Sanitary device

Details Sanitary device Sanitary device

2002-03-21

2003-11-18

Jeffery, John A. (Department: 3742)

Electric heating

Heating devices

With power supply and voltage or current regulation or...

C219S501000, C004S420200

Reexamination Certificate

active

06649884

ABSTRACT:

The present application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C §119 with respect to Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-081330 filed on Mar. 21, 2000 (13th Year of Heisei), the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sanitary device which controls temperatures of cleansing water, drying air or a toilet seat.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a sanitary device
1
as shown in
FIGS. 5-8
controls the temperature of cleansing water for cleansing human private parts such as anus or pubic parts, and drying air for drying such parts after cleansing, or the toilet seat. The sanitary device
1
according to
FIG. 5
includes an operation panel
4
, a cleansing nozzle
7
, a heater
14
for heating the water, a drying air control unit
16
and control substrate
19
. The operation panel
4
includes a heating water switch
21
for the heater control, a toilet seat switch
22
, a drying air switch
23
, a bidet cleansing switch
24
, a cleansing switch
25
for cleansing an anus, a stop switch
26
and LED displays
51
for indicating controlled conditions of each switch as shown in FIG.
6
.
In the control substrate
19
, a microcomputer
31
is connected to various thermistors and control circuits such as heating water thermistor
52
, toilet seat thermistor
53
, room temperature thermistor
54
, heating water control circuit
33
, toilet seat heater control circuit
34
, drying air unit drive circuit
35
, water passage control circuit
36
and LED control circuit
37
. Further, the microcomputer
31
in the control substrate
19
is connected to the heating water switch
21
, the toilet seat switch
22
, the drying air switch
23
, the bidet cleansing switch
24
, the cleansing switch
25
for cleansing anus and the stop switch
26
.
Further, in the control substrate
19
, the heating water control circuit
33
is connected to the heating water heater
14
, the toilet seat heater control
34
is connected to a toilet seat heater
15
, the drying air unit drive control circuit
35
is connected to the drying air unit
16
, the water passage control circuit
36
is connected to the cleansing nozzle
7
, and the LED control circuit
37
is connected to each LED
51
display in the operation panel
4
.
According to the sanitary device shown at
1
in
FIG. 5
, after the toilet cover
2
is opened, when a user seated on the toilet seat
3
pushes the bidet cleansing switch
24
, or the cleansing switch
25
for cleansing an anus, the microcomputer
31
in the control substrate
19
opens the main valve
5
and a switching valve
6
through the water passage control circuit
36
to supply cleansing water to the cleansing nozzle
7
. In response to the pushing operation of the switch
24
or
25
, the corresponding inner cylinder
8
is advanced to a selected position to eject the water from a nozzle hole
9
provided at the top end of the inner cylinder
8
onto the human part to be cleaned.
When the heating water switch
21
of the operation panel
4
according to the sanitary device
1
of
FIG. 5
is pushed down, the microcomputer
31
in the control substrate
19
controls the output of the heating water heater
14
by the heating water heater control circuit
33
to adjust the temperature of the cleansing water in the heating water tank
17
. The temperature of the cleansing water in the heating water tank
17
can be controlled to be either “intermediate” which is set to be the target value of 40° C., “high” which is set to be the target value plus 3° (43° C.), or “low” which is set to be the target value minus 3° (37° C.).
The selected value is indicated by the corresponding LED
51
display by the microcomputer
31
in the control substrate
19
through the LED control circuit
37
. (In
FIG. 6
, the three LEDs are provided below the heating water switch
21
). The temperature of the cleansing water in the heating water tank
17
is measured by the thermistor
52
provided in the tank
17
.
When the drying air switch
23
of the operation panel
4
is pushed down, the microcomputer
31
of the control substrate
19
controls the output of the drying air unit
16
by the drying air unit drive control circuit
35
to adjust the temperature of the drying air from the outlet
18
. The temperature of the drying air from the outlet
18
can be controlled to be either “intermediate” which is set to be the target value of 40° C., “high” which is set to be the target value plus 3° (43° C.), or “low” which is set to be the target value minus 3° (37° C.).
The selected value is indicated by the corresponding LED
51
display by the microcomputer
31
in the control substrate
19
through the LED control circuit
37
. (In
FIG. 6
, the three LEDs are provided below the drying air switch
21
).
The temperature of the drying air from the outlet
18
is measured by the room temperature thermistor
54
.
When the toilet seat switch
22
on the operation panel
4
is pushed down, the microcomputer
31
of the control substrate
19
controls the output of the toilet seat heater
15
by the toilet seat heater control circuit
45
to adjust the temperature of the toilet seat
3
. The temperature of the seat
3
can be controlled to be either “intermediate” which is set to be the target value of 40° C., “high” which is set to be the target value plus 3° (43° C.), or “low” which is set to be the target-value minus 3° (37° C.).
The selected value is indicated by the corresponding LED
51
display by the microcomputer
31
in the control substrate
19
through the LED control circuit
37
. (In
FIG. 6
, the three LEDs are provided below toilet seat switch
22
).
The temperature of the toilet seat
3
is measured by the toilet seat thermistor
53
.
The control of the above temperatures is not accurate due to the lack of accuracy or reliability of the fixed resistor
56
(
FIG. 8
) used in the control substrate
19
, which influences the circuit constant of the control substrate
19
for each product. In order to prevent control deviation generated due to such variance of the circuit constant, the following adjustment operation is performed during the assembling process of the control substrate.
For example, adjustment work for the cleansing water control in the heating water tank
17
will be explained. As shown in
FIG. 8
, a pseudo resistor
57
corresponding to a target value
59
(corresponding to the intermediate target value “intermediate” temperature 40° C.) is connected to a connecting connector
62
(to be connected to the heating water thermistor
52
) of the control substrate
19
. The microcomputer
31
reads the output from the pseudo resistor
57
as an A/D value
58
by converting to the temperature.
When the A/D value
58
is higher than the target value
59
, the microcomputer
31
turns on the “high” display LED
51
(one of the three LEDs provided below the heating water switch
21
) of the operation panel
4
. When the A/D value
58
is equal to the target value
59
, the microcomputer
31
turns on the “intermediate” display LED
51
(one of the three LEDs provided below the heating water switch
21
) of the operation panel
4
and when the A/D value
58
is lower than the target value
59
, the microcomputer
31
turns on the “low” display LED
51
(one of the three LEDs provided below the heating water switch
21
) of the operation panel
4
.
A worker of the assembling process manually adjusts the gain for the variable resistor
101
installed on the control substrate
19
to turn on the “intermediate” display LED
51
(one of the three LEDs provided below the heating water switch
21
). This can absorb the variance of the circuit constant of the control substrate
19
to prevent the control difference or the control deviation during temperature controlling of the cleansing water in the heating water tank
17
.
Further, in the sanitary device
1
in
FIG. 5
, under the normal use condition that the heating water thermistor
52
is connected to the connecting co

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