Bathroom Towel Dryer Control Using Humidity-Aware Occupancy Sensing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional electric heating devices, such as towel radiators, fail to accurately differentiate between various uses of a bathroom, like showering or bathing, leading to inadequate heating comfort, as they rely solely on motion sensors which cannot distinguish between these activities.
Innovation Solution
An electric heating device equipped with a motion sensor, a luminosity sensor, and a humidity sensor, which processes data to determine the likelihood of shower or bath use, adjusting the heating accordingly by setting a specific temperature based on calculated movement, luminosity, and humidity data, with humidity being given greater weight for improved detection reliability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a motion sensor is used to control heating, then the heating can be activated when a user is present, but the motion sensor cannot distinguish between different bathroom uses (showering vs. dressing), leading to inadequate heating comfort adaptation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple sensors (motion sensor, luminosity sensor, humidity sensor) into an integrated detection system. The control unit processes signals from all three sensors simultaneously to determine bathroom usage type, enabling accurate differentiation between showering and dressing activities while maintaining adaptability to user needs.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit acts as an intermediary that receives raw signals from multiple sensors, processes them through logical operations, and generates appropriate heating control commands. This intermediary processing layer enables the system to interpret combined sensor data accurately to distinguish between different bathroom uses.
2Reliability
If multiple sensors are added to improve use detection accuracy, then the detection reliability improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit is designed to perform multiple functions: it processes motion sensor signals, luminosity sensor signals, and humidity sensor signals, and generates heating control commands based on综合分析 of all inputs. This multi-functional design consolidates the system into a single processing unit rather than requiring separate control circuits for each sensor.
Solution Approach 2:
The system monitors changes in multiple parameters (motion presence, luminosity levels, humidity variations) simultaneously. By analyzing the pattern of changes across these different parameters, the system can reliably distinguish between showering and dressing activities without requiring overly complex individual sensor systems.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a heater, preferably of the towel dryer type, for heating a bathroom. Said apparatus comprises a heating body (3), a control module (6) of the heating body according to a set temperature. The apparatus also comprises a movement sensor (801), a luminosity sensor (802), a humidity sensor (803), and a processing and calculation module (8) capable of receiving signals transmitted by said sensors . Said processing and calculation module (8) calculates (101, 102, 103) a movement datum, a luminosity datum, and a humidity datum, from the signals transmitted from said sensors, and defines (500) a temperature as a function of said movement data, luminosity and humidity calculated.