JPH0376160B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application This invention relates to an induction heating iron used in general households.

Conventional technology In recent years, various electrical appliances have become more and more "convenient" and "easy to operate" as they have become more and more intelligent. It's here. However, the functions performed by the microcontroller are as follows:
This is a secondary feature such as a function to prevent forgetting to cut the iron, and cordless irons have been desired more and more since they are truly easy to operate.

As a realization of this, something called a "cordless iron" has appeared on the market several years ago.
All of these products were designed so that the heater inside the iron body was energized only when placed on the stand, and was not energized during normal ironing, relying only on the heat capacity of the iron base. Therefore, these "cordless irons" are far from true "cordless" irons, as the iron base gets cold quickly when ironing for a long period of time, and steam cannot be generated properly. However, it was a product that still had a long way to go in terms of practical use.

Therefore, various proposals have been made aiming at a true "cordless iron" that applies the principle of induction heating to continue heating even while ironing and constantly keeping the iron base above a specified temperature. It's getting old. For example, some irons have a fairly large induction coil section so that heating can continue even when the iron body is moved freely on the ironing table, and others have many induction coil sections arranged so that the iron body is placed over a certain induction coil. There are some devices that use a magnetic switch to detect when a magnet is placed on a magnet, and energize only the corresponding induction coil.

However, the biggest challenge with these proposals is how to efficiently supply power to the moving iron body, and how to simplify the configuration, which poses various practical problems. It was full of stuff.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention To describe the problem specifically, in such a conventional configuration, the induction coil part is too large and the radiated noise from the induction coil part is too large to be covered by the iron body. Moreover, the structure in which only the relevant induction coil section is excited also has problems such as requiring a large cost and a complicated structure for the position detection section of the iron body.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an induction heating iron that can detect the position of the iron body and accurately switch the induction coil with a simple configuration.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the induction heating iron of the present invention includes a plurality of induction coils that heat the iron body, and a high-frequency power is applied to one of the plurality of induction coils. an induction heating power supply section for supplying the induction heating power supply section, a switching means for switching the plurality of induction coils, an input detection section for detecting the input power of the induction heating power supply section, and a control circuit for controlling the switching means. The control circuit is configured to control the switching means based on information from the input detection means.

Effects The present invention, with the above-described configuration, can reliably detect the position of the iron body with simple means, thereby exciting the induction coil at an accurate position, and realizing efficient power supply as a cordless iron. .

Embodiment FIGS. 1 and 2 are a side view and a plan view showing an embodiment of the induction heating type iron of the present invention.
In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an ironing table, on which clothes 2 and an iron body 3 are placed so that ironing work can be performed. At the bottom of the ironing table 1, a temperature raising induction coil 4 and a heat supplementing induction coil 5 are arranged, and are connected to an induction heating unit 6. When the iron main body 3 is placed on the heating induction coil 4 or the heating induction coil 5, the corresponding induction coil is excited by the means described later, which improves operability. It makes a good cordless iron.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing specific means of an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a commercial power supply, which supplies power at a commercial frequency to the induction heating power supply unit 12, and the input detection means 13 measures the power. Reference numeral 14 denotes a switching means that switches the supply of high-frequency power from the induction heating power supply unit 12 to the temperature-raising induction coil 4 or the heat supplementing induction coil 5 at regular intervals. And the coil 4,
5 oscillates in synchronization with this switching. Reference numeral 15 denotes a control circuit that controls the switching means 14 based on information from the input detection means 13, and detects the input power to the induction heating power supply section 12 in the oscillation state of the induction coil and determines whether or not to perform switching at the constant cycle. It has an intermittent oscillation circuit 16, an oscillation-stop circuit 17, and a switching signal circuit 18 inside. And the iron body 3
As shown in Fig. 1, the temperature increasing induction coil 4
Or iron table 1 on top of heating induction coil 5
It is now being placed through.

FIG. 4 is a time chart showing the operation of one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a shows the excitation status of the heating induction coil 4, and b shows the excitation status of the heating induction coil 5.
The excitation status of , c is the switching signal of the induction coil, d is the input detection signal, and e is the oscillation control signal, each expressed in the form of a time chart with time as the horizontal axis. This figure shows the situation when the iron main body 3 is lifted from the state where it is placed on the side of the heating induction coil 4 and is moved and placed on the side of the heating induction coil 5.

FIG. 3 shows which portion each signal corresponds to.

The operation of one embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. First, consider a state in which the iron main body 3 is placed on the temperature-raising induction coil 4. After turning on the commercial power supply 11, the control circuit 15 operates the intermittent oscillation circuit 16, the oscillation-stop circuit 17, and the switching circuit 18, and first switches the induction heating power supply to preferentially excite the temperature-raising induction coil 4. Part 1
2 to oscillate. If the iron main body 3 is not on the temperature-raising induction coil 4, the switching signal circuit 18 causes the temperature-raising induction coil 4 to oscillate once.
I try to switch the reheating induction coil 5, but
Since the iron body 3 is now placed on the temperature-raising induction coil 4, the excitation of the temperature-raising induction coil 4 is continued, and the iron body 3 is heated by the temperature-raising induction coil 4.

The status of each signal at this time is shown in the iron main body (located on the temperature increasing side) of the time chart in Figure 4. The temperature increasing induction coil 4 is excited as shown in a, and as shown in b. The heating induction coil 5 is not excited, and the induction coil switching signal is not outputted as shown in c. Then, as shown in d, the input detection signal is above the threshold (indicated by a broken line) for determining whether or not the iron body 3 is placed, and the induction coil (indicated by the iron body 3) which is currently excited by the iron body 3 ( In this case, it is shown that it is above the temperature-raising induction coil 4). Therefore, the oscillation control signal maintains the oscillation state as shown in e.

Now, the situation when the iron main body 3 is moved from this state to the side of the induction coil 4 for heating to the side of the induction coil 5 for reheating in order to perform ironing work is shown below.

First, when the iron body 3 is lifted from above the heating induction coil 4, as shown in the part of the iron body (lifted) in Fig. 4, the level of the input detection signal decreases as shown in d and reaches the threshold. Value (dashed line)
As a result, the intermittent oscillation circuit 1
6 and the oscillation-stop circuit 17 output the oscillation control signal "stop". Then, while the oscillation stop signal is being output, the switching signal circuit 18 outputs an induction coil switching signal as shown in c.
The induction coil is switched from the temperature raising induction coil 4 to the heat supplementing induction coil 5.

After that, when the switching is completed, it oscillates and monitors the state of the input detection signal, and if the level has not reached the threshold, it oscillates for a predetermined time determined by the intermittent oscillation circuit 16 and then stops oscillating again. do. Then, while the oscillation is stopped, the induction coil is switched from the heating induction coil 5 to the temperature raising induction coil 4, and thereafter, such alternating intermittent oscillation continues.

Next, a situation in which the iron main body 3 is placed on the heat replenishing induction coil 5 side from the lifted state is shown in the iron main body (placed on the heat replenishing side) in FIG. In the figure, the iron body 3 is placed on the reheating induction coil 5 while the heating induction coil 4 is energized, and the oscillation is stopped and re-oscillation occurs after switching to the reheating induction coil 5. time, input detection circuit 13
Since the level of the input detection signal from the oscillation-stop circuit 17 exceeds the threshold value (FIG. 4d), the oscillation control signal from the oscillation-stop circuit 17 (FIG. 4e) continues to oscillate. And in this state,
The iron main body 3 is now heated by induction by the reheating induction coil 5.

Although this embodiment shows only the case where there are two induction coils, there may be a large number of induction coils, and in that case, it is sufficient to adopt a configuration in which they are sequentially excited. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the input detection means measures the input power at the commercial frequency, but this input detection is not only possible at the commercial frequency, but also by measuring the input power at the high frequency oscillation part or Even if the output power is low, the effectiveness is sufficiently increased. Furthermore, it goes without saying that if the input voltage is fixed, it is equivalent to measure the input current instead of the input power.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the induction heating iron of the present invention, it is possible to accurately detect the position of the iron body with an extremely simple configuration, and accordingly, it is possible to appropriately supply the iron during ironing work, making it practical. This makes it possible to realize a highly effective cordless iron, which is extremely useful.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 and 2 are a side view and a plan view of an induction heating type iron according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 3 is a block diagram showing a specific means thereof, and Figure 4 is a time chart for explaining its operation. be. 3... Iron body, 4... Induction coil for temperature increase, 5... Induction coil for reheating, 11... Commercial power supply, 12... Induction heating power supply unit, 13... Input detection means, 14... Switching means , 15...control circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of induction coils that heat the iron body, an induction heating power supply unit that supplies high-frequency power to any of the plurality of induction coils, and switching between the plurality of induction coils. a switching means;
Induction heating includes an input detection means for detecting input power of the induction heating power supply unit, and a control circuit for controlling the switching means, the control circuit controlling the switching means based on information from the input detection means. formula iron. 2. The plurality of induction coils are switched at regular intervals by the switching means and oscillate in synchronization with the switching, and the control circuit detects the input power to the induction heating power supply unit in the oscillation state and controls the fixed cycle. The induction heating type iron according to claim 1, wherein it is determined whether or not to switch each time. 3. The induction heating iron according to claim 2, wherein at least one of the plurality of induction coils is a temperature-raising induction coil, and the switching means switches over the temperature-raising induction coil with priority. 4. The induction heating iron according to claim 2, wherein the switching by the switching means is performed while the oscillation stop signal is being output from the control circuit.