Remote control device and water heater

Abstract

To reduce the number of types of remote controllers to be stocked, compared with a case where various types of remote controllers are stocked for different bathtub installation environments including the specifications of a water heater.SOLUTION: A remote controller 20 comprises: a first communication unit 21 that communicates with a water heater 10; a second communication unit 22 that communicates with a remote controller 30 other than the water heater 10; a reception unit 23 that receives hot water supply settings regarding hot water filling into the bathtub and reheating via the first communication unit 21 or the second communication unit 22; and an invalidation setting unit 26 that makes settings to invalidate the hot water supply settings received by the reception unit 23.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a remote control device that communicates with a water heater and the water heater. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent document 1 discloses a bath remote control that is installed in a bathroom and includes a remote control unit that controls the operation of a water heater, a television unit that displays television images, and a monitor that selectively displays an image from the remote control unit or an image from the television unit, and that has a power switch for the remote control unit and a power switch for the television unit, so that when the power switch on the remote control is pressed while an image from the television unit is being displayed on the monitor, the monitor display switches to the image from the remote control unit.The bath remote control is connected to a water heater together with another remote control installed outside the bathroom, such as in the kitchen, and is characterized in that when the power switch of the other remote control is pressed to start operation of the remote control unit while an image from the television unit is being displayed on the monitor, the monitor screen does not switch to the image from the television unit. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 4014527 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Water heaters are used to generate and supply hot water for use in kitchens, washrooms, baths, and other places, such as through faucets and showers. There are various types of water heaters, including gas water heaters, oil-fired water heaters, and electric water heaters. These water heaters generally use a dedicated remote control device to remotely operate the water heater and notify the user of its status. This remote control device is installed, for example, in the kitchen or bathroom of a home, and can turn the water heater on and off and set the temperature. In the bathroom, in addition to turning the water heater on and off and setting the temperature, it is also possible to select, for example, automatic bath operation, reheating, or adding hot water from the remote control device.

[0005] Incidentally, there is a configuration (first configuration) in which the remote control for controlling the water heater is provided with a kitchen remote control installed in the kitchen and a bath remote control installed in the bathroom, and the bath remote control is used to issue commands to automatically fill and reheat the water in the bathroom and to change the water temperature for the shower, etc. Also, depending on the installation environment of the bathtub, including the specifications of the water heater, a configuration (second configuration) may be adopted in which the kitchen remote control and bath remote control are provided, but the bath remote control is used to change the water temperature rather than to issue commands to automatically fill and reheat the water. Furthermore, there may also be a configuration (third configuration) in which the kitchen remote control is provided but the bath remote control is not required.

[0006] In order to accommodate each of the first to third configurations mentioned above, which are adopted depending on the bathtub installation environment, including the specifications of the water heater, manufacturers would need to stock three types of kitchen remote controls and two types of bath remote controls, making it difficult to reduce costs. An object of the present invention is to reduce the number of types of remote control devices to be stocked compared to when different types of remote control devices are stocked for each different bathtub installation environment, including the specifications of the water heater. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The invention described in claim 1 includes a first communication means for communicating with a water heater, a second communication means for communicating with a device other than the water heater, and a receiving means for receiving hot water supply settings related to filling a bathtub with hot water and reheating water via the first communication means or the second communication means. Setting for equipment that cannot fill the bathtub with water and reheat the water The remote control device is characterized by comprising: a disabling setting means for making a setting to disable the hot water supply setting accepted by the accepting means. The invention described in claim 2 is a remote control device described in claim 1, characterized in that the devices that communicate via the second communication means are multiple, and when the disable setting is made, any one of the multiple devices notifies the other devices via the second communication means. The invention described in claim 3 is a system including a first communication means for communicating with a first device, a second communication means for communicating with a second device, and a receiving means for receiving hot water supply settings for filling a bathtub with hot water and reheating water via the first communication means and the second communication means. Setting for equipment that cannot fill the bathtub with water and reheat the water The water heater is characterized by comprising: a disabling setting means for setting the hot water supply setting accepted by the accepting means to be disabled. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present invention, the number of types of remote control devices to be stocked can be reduced compared to when different types of remote control devices are stocked for each different bathtub installation environment, including the specifications of the water heater. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram illustrating a water heater and a remote control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of hot water supply piping installed in a residence. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the functions of the water heater and the remote control device. [Figure 4] 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating examples of the configuration of communication settings of a water heater, where FIG. 10A shows one example and FIG. 10B shows another example. [Figure 5] 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating examples of setting screens for performing communication settings on a remote control device, where (a) shows the operation display unit on the kitchen side and (b) shows the operation display unit on the bathroom side. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating another example of hot water supply piping installed in a residence. [Figure 7] 10 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in another example in which an abnormal state due to the absence of a bathroom remote control device is detected by a kitchen remote control device. [Figure 8] 10 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure in another example in which an abnormal state due to the absence of a remote control device for a bath is detected in a water heater. [Figure 9] 10 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when a water heater is set to be disabled. [Figure 10] 10 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when a setting for disabling is made on the remote control device in the kitchen. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 is a diagram illustrating a water heater 10 and remote control devices 20 and 30 according to the present embodiment. The remote control device may be abbreviated to "remote control." The illustrated water heater 10 is installed outdoors and supplies hot water to, for example, a kitchen, washroom, or bathroom through piping within the residence. In the bathroom, the water heater 10 may also supply hot water to a bathtub 44 (see FIG. 2) in addition to a faucet 43, and may also have a reheating kettle in addition to a hot water heater, thereby providing the function of automatically filling and reheating the bathtub 44. In some cases, hot water is supplied to a floor heating system (not shown) in the living room.

[0011] The water heater 10 is not limited to a gas water heater having a heat exchanger that uses gas, but may also be an oil water heater or an electric water heater. A residence is a building where people can live and where the water heater 10 is installed. For example, it is a detached house or a multi-family home such as an apartment or condominium. In this case, it does not matter whether the water heater is permanent or temporary.

[0012] The illustrated remote controls 20 and 30 are each connected to the water heater 10 by a communication line, and are capable of communicating with each other. The remote controls 20 and 30 can also communicate with each other. Communication between the remote controls 20 and 30 can be achieved via the water heater 10 as shown in the figure, or by connecting the remote controls 20 and 30 to each other by a communication line. Note that although the connection is wired in this embodiment, wireless connection is also possible.

[0013] Remote controls 20 and 30 are installed indoors. That is, remote control 20 is a kitchen remote control installed in the kitchen, and remote control 30 is a bath remote control installed in the bathroom. Remote controls 20 and 30 have switches for issuing commands to fill the water and reheat the water, and for changing the hot water temperature. Although the configuration is illustrated as including two remote controls 20 and 30, the present invention is not limited to this, and three or more remote controls including an additional remote control, that is, multiple kitchen remote controls and multiple bath remote controls may be provided.

[0014] The water heater 10 and the remote controls 20, 30 communicate a hot water temperature setting, which is a setting for the temperature of hot water used in the kitchen, etc., and may also communicate a bathtub hot water setting, which is a hot water setting for supplying hot water to the bathtub. Such communication of settings is carried out between the water heater 10, the remote control 20, and the remote control 30. For example, when a hot water temperature setting or a bathtub hot water setting is made on the remote control 30, the setting information is transmitted to the water heater 10 and also to the remote control 20. In such a case, when the remote control 20 receives the bathtub hot water setting via communication, it displays the setting or notifies the user of the setting by voice.

[0015] The bathtub hot water supply setting here refers to the setting of the hot water temperature and / or amount of hot water supplied when the water heater 10 has a hot water filling function and a reheating function, specifically, the setting information for the temperature and amount of hot water to fill the bathtub and the temperature of the hot water to be reheated.

[0016] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of hot water supply piping installed in a residence. The example shown in Figure 2 is a residence that has installed a hot water supply system that uses a water heater 10 as a heat source, and hot water supply piping is provided so that hot water can be used in the kitchen, washroom, and bathroom. That is, hot water is supplied from the water heater 10 to a kitchen faucet 41, a washroom faucet 42, a bathroom faucet 43, and a bathtub 44. In the bathtub 44, the hot water supply is controlled by the functions of the water heater 10 to fill the bathtub with water and to reheat the water. As shown, remote control 20 is installed in the kitchen and remote control 30 is installed in the bathroom.

[0017] <Example of functional configuration of water heater 10 and remote controls 20 and 30> FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the functions of the water heater 10 and the remote control devices 20 and 30. As shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the water heater 10 includes a first transceiver unit 11, a second transceiver unit 12, a reception unit 13, an abnormal state notification unit 14, a notification suppression setting unit 15, a disabling setting unit 16, a water heating control unit 17, and a memory unit 18. The first transmitting / receiving unit 11 of the water heater 10 has a function of communicating with the remote control 20, and the second transmitting / receiving unit 12 has a function of communicating with the remote control 30. The first transmitting / receiving unit 11 is an example of a first communication means of the water heater, and the second transmitting / receiving unit 12 is an example of a second communication means of the water heater.

[0018] The reception unit 13 has a function of receiving the hot water supply temperature setting and the bathtub hot water supply setting received by either the first transmission / reception unit 11 or the second transmission / reception unit 12, and notifying the other of the received settings. For example, when the second transmitting / receiving unit 12 receives a bathtub hot water supply setting from the remote control 20, the receiving unit 13 transmits the received bathtub hot water supply setting to the remote control 30 via the first transmitting / receiving unit 11. Also, when the first transmitting / receiving unit 11 receives a bathtub hot water supply setting from the remote control 30, the receiving unit 13 transmits the received bathtub hot water supply setting to the remote control 20 via the second transmitting / receiving unit 12. The reception unit 13 is an example of a reception means of a water heater.

[0019] The abnormal state notification unit 14 monitors communication between the first transceiver unit 11 and the remote control 20 and also monitors communication between the second transceiver unit 12 and the remote control 30, and has the function of notifying the other of an abnormal state if communication between either unit is not possible. For example, when abnormal state notification unit 14 detects that second transmission / reception unit 12 cannot communicate with remote control 30, it transmits to remote control 20 via first transmission / reception unit 11 a message that communication with remote control 30 is in an abnormal state. Also, when abnormal state notification unit 14 detects that first transmission / reception unit 11 cannot communicate with remote control 20, it transmits to remote control 30 via second transmission / reception unit 12 a message that communication with remote control 20 is in an abnormal state. Also, abnormal state notification unit 14 stores in memory unit 18 that a state is in an abnormal state. The abnormal state notification unit 14 is an example of a notification means of a water heater.

[0020] The notification suppression setting unit 15 has a function of setting to suppress transmission of information about an abnormal state even when the abnormal state notification unit 14 detects an abnormal state. For example, when communication with the remote control 30 is not possible, the notification suppression setting unit 15 suppresses notification of an abnormal state by the abnormal state notification unit 14 to the remote control 20. In addition, when communication with the remote control 20 is not possible, the notification suppression setting unit 15 suppresses notification of an abnormal state by the abnormal state notification unit 14 to the remote control 30. The notification suppression setting unit 15 is set by the user. The notification suppression setting unit 15 is an example of a setting means for the water heater.

[0021] The invalidation setting unit 16 has a function for invalidating the bathtub hot water supply setting received by the reception unit 13. As described above, this bathtub hot water supply setting is a hot water supply setting related to the supply of hot water to the bathtub, and is a setting related to filling the bathtub with water and reheating the water. The invalidation setting unit 16 is an example of a water heater invalidation setting means.

[0022] Disabling here refers to processing to prevent control of hot water filling and reheating, regardless of whether the water heater 10 has a hot water filling function or a reheating function. For example, this refers to a case where the LCD display does not display information about hot water filling and reheating so that the user cannot operate the functions. Also, for example, this refers to a case where the LCD display for hot water filling and reheating is displayed but does not respond to operations.

[0023] Hot water supply control unit 17 has a function of controlling hot water supply by gas combustion in water heater 10. Specifically, hot water supply control unit 17 controls the temperature of hot water supplied through the hot water supply pipe according to the received hot water supply temperature setting, and also controls the temperature and amount of hot water when filling bathtub 44 (see FIG. 2) or reheating the water according to the received bathtub hot water supply setting.

[0024] The storage unit 18 stores various settings and information received by the reception unit 13. The storage unit 18 also outputs the settings and information when necessary. The storage unit 18 is, for example, a memory, a hard disk drive (HDD), or a solid state drive (SSD).

[0025] The remote controller 20 shown in FIG. 3 includes a first communication unit 21, a second communication unit 22, a reception unit 23, an abnormal state notification unit 24, a notification suppression setting unit 25, a disable setting unit 26, an operation display unit 27, and an audio output unit 28. The functions of the first communication unit 21, the second communication unit 22, the reception unit 23, the abnormal state notification unit 24, the notification suppression setting unit 25, and the disable setting unit 26 of the remote controller 20 correspond to the first transmission / reception unit 11, the second transmission / reception unit 12, the reception unit 13, the abnormal state notification unit 14, the notification suppression setting unit 15, and the disable setting unit 16 of the water heater 10 described above. These will be explained below.

[0026] The first communication unit 21 of the remote control 20 has a function of communicating with the water heater 10, and the second communication unit 22 has a function of communicating with the remote control 30. The first communication unit 21 is an example of a first communication means of the remote control device, and the second communication unit 22 is an example of a second communication means of the remote control device.

[0027] The reception unit 23 of the remote control 20 has the function of receiving the hot water temperature setting and the bathtub hot water setting received by either the first communication unit 21 or the second communication unit 22, and notifying the other of the received settings. For example, when the first communication unit 21 receives a bathtub hot water supply setting from the water heater 10, the reception unit 23 transmits the received bathtub hot water supply setting to the remote control 30 via the second communication unit 22. Also, when the second communication unit 22 receives a bathtub hot water supply setting from the remote control 30, the reception unit 13 transmits the received bathtub hot water supply setting to the water heater 10 via the first communication unit 21. Furthermore, the reception unit 23 of the remote controller 20 receives the contents of the input operation performed on the operation display unit 27 . The reception unit 23 is an example of a reception means of a remote control device.

[0028] The abnormal state notification unit 24 of the remote control 20 has a function of monitoring communication with the water heater 10 by the first communication unit 21 and communication with the remote control 30 by the second communication unit 22, and if communication with either one is not possible, notifies the other that a communication abnormal state has occurred. The abnormal state notification unit 24 also has a function of notifying itself that a communication abnormal state has occurred. For example, when the abnormal state notification unit 24 detects that the first communication unit 21 is unable to communicate with the water heater 10, the second communication unit 22 transmits to the remote control 30 a message that communication with the water heater 10 is in an abnormal state, and the remote control 20 notifies the user of the abnormal state. Furthermore, when the abnormal state notification unit 24 detects that the second communication unit 22 is unable to communicate with the remote control 30, the first communication unit 21 transmits to the water heater 10 a message that communication with the remote control 30 is in an abnormal state, and the remote control 20 notifies the user of the abnormal state. The abnormal state notification unit 24 is an example of a notification means of a remote control device.

[0029] The notification suppression setting unit 25 of the remote control 20 has a function of setting the remote control 20 to suppress transmission of information about an abnormal state to the water heater 10 even when the abnormal state notification unit 24 detects an abnormal state in communication with the remote control 30 via the second communication unit 22. The remote control 20 also has a function of setting the remote control 20 to suppress notification of an abnormal state even when an abnormal state in communication with the remote control 30 is detected. That is, notification suppression setting unit 25 suppresses notification of an abnormal condition to water heater 10 by abnormal condition notification unit 24 when communication with remote control 30 is not possible. Note that when abnormal condition notification unit 24 detects an abnormal state in communication with water heater 10 by first communication unit 21, notification suppression setting unit 25 causes remote control 20 to notify of an abnormal condition regardless of the setting, even if a setting to suppress notification of an abnormal condition has been made. The notification suppression setting unit 25 is set by the user. The notification suppression setting unit 25 is an example of a setting means of a remote control device.

[0030] The invalidation setting unit 26 of the remote controller 20 has a function for making a setting to invalidate the bathtub hot water supply setting accepted by the acceptance unit 23. The invalidation setting unit 26 is an example of invalidation setting means of a remote control device.

[0031] The operation display unit 27 includes an input operation unit for inputting hot water temperature settings and bathtub hot water settings, and a display unit for displaying the settings input by the input operation unit and the settings accepted by the accepting unit 23. Such operation and display unit 27 can be configured as a touch panel having an input operation unit and a display unit. In this case, operation and display unit 27 has a display that displays various information and a position detection sheet that detects the position touched by a finger, a stylus pen, etc. Any means may be used to detect the touched position, such as a resistive film method that detects based on the pressure of the contact, or a capacitive method that detects based on the static electricity of the contacted object. Furthermore, the input operation section of the operation display section 27 may be configured with operation buttons, for example, and the display section may be configured with a liquid crystal display.

[0032] The audio output unit 28 outputs, by voice, the settings input by the input operation unit and the settings accepted by the acceptance unit 23. The audio output unit 28 can be configured by, for example, a speaker.

[0033] The remote controller 30 shown in FIG. 3 includes a first communication unit 31, a second communication unit 32, a reception unit 33, an abnormal state notification unit , an invalidation setting unit , an operation display unit 37, and an audio output unit . The first communication unit 31, the second communication unit 32, the reception unit 33, the abnormal state notification unit 34, the disable setting unit 36, the operation display unit 37, and the audio output unit 38 of the remote control 30 are common to the first communication unit 21, the second communication unit 22, the reception unit 23, the abnormal state notification unit 24, the disable setting unit 26, the operation display unit 27, and the audio output unit 28 of the remote control 20 described above. The explanation of the remote control 30 will be omitted because it is the same as the explanation of the remote control 20, except that "remote control 30" is replaced with "remote control 20" and the configuration of the remote control 30 is replaced with the configuration of the remote control 20.

[0034] The first communication unit 31 is an example of a first communication means of a remote control device, the second communication unit 32 is an example of a second communication means of a remote control device, the reception unit 33 is an example of a reception means of a remote control device, and the disable setting unit 36 ​​is an example of a disable setting means of a remote control device. Additionally, although the remote control 30 shown in FIG. 3 does not have a function corresponding to the notification suppression setting unit 25 that the remote control 20 has, a configuration having a similar function may be adopted.

[0035] <Example of communication settings for water heater 10> FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of communication settings of the water heater 10, where (a) shows one example and (b) shows another example. The water heater 10 has a built-in control board 10a configured with a notification suppression setting unit 15 and a disabling setting unit 16 as communication settings. In the configuration example shown in Figure 4(a), a dip switch 10b for setting communication is mounted on a control board 10a. The dip switch 10b is an electronic component consisting of four small slide switches arranged in a row. Notification suppression setting and notification disable setting are performed by turning a predetermined slide switch ON / OFF. The notification suppression setting and the disable setting are read by the firmware when the water heater 10 is turned on, thereby switching the communication settings.

[0036] In the configuration example shown in FIG. 4(b), four tactile switches 10c for setting up communication and four 7-segment displays 10d for displaying the communication settings set by the tactile switches 10c are mounted on the control board 10a. The tactile switches 10c are push buttons that can be pressed to change the information displayed on the 7-segment display 10d. By pressing a predetermined one of the four tactile switches 10c, notification suppression setting and notification disable setting are performed.

[0037] <Example of communication settings for remote controls 20 and 30> 5A and 5B are diagrams illustrating examples of setting screens for performing communication settings for the remote control devices 20 and 30, where (a) shows the operation display unit 27 on the kitchen side and (b) shows the operation display unit 37 on the bathroom side. As described above, the operation display units 27 and 37 are configured to include a touch panel or a liquid crystal display and operation buttons, and in the case of a touch panel, the communication settings are changed by touch operation, and in the case of a liquid crystal display and operation buttons, the communication settings are changed by button operation.

[0038] The operation display unit 27 of the remote control 20 shown in (a) of Figure 5 has a top menu screen 27a with four items: hot water temperature setting, hot water filling setting, reheating setting, and various settings.For example, when the various settings item is selected, the screen transitions to various settings screen 27b. The various settings screen 27b has three items: time setting, volume setting, and communication setting. For example, when communication setting is selected, the screen moves to communication setting screen 27c.

[0039] The communication setting screen 27c has three options: normal setting, no bath remote control setting, and hot water filling / reheating disabled setting. For example, if the no bath remote control setting is selected, the screen will move to password entry screen 27d. In other words, the no bath remote control setting is a setting in the notification suppression setting unit 25 (see Figure 3), and cannot be set without password verification. If the password is verified, the screen will move to the bath remote control not required setting screen 27e. The bath remote control not required setting screen 27e has an ON button and an OFF button, and either can be set. If the ON button is selected, the notification suppression setting unit 25 (see FIG. 3) will suppress the notification of an abnormal state.

[0040] In this way, the no bath remote control setting screen 27e is usually configured to be accessible by the contractor who installs the water heater 10 and the remote controls 20 and 30 entering a password, and the no bath remote control setting is performed. In other words, it is configured so that it is difficult for a user who does not know the password to set the notification suppression setting unit 25 (see FIG. 3). The no bath remote control setting screen 27e is an example of a setting screen. In this embodiment, the bath remote control-free setting screen 27e can be accessed by entering a password as predetermined information, but this is not limited to this, and the bath remote control-free setting screen 27e can also be accessed by simultaneously pressing and holding multiple buttons (which may be either a touch panel or operation buttons) as a predetermined operation for several seconds.Also, for example, an authentication code as predetermined information can be displayed on the operation display unit 27, and the contractor can be authenticated by reading the authentication code with a pre-registered mobile phone (entering the authentication code) to access the bath remote control-free setting screen 27e.

[0041] The operation display section 37 of the remote controller 30 shown in FIG. 5(b) displays a top menu screen 37a and various setting screens 37b, similar to the operation display section 27 of FIG. 5(a). The communication setting screen 37c has two items: normal setting and hot water filling / reheating disabled setting, and does not have the item for setting without bath remote control (a function provided by the notification suppression setting unit 25 in Figure 3) that the communication setting screen 27c of the operation display unit 27 has.

[0042] When the hot water filling / reheating disable setting is selected on the communication setting screen 37c, the screen moves to a password input screen 37d, and after password verification, the screen moves to a hot water filling / reheating disable setting screen 37e. The hot water filling / reheating disable setting screen 37e has an ON button and an OFF button, which can be set to either. The hot water filling / reheating disable setting is a setting in the disable setting section 36, and cannot be performed without password verification. When the operation and display unit 37 is configured to allow the bath remote control-free setting, password verification is required, just like the operation and display unit 27. As in the case of the communication setting screen 27c, the communication setting screen 37c may also employ mobile phone authentication instead of password verification.

[0043] <Explanation of the technical significance of providing a notification suppression setting unit, etc.> Next, the technical significance of providing the notification suppression setting unit 15 and the notification suppression setting unit 25 will be explained. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating another example of hot water supply piping provided in a residence, and corresponds to FIG. The other example shown in Fig. 6 differs from the case of Fig. 2 in that remote control 20 is installed in the kitchen, but remote control 30 (see Fig. 2) is not installed in the bathroom. The other example shown in Fig. 6 also differs from Fig. 2 in that faucet 45 for filling bathtub 44 with hot water is provided in the bathtub. This difference is due to the fact that water heater 10 shown in Fig. 6 does not have a hot water filling function or a reheating function, unlike the case of Fig. 2. The temperature of the hot water from the bathroom faucet 43 or tap 45 can be set using the remote control 20 in the kitchen.

[0044] 6, when a typical model is adopted in which the combination of water heater 10 and remote controls 20, 30 is installed in a residence, the remote control 30 is not installed, so the water heater 10 and remote control 20 cannot establish communication with the remote control 30, and an alarm is issued indicating that a communication abnormality has occurred. To prevent such an alarm from being issued, a special specification water heater 10 and remote control 20 must be used, or in the case of a standard specification, the bath remote control must be connected to the water heater and installed, for example, outdoors under protective cover. Therefore, in this embodiment, in order to prevent such notifications, a configuration is adopted that includes a notification suppression setting unit 25 (see FIG. 3), and the bath remote control disabling setting described in FIG. 5(a) can be performed. As a result, even if a general model is adopted, notifications of communication abnormalities caused by not installing the remote control 30 will not be issued. In other words, the manufacturer of the water heater 10 will no longer need to stock different types of remote controls 20 and 30 according to the installation environment of the bathtub 44, including the specifications of the water heater 10.

[0045] FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in another example in which the remote control device 20 in the kitchen detects an abnormal state caused by the bathroom remote control device 30 not being installed. 7, when an abnormal communication state is detected by the abnormal state notification unit 24 (see FIG. 3) of the remote controller 20 (step 101), it is determined whether or not notification suppression has been set by the notification suppression setting unit 25 (step 102), and if it has been set (Yes in step 102), no notification is made by the abnormal state notification unit 24. On the other hand, if it has not been set (No in step 102), the abnormal state notification unit 24 notifies of an abnormal state (step 103).

[0046] The notification of an abnormal state here refers to a notification that the communication state with the remote control 30 is abnormal. For example, this can be done by notifying the user (error notification) via the operation display unit 27 and the audio output unit 28 of the remote control 20, or by notifying the water heater 10 that an abnormal state exists, or by only one of these methods.

[0047] In the example processing procedure shown in Figure 7, it is determined whether or not notification suppression has been set by the notification suppression setting unit 25, but this is not limited to this, and when notification suppression has been set by the notification suppression setting unit 25, the abnormal state notification unit 24 may detect a communication abnormality with the remote control 20 while not detecting a communication abnormality with the remote control 30.

[0048] FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure in another example in which the water heater 10 detects an abnormal state caused by the bath remote control device 30 not being installed. In the example of the processing procedure shown in FIG. 8, when abnormal state notification unit 14 (see FIG. 3) of water heater 10 detects an abnormal state of remote control 30 (step 201), remote control 20 is notified of the abnormal state (step 202).

[0049] When remote controller 20 receives a notification of an abnormal condition from water heater 10 (step 203), it checks whether notification suppression setting unit 25 has set notification suppression (step 204). If it has been set (Yes in step 204), notification is not made, and if it has not been set (No in step 204), abnormal condition notification unit 24 notifies the user of the abnormal condition (step 205).

[0050] 8, it is determined whether or not notification suppression is set in the remote control 20, but this is not limiting, and it may be determined whether or not notification suppression is set in the water heater 10. If it is determined that notification suppression is set, notification of an abnormal state (see step 202) is not sent to the remote control 20.

[0051] 8, when an abnormal state of remote control 30 is detected in water heater 10, remote control 20 is notified of the abnormal state (see steps 201 and 202), but this is not limited to this. For example, it may be determined whether or not notification suppression has been set by notification suppression setting unit 15, and if so, notification of the abnormal state may not be sent to remote control 20. Furthermore, when notification suppression has been set by notification suppression setting unit 15, abnormal state notification unit 14 may detect a communication abnormality in remote control 20 but may not detect a communication abnormality with remote control 30.

[0052] <Explanation of the technical significance of having a disabling setting unit> 2, if water heater 10 does not have the hot water filling function or the reheating function, or if no hot water supply piping is installed to bathtub 44, water filling and reheating cannot be performed, but the hot water temperature for bathroom faucet 43 must be adjusted, and for this reason remote control 30 is installed in the bathroom. In such cases, if a general remote control 20, 30 that can set water filling and reheating is used, it becomes difficult to properly control water heater 10 and remote control 20, 30.

[0053] Therefore, in this embodiment, a configuration is adopted in which disablement setting units 16, 26, 36 (see FIG. 3) are provided for disabling the hot water filling and reheating settings, making it possible to perform the hot water filling and reheating disable setting described in FIG. 5(b). This eliminates the need to stock different types of remote controls 20, 30 according to the installation environment of the bathtub 44, including the specifications of the water heater 10.

[0054] FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure when the water heater 10 is set to be disabled. In the processing procedure example shown in Fig. 9, when the disable setting is made by the disable setting unit 16 of the water heater 10 (step 301), the first transmitting / receiving unit 11 notifies the remote control 20 of the disable setting (step 302). In addition, the storage unit 18 of the water heater 10 stores the fact that the disable setting has been made.

[0055] In remote control 20, when first communication unit 21 receives the invalidation setting (step 303), after returning the reception to water heater 10, invalidation setting unit 26 determines whether or not the invalidation setting is set (step 304). If the invalidation setting is not set (No in step 304), invalidation setting unit 26 sets the invalidation setting (step 305). If the invalidation setting has already been made (Yes in step 304) or after the invalidation setting has been made (step 305), the second communication unit 22 transmits the invalidation setting to the remote control 30 (step 306).

[0056] When the second communication unit 32 of the remote control 30 receives the disable setting (step 307), it replies to the remote control 20 that it has received the setting. When a reply is received from the remote control 30 to the remote control 20, the first communication unit 21 of the remote control 20 may notify the water heater 10 that the communication of the remote control 30 is normal. In such a case, the memory unit 18 of the water heater 10 may store that the communication status of the remote controls 20 and 30 is normal. If the invalidation setting unit 36 ​​has not set the invalidation (No in step 308), it sets the invalidation (step 309) and ends the process. If the invalidation setting unit 36 ​​has already set the invalidation (Yes in step 308), it ends the process.

[0057] In Figure 9, the disable setting in the water heater 10 is sent to the remote control 30 via the remote control 20, but this is not limited to this and the setting may be sent from the water heater 10 via the remote control 30 to the remote control 20, or the water heater 10 may send the setting to the remote controls 20 and 30.

[0058] FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure when the invalidation setting is made on the remote control device 20 in the kitchen. 10, when the invalidation setting unit 26 of the remote control 20 sets the invalidation (step 401), the invalidation setting unit 26 determines whether the invalidation setting is set (step 402). If the invalidation setting is not set (No in step 402), the invalidation setting unit 26 sets the invalidation (step 403) and proceeds to step 404. Also, if the invalidation setting has already been set (Yes in step 402), the process proceeds to step 404. That is, the first communication unit 21 and the second communication unit 22 transmit the invalidation setting to the water heater 10 and the remote control 30 (step 404).

[0059] In water heater 10, when first transceiver 11 receives the disable setting (step 405), memory unit 18 stores the disable setting (step 406). In addition, if water heater 10 includes control board 10a on which tactile switch 10c is mounted (see FIG. 4(b)), the disable setting may be reflected in the display information of 7-segment display 10d.

[0060] In the remote controller 30, when the second communication unit 32 receives the invalidation setting (step 407), the invalidation setting unit 36 ​​determines whether or not the invalidation setting has been made (step 408). If the invalidation setting has not been made (No in step 408), the invalidation setting unit 36 ​​makes the invalidation setting (step 409) and ends the process. Also, if the invalidation setting has already been made (Yes in step 408), the process ends.

[0061] In Figure 10, the disable setting in remote control 20 is transmitted to water heater 10 and remote control 30, but this is not limited to this and may be transmitted from remote control 20 via water heater 10 to remote control 30, or from remote control 20 via remote control 30 to water heater 10. Also, Figure 10 shows a case where invalidation is set by the invalidation setting unit 26 of the remote control 20, but the processing when invalidation is set by the invalidation setting unit 36 ​​of the remote control 30 can be performed in the same way as in Figure 10. In this way, when the invalidation setting is made on either one of the remote controls 20, 30, the other is automatically set to invalid, and the configuration is such that the invalidation setting is reflected in the water heater 10 regardless of which remote control is set to invalid.

[0062] In addition, Fig. 9 shows a case where the disable setting is made by the disable setting unit 16 of the water heater 10, and Fig. 10 shows a case where the disable setting is made by the disable setting unit 26 of the remote control 20, but the same processing procedure can be performed when the disable setting is canceled by the disable setting units 16, 26. Note that the disable setting may also be canceled by the disable setting unit 36, and in that case the same processing procedure can be performed.

[0063] As described above, in this embodiment, the water heater 10 and remote controls 20, 30 shown in Figure 2 are configured to have a notification suppression setting unit 15 in the water heater 10 and an alarm suppression setting unit 25 in the remote control 20, so that the remote control 30 shown in Figure 6 can be used without being notified of a communication abnormality even when it is not connected to the water heater 10. Furthermore, by adopting a configuration including an invalidation setting unit 16 of the water heater 10, an invalidation setting unit 26 of the remote control 20, and an invalidation setting unit 36 ​​of the remote control 30, the water heater 10 and remote controls 20 and 30 shown in Figure 2 can be used even if the water heater 10 does not have a hot water filling function or a reheating function. In this way, with the water heater 10 and remote controls 20 and 30 of this embodiment, even if the bathtub installation environment, including the specifications of the water heater, is different, the versatility of the remote controls 20 and 30 can be increased, thereby reducing the number of remote control devices that need to be stocked. [Explanation of symbols]

[0064] 10...water heater, 11...first transmitting / receiving unit, 12...second transmitting / receiving unit, 13, 23, 33...reception unit, 14, 24...abnormal state notification unit, 15, 25...notification suppression setting unit, 16, 26, 36...disablement setting unit, 20, 30...remote control, 21, 31...first communication unit, 22, 32...second communication unit

Claims

1. a first communication means for communicating with the water heater; a second communication means for communicating with a device other than the water heater; a receiving means for receiving hot water supply settings related to filling a bathtub with hot water and reheating the water via the first communication means or the second communication means; A setting for disabling the hot water supply setting accepted by the accepting means, which is a setting for equipment that cannot fill the bathtub with hot water and reheat the water; and A remote control device comprising:

2. the devices communicating via the second communication means are plural, Any one of the plurality of devices, 2. The remote control device according to claim 1, wherein when the setting to disable is made, the other device is notified by the second communication means.

3. a first communication means for communicating with a first device; second communication means for communicating with a second device; a receiving means for receiving hot water supply settings related to filling the bathtub with hot water and reheating the water via the first communication means and the second communication means; A setting for disabling the hot water supply setting accepted by the accepting means, which is a setting for equipment that cannot fill the bathtub with hot water and reheat the water; and A water heater comprising:

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