JPH0728847B2 - Electric vacuum cleaner power control device and display device thereof - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a power control device for an electric vacuum cleaner used in general households and the like, and a display device thereof.

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional electric power control device for an electric vacuum cleaner will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram of the electric vacuum cleaner. In FIG. 8, a floor suction tool 2 is attached to a cleaner body 1 via a hand operation part 3.

FIG. 9 is a circuit diagram of a conventional electric power control device for an electric vacuum cleaner. In FIG. 9, an electric blower 4 and a bidirectional thyristor 5 are connected in series at both ends of a commercial power supply 6, and the phase control device 7 is connected to the gate terminal of the bidirectional thyristor 5.
By changing the resistance value of the slide resistor 8 provided in the hand-side operation unit 3 at the end of the hose, thereby changing the trigger time of the gate signal of the bidirectional thyristor 5 via the phase controller 7. A configuration in which the electric power of the electric blower 4 is controlled has been generally adopted.

However, in the above-described conventional configuration, in order to control the electric power of the electric blower 4 and adjust the suction force, the user needs to adjust the slide resistance of the hand operation unit 3 for each state of the cleaning surface. It is necessary to adjust the electric power of the electric blower 4 by adjusting the air conditioner 8, which is inconvenient and troublesome, and even if the cleaning level of the floor surface is different, the user can adjust the electric power at that time. If it is not carried out, there is a problem that dust is left unsucked, and uniform cleaning cannot be performed.

The present invention is to solve the conventional problems described above, for each state of the cleaning surface, the user does not have to adjust the electric power of the electric blower with the operation unit at hand, and automatically and appropriately controls the electric power of the electric blower, An object of the present invention is to provide a power control device for a vacuum cleaner and a display device for the electric vacuum cleaner, which can be improved in usability.

Means for Solving the Problems To solve the above problems, a power control device for an electric vacuum cleaner as a first means of the present invention is a dust detection sensor including a light emitting element and a light receiving element in an intake passage of the electric vacuum cleaner. And a light amount change detecting means for detecting a change in the light amount at the light receiving element caused by the passage of dust in the intake passage, and a light amount change of the analog signal output from the light amount change detecting means is converted into a digital signal. A pulse shaping means for converting is provided, a pulse signal of the pulse shaping means is inputted, and a control means for controlling the electric power of the electric blower according to the number of pulses generated within a predetermined time and the pulse width is provided. is there.

Further, the electric power control device for the electric vacuum cleaner as the second means of the present invention is provided with a control means for switching the electric power of the electric blower according to the number of pulses generated within a predetermined time and for determining the holding time thereof. It is a thing.

Further, the electric power control device for the electric power cleaner of the electric vacuum cleaner as the third means of the present invention comprises a control means for judging the size of dust by the pulse width and correcting the electric power of the electric blower decided by the number of pulses. It is provided.

Furthermore, the electric power control device for the electric vacuum cleaner as the fourth means of the present invention is provided with control means for controlling the electric power of the electric blower via the D / A conversion means.

Further, the display device of the electric vacuum cleaner as the fifth means of the present invention is provided with display means for controlling the electric power of the electric blower in multiple stages and for displaying the control state in multiple stages.

By the above-mentioned first means, the light quantity change detection means uses an analog signal to detect a change in the light quantity caused by the passage of dust in the light receiving element of the dust detection sensor including the light emitting and light receiving elements provided in the suction passage of the vacuum cleaner. Then, the change in the light amount of the analog signal is converted into a pulse signal as a digital signal by the pulse shaping means, and a pulse signal corresponding to the dust amount is input to the control means, and a pulse generated within a predetermined time. The power of the electric blower is controlled by the number of pulses and the pulse width, so the amount of dust on the cleaning surface and the size of the dust are detected, and the power to the electric blower is multi-stepped according to the distribution of the dust amount. As a result, the suction force of the vacuum cleaner is automatically selected, and the user has to adjust the suction force according to the dust distribution amount on the cleaning surface, as in the past. Usability is improved by eliminating the inconvenience.

Further, by the second means, the control means calculates a pulse signal corresponding to the number of passing dusts, which is output from the dust detecting means, and the electric power of the electric blower is changed according to the number of pulses generated within a predetermined time. In addition to switching to a predetermined power, the time to hold this switched power value is variable, so the power of the electric blower is automatically changed depending on the amount of dust on the cleaning surface, and the switched power is changed. The time to hold the value is also controlled according to the amount of dust.When a large amount of dust is generated, the holding time is also lengthened, and when the amount of dust is small, the holding time is controlled to be short. Its usability is improved.

Furthermore, when the third means inputs the pulse signal corresponding to the number of passing dusts from the dust detection means to the control means, and when a large dust is sucked and a large pulse width is detected, the control means causes Since it is configured to control the electric power to the electric blower by adding a fixed correction to the number of detected pulses, the fixed pulse number is corrected by the magnitude of the pulse width at the time of dust detection proportional to the size of dust, for example, When large dust with a large pulse width is detected, even if the number of pulses is small, correction is added as if many pulses were generated, the electric power of the electric blower is controlled, the suction force is increased, and it is powerful. Reliable cleaning is possible.

Further, the fourth means converts the pulse signal output from the dust detection means and corresponding to the number of passing dusts into the analog signal by the D / A conversion means, and the control means uses the analog signal to clean the cleaning surface. The electric power of the electric blower is configured to be controlled in an analog (continuous) manner according to the dust distribution state, so that the suction force changes continuously and continuously, and there is no sudden change in noise, There is no feeling of strangeness and the usability is improved.

Further, the fifth means switches the number of lighting of the multi-stage display elements by the display means in accordance with the number of pulses of the pulse signal corresponding to the number of passing dusts, which is output from the dust detection means. Since the distribution amount is displayed in multiple stages,
The user knows the dust distribution amount on the cleaning surface, and when the dust distribution amount is large, it becomes easier to make a careful decision on cleaning, etc.
Its usability is improved.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 (a) (b) (c) to FIG. 3 show a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 (a) is a sectional view of an intake passage showing a mounting structure of a light emitting element and a light receiving element which constitute a dust detection sensor. In FIG. 1 (a), dust 11
A light emitting element 13 and a light receiving element 14 are provided in a part of the intake passage 12 through which
Are installed facing each other. Each light emitting / receiving element
13, 14 are supported by a transparent holder 15, and are configured to prevent leakage of air and transmit only an optical signal.

FIG. 1 (b) is a circuit diagram of the dust detection means. In FIG. 1 (b), the light emitting element 13 is always in a light emitting state when a current is supplied from the DC power source through the resistor 16. A light-receiving element (hereinafter referred to as a phototransistor) 14 is attached so as to face the light-emitting element 13, and a collector terminal of the phototransistor 14 is connected to a resistor 17 for supplying a bias current and a direct current cut capacitor 18 Connected to the input terminal of the amplifier 19. Further, a reference voltage source 20 is connected to the side input terminal of the amplifier 19, and the output of the amplifier 19 is only the variation (AC component) of the collector voltage of the phototransistor 14 with the voltage E ₀ of the reference voltage source 20 as the center. It is configured to generate an amplified signal. Comparator 21
The output terminal of the amplifier 19 is connected to the input terminal of
The reference voltage source 22 is connected to the side input terminal, and the voltage E ₁ of the reference voltage source 22 is compared with the analog signal output from the amplifier 19 to perform waveform shaping. From the above, the dust detection means
23 are composed.

The operation of the above configuration will be described below.

First, when the dust 11 passes between the light emitting element 13 and the phototransistor 14, the optical axis is blocked by the dust 11 so that the base current in the phototransistor 14 decreases and the collector voltage rises. A voltage change amount due to the light amount change is amplified by the amplifier 19 via the capacitor 18 with the reference voltage E ₀ as the center, and the light amount change due to dust is detected as an analog signal. This detected analog signal is the reference voltage E ₁
When it becomes lower, the output of the comparator 21 becomes an H signal, and thus the change in the light amount of the analog signal is converted into a digital signal, and a pulse output as a digital signal corresponding to the dust amount is generated. Further, this pulse output waveform has a short pulse width when passing through the optical axes of the light emitting element 13 and the phototransistor 14 in the case of fine dust, and has a short pulse width as shown by A in FIG. 1 (c). On the contrary, there is a correlation that a large dust such as paper waste has a large pulse width as shown by B in FIG. 1 (c).

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a power control device of the present invention using the dust detection means 23. In FIG. 2, the pulse signal generated from the dust detection means 23 is input to a microprocessor 24 as a control means and processed, and then a gate signal to a bidirectional thyristor 25 is controlled in accordance with the amount of dust. However, the electric power supplied to the electric blower 26 is controlled in phase.

As the processing in the microprocessor 24, as shown in FIG. 3, first, a pulse train generated corresponding to the amount of dust generated in time series is input, and how many pulses are input within a predetermined time period T, It counts (in the example of FIG. 3, it becomes 5,2,4 pulses at every predetermined time T), and the electric power to the electric blower 26 is set to W ₁ to W by the value of the pulse count amount n within the predetermined time T. _It is switched to multiple stages of _n and automatically controlled by the suction force dust amount.

4 (a) and (b) show a second embodiment of the present invention,
As the processing of the microprocessor 24, the dust detection means 23
The number of pulses of the pulse signal generated from is input within a predetermined time period T, the power to the electric blower 26 is switched depending on the number of the pulses, and then the holding time for holding the power is changed. To control.

In the example of FIG. 4 (a), since 4 pulses are generated within the predetermined time T, the power holding time W is held only for the holding time W _a corresponding to 4 pulses, and also in FIG. 4 (b). In the example, since the two pulses are generated within the predetermined time T, the holding time W
Is the holding time W _b corresponding to 2 pulses. in this case,
The magnitude relation of the holding time W is W _a > W _b , and the microprocessor 24 as the control means operates so that the holding time W is controlled longer as the number of pulses increases.

FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment of the present invention. As the processing of the microprocessor 24, the width of the pulse signal generated from the dust detecting means 23 is detected by the size of the dust together with the number of pulses. The set value of the electric power to the electric blower 26 is varied and controlled.

That is, a fixed correction is added to the number of detected pulses generated within a predetermined time T based on pulse width information, and the detected number of pulses n is multiplied by a pulse width correction coefficient k to be detected as the number of pulses of n × k. The electric power to the blower 26 is set. For example, when one large dust is sucked in and a large pulse width is detected, the number of detected pulses is corrected by a certain amount of information on the pulse width, so it is set to the number of counted pulses. It is possible to ascend and secure a strong suction force for large dust.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a power control device showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 6, the pulse output of the dust detecting means 23 is input to the microprocessor 24, and a digital signal for controlling the electric power to the electric blower 26 is output from the microprocessor 24, and this digital signal output is D / The power converter 28 is converted into an analog signal by the A converter 27, and the gate signal of the bidirectional thyristor 25 is analogically controlled by the power controller 28.

With the above configuration, after the pulse signal (digital signal) corresponding to the amount of dust detected by the dust detection means 23 is processed by the microprocessor 24, the electric power to the electric blower 26 can be controlled steplessly in an analog manner.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a power control device including a display device in power control showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 7, the pulse signal from the dust detecting means 23 is input to the microprocessor 24, and the microprocessor 24
The output port of the multiple display elements 29 to display in multiple stages
And the resistor 30 is a current limiting resistor of the display element 29.

With the above configuration, depending on the pulse number according to the amount of dust detected by the dust detection means 23, the plurality of display elements 29 provided in multiple stages are turned on, and the user can detect the cleaning state of the cleaning surface. It was done like this.

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the suction force of the cleaner is automatically selected according to the amount of dust distribution on the cleaning surface. The conventional problems such as the troublesomeness of having to adjust according to the amount of distribution can be solved, and uniform cleaning can be performed without remaining dust, and the suction force is controlled by the amount of dust. Therefore, the problem that the suction force is saved when the cleaning surface is clean and the suction tool sticks to the floor surface and the operation becomes heavy can be solved.

Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, when the cleaning surface where a lot of dust is distributed is being cleaned, the suction force becomes strong, while the holding time for which the suction force lasts becomes long, so that it is strong. Moreover, uniform cleaning can be performed, and its usability can be significantly improved. On the other hand, when cleaning the cleaning surface where a small amount of dust is distributed, the holding time that the suction force lasts becomes short, and the problem of adsorption to the floor surface along with its operability should be solved. Is something that can be done.

Further, according to the third aspect of the invention, even if the amount of dust distributed on the cleaning surface is small overall and a large amount of dust is sparsely distributed, for example, even if one large dust is sucked in, the suction force is reduced. Greatly increased, powerful and reliable cleaning.

Further, according to the fourth aspect, since the suction force is continuously and steplessly controlled according to the amount of dust on the cleaning surface, cleaning can be performed naturally and smoothly, and noise is also continuously generated. Because of the change, there is no abrupt change in sound that occurs when the input is switched in multiple steps, and the user does not feel uncomfortable. Furthermore, it is possible to make detailed input settings according to the amount of dust, which greatly improves usability.

Furthermore, according to the fifth aspect, since the display state is switched according to the amount of dust on the cleaning surface, the user can know the amount of dust distribution on the cleaning surface as a standard for cleaning, so that the cleaning is dirty. The surface can be carefully cleaned, and a clean surface can facilitate the decision of easy cleaning and greatly improve its usability.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 (a) (b) (c) to FIG. 3 show a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 (a) shows the configuration of a dust detection sensor in a power control device for an electric vacuum cleaner. FIG. 1B is a sectional view of the intake passage, FIG. 1B is a circuit diagram of the dust detection means of the power control device, and FIG. 1C is a diagram showing a pulse signal output of the dust detection means of the power control device. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the power control device, FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining signal processing of a microprocessor of the power control device, and FIGS.
Is a diagram for explaining the signal processing of the microprocessor in the power control device for the electric vacuum cleaner showing the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is the electric power of the electric vacuum cleaner showing the third embodiment of the present invention. The figure for demonstrating the signal processing of the microprocessor in a control apparatus, FIG. 6 is the block diagram of the electric power control apparatus of the vacuum cleaner which shows the 4th Example of this invention, FIG. 7 is the 5th of this invention. 8 is a block diagram of a power control device including a display device in power control of a vacuum cleaner according to an embodiment;
FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electric vacuum cleaner, and FIG. 9 is a circuit diagram of a conventional electric power control device for an electric vacuum cleaner. 11 …… Dust, 12 …… Intake passage, 13 …… Light emitting element, 14 ……
Phototransistor (light receiving element), 18 ... Capacitor,
19 …… Amplifier, 20,22 …… Reference voltage source, 21 …… Comparator, 2
3 ... Dust detection means, 24 ... Microprocessor, 25 ...
… Bidirectional thyristor, 26 …… Electric blower, 27 …… D / A
Converter, 28 …… power controller, 29 …… display element, 30 …… current limiting resistor.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Hideo Okubo, Hideo Okubo, 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (56) References: 61-92357 (JP, U): 58-98055 (JP, U)

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A dust detection sensor comprising a light emitting element and a light receiving element is provided in an intake passage of an electric vacuum cleaner, and a light amount change is detected to detect a change in the light amount at the light receiving element caused by the passage of dust in the intake passage. The number of pulses generated within a predetermined time by providing a detecting means and a pulse shaping means for converting a light intensity change of the analog signal output from the light intensity change detecting means into a digital signal, and receiving the pulse signal of the pulse shaping means as an input. The electric power control device for the electric vacuum cleaner, which is provided with a control means for controlling the electric power of the electric blower according to the amount of the electric power and the pulse width. 2. The electric power controller for a vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the control means switches the electric power of the electric blower according to the number of pulses and the pulse width generated within a predetermined time and determines the holding time thereof. . 3. The electric power control device for a vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the control means determines the size of the dust by the pulse width and corrects the electric power of the electric power blower determined by the number of pulses. 4. The electric power control device for an electric vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the control means controls the electric power of the electric blower via the D / A conversion means. 5. A display device for an electric vacuum cleaner, comprising display means for displaying electric power of an electric blower controlled by the electric power control device for an electric vacuum cleaner according to claim 1 in multiple stages.