Patent Application
20130067657
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a faucet, and more particularly to an automatic faucet with an optical detecting device to detect a displacement of a hand of a user.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional automatic faucet disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,691,341 contains a closing valve; a controller, a discharging member connected with the closing valve via a pipeline; an optical sensor coupled with the controller through an electric line, and a cylindrical body to insert the pipeline and the electric line; wherein the discharging member and the optical sensor are fixed on a front end of the body, and the optical sensor is capable of reflecting a light on a flowing path, so when a user puts a hand on the flowing path, it is sensed to flow water.
The optical sensor is an infrared-ray sensor, and the infrared-ray sensor includes a transmitter to transmit an infrared ray and a receiver to receive the infrared ray, so the infrared-ray sensor is capable of being used to detect objects below a spout. However, the infrared-ray sensor can not distinguish a static state and a dynamic state, therefore the objects below the spout such as a pot, a blow, vegetables, or fruits in a water tank, are detected, and a water flow can not be opened and closed.
To solve above-mentioned problem, a position-sensing detector disclosed in US Pub. No. 20060200903 is applied to distinguish a user's hand or objects below the spout such as a pot, a blow, vegetables, or fruits in a water tank, so that water flows out of the spout precisely, and three sensors to flow the water out of the spout contains:
First positioning sensor including a sensing device to detect a user's hand, and the sensing device including an infrared-ray transmitter fixed at a transmitting position relative to 5 to 15 degrees in a vertical direction; a receiver to receive an infrared ray transmitted by the infrared-ray transmitter; a controlling device to transmit with the receiver and to control the water to flow out of the spout; the water is determined based on a receiving angle of the infrared ray. Because the user's hand and the objects in the water tank are located at different heights, the infrared ray reflected is received by the receiver at different angles to judge the user's hand or the objects, thereby flowing water precisely.
Second positioning sensor including an infrared-ray sensing device to transmit the infrared ray, to receive the infrared ray reflected, and to generate a distance signal, the distance signal represents a running distance before the infrared ray is reflected; a controlling device transmitting with the sensing device to control the water to flow out of the spout, and the water flows based on whether the distance signal is over a threshold distance value, and the threshold distance value is determined by an environment condition, for example, if the distance between the spout and the water tank becomes larger, the threshold distance value becomes larger; while the distance between the spout and the water tank becomes smaller, the threshold distance value becomes smaller.
Third positioning sensor containing an infrared-ray sensing device to transmit the infrared ray, to receive the infrared ray reflected, and to generate a distance signal, the distance signal represents a running distance before the infrared ray is reflected, and the distance signal is generated on a plurality of points to display a distance of each point; a controlling device to transmit with the sensing device and to filter the distance signal on a basis of an environment condition, and when the distance signal is filtered to judge if it is over a threshold distance value so that the water is controlled to flow out of the spout, wherein the plurality of points are the user's hand or the objects.
Nevertheless, if the user's hand or the object falls in or moves below the spout, the water flows out of the spout still.
Besides, if the third positioning sensor is served on a pull spray head of an automatic faucet and the spray head is pulled outward, in cause the user's hand passes below the spout carelessly, the water flows out of the spout still. In addition, if the spray head is pulled outward to a work zone, the user has to move the other hand below the spout to be sensed so that the water flows out of the spout, having inconvenient operation.
Even though an automatic faucet can sense the user's hand to flow water, cookware or kitchen knife is probably sensed to flow water out of the spray head, wasting water.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide an automatic faucet is capable of overcoming the shortcomings of the conventional automatic faucet.
To obtain the above objectives, an automatic faucet provided by the present invention contains:
a body including a spout;
a spray head mounted on the spout to be pulled outward or retracted inward;
an optical detecting device fixed on the spout to detect a hand of a user and to transmit a digital signal; wherein between a transmitting direction of an infrared ray and a water flowing direction of the spray head is formed an angle, and the angle is between 150 to 190 degrees;
a controlling device to receive the digital signal of the optical detecting device and to control the water to flow out of the spray head.
Thereby, after the spray head is pulled outward to the work zone, the finger is capable of controlling a water supply by moving upward or downward.
The optical detecting device is fixed on the spray head, and the transmitting direction of the infrared ray is opposite to the water flowing direction of the spray head and is adjacent to the user and is located above a holding portion of the spray head, therefore the user or other objects around the transmission area of the infrared ray will not pass through or exist in the transmission area of the infrared ray, i.e., even though the user moves the finger toward a detecting area on purpose, the water will not be supplied, thereby preventing from water waste.
Furthermore, because the optical detecting device is fixed above the holding portion of the spray head, even though the user holds the spray head, the water will not be supplied. But, when the finger moves toward the detecting area, the finger is sensed to control the water supply from the spray head to prevent the water from flowing out of the spray head when the user pulls the spray head outward.
When the spray head is pulled outward to the work zone, the water supply is controlled easily by moving the finger upward or downward without using the other hand, thus obtaining an easy operation.
The present invention will be clearer from the following description when viewed together with the accompanying drawings, which show, for purpose of illustrations only, the preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention.
Referring to
Referring to
The spray head 30 is connected with a water supply pipeline 40 having a section of soft tube 41 to flow water out of the spray head 30, thus supplying water. The water supply pipeline 40 includes a closing valve 50, such as a solenoid valve, to be properly opened or closed as illustrated in
It is to be noted that the automatic faucet 1 is provided with an optical detecting device 70 to detect a displacement of a hand a (i.e., a finger) of a user. For example, when the hand a is detected, the controlling device 60 transmits a control signal toward the closing valve 50 to control the water to flow out of the spray head 30.
The optical detecting device 70, as shown in
The light source 71 is an infrared-ray transmitter to transmit an infrared ray as illustrated in
The image sensor 72 is a CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) image sensor. The processing unit 73 is a digital signal processor (DSP). The optical detecting device 70 also includes a housing 74 disposed on the spray head 30 and integrally formed with a casing 32 of the spray head 30 as illustrated in
The optical detecting device 70 of the present invention is disclosed in TW Pub. No. 201032091 A1 and is not a technology importance in the present invention, it is only used to match with a specific device to solve conventional defects.
The processing unit 73 of the optical detecting device 70 is the digital signal processor to transform the fingerprint image of the image sensor 72 into the digital signal so that the controlling device 60 controls the water to flow out of the spray head 30 by transmitting the digital signal toward the controlling device 60.
In operation, the automatic faucet 1 has two optional functions as follows:
First, the spray head 30 is kept in the spout 11 to flow the water, i.e., the spray head 30 is not pulled outward, so the user moves the finger across the transmission area of the infrared ray transmitted from the light source 71 of the optical detecting device 70 as illustrated in
Secondary, the spray head 30 is pulled outward to a work zone so as to supply the water. In operation, as shown in
The optical detecting device 70 is fixed on the spray head 30, and the transmitting direction of the infrared ray is opposite to the water flowing direction of the spray head 30 and is adjacent to the user and is located above a holding portion of the spray head 30, therefore the user or other objects around the transmission area of the infrared ray will not pass through or exist in the transmission area of the infrared ray, i.e., even though the user moves the finger toward a detecting area on purpose, the water will not be supplied, thereby preventing from water waste.
Furthermore, because the optical detecting device 70 is fixed above the holding portion of the spray head 30, even though the user holds the spray head 30, the water will not be supplied. But, when the finger moves toward the detecting area, the finger is sensed to control the water supply from the spray head 30 to prevent the water from flowing out of the spray head 30 when the user pulls the spray head 30 outward.
When the spray head 30 is pulled outward to the work zone, the water supply is controlled easily by moving the finger upward or downward without using the other hand, thus obtaining an easy operation.
While we have shown and described various embodiments in accordance with the present invention, it is clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
