JP3085104B2 - Automatic water supply - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic water supply device such as an automatic water faucet for automatically discharging and stopping water by detecting a hand or the like below a water discharge port with a sensor. The present invention relates to an automatic water supply device for preventing loss of memory contents when replacing a battery.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Water is discharged by detecting a hand or the like with a sensor.
Automatic faucets adapted to control water shutoff are well known. It is also a real gun Akira that the battery power supply in the automatic faucet 63 to 48
No. 232 and the like. The actual Application Akira 63
No. 48232 describes a water source powered by a battery,
It is also disclosed to activate a warning means (turn on or blink a warning lamp) when the battery voltage falls below a predetermined voltage.

[0003] In a sensor comprising a light emitting element and a light receiving element, it is also known to adjust the detection distance of the sensor by adjusting the output of the light emitting element and the light receiving sensitivity of the light receiving element. The adjustment result of the detection distance is often stored in the volatile memory of the automatic water supply device.

[0004]

In a conventional automatic water supply device using a battery as a power source, the contents stored in the volatile memory of the control circuit are lost when the battery is replaced. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the detection distance every time the battery is replaced, which is inconvenient.

[0005]

The automatic water supply device of the present invention supplies power from a capacitor to a control circuit at the time of battery replacement to perform memory backup.
A sensor for detecting an object, and a control circuit body that outputs a valve opening or valve closing signal based on a signal from the sensor,
In an automatic water supply device having an electromagnetic valve driving circuit to which the valve opening or closing signal is input, an electromagnetic valve that is opened and closed by the electromagnetic valve driving circuit, and a battery that supplies power to the control circuit main body, memory backup capacitor charged with a automatic water supply device which is connected in a power supply to the control circuit, the solenoid valve driving circuit, the valve opening or closing signal from the control circuit body is input An element drive circuit, a capacitor charged by the battery, and a switching element interposed between the capacitor and the solenoid valve and supplying power from the capacitor to the solenoid valve by a signal from the element drive circuit. And the capacitor is connected to the control circuit as the memory backup capacitor.

[0006]

In the automatic water supply device of the present invention , even when the battery is replaced, the power from the capacitor is supplied to the control circuit, so that the volatile memory can be backed up.

Further, a capacitor for driving the electromagnetic valve is shared with the capacitor for memory backup.

[0008]

Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram of an automatic faucet, and FIG. 2 is a side view of the automatic faucet.

The automatic water faucet 1 has a water outlet 2 at a front end and a water inlet 3 at a rear end. The outer shell of the automatic faucet 1 is formed of a synthetic resin casing, and the water outlet 2 and the receiving port 3 are communicated with each other by a conduit 4 led into the casing. A latching type solenoid valve 5 is provided in the middle of the conduit 4.

A sensor 6 is provided near the water outlet 2. On the upper surface of the automatic faucet 1, a manual switch 7 for manual water discharge is provided. A storage section for a battery 8 is provided on the back of the automatic faucet 1. A battery replacement port (not shown) is provided on the back of the automatic faucet 1.

A control circuit board 9 is provided on the upper surface of the automatic faucet 1, and signals from the sensor 6, the manual switch 7, and a sensing distance adjusting switch 10 on the lower surface of the automatic faucet 1 are transmitted to the control circuit board 9. Input to the above control circuit.
The control circuit receives power from the battery 8 and supplies driving power to the solenoid valve 5. Note that a lamp (LED) 11 provided on the upper surface of the automatic faucet 1 is for displaying a decrease in battery voltage.

The configuration of the control circuit will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

The control circuit includes a control circuit body 13 having a one-chip microcomputer (hereinafter abbreviated as a microcomputer) 12, an electromagnetic valve driving circuit 14 for driving the electromagnetic valve 5 based on a signal from the control circuit body 13, and Mainly consisting of For the microcomputer 12, the sensor 6,
A manual switch 7 and a sensing distance adjustment switch 10 are connected.

The output voltage of the battery 8 is a diode 15
And a power supply terminal of the microcomputer 12 via a first power supply circuit (constant voltage circuit) 16. This power supply circuit 16
Is input to the reset terminal of the microcomputer 12 via the reset circuit 17.

The output of the battery 8 is supplied to a second power supply circuit 18.
And input to the microcomputer 12 via the timer 19. The output of the battery 8 is supplied to the microcomputer 1 via a first voltage monitoring circuit 21 and a second voltage monitoring circuit 22, respectively.
2 has been entered.

The solenoid valve drive circuit 14 includes a transistor drive circuit 23 to which a valve opening or valve closing signal is input from the microcomputer 12 and an NPN type transistor 24 to which an output voltage from the transistor drive circuit 23 is input to a base. ,
25 and the diode 15 via a resistor 26 or 27.
And electrolytic capacitors 28 and 29 connected to the power supply.

The positive terminals of the capacitors 28 and 29 are connected to the collectors of the transistors 24 and 25, respectively. The negative terminal of the capacitor 28 is connected to one input terminal 5a of the solenoid valve 5, and the negative terminal of the capacitor 29 is connected to the solenoid valve 5
Is connected to the other input terminal 5b.

One input terminal 5a of the solenoid valve 5 is connected to the emitter of the transistor 25, and the other input terminal 5b is grounded together with the emitter of the transistor 24.

In the automatic faucet thus configured,
When a hand, a cup, or the like is inserted below the water outlet 2 of the automatic faucet 1, the sensor 6 outputs a detection signal, and the microcomputer 12 outputs a valve opening signal to the transistor driving circuit 23. Then, the transistor drive circuit 23 is connected to the transistor 24
Outputs a pulsed H signal to the base of
4 is ON for a predetermined time.

[0020] Thus, the current from the transistor 2 4 is supplied to the solenoid valve 5, the arrow A to the solenoid of the solenoid valve 5
Current flows in the direction, and the solenoid valve 5 opens. Then, the water discharge from the water discharge port 2 starts.

When the sensor 6 stops detecting an object, the microcomputer 12 outputs a valve closing signal to the transistor driving circuit 23. The transistor drive circuit 23 receives this valve closing signal and outputs an H pulse signal to the base of the transistor 25. As a result, the transistor 25 is turned ON only for a predetermined short time, the current from the capacitor 29 flows through the solenoid valve 5 in the direction opposite to the arrow A, and the solenoid valve 5 is closed.

In this manner, automatic water discharge from the water discharge port 2 and water stoppage are performed according to the detection signal of the sensor 6.

When the manual switch 7 is pressed once, water is forcibly discharged, and when the switch 7 is pressed again, the operation returns to the automatic operation.

When the sensing distance adjusting switch 10 is pressed, the sensing distance of the sensor 6 is adjusted. In the present embodiment, the detection distance is switched stepwise in multiple steps, and the selected detection distance level is stored in the volatile memory (R
AM).

When the sensing distance adjusting switch 10 is operated, the lamp 11 flashes a number of times corresponding to the selected sensing distance level.

When the battery 8 is exhausted and the battery voltage drops to a predetermined first voltage, the lamp 11 blinks. If the user who notices the blinking of the lamp 11 replaces the battery, the blinking of the lamp 11 is stopped, but the lamp 11 is left as it is, and when the battery voltage drops to the second lower voltage,
The automatic water discharge operation is stopped, and only manual water discharge by the switch 7 becomes possible.

When the battery voltage becomes lower than the second voltage, a blinking cycle may be shortened to give a visually strong warning.

When the battery 8 is removed from the battery holder of the faucet casing to replace the battery 8, the charging voltage of the capacitors 28 and 29 is applied to the first power supply circuit 16, and the memory ( RAM ) of the microcomputer 12 Is backed up.

In the present embodiment, the microcomputer 12 uses a low consumption mode in the function of the microcomputer. That is, the microcomputer 12 executes the program for a predetermined time,
After the input from the sensor 6 and the switches 7 and 11 and the output to the transistor drive circuit 23 have been executed, the apparatus enters a low power consumption mode.

The timer 19 is supplied with power from the second power supply circuit 18 and outputs a signal every time a predetermined time is counted.
Output to When this signal (program restart signal) is given from the timer 19 to the microcomputer in the low consumption mode, the microcomputer 12 executes the program again. The microcomputer 12 repeats the “program execution” and the “low consumption mode”.

When the battery 8 is removed, the timer 19 stops functioning. Therefore, the microcomputer 12 remains in the low consumption mode. During this time, power is supplied to the first power supply circuit 16 from the valve driving capacitors 28 and 29 as described above. Since the microcomputer 12 has stopped executing the program, the microcomputer 12 does not output a signal to the transistor drive circuit 23 to drive the solenoid valve 5.

[0032]

According to the automatic water supply apparatus of the present invention , since the memory backup is performed when the battery is replaced, it is not necessary to readjust the detection distance level and the like when the battery is replaced.

[0033] In addition, it is unnecessary to memory dedicated backup capacitor, it is possible to reduce the circuit component costs.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control circuit of an embodiment device.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the automatic faucet.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Automatic faucet 5 Solenoid valve 6 Sensor 7 Manual switch 8 Battery 10 Sensing distance adjustment switch 11 Lamp (LED) 13 Control circuit body 14 Solenoid valve drive circuit

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A sensor for detecting an object, and a valve opening or closing signal is output based on a signal from the sensor.
Automatic water supply, comprising: a control circuit main body, an electromagnetic valve driving circuit to which the valve opening or closing signal is input, an electromagnetic valve that is opened and closed by the electromagnetic valve driving circuit, and a battery that supplies power to the control circuit main body. apparatus
, A memory backup capacitor charged by the battery
Connected to the control circuit so that power can be supplied to the control circuit.Automatic water supply
And The solenoid valve drive circuit opens the valve from the control circuit body.
Or, an element driving circuit to which a valve closing signal is input, and the battery
And the capacitor to be charged
Interposed between the magnetic valve and the signal from the element drive circuit.
Therefore, switching to supply power from the capacitor to the solenoid valve
And an element, The capacitor is a memory backup capacitor;
Connected to the control circuit Characterized by
Automatic water supply device.