JP7633087B2 - Temperature Sensor - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a temperature sensor that houses a temperature measuring element and a heat generating component within a housing.

Conventionally, there are temperature sensors that detect the temperature inside a room. This type of temperature sensor is often attached to the wall surface inside a room. This wall-mounted type temperature sensor is sometimes formed to have a thin thickness so as to be less noticeable. If the housing of the temperature sensor is formed thin, the temperature measurement element provided in the housing cannot be separated from the wall surface, and the temperature measurement element is affected by the temperature of the wall and is also affected by the heat of the heat-generating components provided in the housing.
Wall-mounted temperature sensors are installed in locations where air currents occur indoors, but when there is no air current, they may be measuring the temperature of stagnant air, or air affected by the heat of the walls or heat-generating components. For this reason, conventional temperature sensors reduce the power consumption of the electrical circuit to reduce the amount of heat generated, and place the temperature measurement element as far away as possible from the heat-generating components.

A technique for preventing a temperature measurement element from being affected by ambient heat is described, for example, in Patent Document 1. Patent Document 1 discloses a temperature detection device in which a separate board is disposed between a board having a heat-generating component and a board having a temperature measurement element, thereby increasing the thermal distance between the heat-generating component and the temperature measurement element and reducing the influence of the measurement.
Furthermore, some conventional temperature sensors are configured to guide indoor air to a temperature measuring element by a fan.

Patent No. 5030816

However, in small temperature sensors such as wall-mounted temperature sensors, there is a limit to how much thermal distance can be increased between the heat-generating component and the temperature measurement element, as described in Patent Document 1. In small temperature sensors, even if a material with high thermal resistance, such as air, is placed between the heat-generating component and the temperature measurement element, it is difficult to block the heat from the heat-generating component being transferred to the temperature measurement element, making it impossible to perform highly accurate temperature measurement. This problem can be resolved to some extent by using a fan to guide indoor air to the temperature measurement element. However, adopting this configuration means that small temperature sensors cannot be provided at low prices.

The objective of the present invention is to provide a small, low-cost temperature sensor that can measure the true temperature of the air outside the housing without being affected by the heat of heat-generating components inside the housing or the heat of the walls that the housing contacts.

To achieve this objective, the temperature sensor of the present invention comprises a housing that houses a temperature measuring element and a heat generating component, and a ventilation space that is provided inside the housing and extends vertically while being partitioned off from other spaces inside the housing, the lower and upper ends of the ventilation space are connected to the outside of the housing, the heat generating component is positioned in a position where an updraft is generated in the ventilation space by the heat of the heat generating component, and the temperature measuring element is positioned to detect the temperature of air drawn into the lower end of the ventilation space by the generation of the updraft.

In the temperature sensor of the present invention, the ventilation space may be formed by a duct provided inside the housing, and the duct may have a heat receiving portion that crosses over the heat generating component so that heat is transferred from the heat generating component.

In the temperature sensor of the present invention, the ventilation space may be formed by a duct provided inside the housing, and the heat-generating component may be disposed inside the duct.

In the present invention, in the temperature sensor, the temperature measurement element and the heat generating component are mounted on a board, the housing has a base member that supports the board in a vertically extending position, and a cover member that covers the base member including the board, and the inner surface of the cover member is provided with a pair of walls that protrude toward the base member and extend vertically along the wall surface of the base member including the board, and the duct may be formed by the pair of walls, a portion of the cover member between the pair of walls, and the wall surface of the base member including the board.

The present invention makes it possible to provide a small, low-cost temperature sensor that can measure the true temperature outside the housing without being affected by the heat of heat-generating components inside the housing or the heat of the walls that the housing contacts.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a temperature sensor according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a side view of the temperature sensor. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the temperature sensor as viewed obliquely from the upper right. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the temperature sensor as viewed obliquely from below and to the left. FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the temperature sensor. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the inner surface of the cover member. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII in FIG. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the temperature sensor according to the second embodiment.

(First embodiment)
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A temperature sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
1 is a temperature sensor that is attached to a wall surface inside a room (not shown) and measures the temperature of the air around the housing 2 using a temperature measuring element 3 housed inside a box-shaped housing 2. The housing 2 comprises a base member 4 that is attached to a vertical wall of a room (not shown), and a cover member 5 that is attached to the base member 4. In the following, when indicating directions in explaining the configuration of this temperature sensor 1, the explanation will be given in the direction when looking at the temperature sensor 1 facing the temperature sensor 1 attached to the vertical wall.

The base member 4 is formed in a bottomed rectangular tube shape that opens toward the vertical wall (toward the rear). As shown in FIG. 5, the base member 4 in this embodiment is formed of an attachment portion 4a that is placed on a vertical wall (not shown) and a base portion 4b that protrudes forward from the attachment portion 4a. The wall surface 6 that forms the front end of the base portion 4b extends in the vertical direction and the left-right direction (horizontal direction) when the base member 4 is attached to the vertical wall. The board 7 is attached to this wall surface 6 so that they are aligned in parallel. Therefore, when the base member 4 is attached to the vertical wall, it supports the board 7 in a position that extends in the vertical direction.

The temperature measurement element 3, the heat generating component 11, and other electronic components (not shown) are mounted on the board 7. The temperature measurement element 3 is a component that detects temperature, such as a resistance temperature detector, and is mounted on the bottom end of one side of the board 7 in the left-right direction (the left side in FIG. 6). The heat generating component 11 is a component of a power supply circuit, and is mounted on the bottom end of the other side of the board 7 in the left-right direction (the right side in FIG. 6) as shown in FIG. 6. In this embodiment, the temperature measurement element 3 and the heat generating component 11 are arranged so that they are distributed between one end side and the other end side of the board 7 in the left-right direction.

As shown in Figs. 3 to 5, the cover member 5 has a frame 12 that is attached to the base 4b by overlapping it, pillars 13 to 16 that protrude forward from each of the four corners of the frame 12, a front plate 17 provided at the front ends of the pillars 13 to 16, and first and second walls 18, 19 provided on the rear surface 17a of the front plate 17 (the inner surface of the cover member 5). When the cover member 5 is attached to the base member 4, the base member 4 including the substrate 7 is covered from the front by the cover member 5. As shown in Fig. 6, four openings 21 to 24 are formed between the frame 12 and the front plate 17, separated by the pillars 13 to 16. These openings open upward, downward, left and right.

The first wall 18 and the second wall 19 are each integrally formed with the front plate 17 by one-piece molding, protrude from the rear surface 17a of the front plate 17 toward the base member 4, and extend in the vertical direction along the inner surface 25 of the base member 4 including the substrate 7. As shown in FIG. 6, the first wall 18 and the second wall 19 are spaced apart in the vertical and horizontal directions at a predetermined interval. The protruding ends (rear ends) of the first and second walls 18, 19 are formed to contact the substrate 7 or to follow the substrate 7 with a small gap formed between them, as shown in FIG. 8.

As a result, when the cover member 5 is attached to the base member 4, a duct 31 (see FIG. 8) is formed inside the housing 2 by the first and second walls 18, 19, a portion 26 (see FIG. 7) between the first wall 18 and the second wall 19 of the cover member 5, and the wall surface 6 of the base member 4 including the substrate 7. The duct 31 divides the inside of the housing 2 into a ventilation space 32 inside the duct 31 and other spaces inside the housing 2. The ventilation space 32 extends in the vertical direction while being separated from other spaces inside the housing 2.

As shown in FIG. 6, the duct 31 according to this embodiment is formed in a stepped shape extending from the lower end on the left side to the upper end on the right side inside the housing 2. The lower end of the duct 31 is located near an opening 22 that faces downward in the housing 2, and is connected to the outside of the housing 2 via this opening 22. The upper end of the duct 31 is located near an opening 21 that faces upward in the housing 2, and is connected to the outside of the housing 2 via this opening 21. In other words, the lower and upper ends of the ventilation space 32 inside the duct 31 are connected to the outside of the housing 2.

A temperature measuring element 3 is disposed inside the lower end of the duct 31 .
The middle part of the duct 31 has a heat receiving part 33 that crosses over the heat generating component 11 in the left-right direction. The heat receiving part 33 is formed so as to be in contact with the heat generating component 11. Therefore, when the temperature sensor 1 is used, the heat of the heat generating component 11 is transferred to the heat receiving part 33 by thermal conduction, and the temperature of the heat receiving part 33 rises. When the temperature of the heat receiving part 33 rises, an ascending air current is generated in the ventilation space 32. In other words, the heat generating component 11 is disposed at a position where an ascending air current is generated in the ventilation space 32 by the heat of the heat generating component 11.

When an ascending air current occurs in the ventilation space 32, air is drawn into the lower end of the ventilation space 32 due to the so-called chimney effect, and air is exhausted from the upper end of the ventilation space 32. The air drawn into the lower end of the ventilation space 32 is air outside the housing 2 that has flowed into the housing 2 through the opening 22 at the lower end of the housing 2. The temperature measurement element 3 is positioned to detect the temperature of the air drawn into the lower end of the ventilation space 32 due to the occurrence of an ascending air current.

In the temperature sensor 1 configured in this manner, the temperature of the air outside the housing that is sucked into the lower end of the ventilation space 32 is measured by the temperature measuring element 3. In this embodiment, no fan is used to generate an ascending air current in the ventilation space 32, but an existing heat-generating component 11 is used, so that manufacturing costs can be kept low. In addition, since there is no configuration in which the thermal distance between the temperature measuring element 3 and the heat-generating component 11 is increased to reduce the heat transfer to the temperature measuring element 3, the temperature sensor 1 can be made smaller.
Therefore, according to this embodiment, a small temperature sensor capable of measuring the true temperature outside the housing 2 without being affected by the heat of the heat-generating components 11 inside the housing 2 or the heat of the walls that the housing 2 contacts can be provided at a low cost.

In this embodiment, the ventilation space 32 extends from the lower end to the upper end of the housing 2. This allows the vertical length of the ventilation space 32 to be maximized, which creates more updrafts and allows more indoor air to be taken in.

The ventilation space 32 in this embodiment is formed by a duct 31 provided inside the housing 2. The duct 31 has a heat receiving portion 33 that crosses over the heat generating component 11 so that heat can be transferred from the heat generating component 11. As a result, the first wall 18 or the second wall 19 is positioned between the temperature measuring element 3 arranged inside the duct 31 and the heat generating component 11, so that the effects of heat conduction and radiation from the heat generating component 11 can be reduced, making it possible to perform temperature measurement with even higher accuracy.

The temperature measuring element 3 and the heat generating component 11 according to this embodiment are mounted on a substrate 7. The housing 2 has a base member 4 that supports the substrate 7 in a vertically extending position, and a cover member 5 that covers the base member 4 including the substrate 7. A pair of walls (a first wall 18 and a second wall 19) that protrude toward the base member 4 and extend vertically along a wall surface 6 of the base member 4 including the substrate 7 are provided on the inner surface (rear surface 17a of the front plate 17) of the cover member 5. The duct 31 is formed by the pair of walls (the first wall 18 and the second wall 19), a portion 26 between the pair of walls of the cover member 5, and the wall surface 6 of the base member 4 including the substrate 7.
Therefore, the duct 31 is formed by assembling the cover member 5 to the base member 4, so there is no increase in the number of assembly steps despite the presence of the duct 31. Therefore, the duct 31 can be provided while keeping the increase in cost to a minimum.

Second Embodiment
The heat generating components can be arranged as shown in Fig. 9. In Fig. 9, the same or equivalent members as those described with reference to Figs. 1 to 8 are designated by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted where appropriate.
9 is disposed in a duct 31. Therefore, the air in the duct 31 can be heated by the entire heat generating component 11, and therefore more upward air currents are generated in the duct 31 than in the case of the first embodiment. Therefore, more indoor air passes near the temperature measuring element 3, and the indoor temperature can be measured with even greater accuracy.

In each of the above-described embodiments, an example has been shown in which the duct 31 (ventilation space 32) is formed in a stepped shape. However, the shape of the duct 31 is not limited to a stepped shape and can be changed as appropriate. The shape of the duct 31 may be, for example, a shape that extends linearly in the vertical direction or a shape that extends obliquely in the vertical direction.

In each of the above-mentioned embodiments, a temperature sensor that is attached to a wall inside a room has been described, but the present invention is not limited to such a limitation. In other words, the present invention can be applied to any temperature sensor that is affected by heat inside the housing or the heat of a member in contact with the housing.

1...Temperature sensor, 2...Housing, 3...Temperature measuring element, 4...Base member, 5...Cover member, 6...Wall surface, 7...Substrate, 11...Heat generating component, 18...First wall, 19...Second wall, 31...Duct, 32...Ventilation space, 33...Heat receiving part.

Claims (2)

a housing for accommodating a temperature measuring element and a heat generating component;
a ventilation space provided inside the housing and extending in a vertical direction while being partitioned from other spaces inside the housing;
The lower end and the upper end of the ventilation space are communicated with the outside of the housing,
the heat generating component is disposed at a position where an upward air current is generated in the ventilation space by heat from the heat generating component,
the temperature measuring element is disposed so as to detect the temperature of air drawn into the lower end of the ventilation space by the rising air current ;
the ventilation space is formed by a duct provided inside the housing,
the duct has a heat receiving portion that crosses over the heat generating component so that heat is transferred from the heat generating component;
The temperature measuring element and the heat generating component are mounted on a substrate;
The housing includes a base member that supports the board in a vertically extending position;
a cover member that covers the base member including the substrate,
a pair of walls are provided on an inner surface of the cover member, the pair of walls protruding toward the base member and extending in a vertical direction along a wall surface of the base member including the substrate;
A temperature sensor, characterized in that the duct is formed by the pair of walls, a portion of the cover member between the pair of walls, and a wall surface of the base member including the substrate. a housing for accommodating a temperature measuring element and a heat generating component;
a ventilation space provided inside the housing and extending in a vertical direction while being partitioned from other spaces inside the housing;
The lower end and the upper end of the ventilation space are communicated with the outside of the housing,
the heat generating component is disposed at a position where an ascending air current is generated in the ventilation space by the heat of the heat generating component,
the temperature measuring element is disposed so as to detect the temperature of air drawn into the lower end of the ventilation space by the rising air current;
the ventilation space is formed by a duct provided inside the housing,
The heat generating component is disposed in the duct ,
The temperature measuring element and the heat generating component are mounted on a substrate;
The housing includes a base member that supports the board in a vertically extending position;
a cover member that covers the base member including the substrate,
a pair of walls are provided on an inner surface of the cover member, the pair of walls protruding toward the base member and extending in a vertical direction along a wall surface of the base member including the substrate;
A temperature sensor, characterized in that the duct is formed by the pair of walls, a portion of the cover member between the pair of walls, and a wall surface of the base member including the substrate.

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