CN210581443U - Hair drier - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to hair dryers, and more particularly to a hair dryer. This hair dryer includes: a handle; a head portion having a bottom connected to the handle portion, the head portion defining an interior chamber forming an air inlet for an intake air stream on a top portion of the head portion opposite the bottom and an air outlet for an exhaust air stream on one side portion of the head portion such that an angle is formed between the air inlet and an opening direction of the air outlet; a fan disposed in the inner chamber and facing the air inlet, the fan being operated to draw in outside air from the air inlet into the inner chamber and to discharge the outside air from the air outlet, the fan being configured such that an airflow direction of the drawn-in fan and an airflow direction of the discharged fan have a predetermined angle therebetween; a motor for driving the fan, the motor being disposed within the handle; and a heater disposed within the internal chamber and adapted to heat air within the internal chamber.

Description

Hair drier

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a home appliance, and more particularly, to a hair dryer.

Background

Hair dryers are widely used in people's daily life and in the hair styling industry. A hair dryer typically includes a housing having an air inlet and an air outlet, a fan for generating an air flow from the air inlet to the air outlet, and a heater for heating the air flow. The fan is driven by a motor. In use, the fan may draw air from outside the hair dryer into the housing through the air inlet to generate a continuous air flow which is then heated by the heater and ultimately blown out of the hair dryer from the air outlet

There is a continuing and growing need to obtain blowers of smaller sizes. Accordingly, much research and development work is currently being directed to the miniaturization of hair dryers while maintaining and improving the performance of the hair dryer.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a hair dryer to at least partially solve the above and other potential problems of the prior art.

Various aspects of the present disclosure provide a hair dryer. This hair dryer includes: a handle; a head portion having a bottom connected to the handle portion, the head portion defining an interior chamber forming an air inlet for an intake air stream on a top portion of the head portion opposite the bottom and an air outlet for an exhaust air stream on one side portion of the head portion such that an angle is formed between the air inlet and an opening direction of the air outlet; a fan disposed in the inner chamber and facing the air inlet, the fan being operated to draw in outside air from the air inlet into the inner chamber and to discharge the outside air from the air outlet, the fan being configured such that an airflow direction of the drawn-in fan and an airflow direction of the discharged fan have a predetermined angle therebetween; a motor for driving the fan, the motor being disposed within the handle; and a heater disposed within the internal chamber and adapted to heat air within the internal chamber.

Compared with the prior art, the head part does not need to provide a space for accommodating the motor any more by moving the motor into the handle part, so that the whole size of the head part can be reduced, and the whole hair dryer becomes more compact. Furthermore, since the motor occupies a large portion of the weight of the overall dryer, moving the motor to the handle also avoids the "head and foot weight" problem found in most conventional dryers, in other words, provides a more balanced weight distribution (especially during the user's grip of the dryer), which makes the grip more stable.

Furthermore, since the motor is housed in the handle, it allows the motor-driven fan to lie flat on the underside in the head and face towards the top of the head. This allows the air inlet to be moved to the top of the head, which is advantageous because it allows the air inlet to be aligned with the fan, thereby improving the efficiency of the suction.

Furthermore, this novel form factor, with the air inlet at the top of the head and the air outlet on one side (also referred to as the "front"), further reduces the length of the head in the horizontal direction compared to conventional solutions in which the air inlet and air outlet are arranged on two opposite sides of the head, respectively.

In addition, since the other side (also referred to as the "rear") is no longer occupied by the air inlet, additional space may be provided for arranging electronic devices (such as display screens, buttons, etc.) to facilitate manipulation of the operation of the blower and viewing of operating parameters of the blower by the electronic devices while the user is holding the handle.

In some embodiments, the fan comprises: a rotating shaft oriented substantially perpendicular to the air inlet, the rotating shaft coupled to the motor; and a plurality of blades disposed about the axis of rotation, the plurality of blades defining a plane of rotation facing the air inlet.

This orientation allows the suction efficiency of the fan to be optimized since the plane of rotation defined by the plurality of blades faces the air inlet.

In some embodiments, the angle (θ) between the direction of the opening of the air inlet and the air outlet may be about 90 degrees, hi some embodiments, the predetermined angle (α) formed between the direction of the air flow drawn into the fan and the direction of the air flow exiting the fan may be about 90 degrees.

Since the air inlet and the air outlet are respectively disposed at the top and the side substantially perpendicular thereto, it is advantageous to design the fan such that the air flowing into the fan is discharged after changing its direction by a predetermined angle. In this way, the direction of the suction air flow and the discharge air flow can be adapted to the orientation of the air inlet and the air outlet, respectively.

In some embodiments, this type of fan may be: a centrifugal fan or a mixed flow fan.

Centrifugal fans can provide high pressures, but are relatively bulky. Mixed flow fans (also known as "diagonal fans") combine the characteristics of axial fans and centrifugal fans, and have a higher wind pressure coefficient and a higher flow coefficient than axial fans, so that a good compromise between wind pressure and flow can be achieved. The mixed flow fan has a smaller volume than the centrifugal fan.

In some embodiments, the hair dryer further comprises: an electronic device disposed on the other side portion opposite to the side portion.

As described above, the electronic device disposed on the opposite side may facilitate convenient manipulation of the blower and viewing of operating parameters of the blower while the user is holding the handle.

In some embodiments, the hair dryer further comprises: and a wind guide plate adapted to guide a flow of air discharged from the plurality of fans to the air outlet.

This will further optimize the flow direction of the exhaust air flow, thereby improving exhaust efficiency and reducing vibration.

In some embodiments, the hair dryer further comprises: and the mounting tray is suitable for fixing the heater and the air deflector.

In some embodiments, a heater is located between the air inlet and the fan. In some embodiments, the heater defines a heat exchange flow passage for the suction airflow to pass through and be directed to the fan, the heat exchange flow passage having opposite ends aligned with the air inlet and the fan, respectively.

This substantially linear arrangement of air inlet, fan, motor and heater ensures good pumping performance and heating of the hair dryer.

It is noted that the present disclosure relates to all possible combinations of features recited in the claims.

Drawings

The above-mentioned and other aspects of the present disclosure are described in more detail, with reference to the appended drawings showing embodiments of the disclosure.

Figure 1 illustrates a perspective view of a blower according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 2 shows an internal view of the blower of figure 1.

Figure 3 shows a rear view of the blower of figure 1.

Figure 4 shows a top view of the blower of figure 1.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals are used to designate the same or similar components.

Detailed Description

The principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to a number of exemplary embodiments shown in the drawings. While the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure have been illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the embodiments are described merely to facilitate better understanding of, and thus enable those of ordinary skill in the art to practice, the disclosure, and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure in any way.

Figure 1 illustrates a perspective view of a blower 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 1, the blower 100 generally comprises a handle 1 and a head 2. The bottom 21 of the head 2 is connected to the handle 1. As shown in fig. 1, the head 2 further includes a top portion 22, opposite the bottom portion 21, and two side portions 23 (hereinafter also referred to as "front side") and 24 (hereinafter also referred to as "rear side") opposite to each other.

Figure 2 shows an internal structural view of the blower 100 of figure 1. As shown in fig. 2, the head 2 defines an internal chamber 20. The inner chamber 20 forms an air inlet 221 for the suction air flow on the top 22 of the head 2 and an air outlet 231 for the discharge air flow on one front side 23 of the head, such that the opening direction of the air inlet 221 and the opening direction of the air outlet 231 form an angle θ.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 2, the angle θ between the opening directions of the air inlet 221 and the air outlet 231 is about 90 degrees. In some embodiments, "about 90 degrees" may represent a range of 90 ± 20 degrees. In still other embodiments, "about 90 degrees" may represent a range of 90 ± 10 degrees. Of course, the included angle θ may also have a larger or smaller value according to design requirements, but it should be noted that the included angle θ cannot have a value of 0 degree or 180 degrees, that is, the air inlet and the air outlet cannot be respectively located at both sides of the head as in the conventional solution.

The blower 100 further includes a fan 3 disposed in the interior chamber 20 and facing the air inlet 221, the fan 3 being operated to draw outside air from the air inlet 221 into the interior chamber 20 and to discharge the outside air from the air outlet 231 in various embodiments of the present disclosure, the fan 3 is configured such that an airflow direction F1 of the drawn fan 3 and an airflow direction F2 of the discharged fan 3 have a predetermined angle α therebetween.

The hair dryer also comprises a motor 4 for driving the fan 3. The motor 4 is disposed within the handle 1.

By moving the motor 4 into the handle 1, the head 2 does not need to provide space for housing the motor 4, thereby substantially reducing the overall size of the head 2 and making the overall blower 100 more compact, as compared to prior art solutions. Furthermore, since the motor 4 occupies a large portion of the weight of the overall blower 100, moving the motor 4 to the handle 1 also avoids the "head and foot heaviness" problem found in most conventional blowers, in other words, provides a more even weight distribution (particularly during the user's grip of the blower), which makes the grip more stable.

Furthermore, since the motor 4 is housed in the handle, it allows the fan 3 driven by the motor 4 to lie flat (or "lie flat") on the bottom of the head 2 and facing towards the top 21 of the head. This allows the air inlet 221 to be moved onto the top 21 of the head, which is advantageous because it allows the air inlet 221 to be directly aligned with the fan 3, thereby improving the suction efficiency.

Furthermore, this novel form factor, with the air inlet at the top of the head and the air outlet at the front side, further reduces the length of the head in the horizontal direction (i.e., the X-direction), as compared to conventional solutions in which the air inlet and air outlet are arranged at two opposite sides (e.g., the front side and the rear side) of the head, respectively.

In addition, since the rear area of the head 2 is no longer occupied by an air inlet, additional space is provided for mounting additional electronic devices (such as a display screen, buttons, etc.) to facilitate manipulation of the operation of the blower 100 and viewing of various operating parameters of the blower 100 (as will be further described below) by the electronic devices while the user is holding the handle 1.

With continued reference to fig. 2, in some embodiments, the fan 3 includes a rotating shaft 31 oriented substantially perpendicular to the air inlet 221, the rotating shaft 31 being coupled to the motor 4 to rotate upon actuation of the motor 4. In fig. 2, the rotation axis 31 is oriented in the vertical direction Z. A plurality of blades 32 are provided around the rotation shaft 31, and define a rotation plane S facing the air inlet 221. Further, when the rotation axis 31 is oriented perpendicular to the air inlet 221, the rotation plane S defined by the plurality of blades will be parallel to the plane defined by the air inlet 221. In this way, the rotation plane S can be made to "face" the air intake 221, thereby optimizing the suction efficiency of the fan 3.

In some embodiments, the predetermined angle α formed between the airflow direction F1 of the suction fan 3 and the airflow direction F2 of the exhaust fan 3 is about 90 degrees since the air inlet 221 and the air outlet 231 are disposed at the top portion 21 and the side portion 23 substantially perpendicular thereto, respectively, it is advantageous to design the fan 3 accordingly to change the airflow direction F1 flowing into the fan by the predetermined angle α before exhausting the fan 3.

The fan 3 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure may be a centrifugal fan or a mixed flow fan. Centrifugal fans can provide high pressures, but are relatively bulky. Mixed flow fans (also known as "diagonal fans") combine the characteristics of axial fans and centrifugal fans, and have a higher wind pressure coefficient and a higher flow coefficient than axial fans, so that a good compromise between wind pressure and flow can be achieved. The mixed flow fan has a smaller volume than the centrifugal fan.

In other words, a centrifugal fan may be used in applications in order to achieve a greater pressure, and a mixed flow fan may be used in applications in order to achieve a further reduction in the volume of the head 2, as required.

Figure 3 shows a rear view of the blower 100 of figure 1. As shown in fig. 3, the blower 100 may further include: an electronic device 7 arranged on a rear side 24 opposite to the front side 23. The electronic device may comprise, for example, a display 71 and one or more buttons 72.

As described above, since the rear side 24 is no longer occupied by the air inlet, it is possible to arrange additional electronic devices 7 on the rear side 24. The electronic device 7 disposed on the rear side 24 may facilitate convenient manipulation of the blower 100 (e.g., via buttons 72) while the user is holding the handle portion 1, and viewing various operating parameters of the blower 100 (via the display screen 71) to monitor usage. In some embodiments, the display screen 71 may also be a touch screen with a touch sensitive surface, in which case the display screen has both display and input functions.

Referring back to fig. 2, in some embodiments, the blower 100 may further comprise a wind deflector 6 adapted to direct the flow of air discharged from the plurality of fans 3 toward the air outlet 231. This will further optimize the flow direction of the exhaust air flow, thereby improving exhaust efficiency and reducing vibration.

In some embodiments, the heater 5 is located between the air inlet 221 and the fan 3. In some specific embodiments, the heater 5 may be composed of a support member (e.g., made of mica) and a heating element (e.g., a resistance wire) wound thereon.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 2, the heater 5 may define a heat exchange flow passage 51 for the suction air to pass through and be guided to the fan 3, and both ends of the heat exchange flow passage 51 are aligned with the air inlet 221 and the fan 3, respectively. This linear arrangement of the air inlet 221, the fan 3, the motor 4 and the heater 5 in a substantially "straight line" (i.e. the air inlet 221, the fan 3, the motor 4 and the heater 5 are substantially "coaxial") ensures good suction performance and heating efficiency of the hair dryer.

With continued reference to fig. 2, due to the shape constraints of the cavity 20, the airflow discharged from the fan 3 in the airflow direction F2 will readily interact (e.g., collide, bounce) with the internal cavity 20, creating turbulence. It is noted that, since the volume of the internal cavity 20 becomes compact, the formed turbulent flow can be discharged out of the air outlet 231 after being sufficiently contacted (e.g., contacted multiple times) with the heating element of the heater 3, thereby increasing the heat transfer efficiency.

In some embodiments, the hair dryer further comprises a mounting tray 8 adapted to hold the heater 5 and the air deflector 6. In the example shown in fig. 2, the air deflector 6 may for example be integrated as part of the mounting tray 8. As shown in fig. 2, the heater 5 is fixed to the mounting tray 8 at the upper surface of the mounting tray 8, and the fan 3 is positioned below the mounting tray 8. In this way a compact head design is achieved.

Alternatively or additionally, in some embodiments, the blower 100 may further comprise: an inlet grill 222 covering the inlet 221 (see fig. 4) or an outlet grill 232 covering the outlet 231 (see fig. 1). The intake grill 222 is adapted to guide the entry of the air flow while constituting a barrier to avoid hairs being sucked into the interior of the chamber 20. The outlet grill 232 is adapted to direct the discharge of the airflow.

It should be understood that while the intake grille 222 is shown in FIG. 4 as having a pattern of a plurality of circular holes, other patterns are possible, including but not limited to: rectangular, diamond, hexagonal, etc. Likewise, the form of the outlet grill 232 shown in fig. 1 is also merely exemplary, and various patterns of the outlet grill 232 may be designed as desired.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. On the contrary, many modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the appended claims. In addition, variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the term "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

Unless specified or limited otherwise, the terms "mounted," "connected," "supported," and "coupled" and variations thereof are used broadly and encompass both direct and indirect mountings, connections, supports, and couplings. Further, "connected" and "coupled" are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections or couplings. In the description below, like reference numerals and signs are used to describe the same, similar or corresponding parts in the drawings. Other definitions, both explicit and implicit, may be included below.

Claims (11)

1. A hair dryer (100), comprising:

a handle (1);

a head (2) having a bottom (21) connected to the handle (1), the head (2) defining an internal chamber (20), the internal chamber (20) forming an air inlet (221) for an intake air flow on a top (22) of the head (2) opposite the bottom (21) and an air outlet (231) for an exhaust air flow on one side (23) of the head, such that an angle (θ) is formed between the air inlet (221) and the opening direction of the air outlet (231);

a fan (3) disposed in the inner chamber (20) and facing the air inlet (221), the fan (3) being operated to draw external air from the air inlet (221) into the inner chamber (20) and to be discharged from the air outlet (231), the fan (3) being configured such that an air flow direction (F1) of drawing the fan (3) and an air flow direction (F2) of discharging the fan (3) have a predetermined angle (α) therebetween;

a motor (4) for driving the fan (3), the motor being disposed within the handle (1); and

a heater (5) disposed within the interior chamber (20) and adapted to heat air within the interior chamber (20).

2. The hair dryer of claim 1, wherein the angle (θ) between the opening directions of the air inlet (221) and the air outlet (231) is about 90 degrees.

3. The hair dryer of claim 1, wherein said fan comprises:

a rotation shaft (31) oriented substantially perpendicular to the air inlet (221), the rotation shaft (31) being coupled to the motor (4); and

a plurality of blades (32) arranged around the rotation axis (31), the plurality of blades defining a rotation plane (S) facing the air inlet (221).

4. The hair dryer of claim 1, characterized in that said fan (3) comprises:

a centrifugal fan; or

A mixed flow fan.

5. The hair dryer according to claim 1, characterized in that the predetermined angle (α) formed between the direction of the air flow (F1) sucking the fan (3) and the direction of the air flow (F2) exiting the fan (3) is about 90 degrees.

6. The hair dryer of claim 1, further comprising:

an electronic device (7) arranged on the other side (24) opposite to the side (23).

7. The hair dryer of claim 1, further comprising:

a wind deflector (6) adapted to direct a flow of air discharged from the plurality of fans (3) toward the air outlet (231).

8. The blower of claim 7, further comprising:

a mounting tray (8) adapted to secure the heater (5) and the air deflection plate (6).

9. The hair dryer of claim 1,

the heater (5) is located between the air inlet (221) and the fan (3).

10. The hair dryer of claim 9, wherein said heater (5) defines a heat exchange flow channel (51) for the passage and the guidance of a suction air flow to said fan (3), the two ends of said heat exchange flow channel (51) being aligned with said air inlet (221) and with said fan (3), respectively.

11. The hair dryer of any one of claims 1 to 10, comprising:

an intake grille (232) covering said intake opening (221) and adapted to guide the entry of an air flow; and/or

An air outlet grill (222) covering the air outlet (231) and adapted to guide the discharge of the air flow.

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