will flow in the ports.

When the pins have a logic level 1, there will be no current flow either through the resistors R8 and R9 or through the pins since there is no path to earth through the gate of internal CMOS transistors or transistors Q2 and U2 since they are in court.

It is concluded that the configuration of the circuit will consume the minimum current due to the fact that the highest current consumption occurs when presence is detected (saturation of Q2 only during 250 μS) and when the battery falls below 5.5 volts (logical zero in the RESET pin of U2) must be replaced by a new battery.

Regarding the interface with the output ports, the RB port of the microcontroller is configured as an output, from which RBO to RBS are used to operate the transmission system, visual indicator, output driver and power supply for the reception system .

RBO manages the transmission system; the minimum resistance value for R15 is calculated for the case in which the pin has a logic level 0 (conducts the internal CMOS transistor of channel N (see figure 5) through union BE of Q3 and R15.

When the logic level 1 is presented in the output pins, the transistor Q3 is in the cut state, therefore, there will be no current flow through the pin, reducing the current consumption. This criterion is considered for all output ports of the microcontroller which, as noted, all outputs drive PNP's transistors.

Pipes RB2, RB3 and RB4 handle the output driver and the transistor that switches the power to the receiver system.

RB1 handles the LED indicator D 1. The resistor R5 must be calculated to not allow a current greater than 20 mA.

All pins if not used (RB, RB, RB, RA, RA and TOCK I) are connected to the high logic level to ensure proper operation.

The program executed by the microcontroller controls the circuitry associated with it by means of an algorithm recorded in its memory. This performs the specific functions at the precise moment.

This program allows you to connect the battery to initialize the input and output ports and clean the memory containing the variables that control the card and press the RB1 port three times to flash the visual indication LED to indicate that it is ready to operate .

Then a level O pulse is sent through port RB4 to saturate Q1, energizing the receiver block and voltage sensor.

After sufficient time for the receiver to reach its rated voltage, it sends a level O pulse through the RBO port for 250 μS. This action results in radiating the pulse of infrared light into space.

Through the RAO port it is waiting for a logical level transition (from 1 to 0) while the infrared LED is energized. If there is a transition, the time it remains at level 0 must be equal to the time of the transmission pulse. If so, this indicates to the microcontroller that a user is present.

Check the port level RA1, if it is zero, send a level 0 pulse for RB1 to indicate low battery. It then sends a low level pulse of 25 msec through port RB1 to indicate user detection. The cycle is repeated by increasing the counter while still detecting the presence of the user.

If no presence is detected, check the counter account. If at least five seconds passed with user presence, the microcontroller sends a level 0 pulse for 25 msec through the RB3 port saturating Q5 and consequently Q8 to open the valve. Two seconds later he sends another pulse of equal duration for RB2 to close the valve.

This cycle is repeated every two seconds, but if the valve has not been activated for half an hour, the cycle repeats every four seconds until presence is detected again.

Although the program is basically the same for the key and flushometer equipment, there are some variations, for example for the key is repeated every second in order to accelerate the detection response; Also, the pulse to activate the output driver occurs immediately after detecting the presence of the user and the second pulse to close the valve, occurs immediately after stopping to detect the presence of the user or when the user has remained for thirty seconds. ciendo use of the key.

The invention has been sufficiently described so that a person with average knowledge in the field can reproduce and obtain the results mentioned in the present invention. However, any person skilled in the art who is competent in the present invention may be able to make modifications not described in the present application, however, if for the application of these modifications, in a given construction, the material is required claimed in the following claims, said devices should be included within the scope of the invention.

Claims (2)

R E I V I N D I C A C I O N S Having described the invention, I consider as a novelty and claim therefore as property, what is contained in the following clauses.

1. Electronic board for the automatic control of the flow of basin valves and fluxometers characterized by comprising a circuit with 1 Jun microcontroller, which communicates and controls a, 2) a transmitter, which generates a beam with a frequency within the range of infrared, 3) a receiver, which perceives this reflected radiation, 4) a low-voltage sensor, to indicate when it is necessary to change the batteries, 5) a visual indicator, which, by different patterns of flashes, indicate different situations of the circuit and 6) an output driver for actuating the valve of the flushometer or the key, said controller will execute a different algorithm depending on whether it is used for a flushometer or for a key.

2. Electronic card for the automatic control of the flow of basin valves and fluxometers, as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that it uses a LED that radiates in the range of infrared and that is fed with a pulse current of 250 μs every two seconds at its maximum permissible current value, thus achieving the maximum gain of perception and decreasing the use of the battery charge. Electronic card for the automatic control of flow of basin valves and flushometers, as claimed in claim 1 or 2, also characterized in that the receiver consists of an optical converter to current, a current-to-voltage converter and a converter analog to digital, thus achieving high sensitivity, broad bandwidth and compatibility with digital logic. Electronic card for the automatic control of the flow of basin and fluxometer valves, as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, also characterized in that the microcontroller has all pins with the characteristic of being all input / output; for the input operations, the ports do not have latch (they do not retain the logical value when writing to the port); any logical value may be present in the pin until an input instruction is executed and when the ports are outputs, they have latch and remain unchanged until the output latch is rewritten. Electronic card for the automatic control of the flow of basin valves and flushometers, as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 4, also characterized in that the microcontroller contains a program that 1) allows the battery to connect initialize the input and output ports and clean the memory containing the variables that control the card and press the RB 1 port three times to flash the visual indication LED to indicate that it is ready to operate; 2) sends a level 0 pulse through the RB4 port to saturate Q 1, energizing the receiver block and voltage sensor; 3) after a sufficient time for the receiver to reach its nominal voltage, I send a level 0 pulse through the RBO port for 250 μS; 4) causes the RAO port to wait for a logical level transition (from 1 to 0) while the infrared LED is energized; 5) if there is a transition, the time it remains at level 0 must be equal to the time of the transmission pulse; if so, this indicates to the controller-controller that a user is present; 6) Check the port level RA1, if it is zero, send a level 0 pulse for RB 1 to indicate low battery. Then I sent a low level pulse of 25 msec through port RB1 to indicate user detection. The cycle is repeated by increasing the counter while still detecting the presence of the user. SUMMARY The present invention is related to an electronic circuit that controls the actuation of closing and opening of valves and fluxometers without the intervention of the human hand. One of the feature of the valve controller circuit, whether it is a flushometer or a sink key, it uses the minimum amount of energy to operate, thus extending the useful life of the batteries it uses, with a sensitivity that senses the presence of a user at a preset distance, allowing also changes in the different parameters so that it is not necessary to change the general structure of the equipment, for example to be used both in a flushometer and in a lavatory key. The circuit is characterized by 1) a microcontroller, which communicates and controls a, 2) a transmitter, which generates a beam with a frequency within the range of infrared, 3) a receiver, which perceives this reflected radiation, 4) a low-voltage sensor, to indicate when it is necessary to change the batteries, 5) a visual indicator, which, by different flashing patterns, indicate different circuit situations and 6) an output driver for the valve actuator of the flushometer or the key.