JP3797716B2 - Water heater - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention includes a hot water supply body that includes a hot water supply unit that can supply hot water to a hot water terminal device that performs a heat supply operation using hot water as a heat source and a first transmission / reception unit, and a remote control unit that can remotely control the operation of the hot water supply unit Is provided separately from the main body of the water heater, and the remote controller is provided with a second transmitter / receiver . More particularly, the present invention relates to a water heater that can be easily used as a terminal device of a home automation system.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, in a hot water supply system using this type of hot water supply apparatus, each hot water terminal device constituting the hot water supply system is configured to be individually operable, for example, a hot water heater provided in a private room In this case, hot water is circulated and supplied separately from the hot water supply device through a hot water pipe, and a heat supply operation using hot water as a heat source is possible with a built-in heat exchanger and blower fan, and is attached to the hot water heating device. A certain operation switch is operated to start or stop the heating operation, and to adjust the temperature and the air volume. Further, the control signal and the monitor signal can be communicated between the hot water supply device and the hot water terminal device so that the hot water terminal device can operate the start or stop of the hot water supply operation of the hot water supply device and monitor the operation state thereof. A communication means is provided in each device. For example, when the hot water supply function of the hot water supply device is off and it is necessary to start the hot water supply operation, the hot water heating device can be operated to start the operation of the hot water supply device.
[0003]
In addition, this type of hot water terminal device is a home automation system terminal that can organically link various devices in the home and perform centralized management, remote operation, automatic control, etc. of the various devices. As a device that can be used as a device, each hot water terminal device is provided with an HA terminal specified in JEM1427 so that it can communicate with the controller of the home automation system, and the operation from the controller is started or stopped. Some of them can receive a control signal and transmit a monitor signal capable of monitoring an operation state (operation or stop) to the controller. And as shown in FIG. 4, the start or stop of the operation of the hot water terminal device can be remotely operated from outside the place where it is installed by connecting the hot water terminal device and the controller with a dedicated communication line. It was configured as follows. That is, a command can be sent from the controller installed at a specific place in the home to the controller from outside the home via a telephone line, and the operation of the hot water terminal device can be remotely controlled.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, in a conventional hot water supply system using this type of hot water supply device, when the hot water terminal device constituting the hot water supply system is used as a terminal device of a home automation system, the hot water terminal device and the controller are not connected. Since each was connected separately with a dedicated communication line, it was necessary to perform separate wiring work, and it was necessary to deform the structure such as walls and floors. In particular, when the distance between the hot water terminal device and the controller is long, or when there are a plurality of the hot water terminal devices and it is necessary to perform the wiring work separately, the construction becomes more complicated and the construction takes a long time. And the construction cost has risen.
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, and can easily construct a hot water supply system applicable to a home automation system and can greatly reduce the labor of wiring work. The object is to provide a device.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
〔Constitution〕
In order to achieve this object, the first characteristic configuration of the hot water supply apparatus according to the present invention is a hot water supply apparatus for a hot water terminal apparatus that performs a heat supply operation using hot water as a heat source, as described in claim 1 of the claims. comprising a water heater body Ru with a possible water heater unit and the first transceiver unit, with the operation of the water heater unit remotely controllable remote controller separately from the said water heater body, the said remote control unit a water heater 2 transmitting and receiving portion is provided, the controller of the home automation system, configured to so that can originate HA terminal control signals for controlling the operation and stop of the hot water terminal device, the second transceiver unit and wherein the controller by including the HA terminal that can connect the HA communication line capable of transmitting the HA terminal control signals originating, configured to receive the HA terminal control signals, and the HA terminal Via configured to transmit an instruction content before Symbol H A terminal control signal to the first transceiver for receiving and said first transceiver, the heated terminal command contents of said received HA terminal control signals as the receivable hot water terminal control signals in the apparatus, before Symbol lies in you are configured to transmit to the hot terminal.
[0006]
The second feature configuration is the hot water transmitted from the hot water terminal device to the first transmitter / receiver , in addition to the first feature configuration described above, as described in claim 2 of the column of claims. A hot water terminal monitor signal capable of monitoring the operating state of the terminal device is received and configured to be transmitted to the second transmission / reception unit,
The second transmitter / receiver, the hot water terminal monitor signal from the first transmitter / receiver as an HA terminal monitor signal that allows the controller to receive the operating state of the hot water terminal device, to the controller via the HA terminal. The point is that it is configured to transmit .
[0007]
In the third feature configuration, in addition to the first or second feature configuration described above, in addition to the first or second feature configuration described above, the controller instructs the start of operation of the hot water terminal device. When the hot water supply unit is in an operation stop state when the HA terminal control signal is received, the hot water supply body is provided with hot water supply operation start means for starting the operation of the hot water supply unit .
[0008]
The operation will be described below.
According to the first characteristic configuration, one or more hot water terminal devices constituting a hot water supply system in cooperation with the hot water supply device according to the present invention are used as terminal devices of a home automation system, and the hot water supply system is In the case of application to a home automation system, the dedicated communication line is wired to the HA terminal provided in the hot water supply device instead of wiring the dedicated communication line from the controller of the home automation system to each of the hot water terminal devices. Thus, as in the prior art, the hot water supply device receives the HA terminal control signal for controlling the operation / stop of the hot water terminal device from the controller, and the hot water terminal device receives the command content of the HA terminal control signal. By sending to the hot water terminal device as a possible hot water terminal control signal, from the controller Is wear in controlling the operation and stop of hot water terminals.
In addition, since the wiring work between the controller and the hot water supply device can be done only in one place regardless of the number of the hot water terminal devices, a dedicated communication line is separately wired to each hot water terminal device. In comparison, construction time and construction costs can be greatly reduced.
Furthermore, since the controller only changes the wiring of the dedicated communication line, the existing controller can be used as it is.
[0009]
According to the second characteristic configuration, one or two or more hot water terminal devices constituting a hot water supply system in cooperation with the hot water supply device according to the present invention are used as terminal devices of a home automation system, and the hot water supply system is In the case of application to a home automation system, the dedicated communication line is wired to the HA terminal provided in the hot water supply device instead of wiring the dedicated communication line from the controller of the home automation system to each of the hot water terminal devices. Thus, as in the prior art, the hot water supply device receives a hot water terminal monitor signal that can monitor the operating state of the hot water terminal device transmitted by the hot water terminal device, and transmits the information to the controller as an HA terminal monitor signal. by, Runode can monitor the operating state of the hot water terminal device from said controller That.
[0010]
According to the third characteristic configuration, when the operation of the hot water terminal device is started based on a control command from the controller, the operation is automatically started even when the operation of the hot water supply device is in a stopped state. Therefore, it is possible to save time and effort to manually operate the controller so as to separately transmit a control signal instructing the start of operation of the hot water supply device from the controller.
In order to automatically transmit a control signal instructing the start of operation of the hot water supply device from the controller, it is necessary to simultaneously monitor the operating state of the hot water supply device and the hot water terminal device. Note that the controller must have device-specific control means.
Further, the order from the hot water terminals there is no need to automatically control the start of operation of the water heater, the Hakare the simplification of the communication and control circuitry of the hot-water terminal, reduction in manufacturing cost is to be FIG.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a hot water supply apparatus 1 according to the present invention, two hot water terminal apparatuses 2a and 2b constituting a hot water supply system in cooperation with the hot water supply apparatus 1, and a home automation system (hereinafter referred to as HA system). It is a block diagram which shows typically the connection of the communication wiring between each apparatus of the controller 3 of description. The hot water terminal devices 2a and 2b are supplied with hot water from a hot water pipe (not shown) separately from the hot water supply device 1 and perform a heat supply operation using the hot water as a heat source with a built-in heat exchanger and a blower fan. It is a terminal.
Although parts other than the hot water supply system of the HA system are not shown, for example, other HA terminals such as a security device can be centrally controlled from the controller 3 via the home bus.
Further, the controller 3 is provided with a telephone signal receiving function so that a command can be sent to the controller 3 from outside the home via a telephone line, and the operation of the hot water terminal devices 2a and 2b can be remotely controlled from the controller 3. ing.
[0012]
As shown in FIG. 1, the hot water supply device 1 includes a hot water heater main body 4 that can circulate hot water to the hot water terminal devices 2 a and 2 b and a remote controller 5 that can remotely control the operation of the hot water heater main body 4. Further, they are connected by a two-core remote control communication line 6 so that they can communicate with each other. Normally, the water heater main body 4 is installed outdoors, and the remote controller 5 is installed on the wall of the kitchen together with the controller 3.
[0013]
As shown in FIG. 2, the water heater main body 4 includes a hot water heater section 4a capable of circulating hot water at a high temperature, a hot water supply operation control section 4b for controlling the operation of the hot water heater section 4a, the hot water terminal device 2a, 2b and a first transmission / reception unit 4c for communicating with the remote control unit 5.
[0014]
As shown in FIG. 3, the remote control unit 5 communicates with the controller 3 and the water heater body 4 with the operation unit 5a for starting or stopping the operation of the water heater unit 4a, adjusting the temperature, setting a timer, and the like. And a second transmitting / receiving unit 5b. Further, the second transmitting / receiving unit 5b is provided with three HA terminals 5c defined by the Japan Electric Industry Standard JEM 1427 in the casing of the remote control unit 5.
[0015]
As shown in FIG. 1, hot water terminal communication lines 7 a and 7 b capable of bidirectional communication are wired between the water heater body 4 and the hot water terminal devices 2 a and 2 b, respectively, and between the remote control unit 5 and the controller 3. Are wired with four-core HA communication lines 8a, 8b, and 8c, which are connection lines defined in the above-mentioned Japan Electrical Industry Standard JEM1427. The connection terminal on the remote control unit 5 side is the three HA terminals 5c.
[0016]
In addition, the interface part (not shown) with each communication line of the said 1st transmission / reception part 4c and the said 2nd transmission / reception part 5b isolates each reception part and each communication line, and impedance matching is made easy. In order to do so, it is composed of a photocoupler.
[0017]
In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, when the operation of the hot water terminal devices 2 a and 2 b is operated from the controller 3 or the operation state is monitored, all necessary signal flows are performed by the bidirectional relay function of the hot water supply device 1. The signal flow, that is, the bidirectional relay function will be described below through the hot water supply device 1.
[0018]
First, when controlling the start or stop of the operation of the hot water terminal device 2a from the controller 3, the operation state (operation state or stop state) of the HA terminal device defined in the above-mentioned Japan Electrical Industry Standard JEM1427 is reversed. An HA terminal control signal 10a, which is a binary control signal, is transmitted from the controller 3 to the second transmission / reception unit 5b of the remote control unit 5 through the HA communication line 8a.
The HA terminal control signal 10a received by the second transmission / reception unit 5b is binary-encoded so that it can be identified which control signal of the hot water terminal device is inserted into the serial signal sequence of the remote control signal 11a. Then, it is multiplexed with other control signals and transmitted to the first transmitter / receiver 4c of the water heater body 4 through the two-core remote control communication line 6 at an appropriate transmission rate.
The first transmitter / receiver 4c decomposes the multiplexed signal sequence of the received remote control signal 11a to extract information corresponding to the HA terminal control signal 10a. The extracted operation command of the HA terminal control signal 10a (operation start or stop of the hot water terminal device) is transferred to the hot water supply operation control unit 4b, the operation command is an operation start command, and the hot water supply unit 4a When the hot water supply operation is stopped, the hot water supply operation start means 4d of the hot water supply operation control unit 4b starts the hot water supply operation of the water heater unit 4a. After or when the hot water supply operation of the water heater unit 4a is started, the first transmitting / receiving unit 4c converts the extracted HA terminal control signal 10a into a signal format that can be received by the hot water terminal device 2a. The converted hot water terminal control signal 12a is transmitted to the hot water terminal device 2a via the hot water terminal communication line 7a.
The hot water terminal device 2a receives the hot water terminal control signal 12a, determines an operation command (start or stop) from the controller 3, and performs an operation according to the operation command.
[0019]
When the hot water terminal device 2a responds to the controller 3 about the operating state of the hot water terminal device 2a, first, the hot water terminal monitor signal 13a having the same signal format as the hot water terminal control signal 12a is sent via the hot water terminal communication line 7a. Then, it is transmitted from the hot water terminal device 2a to the first transmitter / receiver 4c of the water heater body 4.
The hot water terminal monitor signal 13a received by the first transmitter / receiver 4c is binary-coded so as to be able to identify which hot water terminal device is the monitor signal, and is included in the serial signal sequence of the remote control response signal 11b. Inserted, multiplexed with other monitor signals, and transmitted to the second transmitting / receiving unit 5b of the remote control unit 5 through the two-core remote control communication line 6 at an appropriate transmission rate.
The hot water terminal indicated by the hot water terminal monitor signal 13b transmitted from the other hot water terminal device 2b is a binary signal of the operating state (operating state or stopped state) of the hot water terminal device 2a indicated by the hot water terminal monitor signal 13a. It is transferred to the hot water supply operation control unit 4b together with the binary signal of the operation state of the device 2b.
The second transmitter / receiver 5b decomposes the multiplexed signal sequence of the received remote control monitor signal 11b, and obtains the operating state information (operating state or stopped state) of the hot water terminal device 2a of the hot water terminal monitor signal 13a. Extract. The operating state information of the hot water terminal device 2a is a HA terminal monitor signal 14a which is a binary monitor signal indicating the operating state (operating state or stopped state) of the HA terminal device defined by the Japan Electrical Industry Standard JEM1427. Is transmitted from the second transceiver 5b to the controller 3 via the HA communication line 8a.
[0020]
Further, when the operation command (start or stop operation of the hot water terminal device) of the HA terminal control signal 10a extracted from the remote control signal 11a received by the first transmission / reception unit 4c is an operation stop command, at least Although the operation of the hot water terminal device 2a is stopped, both of the binary signals of the operation state of the hot water terminal devices 2a and 2b indicated by the hot water terminal monitor signals 13a and 13b transferred to the hot water supply operation control unit 4b are both. If it is shown that the operation is stopped, the hot water supply operation stop means 4e of the hot water supply operation control unit 4b stops the hot water supply operation of the water heater unit 4a.
[0021]
Note that the other hot water terminal device 2b is exactly the same as the case of the hot water terminal device 2a, and a description thereof will be omitted. However, the communication between the remote controller 5 and the controller 3 uses the HA communication line 8b.
[0022]
The HA communication line 8c is used when directly controlling or monitoring the operation of the hot water supply apparatus 1 from the controller 3.
[0023]
(Another embodiment)
Other embodiments will be described below.
[0024]
(1) The HA terminal 5c, the HA communication lines 8a, 8b, and 8c, the HA terminal control signal 10a, and the HA terminal monitor signal 14a related to communication between the remote control unit 5 and the controller 3 are Standards or signal formats other than those defined in JEM1427 may be used.
The communication connection between the remote controller 5 and the controller 3 may be directly connected by the HA communication lines 8a, 8b, and 8c, or an interface device may be interposed along the home bus.
The communication connection between the remote control unit 5 and the water heater body 4 is not necessarily the two-core remote control communication line 6, and the communication signal system is not a serial signal but a parallel signal. It doesn't matter.
[0025]
(2) In the case where the hot water supply operation stopping means 4e stops the hot water supply operation of the hot water supply unit 4a as a result of stopping the operation of the hot water terminal device 2a or 2b by the control from the controller, the first transmission / reception unit Even if the operation stop signal of the hot water terminal device 2a or 2b extracted from the remote control signal 11a received by 4c is used in place of the hot water terminal monitor signal 13a or 13b which stops the operation, the hot water terminal It may be configured that the hot water supply operation stop means 4e stops the hot water supply operation of the water heater unit 4a by judging that the operation of the apparatus is all stopped.
[0026]
(3) The number and types of the hot water terminal devices are not limited to the present embodiment, and the number may be one or three or more, and the type may be a floor heating device or a dryer.
[0027]
(4) There may be no part of the HA system other than the hot water supply system, and the present invention is not limited to the above-described one. The controller 3 does not necessarily have a telephone signal receiving function.
[0028]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to individually wire a communication line between the controller and each hot water terminal device. Therefore, a hot water supply system applicable to a home automation system can be easily constructed, and wiring work can be performed. It has become possible to provide a hot water supply device that can greatly reduce labor.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram when a hot water supply apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a home automation system. FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram of a water heater body. FIG. 3 is a block configuration diagram of a remote control unit. System configuration diagram when the water heater is applied to a home automation system [Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Hot-water supply apparatus 2a, 2b Hot water terminal device 3 Controller 4 Hot-water supply body 4a Hot-water supply part 4b Hot-water supply operation control part 4c 1st transmission / reception part 4d Hot-water supply operation start means 4e Hot-water supply operation stop means 5 Remote control part 5a Operation part 5b 2nd transmission / reception part 5c HA terminal 6 2-core remote control communication line 7a, 7b Hot water terminal communication line 8a, 8b, 8c HA communication line 10a HA terminal control signal 11a Remote control signal 11b Remote control response signal 12a Hot water terminal control signal 13a, 13b Hot water terminal monitor signal 14a HA terminal monitor signal

Claims (3)

A hot water supply unit that includes a hot water supply unit that can supply hot water to a hot water terminal device that performs a heat supply operation using hot water as a heat source and a first transmission / reception unit, and a remote control unit that can remotely control the operation of the hot water supply unit In a hot water supply apparatus provided separately from the main body and provided with a second transmitting / receiving unit in the remote control unit ,
The controller of the home automation system, configured to so that can originate HA terminal control signals for controlling the operation and stop of the hot water terminal device,
Said second transceiver, said controller by including an HA terminal that can connect the HA communication line capable of transmitting the HA terminal control signals originating, configured to receive the HA terminal control signal, and, an instruction content before Symbol H a terminal control signal received through the HA terminal configured to transmit to said first transceiver unit,
Wherein the first transceiver unit, a receiver capable of hot terminal control signal commands the contents by the hot water terminal device received the HA terminal control signals, configured to tear Ru water heater to transmit Previous Symbol hot terminal. The first transmitter / receiver is configured to receive a hot water terminal monitor signal capable of monitoring an operating state of the hot water terminal device transmitted by the hot water terminal device, and transmit the received signal to the second transmitter / receiver.
The second transmitter / receiver, the hot water terminal monitor signal from the first transmitter / receiver as an HA terminal monitor signal that allows the controller to receive the operating state of the hot water terminal device, to the controller via the HA terminal. constructed hot water supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein Ru tare to send. A hot water supply operation start means for starting the operation of the hot water supply unit when the hot water supply unit is in an operation stop state when an HA terminal control signal instructing the operation start of the hot water terminal device is received from the controller. The hot-water supply apparatus of Claim 1 or 2 with which it equips with the main body .

Images