US20150020298A1

US20150020298A1 - Smart urinal with multi sensing electric fields

Info

Publication number: US20150020298A1
Application number: US14/331,243
Authority: US
Inventors: Ching-Yen Hsu
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2013-07-16
Filing date: 2014-07-15
Publication date: 2015-01-22
Also published as: TWI547622B; TW201504500A

Abstract

A smart urinal with multi sensing fields comprises a urinal body, two or more proximity capacitive sensing electric field means and a flushing control unit. A urinal body, a urinal facade which forms a basin, and a cavity arranged inside the urinal body. The two or more proximity capacitive sensing electric field means, which are arranged in the cavity; an proximity capacitive sensing electric field is formed around the proximity capacitive sensing electric field means; said proximity capacitive sensing electric field means individually generate proximity capacitive Sensing information according to a change of the electric field energy caused by the proximity capacitive sensing electric field corresponding to a sensed object. The flushing control unit, which receives the proximity capacitive sensing information, and controls the bowl area flushing according to one or more logic operation results in the received proximity capacitive sensing information,

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a urinal, and more particularly to a smart urinal with mufti sensing electric fields.
2. Description of Related Art
In order to improve environmental sanitation and life quality, people continuously improve urinals, comprising wall-mounted urinal, manual-operated urinal and modern smart urinal. Besides flushing function, the smart urinal can provide various convenient and friendly functions for users. Especially, the urinal has automatic flushing without any touch, and can reduce chance of contacting diseases.
In order to make the invented urinal, achieve the above functions, infrared ray sensors should be equipped to sense action of humans. In sensing by the infrared ray sensors, any obstacle is not allowed between the transmitting terminal and the sensing terminal, and thus, the transmitting terminal must be installed on the exposed urinal. The common installation method is to install the sensor base on upper side of the urinal to install transmitting terminal to sense direction of urinal users.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, the invented infrared ray sensors shall be separately installed on the urinal. Due to exposure to damp environment of the toilet, it may be affected with damp. In addition, it occupies space and affects ventilation. Next, any obstacle between the transmitting end of the infrared ray sensors and the sensed object shall be eliminated in setting of the sensor, or the misjudgment may occur. The infrared ray may have misjudgment or miss judgment if the temperature (shell temperature) changes.
Thus, this invention intends to provide a smart urinal with multi sensing electric fields to solve the problems.
The technical problem to be solved by the utility model is to overcome defects of the prior art, which provide a smart urinal with multi sensing electric fields comprises an urinal body, comprising a urinal facade which forms a basin, and an cavity arranged inside the urinal body; two or more proximity capacitive sensing electric field means, which are arranged in the cavity space; an proximity capacitive sensing electric field is formed around the proximity capacitive sensing electric field means; the proximity capacitive sensing electric field means individually generate proximity capacitive sensing information according to a change of the electric field energy caused by the proximity capacitive sensing electric field corresponding to a sensed object; and a flushing control unit, which receives the proximity capacitive sensing information, and controls the bowl area flushing according to one or more logic operation results in the received proximity capacitive sensing information, wherein the flushing control unit controls flushing timing, flushing duration, and/or flush water amount.
A preferred embodiment in the present invention, wherein the proximity capacitive sensing electric field means is a line, a plane or a body sensing means.
A preferred embodiment in the present invention, wherein the electric field proximity capacitive sensing means are arranged in the urinal facade, front wall, side wall, top and/or bottom of the urinal body.
A preferred embodiment in the present invention, wherein the sensing information includes size, position, motion direct/speed of the sensed object.
A preferred embodiment in the present invention, wherein the proximity capacitive sensing electric fields have different sensitivity.
A preferred embodiment in the present invention, wherein the flushing control unit comprises a solenoid valve and a flushing pipe; the solenoid valve is arranged in the flushing pipe, and an outlet of the flushing pipe is disposed on top of the urinal body.
A preferred embodiment in the present invention, wherein tie proximity capacitive sensing electric field covers space at the front side of the urinal body.
A preferred embodiment in the present invention, a manual valve is further provided therewith to control flushing via hand.
By adopting the above improvement of the technical scheme, the proximity capacitive sensing electric field means don't need to be exposed in the wet environment, so as to increase longer lifespan and decrease more installation space for more air flow, and also maintain the appearance of the urinal instead of adding extra sensing seat. The sensing accuracy also doesn't be affected by the object blocked. Moreover, by adopting installation of a plurality of proximity capacitive sensing means, the urinal will facilitate complicated action judgment and directly finish the flush timing, flush duration, the flush water amount instead of the control by user's hands, the invention not only has advantage of good sanitation, but also improve the convenience of the toilet.
The invention will now be described in connection with certain preferred embodiments with reference to the following illustrative figures so that it may be more fully understood.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is one of sectional schematic view showing the first preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is another of sectional view showing the first preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional schematic view showing the second preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional schematic view showing the third preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, in the embodiment the smart urinal (100) with multi-sensing electric fields comprises urinal body (1), three proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (21), (22) and (23), a analysis mechanism (3) and a flushing control unit (4).
The urinal body (1) is made of insulation material (ceramics). It comprises a urinal facade (11) which forms a basin (12), and a cavity (13) arranged inside urinal body (1).
The proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (21), (22) and (23) can from the proximity capacitive sensing electric fields around themselves. The proximity capacitive sensing electric field has different effective sensing range according to the energy intensity. It approximately covers 15 cm in a main direction. The proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (21), (22) and (23) are installed in the cavity (13). The proximity capacitive sensing electric fields (210), (220) and (230), are formed around the proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (21), (22) and (23). The proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (21), (22) and (23) can generate proximity capacitive sensing information (11), (12) and (13) according to field energy change of sensed object B which the sensing electric fields (210), (220) and (230) correspond to. The proximity capacitive sensing information includes size, position and motion direction/speed of sensed object B. In the embodiment, the proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (21) and (23) are means for sensing plane, and the proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (22) is a means for sensing line. However, this invention is not only limited to this but in other embodiments, as shown in FIG. 2, the smart urinal (100 a) with multi sensing electric fields, the proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (24) is an means for the sensing line, winding in the cavity (13), or in the FIG. 4 the smart urinal (100 b) with multi sensing fields, the proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (24) is sensing means for filled in the cavity (13).
In embodiment herein, the proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (21) is arranged at front side of the urinal body (1) in front of which the proximity capacitive sensing electric field (210) is formed (within 15 cm) to sense proximity of the sensed object B (such as foot). Another proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (22) is disposed on the side wall of the urinal body (1), and the proximity capacitive sensing electric field (220) is formed along height of the urinal body (1) to sense proximity of the sensed object B (urine). The last proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (23) is located on the to of the urinal body (1) to sense proximity of the sensed object B (human trunk).
When the sensed B is close to 15 cm of front side of urinal body (1), energy of the proximity capacitive sensing electric field (210) also changes, and the proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (21) generates proximity capacitive sensing information (11). Meanwhile) when the sensed object B passes through the proximity capacitive sensing electric field (220) to enter the urinal body (1), energy of the proximity capacitive sensing electric field (220) also changes, and proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (22) generates proximity information (12). When the sensed object B is close to the urinal body (1), energy of the proximity capacitive sensing electric field (230) also changes, and proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (23) generates proximity capacitive sensing information (13). Next, the proximity capacitive sensing information (11), (12) and (13) is transmitted to the analysis mechanism (3).
The analysis mechanism (3) will analyze size, position and motion direction and/or speed o the sensed object B after receipt of one or more pieces of proximity capacitive sensing information (11), (12) and (13). Furthermore, it transmits the control signal to the flush control unit (4) according to the logic operation results.
The flush control unit (4) electrically connects the analysis mechanism (3) to control flush, time and/or flush water amount. The flushing control mechanism comprises a solenoid valve (41), a flushing pipe (42) and a supplying pipe (43). The solenoid valve (41) is installed in the flush pipeline (42), and an outlet (421) of the flush pipe (42) is located on top of the urinal, and the other outlet connects the supply pipe (43). The flush control unit (4) controls startup and shutdown of solenoid valve (41) and time length according to the received control signals, so as to control flushing, flushing time and/or flushing water amount.
As shown in FIG. 1, energy of proximity capacitive sensing field (210) of the proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (21) is affected and changes when the sensed object B is close to the urinal body (1), and proximity capacitive sensing information (12) generates and is transmitted to the analysis mechanism (3). The analysis mechanism (3) can pre-flush water according to logic operation results of the sensed object B proximity, and decide the pre-flush time according to the last flush interval.
As shown in FIG. 2, when the sensed object B is close to the urinal body (1), energy of proximity capacitive sensing electric field (210) and proximity capacitive sensing electric field (230) will change due to proximity of human body (foot and trunk), and the two proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (21) and (23) generate proximity capacitive sensing information (11) and (13), and transmits the information to the analysis mechanism (3). After analyzing the sensed object B is close to the urinal body (1), the mechanism (3) can control flushing time according to time for proximity of the sensed object B to the urinal body (1). For example, the flushing time or flushing water is more when the time for proximity to the urinal body (1) is longer. The energy of the proximity capacitive sensing electric field (220) changes with angle and position of sensed object B when the object B (such as urine and liquid) is sensed. The proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (22) generates proximity capacitive sensing information (12), and the information is sent to the analysis mechanism (3) for analyzing whether a user uses it or a cleaner cleans it, so as to increase judgment precision.
In the embodiment of FIG. 3, besides the proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (23), the smart urinal with sensor (100 a) comprises proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (24) and (25). The proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (24) is located on bottom of the urinal body (1), and the electric field (240) is formed around the outlet (14) of the urinal body (1). When the sensed object B (such as urine) flows through the electric field (240), the analysis mechanism (3) generates the proximity sensor information (13) to judge use time, and transmits the signal to flushing controller (4) for flushing. The proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (25) is located on the urinal facade (11) of the urine body (1), and the electric field (250) is formed on the front side of the blow (11) of the urinal body (1). It can be used to sense energy change of the urinal body (1), such as energy change caused by environment humidity or vibration. The environment proximity sensor information (15) of the proximity capacitive sensing electric field means (25) can be used for error compensation of other electric fields of proximity capacitive sensing to eliminate misjudgment of environment energy field change. In addition, different sensitivity is set for the electric fields of proximity capacitive sensing when range covered by electric fields of the proximity capacitive sensing electric field means is overlapped to prevent misjudgment caused by mutual interference of the electric fields, so as to increase sensitivity.
In the embodiment of FIG. 4, the invented smart urinal (100 b) with sensor comprises a manual valve (5) (or loot control switch (not illustrated) consisting of a switch valve (51) and a hand switch (52). The switch valve (51) bypass is located in the flushing pipe (42), and the hand switch (52) controls switch valve (51). The hand switch (52) can be mechanical, electronic type or inductive type. The manual valve (5) enables users to operate hand switch (52) (in case of failure or misjudgment), and controls flushing via startup and shutdown of switch valve (51). In the embodiment, the manual valve is five-digital two-water way, and one-way switch can be also used (flushing is controlled via solenoid valve (41), and no switch valve (51) is provided separately).

Claims

1. A smart urinal with multi sensing electric fields comprises:

an urinal body, comprising a urinal facade which forms a basin, and an cavity arranged inside the urinal body;

two or more proximity capacitive sensing electric field means, which are arranged in the cavity; an proximity capacitive sensing electric field is formed around the proximity capacitive sensing electric field means; said proximity capacitive sensing electric field means individually generate proximity capacitive sensing information according to a change of the electric field energy caused by the proximity capacitive sensing electric field corresponding to a sensed object; and

a flushing control unit, which receives the proximity capacitive sensing information, and controls the bowl area flushing according to one or more logic operation results in the received proximity capacitive sensing information, wherein the flushing control unit controls flushing timing, flushing duration, and/or flush water amount.

2. The structure defined in claim 1, wherein the proximity capacitive sensing electric field element is a line, a plane or a body sensing element.

3. The structure defined in claim 1, wherein the electric field proximity capacitive sensing means are arranged in the urinal facade, front side wall, top and/or bottom of the urinal body.

4. The structure defined in claim 1, wherein the sensing information includes size, position, motion direction/speed of the sensed object.

5. The structure defined in claim 1, wherein the proximity capacitive sensing electric fields have different sensitivity.

6. The structure defined in claim 1, wherein the flushing control unit comprises a solenoid valve and a flushing pipe; the solenoid valve is arranged in the flushing pipe, and an outlet of the flushing pipe is disposed on top of the urinal body.

7. The structure defined in claim 1, wherein the proximity capacitive sensing electric field covers space at the front side of the urinal body.

8. The structure defined in claim 1, a manual valve is further provided therewith to control flushing via hand.