CN107847030B

CN107847030B - Hair dryer with optimized air inlet channel

Info

Publication number: CN107847030B
Application number: CN201680043890.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 尼古拉斯·洛谢
Original assignee: SEB SA
Current assignee: SEB SA
Priority date: 2015-07-28
Filing date: 2016-07-08
Publication date: 2020-11-13
Anticipated expiration: 2036-07-08
Also published as: CN107847030A; KR102585050B1; BR112018001554A2; FR3039376A1; BR112018001554B1; EP3328239A1; EP3328239B1; FR3039376B1; ES2745032T3; KR20180035233A; WO2017017332A1; RU2727533C1

Abstract

The invention relates to a hair dryer comprising an air circulation chamber (3) equipped with an inlet area (4) and an outlet area (5), and an air circulation system (6) comprising an electric motor (8) and a propeller (7), said electric motor (8) and said propeller (7) being arranged in said circulation chamber so as to suck in external air through said inlet area and to convey it from upstream towards downstream until said outlet area. The blower comprises a system of channels (15) arranged in the inlet area (4) so as to discharge towards the outside the air pushed out by the propeller (7) in the circulation chamber (3). The invention allows to eliminate turbulence in said inlet region, which turbulence disturbs the flow of the air sucked in said inlet region.

Description

Hair dryer with optimized air inlet channel

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of hair dryers for treating hair by drying. The present invention is primarily directed to optimizing drying and feel performance.

Background

Traditionally, hair dryers include an air intake zone, an air circulation chamber, an air output zone, an air circulation system and a heating element. The air circulation system and the heating element are integrated in the circulation chamber. The air circulation system includes an electric motor that drives a propeller that allows outside air to be drawn through the access area. The circulation system also comprises a fairing equipped with blades configured for channeling the air blown at the propeller outlet. The blown and ducted air is then conveyed downstream of the circulation chamber and past the heating element. More or less heated air is then blown to the outside through the output zone in order to dry the hair.

A published japanese patent JPH02252404 is known, which comprises blades arranged in the intake area, which allow to channel the air taken in towards the propeller, while limiting the load losses, which contributes to improving the speed of the air blown to the outlet and therefore to improving the drying and feel. However, this type of design performs poorly acoustically. In fact, the design of this hair dryer, and more particularly of all the existing hair dryers, does not allow to reduce the sound hazards caused in particular by the rotation of the motor. Furthermore, according to this design of the hair dryer, and more particularly according to all hair dryers of the prior art, the flow of air sucked in by the propeller is subject to great disturbances in the inlet region of the circulation chamber. In fact, there is a large pressure difference between upstream and downstream of the propeller. In addition to this, it is necessary to leave a space between the inner wall of the circulation chamber and the peripheral profile of the propeller due to the installation clearance between the parts. This results in the presence of a peripheral space in which a pressure equilibrium is created and a portion of the air is pushed out by the propeller instead of being sucked in. This pushed out air generates turbulence in the inlet region of the circulation chamber, which leads to a poor flow of the sucked-in air and to load losses.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention also aims to channel the air taken in towards the propeller, while limiting the load losses, and to overcome the drawbacks of air flow disturbances in the inlet region that appear in hair dryers, such as described in patent JPH 02252404.

To this end, a hair dryer according to the invention comprises an air circulation chamber equipped with an inlet zone and an outlet zone. The blower further includes an air circulation system including a motor and a propeller arranged in the circulation chamber to draw in outside air through the inlet area and deliver it from upstream to downstream until the outlet area. The air circulation system further comprises a rectifier equipped with blades configured for channeling the air sucked at the propeller outlet. Furthermore, a heating element is arranged in the circulation chamber downstream of the rectifier, said heating element allowing to heat the circulating air more or less when it passes around it before it is blown outside through the outlet area.

Notably, the hair dryer according to the invention comprises a system of channels arranged in said inlet region so as to discharge towards the outside the air pushed out by said propeller in said circulation chamber. This air is pushed out in particular at the periphery of the propeller. The channel system thus allows to discharge this air pushed out by the propeller and to drive it to the outside, instead of leaving it in the circulation chamber. This advantageously allows avoiding any turbulence and any flow disturbance of the inhaled air.

In an embodiment of the hair dryer according to the invention, the system of channels comprises a duct having a rotary shape and arranged in the inlet region adjacent to an inner wall of the circulation chamber. This rotary shape ensures that the pushed-out air is discharged over the entire inner periphery of the circulation chamber in the inlet region. However, a plurality of ducts distributed uniformly over the entire circumference in the region of the inlet may be provided without going beyond the scope of the present invention.

In an embodiment of the hair dryer according to the invention, said system of channels comprises a speed reducing mechanism of the air pushed out towards the outside. This speed reduction avoids the creation of turbulence outside the inlet area of the blower, which would interfere with the proper entry of air.

In an embodiment of a hair dryer according to the invention, said system of passages comprises a noise hazard reducing mechanism. This helps to optimise the sound performance of the hair dryer.

In a preferred embodiment of a hair dryer according to the invention, the system of passages consists of a duct having a rotary shape, the duct having the shape of a deflector in a longitudinal sectional plane. The baffle shape advantageously allows for the simultaneous implementation of the air velocity reduction mechanism and the noise hazard abatement mechanism described above.

In an embodiment of the hair dryer according to the invention, the hair dryer comprises a shell (or hood) assembled with the circulation chamber in the inlet region. The housing includes the channel system. This design facilitates the separate realization of the circulation chamber and the housing (or hood) with the channel system. In a preferred form, a removable securing mechanism is disposed between the circulation chamber and the housing to allow removal of the housing. This facilitates access to the interior of the circulation chamber for access to the air circulation system, for example for replacing a propeller. This also allows for replacement of the shell.

In an embodiment of the blower according to the invention, the blower comprises at least two vanes, which are arranged at the inlet area. The blades are configured to form, opposite the inlet area and to each other, an air inlet channel through which air drawn in under the action of the propeller enters the circulation chamber. These air intake channels are oriented towards the propeller, which allows channeling the air towards the propeller and limits load losses. Furthermore, the at least two vanes are configured to block the line aligned towards the interior of the circulation chamber as if closing a wall of the inlet area in the circulation chamber. Thus, the sucked air is channelled towards the propeller and the sound waves generated by the rotation of the motor propagate in the channel, while bouncing back against the blades constituting the closing wall, which allows to attenuate the sound waves and therefore the sound hazard when they come out of the channel.

A line aligned towards the interior of the circulation chamber refers to a line parallel to the longitudinal axis of the circulation chamber, with which a user may align his eyes in order to attempt to see the interior of the circulation chamber from the rear of the blower.

In an embodiment of the hair dryer according to the invention, said blades each have the shape of a truncated cone, said blades being open towards the upstream. The blades are nested with a spacing from each other so as to form said channel oriented towards the propeller. Furthermore, the vanes are configured for covering the inlet area and for at least partially covering in tandem so as to block any lines aligned towards the interior of the circulation chamber. The tapered tube shape advantageously covers the entire inlet area so as to constitute said closing wall, without having any negative effect on the section of the channel implemented. In addition, the truncated-cone shape facilitates the intake of external air on the side of the blower.

In an embodiment of the hair dryer according to the invention, said hair dryer comprises between two and ten truncated-cone shaped tubes. Preferably, the blower comprises two or four frusto-conical tubes.

In an embodiment of the hair dryer according to the invention, the hair dryer comprises a shell (or hood) as described above with one of its features. Further, the shell includes the at least two vanes. This design facilitates the separate realization of the circulation chamber and the shell (or hood) with the channel system and the vanes.

In an embodiment of a hair dryer according to the invention, said housing comprises a holding claw for holding said blades together with each other. This facilitates the implementation of blades with regular spacing from each other.

In an embodiment of a hair dryer according to the invention, the at least two blades and the channel system as described above are configured such that air pushed out by the channel system is re-sucked through the air inlet channel by the propeller. In a preferred embodiment, the frustoconical tube shape of the blades and the baffle shape of the conduit are configured to allow this implementation.

Drawings

The following description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings allows to highlight the object of the invention, in which:

figure 1 shows an overall cross-section of a blower according to an embodiment of the invention;

figure 2 shows an enlarged view of a portion of the rear part of the blower of figure 1;

figure 3 shows a cross-section of the shell (or shroud) of the particularly integrated blade;

figure 4 is a side view of figure 3;

figure 5 is a front view of a variant of the shell;

figure 6 is an enlarged view of a portion of the rear part of a variant of the blower incorporating the casing of figure 5.

Detailed Description

In the following description, the same reference numerals are used to describe similar features according to different embodiment variants.

As shown in fig. 1, the hair dryer comprises a main body 2 having a substantially cylindrical shape allowing to constitute a circulation chamber 3 having a longitudinal axis X. The circulation chamber 3 comprises an inlet region 4 and an outlet region 5. A circulation system 6 is arranged in this circulation chamber 3, which circulation system allows ambient air to be sucked in through the inlet area and then delivered over the entire length of the circulation chamber 3 in order to subsequently blow the air outside the blower 1 through the outlet area 5. The circulation system 6 comprises a propeller 7 arranged in the vicinity of the inlet area 4, an electric motor 8 which allows to drive the propeller 7 in rotation, and a rectifier 9 which is arranged downstream of the propeller 7 and allows to channel the air at the outlet of the propeller 7. The hair dryer 1 also comprises a heating element 10, arranged downstream of the rectifier 9, which allows heating of the air in the downstream portion of the circulation chamber 3, which is then expelled through the outlet region 5. The hair dryer 1 also comprises a control and regulation mechanism (not shown) of the motor 8 and of the heating element 10, which allows modifying the rotation speed of the motor 8 and the temperature of the heating element 10, respectively, from a rest position to a full-power position. All of these features are typically present on a hair dryer and, therefore, are not described in detail in the ensuing description.

A first aspect of the invention relates to the implementation of a channelling mechanism which channels the air sucked in by the propeller 7 at the inlet area 4. These channelling means are configured for reducing load losses and for reducing sound hazards due in particular to the operation of the motor 8, the rotation of the propeller 7 and the air flow circulating in the circulation chamber 3.

As shown in particular in fig. 1 to 3 and 6, these means are realized by vanes 11 arranged on a shell 12 (or cover) which is assembled with the inlet region 4 of the circulation chamber 3. In the embodiment of fig. 1-4, four blades 11a-11d are disposed on the shell 12. However, a large number of different blades may be provided, preferably between two and ten. As an example, in fig. 5 and 6, only two

blades

11a,11b are arranged on the shell 12.

As shown in fig. 1 to 3, the blades 11a to 11d each have the shape of a truncated cone which opens toward the upstream of the blower 1. Furthermore, these blades 11a-11d are configured to be regularly spaced from each other so as to constitute three channels 13a-13c between said blades 11a-11 d. The shell 12 comprises a central duct 14, the wall 14a of which has the shape of a deflector, as shown in figures 2 to 3. The fourth vane 11d is also disposed opposite the wall 14a so as to constitute a passage 13d, as shown in fig. 2 to 3. Furthermore, the four vanes 11a-11d are configured to partially cover each other in front and rear while preserving the presence of the three channels 13a-13 c. Likewise, the fourth blade 11d and the wall 14a are configured so that said blade 11d partially covers said wall 14a, while preserving the presence of the fourth channel 13 d. The above-mentioned partial covers allow to completely cover the central duct 14 provided in the inlet area 4 of the circulation chamber 3 as if it were a wall provided in front of the inlet area 4 for blocking the inlet area, as can be seen in fig. 4. This allows blocking the line aligned with the inside of the circulation chamber 3. This design advantageously allows the sound waves generated by the rotation of the propeller 7 and the circulating air flow, in particular by the motor 8, to be expelled through the channels 13a-13d by bouncing on the blades 11a-11d and on the wall 14a, which attenuates the sound waves. Furthermore, the frustoconical shape of the blades 11a-11d advantageously allows the channels 13a-13d to channel the air sucked up to the propeller 7 in a linear flow, which limits the load losses.

In the embodiment variant of fig. 5 and 6, features similar to those of the embodiment variant of fig. 1 to 4 can be found, with only two

blades

11a,11b, which form a channel 13b with each other, the second blade 11b forming a channel 13c with the wall 14a of the central duct 14. Further, the first tapered tube 11a is configured with an axial passage 13a, as shown in fig. 6. This embodiment variant also allows to visually block the access of the central duct 14 of the shell 12 and therefore of the inlet area 4 of the circulation chamber 3, as shown in figure 5, despite the presence of the channels 13a-13 c. This therefore blocks the line directed towards the inside of the circulation chamber 3, which allows to attenuate the acoustic waves, which bounce on the

vanes

11a,11b and on the wall 14a, while being output through the channels 13b-13 c. As shown in fig. 5 and 6, an axial passage 13a disposed at the center of the first vane 11a maintains the entrance of the circulation chamber 3. Preferably, the section of this axial channel 13a is reduced, or even eliminated, so as to preferably use a first vane 11a similar to that of figures 1 to 4, so as not to have any alignment with the line in the circulation chamber 3.

A second aspect of the invention relates to the realization of a channel system 15 in the inlet area 4, which channel system is configured for discharging towards the outside the air pushed out at the periphery of the propeller 7 in the circulation chamber 3. As shown in fig. 2 and 6, the ends 16 of the blades 17 of the propeller 7, which are spaced apart with respect to the inner wall 3a of the circulation chamber 3, constitute the peripheral profile of the propeller 7, due to the mounting between said parts. This results in the presence of a peripheral space 18 between the propeller 7 and the inner wall 3a, as shown in fig. 2 and 6, in which a pressure equilibrium is created. A part of the sucked air is pushed out by the propeller 7, rather than being blown toward the downstream of the circulation chamber 3, due to the presence of a large pressure difference between the upstream and downstream of the propeller 7. The channel system 15 thus allows this air pushed out by the propeller 7 to be expelled towards the outside, instead of remaining in the circulation chamber 3 upstream of the propeller. This advantageously allows to avoid that the pushed-out air generates turbulence in the inlet area 4, which has the disadvantage of disturbing the flow of air sucked and channelled through the vanes 11a-11b or 11a-11 d.

The channel system 15 is preferably realized on the shell 12 due to the presence of the discharge duct 19, which is arranged around the central duct 14. The discharge duct 19 is arranged at the periphery of the inlet region 4 and in the vicinity of the peripheral space 18, as shown in figures 2 and 6 for two embodiment variants of the hair dryer 1. Thus, the air pushed out by the propeller 7 is discharged to the outside through the discharge duct 19 without generating turbulence upstream of the propeller 7 in the circulation chamber 3, which avoids interfering with the proper flow of the air sucked in through the channels 13a-13b or 13a-13 d.

The inner wall 19a of the discharge duct 19 is constituted by the wall 14a of the central duct 14 and therefore has the shape of a deflector, as described above. The outer wall 19b of the discharge conduit 19 also has the shape of a deflector, which is more prominent in the embodiment of fig. 5 and 6 than in the embodiment of fig. 1 to 4, with reference to which it is more evident. In both cases, the shape of the inner wall 19a and of the outer wall 19b allows the exhaust duct 19 to have the shape of a deflector, which advantageously allows to attenuate the speed of the pushed air and to exhaust outside the exhaust duct 19. This avoids interference with the intake of outside air through the passages 13a-13c or 13a-13 d. This baffle shape of the discharge duct 19 also allows to block the wires in the alignment chamber 3 in a similar way to the effect produced by the configuration of the vanes 11a-11b or 11a-11d, as shown in figures 4 and 5 for the two embodiment variants. Thus, the exhaust duct 19 also allows sound hazards to be mitigated by forcing sound waves to bounce on the inner and

outer walls

19a, 19b of the duct.

The frustoconical shape of the blades 11a-11b or 11a-11d allows to have channels 13a-13c or 13a-13d, the upstream ends of which are oriented on the side of the blower 1 and not along the longitudinal axis X, as shown in particular in fig. 2 and 6. This allows outside air to be sucked in at the side of the hair dryer 1. Furthermore, the baffle shape of the exhaust duct 19 allows the expelled air to be exhausted to the side, near the upstream end of the channels 13a-13c or 13a-13 d. This advantageously allows the expelled air, the flow rate of which has previously been reduced during the expulsion, to be sucked in again.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 5 and 6, the shell 12 comprises three retaining

jaws

20a, 20b, 20c arranged between the

blades

11a,11b and the wall 14a of the central duct 14 so as to retain said

blades

11a,11b at regular intervals. These retaining

claws

20a, 20b, 20c are evenly distributed around the housing 12, as shown in fig. 5. In the embodiment of fig. 1 to 4, these retaining claws may also be considered between the vanes 11a-11d and the wall 14a of the central duct 14.

In the embodiment of fig. 1 to 4, for example three or four

connection points

21a,21b are realized on the housing 12 between the inner wall 19a and the outer wall 19b, as shown in fig. 2, in order to keep the elements positioned opposite each other. In the embodiments shown in fig. 5 and 6, these connection points can be considered. In the embodiment of fig. 1 to 4, these connection points may also be arranged between the blades 11a-11d and the wall 14a, and in the embodiment of fig. 5 and 6, these connection points may even be arranged between the

blades

11a,11b and the wall 14 a.

As shown in particular in fig. 2 and 6, the upstream end 2a of the body 2 of the hair dryer 1 and the downstream end 12a of the casing 12 are configured for allowing a removable assembly of the casing 12, for example for contacting the propeller 7. The downstream end 12a of the casing 12 may be arranged to nest on the upstream end 2a of the main body 2, and even retaining fingers (not shown) may be provided which allow the downstream end 12a to be clipped onto the upstream end 2 a.

Other variations are contemplated without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, a shell 12 may be provided comprising only the vanes 11a-11b or 11a-11d and the central duct 14, in which case the discharge duct 19 would be arranged directly on the body 2 at the inlet region 4 of the circulation chamber 3.

Claims

1. Hair dryer (1) comprising an air circulation chamber (3) and an air circulation system (6), the air circulation chamber is equipped with an inlet area (4) and an outlet area (5), the air circulation system comprises an electric motor (8) and a propeller (7), the motor (8) and the propeller (7) are arranged in the circulation chamber so as to suck in external air through the inlet region and to convey it from upstream to downstream up to the outlet region, characterized in that the blower comprises a system of channels (15) arranged in the inlet area (4), in order to discharge towards the outside the air pushed out by the propeller (7) in the circulation chamber (3), and the channel system (15) comprises a duct (19) having a rotary shape and arranged in the inlet region (4) adjacent to an inner wall (3a) of the circulation chamber (3).

2. Hair dryer (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that said system of channels (15) comprises a speed reducing mechanism of the air pushed towards the outside.

3. Hair dryer (1) according to any of claims 1 to 2, characterized in that said system of channels (15) comprises a mechanism of attenuation of noise hazards.

4. Hair dryer (1) according to any of claims 1 to 2, characterized in that said system of channels (15) is constituted by a duct (19) having a rotary shape, said duct having the shape of a deflector in a longitudinal section plane.

5. Hair dryer (1) according to any of claims 1 to 2, characterized in that it comprises a shell (or hood) (12) assembled with said circulation chamber (3) in said inlet area (4), said shell comprising at least said system of channels (15).

6. Hair dryer (1) according to claim 5, characterized in that a removable fixing means is arranged between said circulation chamber (3) and said casing (12) so as to allow the removal of said casing.

7. The hair dryer (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 2, characterized in that it comprises at least two blades (11a, 11b, 11c, 11d) arranged at the inlet area (4), said blades being configured to form, one to the other and opposite to the inlet area, air inlet channels (13a, 13b, 13c, 13d) directed towards the propeller and to block lines aligned towards the inside of the circulation chamber.

8. Hair dryer (1) according to claim 7, characterized in that said vanes (11a, 11b, 11c, 11d) each have the shape of a truncated cone, open towards the upstream and nested one inside the other with a spacing so as to form said channels (13a, 13b, 13c, 13d), are configured for covering said inlet area (4) and are configured for being at least partially covered in succession from front to back so as to block any line aligned towards the inside of said circulation chamber (3).

9. Hair dryer (1) according to claim 8, characterized in that it comprises between two and ten truncated-cone-shaped tubes (11a, 11b, 11c, 11 d).

10. Hair dryer (1) according to claim 9, characterized in that it comprises two or four truncated-cone-shaped tubes (11a, 11b, 11c, 11 d).

11. Hair dryer (1) according to claim 5, characterized in that it comprises at least two blades (11a, 11b, 11c, 11d) arranged at said inlet area (4), said blades being configured to form, opposite each other and to said inlet area, air inlet channels (13a, 13b, 13c, 13d) directed towards said propeller and to block lines aligned towards the inside of said circulation chamber.

12. Hair dryer (1) according to claim 11, characterized in that said casing (or shield) (12) comprises said at least two blades (11a, 11b, 11c, 11 d).

13. Hair dryer (1) according to claim 12, characterized in that said casing (12) comprises retaining jaws (20a, 20b, 20c) for retaining said blades (11a, 11b, 11c, 11d) with each other.

14. The hair dryer (1) of claim 7, characterized in that said at least two blades (11a, 11b, 11c, 11d) and said system of channels (15) are configured such that air pushed out through said system of channels is re-sucked through said air intake channel (13a, 13b, 13c, 13d) by said propeller (7).

15. The hair dryer (1) of claim 11, characterized in that the at least two blades (11a, 11b, 11c, 11d) and the channel system (15) are configured such that air pushed out through the channel system is re-sucked through the air inlet channel (13a, 13b, 13c, 13d) by the propeller (7).